Cyberman

:This article is about the Doctor Who villains. For the movie about Steve Mann, see Cyberman (movie).

History within the show

Origins

Cybermen were originally a wholly organic species of humanoids that began to implant more and more artificial parts into their bodies. This led to the race becoming coldly logical and calculating, with emotions usually only shown when naked aggression was called for. Although the Cybermen often claim that they have done away with human emotion, they have exhibited emotions ranging from anger to smug satisfaction in their confrontations with the Doctor.

Related Topics:
Organic - Logical

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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, where they pushed the native Cryons aside and used the planet to house vast tombs where they could take refuge in suspended animation when necessary.

Related Topics:
Mondas - Earth - Telos - Suspended animation

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On Mondas, the native inhabitants installed a drive propulsion system in place of the planet's core. 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. The origins of the Cybermen were further elaborated on in the Big Finish Productions audio play, Spare Parts, starring Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, although the canonicity of the audio dramas, like other spin-off media, is unclear.

Related Topics:
Big Finish Productions - Audio play - Spare Parts - Peter Davison - Fifth Doctor - Canonicity - Spin-off

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The Earth invasions

The Cybermen's first attempt at invading Earth, around 1970, was chronicled in the 1968 serial The Invasion. The Cybermen had allied themselves with industrialist Tobias Vaughn, who installed mind control circuits in electrical appliances manufactured by his International Electromatics company, paving the way for a ground invasion. This was uncovered by the newly formed United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, who repelled the invasion with the help of the Second Doctor.

Related Topics:
1970 - 1968 - The Invasion - United Nations Intelligence Taskforce - Second Doctor

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In the 1966 serial The Tenth Planet, the First Doctor met an advance force of Cybermen that landed near an Antarctic space tracking station in the in the year 1986. This advance force was to prepare for the return of Mondas to the solar system and the draining of Earth's energy for the Cybermen's use. In the process, however, Mondas absorbed too much energy and was destroyed, as were the Cybermen on Earth.

Related Topics:
1966 - First Doctor - Antarctic - 1986 - Solar system

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In 1988 a fleet of Cyber warships was assembled to turn Earth into New Mondas now that their homeworld had been destroyed. A scouting party was sent to Earth in search of the legendary Nemesis statue, a Time Lord artifact of immense power, made of the "living metal" validium. Due to the machinations of the Seventh Doctor, however, the Nemesis destroyed the entire Cyber-fleet instead. (Silver Nemesis, 1988).

Related Topics:
Time Lord - Seventh Doctor

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In 2012, the inert head of a Cyberman was part of the Vault, a collection of alien artefacts belonging to American billionaire Henry van Statten. According to its label, it was recovered from the London sewers in 1975 and presumably came from the 1970 invasion attempt, although it is of a design only seen in the late 29th century (Dalek, 2005).

Related Topics:
2012 - Henry van Statten - London - 1975 - 29th century - Dalek - 2005

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By the mid-21st century, mankind had reached beyond its planet and set up space stations in deep space. One of these, Space Station W3, known as "The Wheel," was the site of a takeover by Cybermen who wanted to use it as a staging point for yet another invasion of Earth. The Second Doctor and his companions prevented this in The Wheel in Space (1968).

Related Topics:
21st century - Space stations - Second Doctor - The Wheel in Space

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The Cybermen returned in The Moonbase (1967). By the year 2070, Earth's weather was bring controlled by the Gravitron installation on the Moon. The Cybermen planned to use the Gravitron to disrupt the planet's weather patterns and destroy all life on it, eliminating a threat to their survival. This attempt was also stopped by the Second Doctor.

Related Topics:
The Moonbase - 2070 - Moon

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The Cyber-Wars

Five centuries after the destruction of Mondas, the Cybermen had all but passed into legend when an archeological expedition to the planet Telos uncovered their resting place in The Tomb of the Cybermen (1967). However, those Cybermen were not dead but merely in hibernation, and were briefly revived before the Second Doctor returned them to their eternal sleep.

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This was short-lived, however. By the beginning of the 26th century, the Cybermen were back in force, and the galactic situation was grave enough that Earth hosted a conference in 2526 that would unite the forces of several planets in a war against the Cybermen. A force of Cybermen tried to disrupt this conference, first by trying to infiltrate Earth in a freighter and when that was discovered by the Fifth Doctor, to crash the freighter into Earth and cause an ecological disaster. Although the attempt failed, the freighter was catapulted back in time to become the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs (Earthshock, 1982).

Related Topics:
26th century - Fifth Doctor - Meteor - Dinosaur

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The Cybermen faced complete defeat now that humanity was united against them in the Cyber-Wars. The glittergun had been developed as a weapon against them, and the native Cryons of the planet Telos had also risen up and sabotaged their hibernation tombs. Using a captured time travel machine, a group of Cybermen travelled back to Earth in 1985 to try and prevent the destruction of Mondas, but were stopped by the Sixth Doctor and his companion Peri (Attack of the Cybermen, 1985).

Related Topics:
1985 - Sixth Doctor - Peri

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By the late 29th century, the Cybermen had been reduced to small remnant groups wandering around the galaxy. One group tried to take revenge by making a desperate attempt to blow up the remnants of the planet Voga, a planetoid of pure gold that had wandered into the solar system and become a moon of Jupiter. They hoped that this would disrupt their enemy's supply of the metal, but were stopped by the Fourth Doctor. This was their last chronological appearance to date, with the Cybermen seemingly vanishing from history after this point (Revenge of the Cybermen, 1975).

Related Topics:
29th century - Solar system - Jupiter - Fourth Doctor - Revenge of the Cybermen

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A Cyberman (of the type seen in The Invasion) also appeared in the Miniscope exhibit in Carnival of Monsters.

Related Topics:
Miniscope - Carnival of Monsters

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It was confirmed in Doctor Who Magazine #357 that the Cybermen would be returning in the 2006 season of the new series in a two-part story. New series designer Bryan Hitch stated in an interview in Dreamwatch magazine that the Cyberman design will be updated, and the update is expected to be kept a closely-guarded secret until the actual story.

Related Topics:
Doctor Who Magazine - 2006 - Bryan Hitch - Dreamwatch

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