Plot
Aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor and Rose reminisce about their travels in front of Mickey, who feels left out. Suddenly the TARDIS is jolted and comes to a sudden stop. The Doctor tells them they have fallen out of the time vortex and that the TARDIS is dead. The Doctor fears they are trapped in the Void, but Mickey opens the TARDIS doors to see that they are in London. Heading outside to look, they quickly realize that they are in London on a parallel Earth. The Doctor finds a small power cell in the TARDIS that still works, and he energizes it with some of his own lifeforce. The cell needs time to recharge, so they decide to explore the alternate world. Rose is shocked to see a billboard with her father's picture on it, and the Doctor warns her not to seek him out because he is not her real father. Mickey decides to head off on his own and try to find his grandmother, who died in his universe. The Doctor and Rose discover that most of the population of London wear EarPod devices that feed information directly into the wearer's brain.
Meanwhile the president of Cybus Industries, John Lumic, tries and fails to gain approval from the president for his plan to upgrade humanity by placing their brains into a metal exoskeleton. Lumic calls Pete Tyler and tells him that he will be attending a party that Pete is having that evening for his wife, Jackie. Unbeknownst to everyone else, Lumic has already been secretly conducting his experiments anyway, using homeless people and turning them into cyborgs. Cybus is being investigated by a group called the Preachers, who have been receiving information secretly from Pete Tyler about Lumic's technology. Jake Simmonds, one of the Preachers, witnesses a group of homeless people being taken to be converted and goes to collect help. Jake finds Mickey at his grandmother's house, and confuses him with his parallel counterpart Rickey. Jake takes Mickey to the Preacher's base where Ricky and Mickey meet. After some initial distrust, Mickey decides to join them as they plan to raid Pete's party that night.
Rose and the Doctor also decide to investigate the party and don servant garb to disguise themselves. The Doctor and Rose learn that Pete and Jackie are childless and about to divorce, and when Rose attempts to discuss it with Jackie she is rebuked for overstepping her bounds. Suddenly the party is interrupted by the Cybermen, who smash into the house and surround the guests. Lumic calls the President, who is in attendance, and tells him that he is moving forward with his plans and that all of humanity will be upgraded. Lumic tells everyone that upgrading is cumpulsory and that anyone who refuses will be deleted. The President refuses to be upgraded and is killed by a Cyberman. The partygoers panic and try to flee, and the Cybermen begin killing them. The Doctor, Rose, and Pete escape the house and encounter Mickey and the Preachers outside. They try firing upon the advancing Cybermen with automatic rifles, but their bullets do no damage and soon they are surrounded. The Doctor tells everyone to surrender and tells the Cybermen that they are volunteering for the upgrade. The Cybermen tell them that they are incompatible and will be deleted. The episode ends with the Cybermen advancing on them.
Read more about this topic: Rise Of The Cybermen
Famous quotes containing the word plot:
“After I discovered the real life of mothers bore little resemblance to the plot outlined in most of the books and articles I’d read, I started relying on the expert advice of other mothers—especially those with sons a few years older than mine. This great body of knowledge is essentially an oral history, because anyone engaged in motherhood on a daily basis has no time to write an advice book about it.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“But, when to Sin our byast Nature leans,
The careful Devil is still at hand with means;
And providently Pimps for ill desires:
The Good Old Cause, reviv’d, a Plot requires,
Plots, true or false, are necessary things,
To raise up Common-wealths and ruine Kings.”
—John Dryden (1631–1700)
“If you need a certain vitality you can only supply it yourself, or there comes a point, anyway, when no one’s actions but your own seem dramatically convincing and justifiable in the plot that the number of your days concocts.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)