Cyberman

The Cybermen are a fictional race of cyborgs who are amongst the most persistent enemies of the Doctor in the British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. They were created by Dr. Kit Pedler, the unofficial scientific advisor to the programme in 1966, first appearing in the serial, The Tenth Planet, the last to feature William Hartnell as the Doctor. They have since made numerous reappearances in their bid for world or galactic conquest.

The race originated on the planet Mondas, Earth's twin planet in prehistoric times, which was knocked out of solar orbit and drifted into deep space. The Mondasians, fearful for their race's survival, sent out spacecraft to colonise other worlds, including Telos. On Mondas, the native inhabitants installed a drive propulsion system in place of the planet's core.

Cybermen were originally a wholly organic species of humanoids that began to implant more and more cybernetic parts into their bodies. This led to the race becoming coldly logical and calculating. Emotions were only shown when naked aggression was called for.

As the original race was limited in numbers and were continually being depleted, the Cybermen became a race of conquerors who reproduced by taking other organic beings and forcibily changing them into Cybermen (a process known as cyber-conversion). The origins of the Cybermen were further elaborated on in the Big Finish Productions audio adventure, Spare Parts, starring Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor.

Their major weakness is the element gold. Initially, it was explained that due to its non-corrodable nature, gold essentially chokes their respiratory systems. For example, the glittergun, a weapon used during the Cyber Wars in the future fired gold dust at its targets. However, in later serials, gold appeared to affect them rather like silver affects werewolves, with gold coins or gold-tipped bullets fired at them having the same effect. Other weaknesses include solvents and excessive levels of radiation.

The Cybermen also used small cybernetic rodent-like creatures called Cybermats as weapons of attack. Cybermats have been used as individual attack units and as carriers of plagues. Cybermen are typically creditted as Cyber Leader, Cyber Lieutenant, and Cyber Scout. However, one Cyberman exists with a name, the Cyber Controller. The Cyber Controller has appeared in multiple forms, both humanoid and as an immobile computer. The Controller seen (and destroyed) in various serials may or may not be the same consciousness in different receptacles.

In many ways, the Cybermen can be seen as a slightly more individualistic forerunner of Star Trek's major enemy, The Borg. Similarities in speech include:

• Cyber-conversion = Assimilation, and
• Resistance is Useless = Resistance is Futile.

The voices of the late period Cybermen and the Borg are also similar.

Cyberman Appearance

The costumes worn by the Cybermen acted almost as a guide to prevailing fashion at the time of transmission. They were always silver in colour and included material as cloth, rubber, PVC, chest units, tubing and cricketers' gloves. Unlike the Doctor's other foes, the Cybermen have changed substantially in appearance over the years, looking more and more modern, although retaining certain commonalities of design.

The book "Cybermen" by The Invasion, featuring Patrick Troughton as The Second Doctor.

• Later Cyber Faction - from the story The Moonbase, featuring Patrick Troughton as The Second Doctor.
• Late Cyber Faction - from the story The Wheel in Space, featuring Patrick Troughton as The Second Doctor.

The Cyber Faction was described as being a group of Mondasians who sought complete cyber-conversion, as opposed to simply replacing worn out parts as the majority did. So, as Mondas passed "Planet 14" in the Sol system, they transferred there from Mondas to begin their own culture. The Early Cyber Faction retained a "humanoid" form, with five-fingered hands, but as less and less organic material remained to be stimulated, a less humanoid version, with only three fingers, evolved.

Cyber Telosian: These were identical to the Later Cyber Faction, and appeared in the Second Doctor serial The Tomb of the Cybermen. The Cyber Telosians came about when the Later Cyber Faction split in two groups; one which remained in the Sol system while the other went out to explore the Universe. Low on energy, this group landed on the planet Telos, removed the Fourth Doctor serial, Revenge of the Cybermen. The Early Cyber Faction split in the same way as the Later Cyber Faction, with one group leaving the Sol system. They became nomadic, existing in their spacecraft instead of colonizing a new homeworld, and explains the similarities in appearance between the Cyber Nomad and the Early Cyber Faction.

Cyber Neomorph: These evolved from the amalgamation of the Cyber Telosians with a group of Cyber Nomads, and appeared in the serials Earthshock, Attack of the Cybermen and Silver Nemesis, featuring Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy as The Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors, respectively. The Cyber Telosians, still entombed on Telos, were discovered by a group of Cyber Nomads. The two factions combined, and rebuilt themselves into an form that combined the best parts of both designs, producing the ultimate Cyberman.

Early Cybermen voices sounded alien by putTING the INflecTION IN the wrong PLACES (sic). Later the BBC used special effects from its Radiophonic Workshop by adding an Electropharynx, then a vocoder, to modify speech to make it sound more alien.

In more recent years, since the TV show's cancellation the Cybermen have appeared four times in full cast audio productions by Big Finish Productions.