Cyberman
The Cybermen are a fictional race of cyborgs principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. The Cybermen are a species of space-faring cyborgs who often forcefully and painfully convert human beings into more Cybermen in order to populate their ranks while also removing their emotions and personalities. They were conceived by writer Kit Pedler and story editor Gerry Davis, and first appeared in the 1966 Doctor Who serial The Tenth Planet.
The Cybermen have seen many redesigns and costume changes over Doctor Whos long run, as well as a number of varying origin stories. In their first appearance, The Tenth Planet, they are humans from Earth's nearly identical "twin planet" of Mondas who upgraded themselves into cyborgs in a bid for self-preservation. Forty years later, the two-part story, "Rise of the Cybermen" and "The Age of Steel", depicted Cybermen invented again in a parallel universe London as a business corporation's attempt at upgrading humanity. Doctor Who audio dramas, novels, and comic books have also elaborated on existing origin stories or presented alternatives. The 2017 episode, "The Doctor Falls", explains the different origins as parallel evolution, due to the inevitability of humans and human-like species upgrading themselves through technology; this perspective resolves continuity differences in the Cybermen's history.
A mainstay of Doctor Who since the 1960s, the Cybermen have also appeared in related programmes and spin-off media, including novels, audiobooks, comic books, and video games. Cybermen stories were produced in officially licensed Doctor Who products between 1989 and 2005, when the TV show was off the air, with writers either filling historical gaps or depicting new encounters between them and the Doctor. The species also appeared in the Doctor Who TV spin-off, Torchwood, appearing in the fourth episode, "Cyberwoman".
Creation
The name "Cyberman" comes from cybernetics, a term used in Norbert Wiener's book Cybernetics or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine. Wiener used the term in reference to the control of complex systems, particularly self-regulating control systems, in the animal world and in mechanical networks. By 1960, doctors were researching surgical or mechanical augmentation of humans and animals to operate machinery in space, leading to the portmanteau "cyborg", for "cybernetic organism".In the 1960s, "spare-part" surgery began with the development of gigantic heart-lung machines. Public discussion included the possibility of wiring amputees' nerve endings directly into machines. In 1963, Kit Pedler discussed with his wife what would happen if a person had so many prostheses that they could no longer distinguish themselves between man and machine. He got the opportunity to develop this idea when, in 1966, after an appearance on the BBC science programmes Tomorrow's World and Horizon, the BBC hired him to consult on the Doctor Who serial The War Machines. That eventually led to him writing, with Gerry Davis, The Tenth Planet for Doctor Who.
Pedler, influenced by the logic-driven Treens from the Dan Dare comic strip, originally envisaged the Cybermen as "space monks", but was persuaded by Davis to concentrate on his fears about the direction of spare-part surgery. The Cybermen were originally imagined as human but with plastic and metal prostheses. The Cybermen of The Tenth Planet still have human hands, and their facial structures are visible beneath the masks they wear, but over time they evolved into metallic, more fully mechanized designs.
A variety of specialized forms of Cybermen have been shown, in particular Cyber Leaders and Cyber Controllers, with power to command other Cybermen.
Appearances
Television
Classic series (1963–1996)
The Cybermen first appear in the serial The Tenth Planet in 1966, set in 1986. This story explains how, millions of years ago, Earth had a twin planet known as Mondas that was knocked out of solar orbit and drifted into deep space. The Mondasians, already far in advance of Earth's technology and fearful for their race's survival, replaced most of their bodies with cybernetic parts. Having eventually removed all emotion from their brains, the natives installed a drive propulsion system to pilot the planet itself through space. As the original race was limited in numbers and were continually being depleted, the Mondasians – now Cybermen – became a race of conquerors who reproduced by forcibly changing other organic beings into Cybermen. The First Doctor opposes these Cybermen when they attempt to drain the Earth's energy to make way for Mondas' return to the Solar System; in this encounter, Mondas absorbs too much energy from Earth, destroying it and all Cybermen on Earth. The adventure takes its physical toll on the Doctor, forcing him to regenerate for the first time, becoming the Second Doctor.The Cybermen next appeared later in the same television season in The Moonbase opposite the Second Doctor. In 2070, the Cybermen attempt to remotely destroy the Earth by affecting its weather patterns with a device called the Gravitron. However, the Gravitron is used against them, hurling them into space. In the following season, The Tomb of the Cybermen saw a 25th Century human expedition discover sarcophagi containing hibernating Cybermen on the planet Telos, where the creatures arise and attack. This episode introduced the cybermats, small mechanical scouts used by the Cybermen, as well as the Cyber Controller. In The Wheel in Space, the Doctor and his crew face off against the Cybermen on a marooned Earth space station in the 21st century. This episode introduces the Cyber-Planner, an immobile unit which directs the Cybermen. The Cybermen plan to take over the space station, after which their fleet will invade Earth. The Doctor uses an x-ray laser to destroy the Cybermen. In the next season, The Invasion has the Doctor and his companions visit late 20th century England, where he discovers an army of Cybermen are hidden on Earth and working with magnate Tobias Vaughn to invade Earth. Their invasion is defeated by the Doctor and the military support of the newly formed United Nations Intelligence Taskforce.
The Cybermen did not face the Third Doctor during his era, but one is shown as part of an exhibit in Carnival of Monsters. The Third Doctor would however face Cybermen in the 20th anniversary special "The Five Doctors".
The Fourth Doctor is next to encounter a group of Cybermen in Revenge of the Cybermen. These Cybermen are depicted as the wandering remnants of a fallen empire, ravaged by the so-called Cyber-Wars against victorious humanity, which had exploited the Cybermen's weakness to gold. These Cybermen attempt to restore the glory of their race by destroying the gold-rich asteroid Voga.
Cybermen were not seen again until Earthshock, in which the Fifth Doctor encounters Cybermen in Earth in the year 2526. The Cybermen plan to destroy the planet with a large bomb while alien dignitaries visit Earth to discuss the ongoing Cyber-Wars. After the Doctor foils this plan, they decide to crash their freighter into the planet to achieve the same result. The freighter is hurled back in time, however, and the Doctor's companion, boy genius Adric, is trapped on board as the freighter crashes into prehistoric Earth, killing Adric and triggering the K-T extinction event. The Cybermen appear once more in the Fifth Doctor's era, alongside the four previous Doctors, in "The Five Doctors", when they are transported to the Doctor's home planet of Gallifrey by the Time Lord President Borusa.
Attack of the Cybermen is set after Tomb. The Cybermen attempt to use a time machine to avert the destruction of Mondas by causing Halley's Comet to crash into the Earth. Their plan fails and, due to the intervention of the Sixth Doctor, they also lose their adopted homeworld of Telos to its original inhabitants, the Cryons.
The Cybermen appeared for a final time in the classic series in Silver Nemesis, in which a fleet of Cybermen warships assemble to convert Earth into a new Mondas. A Cybermen scouting party is sent to Earth in search of the legendary Nemesis statue, a Time Lord artefact of immense power, made of the "living metal" validium. The intervention of the Seventh Doctor and his companion Ace, however, ensures that the Nemesis destroys the entire cyber-fleet instead.
Between the series' cancellation and subsequent revival, the Cybermen make one brief appearance, in the 1993 Children in Need special Dimensions in Time, as one of several enemies used by evil Time Lady the Rani to hunt the Doctor.
Revived series (2005–present)
Doctor Who was revived after a long hiatus by new showrunner Russell T Davies in 2005. By then, development of CGI enabled large numbers of Cybermen or Daleks to be featured in stories. In the first series of the revived programme, the Cybermen do not appear except for the inactive head of one, which is seen in a private museum of alien artefacts on Earth in the episode "Dalek". For Series 2 in 2006, Cybermen were reintroduced with a new origin story set in a parallel universe. In the "Rise of the Cybermen" and "The Age of Steel" two-part story, the Tenth Doctor and his companions, Rose Tyler and Mickey Smith, crash land in a parallel London where the Cybermen are being created on modern-day Earth. The Cybermen are created by the owner of Cybus Industries, the dying transhumanist mad scientist John Lumic. Lumic's Cybermen successfully convert much of the world's population by placing their human brains into robotic shells. The Doctor and his friends free London from their control. A human resistance group, the Preachers, then sets about to clean up the remainder of Lumic's factories around the world. The Cybermen reappear in the 2006 two-part finale "Army of Ghosts" and "Doomsday", exploiting a breach between universes to invade the Doctor's Earth. This breach is caused by a transport device belonging to the Daleks, who reveal themselves and trigger all-out war between the two species. The Doctor ultimately re-opens the breach, causing the Cybermen and all but a few Daleks to become trapped inside before it is re-sealed. Cybermen next appear in the 2008 Doctor Who Christmas special "The Next Doctor", emerging in 1851 London after the Daleks damaged the walls of reality in the previous episode, "Journey's End". They attempt to raise a new army on Earth using period technology, but are again foiled by the Doctor.After Steven Moffat took over the role of executive producer in 2010, Cybermen of essentially the design introduced by Davies continued to appear. No explicit reference is made to their origin, but generally the stylised 'c' on their breastplate had been replaced by a plain circle, implying that they were not from the parallel universe. They appear in "The Pandorica Opens" alongside many of the Doctor's recurring enemies as part of an alliance dedicated to stopping him, arriving in cyber ships in 102 CE. They appear again in "A Good Man Goes to War", when the Eleventh Doctor's companion Rory Williams demands the location of a secret asteroid base in a quadrant of space which they monitor in the 52nd century. The Doctor destroys a large fleet of their spaceships to indicate their seriousness. In "Closing Time", an ancient slumbering cyber ship is awakened in 2011 Colchester, and the Doctor and his friend Craig Owens work together to repel a Cyberman invasion. This episode also reintroduces cybermats to the series. Neil Gaiman's episode "Nightmare in Silver" depicts the re-emergence of the Cybermen in the distant future, following what was believed to be their complete eradication by humankind. These redesigned Cybermen have discarded many of their limitations, exhibiting increased speed, rapid upgrading to overcome weaknesses, and the ability to convert any biological organism into their ranks. The Eleventh Doctor undergoes a partial cyber-conversion, and mentally duels with a Cyber-Planner for control of his body. The emperor of the galaxy orders a planet's destruction to wipe out the Cyberman, but one intact is later seen floating through space. A dead Cyberman head is briefly shown in the UNIT Black Archive in "The Day of the Doctor", and in "The Time of the Doctor" they are among the many species which besiege the planet Trenzalore for centuries. In the latter episode, the Doctor also uses a disembodied Cyberman head, devoid of any remaining organic parts; named "Handles", he serves as the Doctor's personal assistant and confidant for several centuries until his eventual 'death' brings the Doctor to tears.
In the two-part finale of the 2014 series, "Dark Water" and "Death in Heaven", the Twelfth Doctor learns too late that the Cybermen have formed an alliance with a female incarnation of the Master, Missy, who is converting the stolen bodies of the dead into an army. A process begins on all of Earth's dead. Missy offers the Doctor control of the Cybermen army so they can rule the universe together, but her plan is foiled when Danny Pink, the cyber-converted boyfriend of the Doctor's companion Clara Oswald, resists his programming and destroys himself along with all the other Cybermen. Cybermen are next seen in "Face the Raven", among the various alien refugees hiding in London, and in series finale "Hell Bent", in which a rusted Cyberman is imprisoned in the Cloisters of Gallifrey. The origin of another group of Cybermen is told in the two-part Series 10 finale "World Enough and Time" and "The Doctor Falls", when a Mondasian colony ship is stuck escaping the gravity of a black hole for many years. The human-like Mondasians, assisted unknowingly by the Master, begin upgrading their population to adapt to life aboard the decaying ship. The Doctor reflects on all the societies that have created Cybermen and concludes that the Cybermen is an example of parallel evolution; the Cybermen will always arise and be developed on human-like species across the universe. Ultimately, this encounter with the Cybermen proves brutal: the Doctor's companion Bill Potts is ; two incarnations of the Master kill one another in a disagreement over standing alongside the Doctor; and the Doctor's companion Nardole is left behind on the ship to look after human colonists, for whom inevitable has been delayed but not averted, though the Doctor manages to destroy most of the Cybermen in a massive explosion. The Doctor, exhausted and wounded to a point of nearing death, awakens in his TARDIS and begins to regenerate. At the same time, the Bill is saved by her old flame Heather who turns her into the same sort of being Heather became after being infected by a sentient liquid.
Cybermen feature heavily in Series 12. In "Fugitive of the Judoon", experienced companion Captain Jack Harkness sends a message to the Thirteenth Doctor : "do not give the lone Cyberman what it wants". In "The Haunting of Villa Diodati", the Doctor encounters this Cyberman, the sole survivor of the Cyber-Wars, partially-converted Ashad. She ignores Jack's warning and gives him the Cyberium, the total knowledge of the defeated Cyberman empire, to save human history. This leads to Ashad rejuvenating the Cyber-Empire in season finale "Ascension of the Cybermen" and "The Timeless Children", intending to end all organic life in the universe with a "Death Particle" once he transforms the Cybermen into a purely technological race. However, the Master intervenes, promising an alliance only to swiftly betray Ashad, confiscating the Cyberium and converting the massacred Time Lord civilisation into "CyberMasters" - a new race of infinitely regenerating Cybermen. This army is seemingly defeated by a miniaturised version of the Death Particle. A Cyberman is later seen in the 2021 New Years Special "Revolution of the Daleks" as one of the Doctor's cellmates in a Judoon prison. The CyberMasters and a clone of Ashad return alongside the Master in a daring scheme alongside the Daleks to steal the Doctor's body in "The Power of the Doctor", narrowly defeated only when the Doctor's companions succeed in bringing her back to life.