Cult Spy: Moon Based - Doctor Who's lunar journeys

The imaginative world of Doctor Who throws up many interesting sights, none more so than seeing your bog standard NHS hospital transplanted onto the moon's surface. But as we'll find out, this isn't the show's first encounter with our lunar neighbour...Having visited many far flung planets since embarking on his adventures in 1963, Doctor Who viewers had to wait until 1967 before the Time Lord, by now in his second incarnation, set foot on the moon. Cash was always tight on the show, so perhaps they didn't have enough prop cheese to go round until then.Set in the year 2070, 'The Moonbase' revolved around the Cybermen's attempts to infiltrate a human construction on the lunar surface that controlled the Earth's weather. Their dastardly plan was ultimately foiled and the fiendish monsters quickly understood the gravity of the situation when they were propelled off the moon's surface into the wildnerness of space.A brief moon-related foray occured at the start of the 1968 adventure 'The Invasion' - again involving the Cybermen - as the Tardis materialised on the dark side of the planet only to be greeted with a missile attack from a Cyber spaceship. The Doctor made a swift escape to the more familiar territory of Earth and who can blame him? Alas, the Cybermen were already there and waiting for him in the glamorous setting of the sewers.The Patrick Troughton Doctor couldn't stay away from the moon for long, as he was back in 'The Seeds of Death' the following year. This was quite a savvy move from the show, capitalising on the increased public interest resulting from the race to put the first man on the moon in the late 1960s.Ice Warriors were the lunar-based foe on this occasion, decamping from their home of Mars to take control of a 21st Century base in order to relay deadly seed pods to the Earth using a matter transmission device. The plan didn't quite come together though, with The Doctor turning up the heat a little too much for the Martians' liking. Following a regeneration, Jon Pertwee's portrayal of the anti-establishment Gallifreyan made a return to familiar stomping ground in 1973's 'Frontier In Space'. However, his visit was not by choice as he was dispatched there to serve time on a 26th Century penal colony due to false accusations of crimes against the Earth. It took The Master of all people to bail him out.The fourth Doctor, played by the immortal Tom Baker, did make a solitary attempt to take companions Harry and Sarah Jane on a trip to the moon, but sadly the Tardis let them down. They were taken instead to 'The Ark In Space'. Never mind, there was plenty of bubble-wrap festooned monsters on board to help them forget their planned expedition.What is with with these Cybermen and the moon? Yet again the silvery giants used the place as part of their plans in the 1988 story 'Silver Nemesis', using the place to shroud their fleet of cyber-warships poised to attack the Earth. Unsurprisingly they were quickly wiped out. Do they never learn? We advise going for Jupiter, or maybe Saturn, next time chaps.The latest incarnation of The Doctor heads to the moon, albeit not through choice, shortly after meeting Martha Jones in the opening episode of the new series. This might be the first time we see him in those surroundings, but he should know the full effect of the celestial satellite from the previous year's dealings with a rampaging werewolf in 'Tooth and Claw'...