We are only interested in survival.
Anything else is of no importance.
It is often felt that of all of the alien races that Doctor Who has come into contact with, the most terrifying is the Dalek - unstoppable in its desire to destroy all other forms of life. However, it is perhaps the Cybermen that should be the true face of fear - an emotionless race intent on enslaving all others to ensure their own survival.
Cybermen were originally humanoids that began to implant more and more artificial parts into their bodies in order to increase their efficiency so they could live on after their home-world was destroyed. Although the Cybermen seem to be devoid of emotion, they have often exhibited anger, fear and even sympathy.
Often in the series, a parallel has been drawn between Daleks and Nazis, both intent on racial purity and the establishment of themselves as a supreme power. But if the Daleks are Nazis, then the Cybermen can be viewed as communists: their mission statement is to make everyone the same, to remove individuality and to work towards the collective goal of their race - survival at all costs.
You will become like us.
Origins of the Cybermen
The Cybermen originated on the planet Mondas - Earth's twin-planet in prehistoric times - which was knocked out of its orbit. As the planet moved further away from the Sun, the Mondasians grew fearful for their survival and began to replace their body parts - internal organs, limbs, even their flesh - until what was left was neither man nor machine: Cyberman.
Eventually, they began to look further afield for spare parts. In doing so they became tyrannical, destroying other alien races and civilisations purely so their own would flourish - including Telos, which they then used to house vast tombs where they could take refuge in suspended animation after their own home-world Mondas was destroyed during an attack on Earth.
Before the destruction of Mondas however, advances in technology enabled the planet itself to be transformed into a gigantic living spacecraft and as the original race declined due to the continued cybernetic alterations into Cybermen, the Mondasians slowly and surely began to take over other worlds and transforming the inhabitants into Cybermen, boosting their own failing numbers. These actions forced the galaxy to take note, and the Cybermen soon became of interest to one renegade from the planet Gallifrey known as 'the Doctor'.
A Different Beginning
You are not compatible. You will be deleted.
In a parallel universe, the Cybermen were in fact human beings kidnapped and transformed into metal cyborgs by industrialist John Lumic and his Cybus Corporation, who was terminally ill and became obsessed with the idea of 'upgrading' his weak body. His research led to the development of the Cybermen - 'Mankind.2' - which became Lumic's army of unfeeling steel warriors that he used to help him take over the world. The Doctor became involved after his Tardis1 brought him and his companions to the alternate reality, and, discovering the plot, he stopped Lumic and his new creations - but not for long.
Evolution
With a blank face-plate, 'two-handled teapot' head with flashing light, excessive use of silver-metal and tubes and wires, the Cybermen are both humanoid, but obviously devoid of humanity. They should be the most terrifying of the Doctor's enemies, because unlike the Daleks, they have super-strength, near invulnerability and are able to walk up stairs fairly quickly!
Makes and Models
There are also various types of Cyberman, taking on different duties, much like the command structure of an army:
- Cyber Leader – The 'general' of Cyberman forces, distinguishable by black markings on the handlebars or the helmet on the cybersuit, he retains some sense of humanity (such as use of the word 'excellent' to indicate satisfaction of a job well done) in order to have the creative thinking necessary to overcome complex problems: such as the Doctor throwing a spanner in the works.
- Cyber Lieutenant - The field commander, the Cyber Lieutenant has also retained some imagination (such as suspicion that 'aliens are not to be trusted'), thus able to respond to and create different and direct his troops on the battlefield.
- Cyber Scout - A smaller class of Cyberman used for quick and dispensable reconnaissance.
- Stealth Cybermen - Similar in design to the average Cyberman, this model is painted black to hide in shadows, a useful unit to have around when patrolling sewers.
- Cyber Controller - The leader of the Cybermen, present at the opening of the Tombs of Telos. Taller and more biological than other Cybermen, with a noticeably larger head lacking pipes and 'teapot-handles', the Cyber Controller needs to be charged otherwise he dies. In an alternate universe, dying businessman John Lumic becomes the Cyber Controller - identifiable by the transparent plate that shows his exposed brain nestled into the helmet of his suit. This Cyber Controller retains human emotion and is not installed with the inhibitor that protects normal Cybermen from emotions such as panic and disgust at their hideous form.
- Cyber Planner/Director - Not a Cyberman in the truest sense, this is perhaps more correctly a biological computer encased within a metal sphere. It is not known whether the Cyber Planner was once a human that took efficiency to the greatest level to become a 'living' computer, or a particularly gruesome variety of artificial intelligence. The Cyber Planner led the invasion of London and an attack on the 'Space Wheel' station on the outer reaches of the Solar System
Weapons
Cybermen have developed their weaponry over time. Originally, they equipped themselves with a large gun on their chest and could utilise an electronic pulse weapon from their heads. Combined with a pistol – an X-Ray laser much like that of the Daleks, they were indeed a formidable foe. Cybermen could also use their electronic discharge to not only kill adversaries by touch, but also to operate machinery. They later developed a more powerful pulse rifle for medium distance combat. Some models even fitted blasters into their helmets to free up their hands, and make for easier aiming and firing by simply moving the head instead of the whole body – which was often slow and cumbersome.
No self-respecting intergalactic traveller bent on domination of the galaxy would be complete without their own weapons of mass destruction too. So the Cybermen also developed 'Z'-bombs - banned by the galactic Armageddon Convention - which were supposedly powerful enough to destroy life on any planet. However, for the most part and because of their somewhat limited numbers, Cybermen often worked from behind the scenes and used other beings or even androids to carry out their dirty work, only making themselves known to inflict a coup-de-grace.
Cybermats
The Cybermen also utilise smaller, cybernetic creatures called 'Cybermats' as weapons or for reconnaissance purposes. There were various models, the most common being:
- Mk I - Resembling a giant metal silverfish, the original cybermat had segmented bodies with sensor fronds along the base of their bodies. Their 'heads' were topped with crystalline eyes.
- Mk II - Used principally for sabotage, these cybermats were able to tune in on human brainwaves. They had stronger armour and solid photoreceptors for eyes that could emit a deadly wave of light that meant they were more difficult to dispose of than the Mk I.
- Mk III - A much larger, snake-like cybermat that could be remotely controlled, it had the ability to inject poison into enemies. It had no visible eyes or other features, and was vulnerable to gold dust.
The Cybermats were, as far as can be told2, cybernetically-augmented creatures which the people of Mondas kept as home-helpers before the advent of Cybermen - and cybermats of a slightly different design are used for surveillance by the Mondas Central Committee. The creatures could occasionally go wild however, chewing on power sources, and needed to be rounded up by a 'mat-catcher'.
Weaknesses
It is quite useless to resist us.
Cybermen have a number of major weaknesses, the most notable of which is gold. Gold dust can block the respiratory system of the Cyberman - effectively suffocating him in his suit, so to defeat the Cybermen the 'glittergun' was developed, thanks to the people of Voga, the legendary planet of gold. Used during the Cyber-Wars, the glittergun fired gold dust and proved to be a great way of disposing of Cybermen.
Gold became to the Cyberman as silver was to a werewolf, and anything (including arrows or even coins) made from gold could defeat the almost unstoppable creatures. It is also worth noting, however, that while Cybermen were seemingly immune to normal ballistics3 they tended to come unstuck when fired at by their own weapons.
Early models of the Cyberman were vulnerable to solvents that could melt their plastic tubing and artificial internal organs. Another minor weakness was the built-in response to emergency calls from a Cyberman in distress. Though how an emotionless being can express distress has never been adequately explained.
A Changing Design
Over time, the look of the Cyberman has changed. The first Cybermen seen on screen originated in part from the script for 'The Tenth Planet' and from the mind of costume designer Sandra Reid. These primitive Cybermen, from the planet Mondas, had faces made of cloth, like stretched bandage, with eyeholes that revealed the startled, bulging eyes of the horrific being within. Their bodies were covered in a plastic skin, though their hands were still visibly flesh. When they spoke, their mouths would open and form an 'O' shape as the electronic voice was broadcast, then close when the Cyberman had finished speaking. Their chest units, which replaced human internal organs, were like large accordions, while their heads contained a huge lamp fitted to the top of their skulls.
The cloth-faced Cybermen are believed to have all been wiped out when Mondas was destroyed. But metallic, armoured Cybermen have been seen since, originating from the colonised world of Telos. There have been many changes in armour (from silver-painted wetsuits through to 'G'-suits similar to those worn by RAF pilots), weaponary and face-plates (sometimes completely blank with pinhole eyes, teardrop oil-inlets and a small mouth, to a semi-transparent face-shield with vaguely human features just visible underneath). One thing has remained - those distinctive 'handlebar' head attachments.
The Cybermen that originated from the experiments of John Lumic offered a possible explanation for these handlebars - they were an upgrade of the kind of 'earpods' worn by humans to take advantage of 'Bluetooth' technology.
It is perhaps their voices that make the Cybermen so eerie though. Or perhaps the spookiness stems from the fact that modern voice synthesisers sound just like Cybermen! Imagine, if you will, a seven-feet-tall figure encased in metal, calmly telling you as he points his laser rifle at you in a tinny electronic voice:
We must be obeyed.
The Cybermen from Mondas had curious voices that sounded like each word had been spliced together from separate conversations, their voices rising and falling in a tone completely separate to the context of their sentences. Later Cybermen had purely electronic voices that sounded like vibrophone machines given to people who have lost their voices due to throat cancer. Difficult to understand, these voices underlined just how removed from humanity these Cybermen had become; they were not built to converse, merely to convert. As Cyber designs became more ornate, so their speech patterns changed too; the Cyberleader who led the assault on a freighter heading for Earth was positively chatty.
The Cybermen have many similarities to the 'Borg', as seen in the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series. Both have the modus operandi of converting their victims into their own race, and using catchphrases that epitomise their apparent superiority to their enemies.
Story Guide
Below is a description of the Doctor Who stories that feature the Cybermen.
'The Tenth Planet'
It's 1986, and the Tardis brings the Doctor and his friends to a base at the South Pole during a security alert. A planet terrifyingly similar to our own has been drawn into the Earth's orbit. The Doctor identifies it as the planet Mondas, one-time twin planet to Earth before a disaster knocked it out of orbit and sent it to the outer reaches of the Solar System. Its inhabitants survived by replacing their body parts with cybernetics until they had evolved into a frightening parody of the human form. They became a new race - the Cybermen. Now, Mondas has returned home to drain the Earth of its resources. The Doctor knows he must defeat the invaders. He also knows his old body is wearing thin and his life has come to an end... Or is it just a new beginning?
'The Moonbase'
By the year 2070, mankind has established a base on the moon to house the gravitron, a machine that can control the Earth's weather. A mysterious plague and a spate of disappearances have left the base in a state of panic. When the Doctor promises to help find the cause of the plague, he has no idea that his investigation will lead him to a race he'd believed long-dead. The Cybermen are determined to survive, whatever the cost.
'The Tomb of the Cybermen'
A group of archaeologists have come to the planet Telos to uncover the legendary tombs of the Cybermen. Despite the Doctor's dire warnings, the party succeed in reviving the silver giants only to discover that the tomb is in fact an elaborate trap...
'The Wheel in Space'
After saying goodbye to Victoria, the Doctor and Jamie learn that a vital fluid link that powers the Tardis is empty. They make an emergency landing aboard an abandoned spacecraft near to a wheel-shaped space station. There they meet a genius astrophysicist called Zoe and discover another plot by the Cybermen to gain a stronghold in the Solar System...
'The Invasion'
The mid-1970s and International Electromatics has flooded the market with cheap, mass-produced electronic equipment, from telephones to radios. Suspicious goings on at IE's headquarters - and specifically the movements of the company's head man, Tobias Vaughn - has drawn the attention of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, headed by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. Vaughn has been assisting an alien force with their invasion plans in return for promises of power. Vaughn has also aroused the suspicions of the Doctor, but even he is surprised when he discovers that Vaughn's allies are the Cybermen - and that a huge army of the silver giants is already in London, waiting for the signal to emerge from the sewers and take over.
'Revenge of the Cybermen'
The Tardis crew finally arrive back on Nerva Station, but at a point in history thousands of years before they left. At this point in time, Nerva is acting like a space lighthouse, warning starships away from a new asteroid that's arrived in the solar system near to Jupiter. However, the asteroid isn't actually an asteroid - it's the remains of Voga, the fabled planet of gold, destroyed by the Cybermen during the last great Cyberwar. Now, the last surviving Cybermen want to finish the job...
'Earthshock'
In the year 2526, a group of palaeontologists go missing while exploring some caves. When a military team is called in to investigate, they discover the Doctor and his friends very near to some mutilated bodies. Before the Tardis crew can explain their presence, the party is attacked by two blank-faced androids guarding a hugely powerful bomb. While the troopers destroy the androids, the Doctor defuses the bomb and follows its operating signal to a space freighter currently approaching Earth. Taking some of the troopers with him, the Doctor lands the Tardis inside the freighter and begins to explore the hundreds of silos - unaware that each one contains the sleeping form of a Cyberman.
'The Five Doctors'
Someone has been using outlawed technology to scoop the Doctor's past selves and old friends and enemies from time. They find themselves brought to an area on Gallifrey known as the Death Zone - a barren wilderness where one false move can result in instant death but perseverance can lead to immortality. At the heart of the Death Zone lies the Tower of Rassilon, the tomb of the first and greatest of the Time Lords. The legends are uncertain as to whether he is in fact dead. Could Rassilon be behind the appearance of various Doctors across the Death Zone? If so, what is his purpose?
'Attack of the Cybermen'
An exploration of the sewers of London draws the Doctor and Peri into the clutches of the Cybermen. Forcing the Doctor to take them back to their adopted home, Telos, the Cybermen hope to use Halley's Comet as a weapon to destroy Earth and prevent the demise of their original home planet, Mondas. The indigenous inhabitants of Telos, the Cryons, are just as keen to see that the Cybermen do not succeed...
'Silver Nemesis'
The Nemesis statue is fashioned from living metal, one of the relics of ancient Gallifrey. Trapped inside a meteor, it orbits the planet Earth in 25-year cycles. In 1988, the meteor is due to land on Earth and various parties await its return: Lady Peinforte, a time-travelling witch; De Flores, a former Nazi intent on using the statue to help him establish the Third Reich; the Cybermen, whose space fleet lies on the dark side of Earth's moon; and the Doctor, who until recently had forgotten all about Nemesis.
'Rise of the Cybermen'/'The Age of Steel'
The Doctor, Rose and Mickey crash-land an almost lifeless Tardis onto 21st-Century London, but something is not right. An alternative reality in a parallel universe, the world is a different place. Information is downloaded to the masses, and there only a few who oppose the Cybus Corporation, run by John Lumic. Lumic has bought out all other world companies for a more sinister purpose than a mere business take-over. Literally hundreds of thousands of people are going missing - and Cybus Industries has it fingerprints all over the crime. The Doctor and his companions have their work cut out for them when an old adversary appears in a new deadly form.
'Army of Ghosts'/'Doomsday'
The Doctor returns to 21st Century London with Rose, only to discover that ghosts are seeping through into reality. The Doctor hunts down the reason behind the ghosts, only to come under scrutiny from a secret organisation known as 'Torchwood'. Within the Torchwood offices, something is helping the 'ghosts' through to Earth, and with the aid of Rose and Jackie Tyler, the Doctor discovers just a little too late that the Cybermen from the alternate reality have found a way to invade this world - and they are not alone. The Doctor soon finds himself in a pitched battle for two Earths, caught between the invading Cybermen - and Daleks!
Torchwood4: 'Cyberwoman'
Ianto Jones, part of the Torchwood Institute led by Captain Jack Harkness, hides a terrible secret from his colleagues. In the basement of the Torchwood building in Cardiff is a working cyber-converter. Before long the team discovers the machine, but not before it begins an upgrade. Captain Jack and the gang must disable both the machine and its formidable creation before too much damage is done.
'The Next Doctor'
The Doctor finds himself transported to Victorian London, during the Christmas of 1851. He meets up with a strange fellow calling himself the Doctor, who is complete with a companion named Rosita, his own Tardis and even a sonic screwdriver! Confused, the real Doctor soon gets to the bottom of things, finding himself face-to-metal head with his old adversaries, the Cybermen. Having used Dalek technology to escape the Void they are intent on their Cyber King becoming ruler of Earth, with a little help from a human - one Miss Mercy Hartigan.
Writing Credits
The Cybermen were the creation of Dr Kit Pedler, who became the unofficial scientific advisor for the series until the late 1970s. On being given simple ideas by some of the other minds behind Doctor Who, such as Gerry Davis, he was able to follow the process through and came up with many of the stories involving the Cybermen. Pedler once told Davis that as a medical researcher one of his greatest fears was the dehumanistaion of people - that is the implementation of surgery to replace body parts, but not for life-giving necessity, just cosmetic. From this fear came the concept of the Cybermen for 'The Tenth Planet' in 1966.
After Pedler moved away from Doctor Who, Gerry Davis continued with the writing duties for the Cybermen stories, then long-term writer for the series Eric Seward, and even producer Terrance Dicks put pen to paper and wrote some of the scripts during the 1980s. In 1988, Kevin Clarke wrote the final Cyberman story before the series was axed. Then in 2006, the Cybermen were given new life by TV series No Angels and Sky High writer Tom MacRae, who re-invented the terrifying villains for the 21st Century. MacRae's Cybermen, from a parallel universe, reintroduced the characters but it would be new head of production Russell T Davies that ensured the Cybermen would terrorise the Doctor in new and frightening ways.
TV Episode Checklist
Bit Parts
- 'The War Games' (1969) A Cyberman is briefly seen on the screen during the final episode of the storyline. The Cyberman was played, uncredited, by Roy Pearce.
- 'Carnival of Monsters' (1973) A Cyberman can be glimpsed on the screen of the miniscope during Episode 2. The Cyberman was played by Terence Denville.
- 'Dimensions in Time' (1993) A Cyberman makes up part of the Rani's menagerie in this Children in Need Special.
- 'Dalek' (2005) A Cyberman head can be glimpsed in the pre-credits sequence, and is mentioned by the Doctor himself.
On the Internet
- 'Real Time' (2002) A BBC Webcast - broadcast over the Internet with animated graphics, and written by Gary Russell5.
Audio Adventures
Released by Big Finish Productions:
- 'Sword of Orion' (2001) Written by Nicholas Briggs.
- 'Spare Parts' (2002) Written by Marc Platt.
- 'The Harvest' (2004) Written by Dan Abnett.
- 'Cyberman 1.1 - Scorpius' (2005) Written by Nicholas Briggs.
- 'Cyberman 1.2 - Fear' (2005) Written by Nicholas Briggs.
- 'Cyberman 1.3 - Conversion' (2005) Written by Nicholas Briggs.
- 'Cyberman 1.4 - Telos' (2005) Written by Nicholas Briggs.
1 A time-space ship that allows him to cross dimensions and explore the universe at any point in history.
2 At least in the Big Finish audio stories.
3 Although a good shot with a pistol can stop a Cyberman in his tracks.
4 A spin-off series from Doctor Who focusing on the exploits of Captain Jack Harkness and a small team of experts in alien artefacts.
5 Needs RealPlayer to view.
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