Cybermanday

This ‘Cybermanday’ we asked David Chapman, producer and designer of Doctor Who: The Roleplaying Game, to share his thoughts on his favourite Cybermen stories. See if you agree with his choices!

The prospect of saying ‘Favourite Cybermen stories’ is a tricky one, certainly not as easy as saying favourite classic story (easy, that’s ‘City of Death’) or favourite modern story (again, easy, that’s ‘Blink’), but working out a favourite Cybermen story when there have been so many, and so many variations of the Cybermen themselves, is a tricky task. But here goes, my favourite 5 Cybermen stories. 

5) Tomb of the Cybermen

I have very fond memories of the first time I saw Tomb of the Cybermen, a free period at school, around at a friend’s house who had just bought the BBC VHS release. That nostalgia is probably why I love it so much. The iconic image of the Cybermen breaking out of the tombs will resonate in the memory of everyone who’s seen it. 

4) The Invasion

Sticking to that era, The Invasion is a complete classic and cemented my love of the Second Doctor. More iconic scenes in this one as the Cybermen stride down the steps outside St. Paul’s Cathedral, and we get UNIT’s first appearance with Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart in charge as the newly promoted Brigadier. Just a great story, with some truly memorable moments. 

3) The Haunting of Villa Diodati

I love a good spooky house story, especially ones where the architecture of the house shifts and changes. There’s something dreamlike and especially creepy about it. I also love the story of the origins of Frankenstein, and those fateful nights where Mary Shelley (then Godwin), Lord Byron, John Polidori, Claire Clairmont, and Percy Shelley, shared stories that many consider the foundations of Gothic Horror. Add into that the threat of a lone and terrifying Cyberman, Ashad, lots of running around a changing house, and Graham’s search for a bathroom, it’s just a fantastic episode.

2) Rise of the Cyberman / The Age of Steel

With the return of the series, and the dramatic return of the Daleks, it was only a matter of time before RTD’s era saw a new and formidable version of the Cybermen. From an alternate Earth dubbed ‘Pete’s World’, Lumic’s cyber-creations are loud, stomping, and relentless. The scenes of people being taken to conversion are utterly chilling, with a timely warning about relying on bluetooth headsets. 

1) World Enough and Time / The Doctor Falls

There was always something especially creepy about those very first Cybermen that faced the First Doctor decades earlier in The Tenth Planet. What they lacked in shiny armour or high-tech weaponry they made up for in the more realistic horror of the lengths some would go to in order to survive. That design of Cyberman would return in World Enough and Time / The Doctor Falls, the epic conclusion to Series 10. Cunningly disguised behind a simple ‘spaceship in distress’ story, with the mystery behind the time dilation caused by its proximity to a black hole. However, the real horror is revealed on the hospital level, and things get even worse as the story progresses. I won’t spoil it if you haven’t seen it, but you’re in for a terrifying and tense couple of episodes. 

That was tough! I’d have loved to have added Silver Nemesis in there (Ace fights Cybermen, brilliant!) and Earthshock (Adric!), or Nightmare in Silver (‘Mr. Clever!’), but there was only so much room.

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If you want to add more Cybermen into your Doctor Who: The Roleplaying Game adventures, you can check out the adventures collection All of Time and Space vol 1 — within its pages you’ll find an epic historical adventure called The Northern Knights. Set in Elizabethan England where a mysterious plague is being spread by silver rats — Cybermats! Cybermen have formed a secret alliance with a rebellious noble, and the fate of the country is at stake.

You can pick up All of Time and Space vol 1 here — while originally published for Doctor Who: The Roleplaying Game’s First Edition, it is easy to convert to the shiny new Second Edition. 

If you’re currently playing the new 5e version of the game, Doctors and Daleks, you can find out more about the Cybermen, and the many variations of Cyber Leaders, Cyber Controllers, and Cybermats, in the forthcoming Alien Archive supplement. You can order the Doctors and Daleks Player’s Guide here, or preorder the Alien Archive here. 

In the meantime, what’s your favourite Cyberman story? 

BBC, DOCTOR WHO, TARDIS, DALEK and CYBERMAN (word marks and logos) are trade marks of the British Broadcasting Corporation and are used under licence. BBC logo © BBC 1996. DOCTOR WHO logo © BBC 1973. Dalek image © BBC/Terry Nation 1963. Cyberman image © BBC/Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis 1966. Licensed by BBC Studios.