Holistic Review: Possibly the best-written story we've had yet; it's not perfect, but it's so well characterized that you have to love it.

One of the most highly-anticipated stories of season 28 / 2, featuring as it does the return of the Cybermen. I've never been a huge Cybermen fan, but I probably prefer them to the Daleks, because of the body horror they imply if for no other reason. So, I was definitely intrigued to see this story; but the thing that actually got me excited about it was the parallel universe idea - not seen properly since Inferno - and the return of the wonderful Pete Tyler.

Probably the very best thing about Rise of the Cybermen - and, by extension, perhaps Tom MacRae - is its judicious and entirely-appropriate use of continuity, both throughout the show's history and within the scope of the relaunch. The most wonderful result of this is that MacRae draws on all of the major characters' backstories in such a way that every line they speak and every action they take feels absolutely true to who they are, how they think and what they'd do. He also makes sure that each of them gets a significant part to play in this episode, which is wonderful and rare in a story that's trying to juggle this many major characters. The people who benefit from this the most are our two largely recurring regulars, Mickey and Jackie, in large part because when you compare them to their parallel-universe counterparts, they both come out smelling like roses. Both Mickey and Jackie have been the subject of some ridicule and scorn by viewers, but I'd challenge anybody who dislikes them (if there even is anyone by this point) to retain their strong opinions after watching this story.

Now, this story really belongs to Mickey, and for very good reason. I'd been suspicious that Mickey might not be with us much longer, and I was particularly suspicious that he might be departing in this story (given that I hadn't seen his name or face in any advance publicity for anything from The Idiot's Lantern onward) but I didn't know how, or even for sure that he would. But his departure is set up beautifully. Mickey's status as the "third wheel" of the TARDIS crew is reinforced right from the outset: the Doctor forgets having asked Mickey to hold down a button, he doesn't consider the fact that Mickey might have personal reasons for wanting to explore the parallel universe, he elects to chase after Rose rather than Mickey even when Mickey points out that it's inevitable, and he neglects to give Mickey a part to play in the final battle. (And you have to wonder... if it had been Rose who decided she wanted to stay and help, would the Doctor have allowed it?) Then we learn a little more about Mickey's background; it turns out that he really doesn't have any ties to home, given that he was raised by his dear grandmother who passed away five years ago. And of course there's the telling line that Mickey will meet the Doctor back at the TARDIS "if I haven't found something better." So it's not that a huge surprise when he does decide to stay behind, having found both his lost grandmother and the purpose in life that he never had. As the first real companion departure of the relaunch (Adam not having been a proper companion, and Jack having been temporarily abandoned à la Tegan), it's excellent, both fitting and moving. He looks so content with his decision, and so proud of Rose as she leaves. (It's kind of strange, though, that the resentment Rose showed at the end of School Reunion didn't get a chance to develop after all... I guess I was wrong about that plot development! So now I'm wondering - why introduce it if you weren't going to go anywhere with it?)

The really sad thing is that Mickey was starting to show major potential as a companion. His was a beautiful arc: the useless left-behind coward who discovers his bravery, starts to stand up for himself and begins conquering his fears in order to help his friends. He's also able to contribute in a major way by being au fait with sci-fi concepts like parallel universes (making him seem much quicker on the draw than Rose, plus being able to discuss the concept with the Doctor), and with his skill at computers and especially video games coming in handy yet again. Outside of the books and comics, we've never had a companion like him, and I find that I really like it. He even turns out to be quick-thinking, as he goads the Cyberman into smashing the transmitter controls. He's amazingly quick to establish a friendly rapport with the soldiers-bearing-guns, when most companions probably would have got themselves barred or arrested (love his friendly little "I will. See ya.") Parallel-universe Ricky is a hard-edged tough guy; still a bit of a wimp on the inside (given that his great show of defiance against "the man" was to amass a collection of unpaid parking tickets) but nevertheless unlikeably full of macho bravado. And suddenly, Mickey's meek attitude starts to look like a major plus; his worried demeanor and ability to crack jokes under stress make him seem leagues more appealing and even sweeter than his parallel counterpart. His continuing determination to pitch in and help, defying the preconceived notions we all had about him, speaks volumes about his character (and I love the way he insists "I'm offering to help"). So, all in all, it's a tour de force revelation for Mickey, and a brilliant performance by Noel Clarke, who gives so many great line readings and reaction shots throughout. I still can't believe this is the same character I so disliked in Rose... he started out as a bit of a useless pratfalling wimp, and he's come so far that I find myself actually really sad that we probably aren't going to see him again.

Mickey may get the main emotional arc of the story, but Rose is by no means left behind. Since a parallel universe affords Rose the chance to see an Earth in which her dad is still alive, MacRae gets to bring back all the best bits of Father's Day with a twist. This Pete Tyler may not be Rose's real dad, but Billie sure acts like he is. It's astonishing, the transformation that comes over Rose whenever her father is mentioned. All that confident attitude just drops away, and Rose stands there looking like a lost little girl, desperate for her father's affection, and you can hear in her voice that she's on the verge of a good sob. I love the way that Rose keeps casting wistful glances over at the picture of her father, even when the Doctor orders her not to. Then when she's actually around him, Rose gets doe-eyed with daughterly affection, defends and protects him, declares her faith in him, and latches on to him when there's trouble. The scene at the end, in which Rose desperately tries to coerce her father into stepping aboard the TARDIS (and, after all, wouldn't Pete have liked our Jackie much better than his?) is desperately sweet. Her rapport with parallel-Jackie is interesting... Rose knows exactly how to relate to her, and yet her familiarity with our Jackie gets her into hot water with spoiled rich Jackie, who won't stand for any such presumption from a serving girl. Billie is wonderful and understated throughout; Rose almost seems hurt when she discovers that her parents never had kids in this reality (and then, understandably, subtly quizzes Pete as to why), she and David Tennant have a superb rapport as they weave their way through the Tylers' party (her best delivery: "Or maybe Lucy's just a bit thick.") and share a hug before leading their various assaults against the Cyber-factory. Her best moment in the entire story is when she realizes that the Doctor has to go see her father, so she smiles at him slyly, letting him know that she knows she's won, but giving him puppy-dog eyes anyway, just begging him to admit it and agree to see him! She's also got a lovely rapport with Clarke in this story; for the first time, really, I truly believe them as a couple. Their parting is absolutely heartbreaking, thanks to Piper. She really doesn't want to let Mickey go - she's possibly just realizing that for the first time - and the long sad look she gives him, as she steps into the TARDIS and leaves him behind for good, is so touching. She also gets to show her bravery (along with another glimpse at her love for Pete) when she immediately volunteers to accompany her father on a dangerous mission to rescue Jackie. And I love that Rose has such a sharp memory, remembering that she's seen a Cyberman head before in van Statten's museum. Lovely continuity touches, and it makes her seem so bright and capable.

Shaun Dingwall's return as Pete Tyler was the element of this story I was most anticipating, even more than the return of the Cybermen, and he really doesn't disappoint. While it would've been interesting to see him as a parallel-universe traitor, I love the fact that - as with the rest of the characters - Pete Tyler's nature is still Pete Tyler's nature, parallel universe or not. He's an upstanding bloke who wants to do the right thing, and in this universe his wacky health-drink schemes actually did work. I adore the fact that even in a parallel universe in which Rose was never born, Pete still has an instinctive trust of her (and again comments on the strangeness of it). The one really interesting difference is that whereas our Pete was overcome with emotion at seeing his baby girl all grown up, this Pete can't quite cope with the idea of meeting the daughter he never had (which is, one must admit, rather more bizarre!). It's very sad for Rose, but I have to say that I kind of like the fact that there's some fundamental difference between the Petes, and this turn of events is made much more palatable by the fact that her real father had no trouble accepting her. Dingwall is just so lovable as Pete; how I wish they could continue coming up with storylines in which to utilize his talents. One of the most amazing things, for me, is that he manages to repeatedly deliver his catchphrase ("You can trust me on this") so naturally that the first time through, I didn't even realize he was doing it!

Parallel Jackie is quite a sight to behold. She's exactly what Jackie could have been, if she'd had money; all of her worst traits magnified, with little room left for the goodness and the caring she possesses. This Jackie also gripes about things and blows events all out of proportion, and she's even more self-obsessed than our Jackie, which is where things really go wrong. With access to all the cash her little heart desires, she cultivates a public image, throws lavish parties for herself, and then bawls Pete out when his heartfelt gestures don't fit with her warped view of reality or her minimum price tag. It's brilliantly written, and Coduri gives a superb performance as Jackie glowers at all her social inferiors ("You're nothing but staff!") and schmoozes with the rest. Her delivery of "Pardon me, Mister President!" is really naturalistic, as is her line "And Pete always says, 'you know...' - ah, never mind him.". In contrast, our Jackie - who has previously seemed gripy, prone to exaggeration and self-obsessed - seems positively adorable in comparison, when Rose finally returns home, so Rise of the Cybermen successfully manages to overhaul both her and Mickey's images. (I actually momentarily thought "oh, they got Camille back to play Jackie just for one scene" - before remembering that she'd been in the entire two-parter!)

And, oh, David Tennant, yet again proving that he's one of the most perfect choices ever to play the Doctor. He so effortlessly switches from glib to heartfelt to outraged. I love his enormous grin after he has successfully charged the little glowing bit of the TARDIS, his awesome reaction to seeing the Rose-dog, his sweet chat with the dying Cyber-Sally, and the way he delivers the line "Already converted, just put on ice. Come on." And another nice subtle bit of continuity in his "above, between, below" speech.

The guest characters are pretty awesome, too. The only one I don't really warm to is Andrew Hayden Smith, whose Jake never seems to get much to do other than acting angry or intense, and compared to the other characters, he has practically no backstory (although apparently the original intention was that Jake and Ricky were lovers, which would have gone some way toward giving him a bit of personality had it been included). Otherwise, they're all great.

Roger Lloyd-Pack is a great place to start; Lumic is a definite cross between Tobias Vaughn (appropriately) and the Black Guardian (it's the voice!), making him a memorable villain indeed. His motivations are nominally sympathetic - he's only seeking a way to prolong human life - but his utter lack of ethics in doing it (snatching unwilling "volunteers" for his experiments, mind-controlling the populace, and casually killing anyone who stands in his way) makes him thoroughly vilifiable. It's interesting, and telling, that although he's perfectly willing to "upgrade" his healthy young volunteers, he doesn't want to undergo the procedure himself until he's on death's doorstep.

I warmed fast to Mona Hammond as Mickey's grandmother, who really does slap him about, but above all has a sweet relationship with him. Cool accent, too. Helen Griffin is fantastic as the amazingly young-looking Mrs Moore (until she mentioned her husband and kids, I assumed she was a punk-looking teenager!), who doesn't have a lot to do until she pairs up with the Doctor, at which point she becomes extremely likeable and sympathetic. Her experiences gives the two-parter some really nice backstory, and I love that she's able to convince the Doctor that he has to do what needs to be done. Colin Spaull is great as Mr Crane, another character who slowly grows on you through his shrewdness and his sly humor, until he has you cheering out loud when he disables Lumic's chair. It's nice to see Don Warrington onscreen, as opposed to on audio, and he definitely makes a good President. And, in a brief but memorable appearance, Paul Antony-Barber does a very nice job as Dr Kendrick, who's all honest and well-meaning and excited about the project, and stumbles right into Lumic's trap, foolishly believing that Lumic is as honorable as he is and will not object to his unethical work being reviewed.

Then there's the big draw of this episode: the Cybermen, finally returning to our screens for the first time since the silver anniversary way back in 1988. Cleverly, the parallel-universe setting allows the production team to relaunch them with no argument whatsoever from fans; although, unlike the Daleks, the Cybermen have frequently been redesigned over the years anyway, so they faced much less opposition in this regard anyhow. Given free reign to retool the Cybermen however they wanted, the production team did a great job of staying true to their roots and coming up with a very scary brushed-steel design. The most important thing, of course, was keeping the handlebars on the head, and they look great, plus we finally get an explanation for why they exist, at least in the parallel universe, and it makes total sense. I also love their voices, which hearken back to the Troughton years (along with the teardrops on their eyes) without being impossible to understand. And their dying screams sound just the same as always! Is it disturbing that this pleases me? (I wonder if, when we eventually see the Cybermen that still exist in our universe, they'll have a similar redesign or something more retro?) The only really disappointing thing about them is that it feels like these Cybermen have progressed a little too far toward being completely robotic. Somehow they're less horrific when the only thing human about them is the brain; it's one thing to be decapitated and have your brain removed, but how much worse is it to have your left arm cut off at the elbow, and your legs replaced, and your eyes gouged out, and your organs replaced with machinery... so, as creepy as the conversion shots are, I don't think they fully capture the horror of being cybernized. I find myself really missing the glass jaw of the 80s, which gave a glimpse of the living human underneath all the cybernetic add-ons. (although the glass brain-case of the Cyber Controller is a very nice touch, not to mention the cool glowy blue eyes!) The fact that they march in perfect unison is probably necessary, since one would expect a cybernetic hive-mind to behave in such a fashion, but their complete lack of individuality makes them seem less human and therefore a bit less scary (although the scene in which one informs Lumic that they all think alike is pretty freaky, and drives home the point well). I also found myself missing their habit of crying "Resistance is futile!" and especially "Excellent!", their displays of incredible strength (crushing people's hands or shoulders with minimal effort), their clunky chest units (although I'm not too disappointed that they were streamlined) and their lovely little Cybermats (although I hadn't really expected to see any). I'm a little less certain about their new battle-cry of "Delete!" (far too Dalek-y, as Gray pointed out... "destroy" worked just fine for the Cybermen of old) and their new habit of electrocuting people (although, as they don't want children to imitate the strangling, I can definitely live with it). I'm also not sure that the "upgrading" part of the plot works as well as it was intended; as I understood it, they chose "upgrade" rather than "convert" because they wanted to make the process sound seductive, like something that the general population would desperately want to do. But then we get lines like "Upgrading is compulsory", so people don't ever get a chance to be seduced by the idea of "the ultimate upgrade", they're forced into it from the very beginning. I think that kind of undermines the point that the production team were trying to make. So, the Cybermen are really only mostly successful. But at least they got to say "You will become like us!" And we get an exploding Cyber-head... classic!

It's delightful to see the talented Graeme Harper back in the director's chair, and his flair for composing dramatic shots seems, if anything, to have increased (no doubt helped by the better technology and sets!). So many good shots throughout: I love the up-close shots of Lumic's mouth, the way he keeps the Cybermen fuzzy in the background until their big revelation, the shot of zeppelins floating in the sky as a train zooms past, the crowd of people creepily halting in the middle of the street and then simultaneously laughing at the same joke that nobody can actually hear, the flawless racking shot up from the Cyber-feet to Crane in the foreground, Rose squinting against the blinding Cyberlight, and the poignant shot of the emotional Cyberman looking in a reflective surface and crying. His shot of the Cybermen surrounding the party guests really took me back; it just felt so right somehow. The only one I'm not entirely sure of is the shot of the Cyber Controller falling back into the factory as it erupts into flame, only because it reminds me exactly of the dénouement of the second Charlie's Angels film, of all things! (and the falling bit of ladder disappears in between cuts, but that's not Harper's fault.)

Murray Gold's score takes a few steps backwards this week; it has a few nice moments, but overall it feels unoriginal. The zeppelins make a really cool sound though, and I love the scream over the shot of the Cyber-factory as the music fades out. Effects are hit-and-miss... the image of the factory, with its lights reflecting in the water, is great; but it's not immediately obvious that the electrocution effect is actually dealing with electricity, and the rotating conversion machine seems to be doing the same thing over and over again (even in each different shot) without ever clearly doing different things to different body parts. (It might as well all be attacking the left elbow, for all we can tell.) And it never gets very bloody, although that's certainly forgiveable.

Regarding the plot in general, it's great to see Doctor Who dipping its toe back into parallel universes again; given the preponderance of them on television today (like the sadistic mirror universe in Star Trek, multitudes of parallel worlds and timelines including the vampire world of Cordelia's ill-fated wish and the infamous World Without Shrimp on Buffy, the quantum mirror device on Stargate and of course the entire series of Sliders), it's hard to believe that Doctor Who has only attempted it once in its entire run to this point. It's really a shame we didn't see more of it when the Time Lords were around and it was easier to do... after all, so far it's got a great track record in Doctor Who! It's used to excellent effect in this story; the minor details - like the zeppelins in the sky and the populace hooked up to earpods - are great, but even better are the ways that it drives the story, with Rose's dad and Mickey's gran still being alive, and Mickey running into his double (even if Rose doesn't - her dog-double had the whole room laughing!). My uncertainty over whether or not Mickey was going to depart during this episode was heightened even more when it appeared that he might have been killed and replaced (made more believable by the fact that Ricky envied his friends). I'm glad they didn't drag out the tension any longer, but I didn't really know which Mickey was which until he said "What, stay out of trouble? Be the tin dog?". And, finally, it's very nice of them to acknowledge Marc Platt for his excellent audio Spare Parts, which apparently inspired the whole story in much the same way as Rob Shearman's Jubilee prompted last year's Dalek. An excellent choice of source material, although I'm glad MacRae diverged from it so much and made this story his own.

Minor points:

• Does the TARDIS get catapulted into the parallel universe because Mickey held that button down for half an hour? If so, the Doctor really should have paid closer attention!

• The oxygen masks in the TARDIS are a bizarre yet appropriate, and very cool, idea! Ha!

• The idea that the TARDIS can die is a pretty scary concept to begin with, but if you're stranded someplace inhospitable, it becomes downright terrifying. I've always figured that, even in a worst-case scenario, the Doctor and his companions could live out the rest of their days inside the TARDIS, comfortably if not exactly happily. But if even the TARDIS is inhospitable, what do you do?

• Great Jackie line:

  Pete: "Why would you wanna pick up signals from Venezuela?"
  Jackie: "Well, I don't know, but now I can find out!"

• Funny story. Shortly before the airing of this story, Andrew and I finished watching all the existing complete Doctor Who stories together, at which point we started in on the four mostly-complete ones. We'd gotten through episode 5 of The Invasion but hadn't found the time to finish it before we sat down to watch this two-parter. "Hmm," I thought to myself, "we really should try to finish it first. There might be some mention of the events." And then I thought, no, how dumb is that... like they're going to put in a reference to a 1968 Troughton story, of all things! So what do we get in this story? A giant truck bearing the name of International Electromatics! I was relieved that at least we'd seen enough of The Invasion for that bit to make sense to him. (It's a shame, though, that the license plate read "66" instead of "68"!)

• Now that season 27 / 1 is airing on the Sci-Fi Channel in the United States, my friend Roni (who inspired this whole site to begin with) has been sending me reviews of the episodes as they air. One thing she pointed out to me (having commented on them way back in her review of Rose, but first noticing the trend in her review of The Long Game), that I'd never noticed, was that practically every story involves a doorway covered with hanging strips of plastic. Immediately I thought of Cassandra-as-Rose ploughing through them in New Earth, and here we get them yet again in the IE trucks. I think she's really on to something! One of these days I must go back and catalogue them.

• Gray cracks the entire room up, as the starving men aboard the IE truck - believing themselves to be the recipients of a free lavish feast - learn of their true fate and try to escape:

  MEN: "Aaaaaaah! Aaaaaaah!"
  GRAY: (as men) "It's all pot noodle!"

• I love that the Doctor and Rose end up as the serving staff! "If you want to know what's going on, work in the kitchen" indeed. Rose should be used to that after School Reunion (and I like the implication that she's not unfamiliar with the job!).

• What does the Doctor mean? As far as we know, he's only seen three of them so far:

  Doctor: "All these different worlds, not one of them gets it right."

• Fantastic delivery by Noel Clarke:

  Ricky: "Target number one is Lumic, and we are going to bring him down."
  Mickey: (looks uncertain) "From your kitchen?"
  Ricky: "Have you got a problem with that?"
  Mickey: "No, 's a good kitchen."

• Super explanation, makes perfect sense, and a lovely delivery by David Tennant:

  Rose: "Why no emotion?"
  Doctor: "Because it hurts."

• When the Doctor and Rose first run out of the party smack into a group of Cybermen... why don't they just run around them? It's not like they're spread out to the horizon, or possessing of projectile weaponry.

• After all that "upgrading is compulsory" guff, why do the Cybermen then go on and exterm- um, I mean, delete all the partygoers?

• Weeeeeelllll, I have to say that the one weak point in MacRae's plotting is his resolution to the cliffhanger. The Doctor's magical TARDIS component feels like a deus ex machina; we have no prior reason to believe that it can discharge the energy in that manner, or that energy from our universe would annihilate something in this universe, or that the TARDIS component can somehow magnify the energy such that it does. It simply does exactly what the Doctor needs it to. And why doesn't discharging that much energy drain it of power? In fact, it even seems to speed up the recharging!

• Great delivery by both, as Rose pauses in her headlong flight to look wistfully at the house under siege:

  Doctor: "Rose, she's not your mother."
  Rose: "I know."

• Awesome line, one of the best of the story. It's such a Doctorish line, but it's not just there because "this is what the Doctor would say", it's been deliberately crafted with love by someone who adores the Doctor's personality and knows that this is a great line for him:

  Doctor: "Talk about executions, you'll make me your enemy, and take some really good advice: you don't wanna do that."

• So Pete was feeding the Preachers all the information he got out of Lumic? Why didn't he just say that in the first place, instead of hanging his head in apparent shame when accused of collaboration?

• Ricky's one really funny line (so true to our Mickey, but with Ricky's spin of macho defiance):

  Ricky: "Park anywhere, that's me."

• More great lines by both; love Billie's delivery, and the way Pete's lines echo Father's Day in such a funny way:

  Rose: "I'm Rose. Hello."
  Pete: "Even better. That's the name of my dog."

• After Pete's first sentence here, I cackled, thinking he was going in an entirely different direction to the way the line ended up going!

  Rose: "[Jackie] might still be alive."
  Pete: "That's even worse. Because that's what Lumic does."

• Funny - as the Doctor and Rose were wandering through the crowd, and Rose tried to take the earpods off a zombified Londoner, I idly wondered who he was and if he was happy to have been given such a prominent non-speaking role in the episode - after all, he was right there onscreen for quite a while! Then what do I see today? An interview with the very man, 33-year-old lecturer John Paul Green, who's apparently a big fan! Hooray! The article from icNewscastle says, "When the first episode he appeared in was aired, John arranged a barbecue for all his friends and then announced that watching Doctor Who would be part of the night's entertainment... without telling them beforehand about his role. He said: 'People commented, 'that looks a lot like you', and then the penny dropped. They were all utterly shocked and couldn't believe I'd managed to keep it from them.'" Is that great or what? Good for you, John!

• When the Cybermen are staring Mickey down after having just killed Ricky, I wonder why they don't simply tear through the chainlink fence? That would have been a nice demonstration of their strength, too!

• Nice line for Rose:

  Pete: "Why are you doing this?"
  Rose: "Let's just say I'm doing it for my mum and dad."

• The "running the gauntlet" scene with the Cybermen in the cooling tunnels is really scary. I didn't think they were going to make it, especially when the Doctor was trying to get through the hatch with Mrs Moore behind him urging him to hurry. Phew!

• When the kidnapped homeless men are sent to be converted, they scream most horrifically. So why don't the controlled humans do the same, before they're de-zombified?

• I love the Cyber-line "He will be rewarded by force." Creepy.

• Great line, especially since this is almost exactly how it turns out:

  Jake: "Find the transmitter controls."
  Mickey: "What do they look like?"
  Jake: "Well, I don't know! They might have 'Transmitter Controls' written in big red letters, just look!"

• I love this exchange; it's exactly the sort of issue I'm glad they raised, the very moral Mrs Moore gives him precisely the answer he needs to hear, and both actors deliver their lines beautifully:

  Doctor: "I think it would kill them. Can we do that?"
  Mrs Moore: "We've got to, before they kill everyone else."

• Ha! Silly Doctor, as he's marched into the room where Rose and Pete are being held captive:

  Doctor: "I've been captured, but don't worry, Rose and Pete are still out there, they can rescue me. Oh well, never mind."

• A fantastic, fantastic line. Tennant delivers it soooo well, and it's a very good point:

  Doctor: "That's exactly the point! Oh, Lumic, you're a clever man. I'd call you a genius, except I'm in the room. But everything you've invented, you did to fight your sickness. And that's brilliant. That is so human. But once you get rid of sickness, and mortality, then what's there to strive for? Eh? The Cybermen won't advance. You'll just stop. You'll stay like this, forever. A metal Earth, with metal men and metal thoughts, lacking the one thing that makes this planet so alive: people! Ordinary, stupid, brilliant people!"

• More superb delivery by Tennant, may we bow at his feet:

  Cyber Controller: "You are proud of your emotions?"
  Doctor: "Oh, yes."
  Cyber Controller: "Then tell me, Doctor - have you known grief, and rage, and pain?"
  Doctor: "Yes. Yes, I have."
  Cyber Controller: "And they hurt?"
  Doctor: "Oh, yes."

• Love the way the Doctor mostly-subtly communicates with Mickey through the video link... very nicely scripted.

• Another great delivery by Tennant!

  Doctor: "Talk too much, that's my problem!"

• I wonder why the code that returns the Cybermen's souls doesn't affect Lumic? Is he on a separate circuit or something? (Or maybe it does? His "No!" as the factory comes crashing down sounds more than a bit emotional to me!)

• Love it!

  Rose: (re: zeppelin) "Mickey, where'd you learn to fly that thing?!"
  Mickey: "PlayStation."

• When Rose started climbing the ladder to the zeppelin, all I could think was: I guess after a trip by barrage balloon, climbing a rope ladder is no problem!

• I was really worried at this point that parallel-Pete would die. After all, he seemed to be aiming the Doctor's sonic screwdriver at the bit of rope ladder just above his feet, which would only have left him with one hand free to try to hang on! But the rope inexplicably seemed to break just under his step, which, it may not make sense, but... I'm not complaining!

• If their power supply is so limited, why doesn't the Doctor wait to plug the recharged circuit back in until everybody's on board? No sense risking them running out while everyone says their goodbyes!

• The Doctor seems to have total faith that Angela's husband and kids weren't caught up in the conversion of London. I can only hope that he's right!

• A wonderful line - Mickey's really wising up.

  Rose: "What about me? What if I need you?"
  Mickey: "Yeah, but Rose, you don't."

• And, okay Billie, thanks for making me blubber again! Oh man, what an amazing delivery.

  Rose: "All those years, just sitting there... imagining what we'd do one day... we never saw this, did we?"

• The only thing that could have made this ending more perfect is if we'd had a quick coda with Mickey and his gran, rather than implication that they were heading straight to Paris at the end. But I love Mickey's line:

  Mickey: "Nothing wrong with a van. I once saved the universe with a big yellow truck."

So, it's not entirely perfect, and it's not exactly a fun story, but the plot is so well-done, the characters are treated so well, the acting is so good, and there are so many interesting hooks (Parallel universe! Zeppelins! Pete alive! Crazy Jackie! Cybermen!!!) that it's basically irresistible. Happy 40th anniversary, Cybermen!