Cybus Mk II
Am I missing something, or has Sci-Fi not edited the show so far this series? We’ve just seen, I believe, the longest episode of the run — so long it didn’t even have a “Next Time” trailer at the end — and I didn’t notice any missing footage. This is as compared to last spring, where if an episode ran even a few seconds over 42:00, whole scenes were snipped — usually anything that dealt with Rose and the Doctor’s relationship.
Another note: the ad breaks were generally quite well-placed in “Rise of the Cyberman”. If anything, I think the added pauses helped the episode along by adding tension in the right places and generally letting the interesting moments sink in. That cut after “Back ‘er up” was rather genius, I thought.
Still felt more like an episode of Sliders than Doctor Who. Probably the most I’ve enjoyed it, though.
I also realized for the first time that Rose’s weakness and pissiness in this episode — which I previously interpreted as being terribly out of character — might be at least partially explained by the Doctor’s recent behavior, re: Mme. Pompadour and horses and windows. Perhaps the Doctor is losing some hold on her here, especially in the face of her own flavor of temptation. Later, of course, all the other men in her life abandon her, leaving her with just the Doctor — almost like a sign, or punishment for doubting him. I guess in this light I can see where the Doctor might try to take her to see Elvis.
It’s also here, I imagine — as she realizes there’s nothing left in her life but the Doctor — that Rose latches onto him hardcore, setting up the final couple of episodes. The season’s starting to make a little more sense to me.
EDIT: Oh, they cut the “In the Jungle” scene? No wonder the episode seemed so much better than usual! It is, of course, the favorite scene of nearly every hardcore Who fan (often cited “the only good scene”). I’ve always felt it dragged the episode down, though I never realized how much. That its omission was so invisible seems to suggest, almost by definition, how gratuitous it was.