Cyberman: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox Species
{{dab page|Cyberman (disambiguation)}}{{Infobox Species
|image = Cybermen formation Doomsday.jpg
|image= Cybermen Nightmare2.jpg
|name = Cyberman
|name = Cyberman
|type = [[Human]]-derived [[cyborg]]
|aka=
|aka = Human.2
|type= [[Cyborg]]s (originally [[humanoid]])
|affiliation = [[Cybus Industries]], [[The Alliance (The Pandorica Opens)|The Alliance]], the [[CyberKing]], [[Cyberman (Mondas)|Alternative Cybermen]]
|affiliation= The [[Cyber-Force]]
|origin = [[Pete's World|Parallel Earth]]
|origin= [[Mondas]]
|first = Tardisode 5
|first= The Tenth Planet (TV story)
|appearances = [[Cybermen (Pete's World) - list of appearances|'''''see list''''']]
|appearances= [[Cybermen (Mondas) - list of appearances|'''''see list''''']]
|individuals = <br />[[Lisa Hallett]]<br />[[Cyber-Control (Pete's World)]]<br />[[Cyber-Lord (The Next Doctor)|Cyber-Lord]]<br />[[Cyber-Leader (Pete's World)]]<br />[[John Lumic]]<br Jackie Tyler (Pete's World) Jackie Tyler (Pete's World) /> [[Yvonne Hartman]] [[Cybershade]]<br />[[Mercy Hartigan]]<br />[[Sally Phelan]]
|individuals= {{il|[[Zheng|Cyber-Commander Zheng]]|[[Cyber-Controller]]|[[Cyber-Planner]]|[[Cyber-Leader (Mondas)|Cyber-Leader]]|[[Cyber-Lieutenant]]|[[Regos Krang]]|[[Kroton (Throwback: The Soul of a Cyberman)|Kroton]]|[[Mr Clever]]|[[Handles]]}}
|clip = Surrounded by the Cybermen - Doctor Who - Rise of the Cybermen - BBC
|clip = Cybermen Ambush The Doctor & Master - Doctor Who Classic - The 5 Doctors - BBC
|clip2 = Escape from the Cybermen - Doctor Who - The Age of Steel - BBC
|clip2 = The End Game - Doctor Who - Nightmare in Silver - Series 7 - BBC
|clip3 = Here come the Ghosts! - Doctor Who - Army of Ghosts - Series 2 - BBC
|bts = Special Feature - Origin of the Cybermen - Doctor Who - Tomb of the Cybermen - BBC
}}
}}
:''For a general overview of Cyberman types, see [[Cyberman|here]]. For other uses of Cyberman, see [[Cyberman (disambiguation)|here]].''
The '''Cybermen''' of [[the Doctor]]'s [[universe]], sometimes known as [[N-Space]], were a race of artificially modified [[human]]s who originated from the [[planet]] [[Mondas]], [[Earth]]'s [[twin planet]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tenth Planet]]'')
One type of '''Cyberman''' originated in [[Pete's World|another universe]], where they were created by [[John Lumic]], the owner of [[Cybus Industries]]. His Cybermen believed that all people must be "upgraded" to Cyber-form, so that information would never be lost and that the humans' physical and emotional weaknesses would be abolished. Beyond this, it remains unknown what the cyber-race would do if they completed conversion of humanity. If there was such a goal, it perished with John Lumic.
 
The Cybermen took it as their primary aim to conquer the universe, converting where possible to boost their numbers. Fear of such conversion was prevalent on many worlds and so the Cybermen came to be objects of terror. ([[TV]]: ''[[Attack of the Cybermen]]'')


== Characteristics ==
== Characteristics ==
=== Variants ===
The Cybermen were [[cyborg|cybernetically]] augmented [[humanoid]]s. Though they varied greatly in design over time (most likely due to the technology available to them), the many versions had several things in common. Nearly all were silver in colour, except for a black variety in the [[London sewers]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Attack of the Cybermen]]'', et. al)
Cybermen also exhibited exposed circuitry and tubing covering a rubbery or mylar-like outer skin. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tenth Planet]]'') Cybermen frequently attempted to increase their numbers by [[cyber-conversion]].
[[File:Tenth_Planet_2_001.jpg|thumb|left|A Mondan. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tenth Planet]]'')]]
The [[Mondasian]]s which the [[First Doctor]] met on [[Snowcap Base]] in [[December]] [[1986]] had undergone a less radical conversion and still retained biological hands. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tenth Planet]]'')
All other Cybermen were entirely covered by their metallic suits. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Moonbase]]'' onwards) Some partial conversions were known to exist that still held human features, among them [[Tobias Vaughn]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Invasion]]'')
The Cybermen on the [[Moonbase]] and those released by [[Eric Klieg]] on [[Telos]] were slim. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Moonbase (TV story)|The Moonbase]]'', ''[[The Tomb of the Cybermen (TV story)|The Tomb of the Cybermen]]'') The ones which infiltrated [[Briggs' freighter]] in [[2526]] had bulkier, more imposing forms. ([[TV]]: ''[[Earthshock]]'') Cybermen like these also existed in the [[1980s]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Silver Nemesis]]'')
[[File:Black_Cyberman.jpg|thumb|A black Cyberman. ([[TV]]: ''[[Attack of the Cybermen]]'')]]
Mondasian Cybermen had a quavering voice which put inflected syllables in a seemingly random, sing-song manner. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tenth Planet]]'') Later Cybermen spoke in more of a monotone, emphasising their lack of emotion. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Moonbase]]'')
=== Conversion ===
=== Conversion ===
Unlike the [[Cyberman (Mondas)|Cybermen]] of [[the Doctor|the Doctor's]] [[N-Space|universe]], these Cybermen were created by taking the brains of humans and placing them in robotic bodies. These exostructures were built from [[High Content Metal]] and were stauncher and more heavily built than the Cybermen of [[Mondas]].
[[Cyber-conversion]] was the process by which compatible beings were physically and mentally altered into Cybermen. This process was necessary for the Cybermen to increase in number. It was carried out at many locations. ([[TV]]: ''[[Attack of the Cybermen]]'')
[[File:Cyber-conversion_A.jpg|thumb|left|Cyber-conversion. ([[TV]]: ''[[Attack of the Cybermen]]'')]]
Partial conversions occurred. In a partial conversion, the subject took on several features of the Cybermen. For example, [[Tobias Vaughn]]'s torso was immune to gunfire. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Invasion]]'')
 
=== Vulnerabilities ===
[[File:Cyberleader_2.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Fifth Doctor]] uses [[Adric]]'s gold badge against the Cyber-Leader. ([[TV]]: [[Earthshock]]) ]]
Cybermen had major weaknesses. The most notable was the element [[gold]] which, being non-corrosive, choked their respiratory systems, a property exploited by the [[glittergun]] used during the [[Cyber-Wars]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Revenge of the Cybermen]]'', ''[[Earthshock]]'', ''[[Silver Nemesis]]'') On occasion, the mere touch of gold was toxic to them. Gold coins or gold-tipped arrows might destroy them. ([[TV]]: ''[[Earthshock]]'', ''[[Silver Nemesis]]'') Gold also blocked their sensors and caused the [[cybermat]]s to malfunction. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Revenge of the Cybermen (novelisation)|Revenge of the Cybermen]]'')
 
Other weaknesses of the Cybermen included the combination of solvents known as [[Cocktail Polly]] ([[TV]]: ''[[The Moonbase]]'') and excessive levels of [[radiation]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tenth Planet]]'')
 
Cybermen affected by the [[Cerebration Mentor]], an emotion-enhancing device, went "mad". ([[TV]]: ''[[The Invasion]]'')
[[File:Damaged_by_gunfire.jpg|thumb|Some Cybermen could be damaged (but not killed) by ordinary gunfire. ([[TV]]: ''[[Silver Nemesis]]'')]]
20th century guns could damage Cybermen, but did not kill them. Explosives and bazooka shells took them down easily. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Invasion]]'', ''[[Silver Nemesis]]'') [[UNIT]] developed gold-tipped rounds to combat Cybermen. ([[TV]]: ''[[Battlefield]]'') At close range, attacks with energy and laser weapons could kill Cybermen. ([[TV]]: ''[[Earthshock]]'')
 
[[Raston Warrior Robot]]s counted Cybermen among the many beings they could kill. Although equipped only with javelins and blades, the technology of the robots allowed them to easily destroy several Cybermen. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]'')
 
== Technology ==
The Cybermen forces in [[2526]] used the Cyberlance, a powerful, hand-held cutting weapon. They also used the Cyberscope, a device that allowed Cyber commanders to view the battlefield remotely and access a computer database (containing, among other data, information on their race's encounters with [[the Doctor]]). ([[TV]]: ''[[Earthshock]]'')
 
[[File:Cyber-distress.jpg|thumb|left|The Cyberman's distress signal is activated. ([[TV]]: ''[[Attack of the Cybermen]]'')]]
Cybermen in [[1986]] had a built-in distress signal in their heads that could be activated manually. ([[TV]]: ''[[Attack of the Cybermen]]'')
 
The chest unit of a Cyberman was vital to the operation of its life support system. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Telos (audio story)|Telos]]'')
 
While the Cybermen were capable of [[time travel]], ([[TV]]: ''[[Earthshock (TV story)|Earthshock]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Reaping (audio story)|The Reaping]]'') it was still primitive, limited and even dangerous as late as the [[30th century]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Illegal Alien (novel)|Illegal Alien]]'') Should the Cybermen have mastered time travel, they would have become strong enough to crush the [[Draconian]]s, the [[Sontaran]]s and even the [[Dalek]]s. ([[WC]]: ''[[Real Time (webcast)|Real Time]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Real Time (audio story)|Real Time]]'')
 
=== Weapons (short range) ===
[[File:Cyb_gun1.jpg|thumb|A Cyberman with a gun. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Invasion]]'')]]
When they attacked Earth in [[1986]], Cybermen carried large, hand-held, energy weapons. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tenth Planet]]'')
 
On the [[Moon]] in [[2070]], Cybermen could produce [[Electro Attack|arcs of electricity]] from their hands to stun and disable. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Moonbase]]'')
 
In the [[21st century]], the Cybermen who attacked [[Space Station W3]] had death rays built into their chest units. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Wheel in Space]]'')
 
The Cybermen encountered by [[UNIT]] in the late 20th century displayed these same built-in weapons. They also carried large rifles for medium range combat on [[London]]'s streets. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Invasion]]'')
 
The Cybermen who attacked the [[Nerva Beacon]] had their weapons built into their helmets. They were activated with the touch of a hand. ([[TV]]: ''[[Revenge of the Cybermen]]'')


[[Cyber-conversion]] involved painfully removing the [[brain]] of the subject and placing it within a suit of armour. The brain was preserved in a cradle of Cybus-copyrighted chemicals and welded to the exoskeleton, to which cyber-kinetic impulses were bonded. ([[TV]]: ''[[Rise of the Cybermen (TV story)|Rise of the Cybermen]]'') The remaining human body was simply incinerated. {{fact}} Once complete, the newly developed Cyberman had a special implant placed within them. The implant prevented them from feeling their emotions, but, if the implants were disrupted, the Cybermen entered a traumatic state as they were overloaded by the pain of the conversion. This would make them die in agony or cause their heads to explode from the overload of emotions. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Age of Steel]]'')
In time, the Cybermen came to favour the hand-held [[cyber-gun]] over the built-in weapon. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Invasion]]'' onwards)


In times of emergency, cyber-conversion consisted of only constructing a Cyber-suit around a living being with some internal modifications. ([[TV]]: ''[[Cyberwoman]]'')
=== Weapons (other) ===
In the 20th century, the Cybermen invasion fleet had a [[megatron bomb]] that could destroy all life on Earth. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Invasion]]'')


=== Operation ===
In [[2070]], the Cybermen had a cannon which could operate in the vacuum of [[Space]]. They used it on the surface of [[the Moon]]. Due to its mass, it required two Cybermen to operate it. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Moonbase]]'')
[[File:Cyber-vision.jpg|thumb|A Cyberman's vision through its eyepieces. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'')]]


The Cyber-suit was constructed from bulletproof steel. A chest plate with the Cybus Industries logo housed a "heart of steel", the function of which is unclear, and the emotional inhibitor chip. The brain, remained contained within the suit's head, though the skull was included in more hastily converted units. Artificially grown nervous tissue was threaded throughout the body so the Cyberman responded like a fully biological organism. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Age of Steel]]'') The eyepieces of a Cyberman allowed it to see the world as blue, digital graphics. The hearing of a Cyberman let it hear things similar to radio, albeit slightly garbled. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'')
Cybermen in [[2526]], the invaders of [[Voga]], and the Cybermen removed by [[Time Scoop]] to the [[Death Zone]] had portable [[cyber-bomb]]s that could devastate planets. ([[TV]]: ''[[Earthshock]]'', ''[[Revenge of the Cybermen]]'', ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]'')


[[File:Cyberface2.jpg|thumb|left|Inside the Cyberman's helmet. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'')]]
[[Neurotrope X]] incapacitated humans before the Cybermen made an overt move. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Moonbase]]'')  Cybermen sometimes used [[Cybermat]]s to spread the virus to the population. ([[TV]]: ''[[Revenge of the Cybermen]]'')


Without a brain inserted, the Cyber-suit was a robot which apparently had sufficient processing capacity to pursue and attack a human target. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Age of Steel]]'') Cybermen heads were programmed to seek out 'fresh meat" and try assimilating a compatible new head into the body if the original organic part rotted away. Because the victim would obviously fight back, the heads were outfitted with tranquilliser darts; wires from the head could also operate as tentacles to restrain the victims as well. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'')
The Cybermen were strong enough to kill with their hands without any extra weaponry or electric-based attack. ([[TV]]: ''[[Earthshock]]'')


If a Cyberman was dismantled, its body parts were still capable of operating independently and rejoining together, so long as they remained in working condition. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'')
== Culture ==


Typically, Cybermen were led by a [[Cyber-Leader (Pete's World)|Cyber Leader]] during conversion missions. If the Cyber Leader was terminated then the Cybermen downloaded the shared files and nominated a new Cyber Leader. However, this would take time. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doomsday]]'') Other leader variations are [[Cyber-Lord (The Next Doctor)|Cyber-Lords]] and [[Mercy Hartigan|Cyber-Kings]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Next Doctor]]'')
Cybermen made survival their central objective. Since they could not reproduce naturally, they needed to create new members of their population by other means, via [[cyber-conversion]]. At times they tended to focus on converting the population of Earth, at other times on simply destroying it. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tomb of the Cybermen]]'')


=== Weapons and technology ===
Cybermen tended toward covert activity, scheming from hiding and using human or other agents, cybermats or [[android]]s to act as their proxies until they appeared. ([[TV]]: ''[[Revenge of the Cybermen]]'', ''[[Earthshock]]'', ''[[Attack of the Cybermen]]'')
=== Individuality and emotion ===


[[File:Cyberman arm blaster.jpg|thumb|left|A Cyberman [[Cyber Wrist Blaster|wrist blaster]] operating on its own. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'')]]
Throughout their history, Cybermen, for the most part, lacked individuality or names. This was a result of their emotions being removed during the conversion process. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tenth Planet]]'', et al.)
Originally, their only weapons were their [[Electro Attack|electrified hands]], ([[TV]]: ''[[Rise of the Cybermen]]'') but they later gained [[Cyber Wrist Blaster|a small wrist-mounted energy weapon]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Army of Ghosts]]''/''[[Doomsday]]'') They could act on their own, or be commanded by a wireless signal from the head. ([[TV]]; ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'') To keep victims from escaping, the Cybermen eventually equipped their heads with tranquilliser darts to sedate them. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'')


The Cybermen were capable of wirelessly communicating with each other, and when a Cyber-Leader was killed, their files were transferred to an appointed Cyberman, who would subsequently be upgraded to a new Cyber-Leader. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doomsday]]'') They could wirelessly control electronics, such as John Lumic's wheelchair and the "Ghost Shift" control levers at Torchwood Tower; this function was associated with a Cyberman bringing its closed fist to its chest. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Age of Steel]]'') (TV: Army of Ghosts). They were also capable of using [[infostamp]]s, allowing them to communicate information to other Cybermen when they were low on power. They were also able to steal other technology from the [[Dalek]]s whilst inside [[the Void]], such as a [[Dimension Vault]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Next Doctor]]'') They eventually developed Cyber-weapons of their own, although bulkier and more rifle-like than the Mondasian versions. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'')
A few Cybermen had individual names such as [[Krang]] ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tenth Planet]]'') or [[Kroton (Throwback: The Soul of a Cyberman)|Kroton]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Throwback: The Soul of a Cyberman (comic story)|Throwback: The Soul of a Cyberman]]'')


They eventually developed means of space travel and ventured into space. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'', [[GAME]]: ''[[Return to Earth (video game)|Return to Earth]]'') However, their technology was initially quite primitive and incompatible with [[Time-travel|time travel]], as demonstrated when their ship was destroyed by a [[Dalek]] [[Time Axis]]. ([[GAME]]: ''[[Return to Earth (video game)|Return to Earth]]'') By the time they joined [[The Alliance (The Pandorica Opens)|the Alliance]], their space travel seemed more advanced, similar to that of the [[Cyberman (Mondas)|Cybermen]] from [[Mondas]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'')
:''In the script and cast listings for [[The Tenth Planet]] the individual Cybermen had names. They were [[Krail]], [[Talon]], [[Shav]], [[Krang]], [[Jarl]] and [[Gern]].'' ([[REF]]: ''[[Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia]]'')


=== Voice ===
[[File:Cyber-Leader7.jpg|thumb|left|A Cyber-Leader. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]'')]]
These Cybermen spoke in an electronic, monotone voice, far more emotionless and deeper than the Cybermen of the Doctor's universe. Because of their lack of emotions, the Cybermen used technical terms like "compatible" and their battle cry, "DELETE!". ([[TV]]: ''[[Rise of the Cybermen]]'') The Cybermen were shown to misunderstand lower-level, spoken language terms, instead preferring higher-level language. For example, the [[Cyber-Lord (The Next Doctor)|Cyber-Lord]] couldn't understand the word 'best' so [[Mercy Hartigan|Miss Hartigan]] had to say "I will operate at maximum efficiency". ([[TV]]: ''[[The Next Doctor]]'')
Cybermen in positions of authority included the ground level [[Cyber-Leader (Mondas)|Cyber-Leader]] who commanded a group of ordinary Cybermen. Cyber-Leaders were sometimes aided by a [[Cyber-Lieutenant]]. Immobile [[computer]]-like [[Cyber-Planner]]s would sometimes make decisions and long term plans. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Wheel in Space]]'', ''[[The Invasion]]'') The [[Cyber-Controller]]s, who possessed enlarged craniums, had the position of highest possible authority. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tomb of the Cybermen]]'', ''[[Attack of the Cybermen]]'')


=== Hierarchy ===
Cybermen no longer possessed emotions and viewed them as a weakness. However, several of the Cyber-Leaders displayed characteristics that could be linked to emotions such as anger, amusement, and, at times, smugness. ([[TV]]: ''[[Earthshock]]'')
* [[John Lumic|John Lumic/Cyber Controller]] - founder of [[Cybus Industries]] and creator of the Cybermen.
* [[CyberKing]] - pilot of dreadnought ship
* [[Cyber-Leader (Pete's World)|Cyber-Leader]] - Cyber commander.
** [[Cyber-Lord (The Next Doctor)|Cyber-Lord]] - Cyber commander, a form of Cyber Leader, presumably of a higher rank.
* Cyberman - standard unit.
* [[Cybershade]] - worker unit, made with brain of [[dog]] or [[cat]].
* [[Cyberdog]] - search and guard unit of a converted dog.
* Cybermat - an upgraded rodent that could drain electricity and infect others with a nano-form.
* [[Cyberdrone]] - partially converted humans who were used to perform slave labour.
* [[Lisa Hallett]] - a partially converted human who was sustained by a life support system under the Torchwood  base in Cardiff.
* Cyber slave - humans converted by being infected with a nano-form.
* Controlled [[human]]s - humans controlled at the brain which are often only kept for the required purpose, then killed.


== History ==
== History ==
==== Creation and expansion ====
=== Early history ===
[[File:Rise-of-the-cybermen.jpg|thumb|Cybermen shortly after their creation. ([[TV]]: ''[[Rise of the Cybermen]]'')]]
Cybermen were originally a wholly organic species of [[humanoid]]s who arose on [[Earth]]'s former [[twin planet]], [[Mondas]]. Mondas drifted into the outer solar system to become an orphan planet. The Mondasians adapted by turning themselves into cyborgs. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tenth Planet]]'') Eventually all of the [[Mondasian]]s underwent forced [[cyber-conversion]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Spare Parts]]'') According to another account, they evolved from the [[Voord]] and Mondas was once the planet [[Marinus]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The World Shapers (comic story)|The World Shapers]]'')
The Cybermen were created in a [[Pete's World|parallel universe]] by [[John Lumic]], a terminally ill and insane genius. To find a way to survive, by [[2007]] he perfected a method to sustain the human brain indefinitely in a cradle of chemicals, bonding the synaptic impulses to a metal exoskeleton. Lumic began to trick and abduct [[homeless]] people and convert them into Cybermen. He assassinated the [[President of Great Britain|President]] of [[Great Britain]] after the President rejected his plans. ([[TV]]: ''[[Rise of the Cybermen]]'')
 
:''See [[Creation of the Cybermen]] for more details.''
 
The original Mondasians retained more of their organic form. They had personal names. Another group, [[the Faction]], left Mondas and headed for [[Planet 14]]. These developed into groups without connection to one another. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Iceberg (novel)|Iceberg]]'')
 
Mondas developed a drive propulsion system. This was placed in the [[planet]]'s core to move the entire world. As the original Cybermen were limited in numbers and were continually being depleted, they decided to invade [[Earth]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tenth Planet]]'')
 
=== Middle history ===
==== 20th century ====
[[File:Cybermen The Good Solider1.jpg|thumb|left|Cybermen in 1954. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Good Soldier (comic story)|The Good Soldier]]'')]]
In [[1903]], after receiving a wealth of information from the future, [[Grigori Rasputin]] saw people made of metal. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Wanderer (audio story)|The Wanderer]]'')


Using the [[EarPod]]s he designed and sold, Lumic took mental control of the people of [[London]], marching thousands to be cyber-converted. After his life-support systems were damaged by his assistant, [[Crane (Rise of the Cybermen)|Mr. Crane]] in an act of betrayal that cost him his life, Lumic was converted into the Cyber-Controller by his own Cybermen against his own wishes to preserve his flesh form. By the Cybermen's cold logic, it was impractical to cling to an already dying body. Once converted and revitalised, Cyberman instinct merged with his megalomanical mind and he planned to convert all of the parallel Earth. However, the [[Tenth Doctor]] and his companions, having accidentally landed on the parallel Earth, managed to foil his plans. They freed London from mental control and disabled the Cybermen's emotional inhibitors, causing them to go insane and in some cases explode. Lumic himself fell to his apparent death into the burning remains of his factory. A human resistance group, [[the Preachers]], then set about to clean up the remainder of Lumic's factories around the world. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Age of Steel]]'')
The [[Seventh Doctor]] and [[Ace]] fought Cybermen in [[London]] in [[1940]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Illegal Alien]]'') They would later fight them in [[Nevada]] in [[1954]]. These Cybermen were from Mondas, trying to invade. Their attack was delayed until [[1986]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Good Soldier (comic story)|The Good Soldier]]'')


Following the destruction of the Cybus Factory and the Cyber Controller in [[Great Britain|Britain]], [[the Preachers]] moved around the rest of the [[Pete's World|world]] to carry out assaults on the rest of the Cybus Factories. One of their earliest victories came in [[Paris]], where a stolen Cybus [[airship]] under the command of [[Mickey Smith]] fought its way through the streets, saving civilians and destroying attacking Cybermen along the way with a new weapon attached to the ship. Once the airship reached the factory, it destroyed it using an [[EMP]]. After the Cyber threat in Paris was ended, Mickey sent a video message to those who were sent on the mission, congratulating and thanking them. ([[GAME]]: ''[[Save Paris]]'')
[[File:CybermanRisesFromSewer.jpg|thumb|A Cyberman rises from a London sewer. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Invasion]]'')]]
By [[1970]], Cybermen, specifically the Faction led by a [[Cyber-Planner]] ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Iceberg (novel)|Iceberg]]''), had established a base on the dark side of [[the Moon|Earth's Moon]]. The Cyber-Planner had contacted the industrialist [[Tobias Vaughn]], the head of the [[International Electromatics]] corporation. Vaughn installed mind control circuits in his company's appliances, paving the way for an invasion. He also grafted cybernetic arms onto several of his workers.


Eventually, the Preachers had Cyber resistance and bases set up all over the world, just as the Cybermen had factories. Soon they were ready to begin their assault on what remained of Lumic's legacy. The mission was commanded overall by [[Jake Simmonds]]. The Preachers managed to develop [[Firearm|firearms]] which were effective against the Cybermen and sent troops into other countries, where they recruited others to aid them in their cause. Battles ensued when a squad moved into Cyber territory but successful battles ultimately gained them control of countries where a Cyber Factory was located. From there, the Preachers would surround the factory while a single commando unit entered the factory and fought their way to the emotion inhibitor and taking it out, thus destroying the factory and all the Cyber units converted there.
Vaughn had a Cyber-Planner installed in his office. The plot was uncovered by the newly formed [[United Nations Intelligence Taskforce|UNIT]] and the [[Second Doctor]], who helped avert the invasion on the Earth and at the Cyberman base on the Moon. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Invasion]]'')


However, the Cybermen also sought to do the same thing: expand, [[Cyber-conversion|"recruit"]], take over, and destroy the Preacher bases. The conflict was fought all over the planet. Ultimately though, the Preachers were victorious as they succeeded in sealing the Cybermen inside their factories. Jake congratulated the resistance, but it was known that the Cybermen were not completely defeated, they had only been delayed, as Jake seemed aware of when he gave his congratulations: "You did it! The Cybermen are sealed up in their factories. We're safe for now." ([[GAME]]: ''[[Cyber Assault]]'')
From the mid [[1970s]] through [[1985]], Cybermen lurked in the [[London sewers|sewers below London]], awaiting another invasion. ([[TV]]: ''[[Attack of the Cybermen]]'') This would happen in [[December]] [[1986]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tenth Planet (TV story)|The Tenth Planet]]'') At some point a Cyberman's head was taken and was stored in [[Henry van Statten]]'s [[The Vault (Dalek)|Vault]], where he held alien artefacts. According to its label, it was recovered from the London sewers in [[1975]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Dalek (TV story)|Dalek]]'')
[[File:Cyberman_original_attack_5.jpg|thumb|A Cyberman in [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Attack of the Cybermen]]'')]]
Having captured a [[time vessel]], the Cybermen knew that the [[First Doctor]] would eventually destroy Mondas. They planned to divert [[Halley's Comet]] towards Earth in [[1985]]. They hoped the destruction of Earth would change the past so Mondas would survive. The [[Sixth Doctor]] foiled them. ([[TV]]: ''[[Attack of the Cybermen]]'')


==== The Battle of Canary Wharf ====
[[File:Tenth planet.jpg|thumb|left||A Cyberman encounters the Doctor. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tenth Planet]]'')]]
Despite their defeat, at least five million Cybermen survived and were able to infiltrate [[Pete's World|their universe]]'s [[Torchwood Institute]]. They found a crack in the universe, caused by the passage of the [[Void Ship]]. The Cybermen were able to travel from their dimension into the Doctor's, and infiltrated the planet in the guise of benign ghosts of deceased humans. They established a base inside the [[Torchwood Tower]] at [[Canary Wharf]]. While there, they started making new Cybermen, using what materials they could find.
In [[December]] [[1986]], the [[First Doctor]] met an advance force of Mondans near [[Snowcap Base]] in [[Antarctica]]. This force was to prepare for Mondas' return to the [[Sol system]] and to drain Earth's energy for the Cybermen. Mondas absorbed too much energy and was destroyed, as were the Cybermen on Earth who depended on Mondas for power. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tenth Planet]]'') Following the destruction of Mondas, the Cyberman would make [[Lonsis]] their new home. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Human Resources]]'') One account also claims that the Cyberships were examined and exploited by humans, allowing them to make advances in space travel. [[Sarah Jane Smith]] described the invasion as "both the greatest disaster and most
astonishing blessing ever to have happened to the human
race." ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Power of the Daleks (novelisation)|The Power of the Daleks]]'')


[[File:Cybermen_in_France.jpg|thumb|left|The Cybermen in France. ([[TV]]: ''[[Army of Ghosts]]'')]]
The Cybermen and a group of [[Mercenary|mercenaries]] led by [[Karl (The Ultimate Adventure)|Karl]] made an alliance with the [[Dalek]]s in a gambit to sabotage a peace conference on Earth in [[1988]] and have the planet destroyed. The Cybermen and the mercenaries had a much more active role than the Daleks, as they were tasked with kidnapping an [[United States of America|American]] envoy on whom the success of the conference depended and in capturing [[the Doctor]] whom the [[Dalek Emperor]] declared a vital part of the plan. The Daleks took a more behind-the-scenes approach as they planned to use the mercenaries and Cybermen as nothing more than scapegoats who could be blamed for the destruction of Earth by the [[Galactic Council]] while the Dalek involvement remained a secret. When the [[Sixth Doctor]] revealed this information to the Cybermen and the mercenaries, they immediately turned on the Daleks. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Ultimate Adventure (audio story)|The Ultimate Adventure]]'')
After two months (three years in parallel Earth time), the Cybermen suddenly appeared in their true form, occupying every landmass on the planet before breaking into houses and promising to upgrade all humans, commanded by the new Cyber-Leader. ([[TV]]: ''[[Army of Ghosts]]'') Simultaneously, the [[Cult of Skaro]] had exited the Void Ship with the [[Genesis Ark]]. The Cult, led by [[Dalek Sec]] communicated with the Cybermen via [[Dalek Thay]] and declared war, or in Dalek Sec's words, "pest control".
[[File:Cybermen Silver Nemesis.jpg|thumb|Cybermen on Earth. ([[TV]]: [[Silver Nemesis (TV story)|''Silver Nemesis'']])]]
In [[November]] [[1988]], a scouting party was sent to Earth in search of a statue made of [[validium]] called [[Nemesis]], a [[Time Lord]] weapon. The Cybermen met [[Peinforte|Lady Peinforte]], who brought many of their number down with gold-tipped arrows. The Leader apparently forced the [[Seventh Doctor]] to surrender the Nemesis. Their Force was destroyed by Nemesis as the Doctor  had instructed. ([[TV]]: ''[[Silver Nemesis]]'')


[[File:Cybermen and daleks meet.jpg|thumb|The Cybermen encounter Daleks. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doomsday]]'')]]
==== 21st century ====
After a skirmish between humans, Cybermen and [[Dalek]]s, the Cult travelled to the main room in Torchwood's Canary Wharf, elevated outside above the roof, and opened the Genesis Ark, releasing millions of Daleks who, under Sec's command, started to "exterminate all life-forms below", killing human and Cyberman alike. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doomsday]]'') Towards the end of the Cybermen-Dalek battle, the Cybermen, desperate for more troops, began directly converting people rather than transplanting their brains into Cybershells. One victim of this process was [[Lisa Hallett]], girlfriend of [[Ianto Jones]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Cyberwoman]]'')
In [[2000]], the Cybermen infected the Earth computers with a virus that removed all vowels. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Vrs]]'')
[[File:Bowed.jpg|thumb|Cybermen in [[2005]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Flood (comic story)|The Flood]]'')]]
In [[2005]], ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Hunters of the Burning Stone (comic story)|Hunters of the Burning Stone]]'') Cybermen from the future [[time travel]]led to Earth to announce themselves to the public. They hoped to flood Earth, using a powerful water-like nerve agent to make humans willingly participate in cyber-conversion. The Eighth Doctor, having absorbed a segment of the Time Vortex for a brief period of time, turned their entire army to dust, and decomposed their ship slowly, causing it to explode soon after. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Flood (comic story)|The Flood]]'')


The Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler opened [[the Void]] and anything contaminated with [[void stuff]] was pulled in. This included the Cybermen. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doomsday]]'')
In [[2006]], Cybermen again invaded Earth's [[South Pole]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Iceberg (novel)|Iceberg]]'') In the same year, the Cybermen on [[Lonsis]] tried to invade Earth via the [[portal]] in the main branch of [[Hulbert Logistics]].The [[Eighth Doctor]] and [[Lucie Miller]] destroyed them. They used a [[quantum crystalliser]] to make the Cybermen and their ship rapidly rust into dust. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Human Resources]]'')


However, this was not the last of the Cybermen. The Cybermen that were made on Earth, like Lisa Hallett, had never passed through the Void, therefore they were not sucked in. Ianto took Lisa away from the battle and hid her in the basement of [[Cardiff]]'s [[Torchwood Three]] facility, setting up a life-support system, planning to restore her humanity. He was unsuccessful. She killed Dr. [[Tanizaki]], fought with Torchwood staff and eventually transplanted her brain into the body of a pizza delivery girl. Lisa was finally killed by the Torchwood team. Ianto had desperately tried to salvage what was left of his girlfriend's former identity, but could not succeed. He mourned Lisa's death, moved on, and eventually set his romantic attentions [[Captain Jack Harkness|elsewhere]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Cyberwoman]]'')
In [[2008]] several Cybermen and a [[Cyber-Planner]] who were allergic to gold attempted to gain [[Time travel]]. They converted [[Byron (The Girl Who Never Was)|Bryon]] but their ship was destroyed by [[Charlotte Pollard]] ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Girl Who Never Was (audio story)|The Girl Who Never Was]]'')


After the battle, two children, [[Harry (Going Off the Rails)|Harry]] and [[Sam (Going Off the Rails)|Sam]], were working on a model train set when they found stuff from Harry's dad's previous job. Inside the box was a Cyberman, in all its individual pieces. Not knowing what it was, Sam decided to put it back together so it could watch them play. Eventually, it awoke, threatening to upgrade both Harry and Sam. It forced Sam to help build a "Cyber-Conversion Unit" using the other left-over electronics from the Torchwood Tower in the box. They, however, managed to knock the Cyberman into the Cyber-Conversion unit, causing the latter two to be destroyed. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Going Off the Rails]]'')
In [[2021]] a group of Cybermen pretended to want to become organic again. A space program used this to their advantage. However the [[Subject One|Cyberleader]] lied, in fact having tricked the agency into creating a conversion chamber. The [[Seventh Doctor]], [[Ace]] and [[Hex]] foiled this scheme. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Harvest (audio story)|The Harvest]]'')


Other humans were converted during [[Battle of Canary Wharf|the battle]], but fully. These survivors stole teleportation technology from Torchwood Institute in order to gather technology to help them re-open the Void and free the trapped Cybermen. They did not know how to do this, however, and so they stole [[the Doctor's TARDIS]], trying to lure the [[Tenth Doctor]] to them for aid. Some Cybermen were destroyed by the army but the [[Cyber-Leader (Pete's World)|Cyber-Leader]] and a few others escaped to the [[Millennium Dome]] and kept the army out with a forcefield. The Doctor and [[Martha Jones|Martha]], however, having recovered the TARDIS, were able to enter. The Doctor was able to trick the Cybermen, allowing them to link up their equipment with the TARDIS and giving them instructions. However, the Cybermen were instead sent back to the time of the [[dinosaur]]s where they were attacked and killed by a ''[[Tyrannosaurus rex]]''. The Cyber-Leader was destroyed after Martha damaged the forcefield and the Doctor used an electrical cord from it to destroy the leader. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Made of Steel]]'')
By [[2070]], the Cybermen were known and feared in several galaxies ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Doctor Who and the Cybermen]]'') but were thought extinct by Earth. At this time the Earth's weather was controlled by the [[Gravitron]] installation in the [[Moonbase]], the Faction planned to use the Gravitron to disrupt Earth's weather and destroy all life on the planet. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Moonbase]]'')


==== Escaping the Void ====
[[File:Cybermen in Land of Fiction.jpg|thumb|left|Cybermen in the Land of Fiction. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Legend of the Cybermen (audio story)|Legend of the Cybermen]]'')]]
In [[2079]], ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Second Chances (audio story)|Second Chances]]'') [[Space Station W3]] was the site of a takeover by the Faction, but were defeated by the Second Doctor. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Wheel in Space]]'') In a second attack on the wheel, the Cybermen were sent into the [[Land of Fiction]] by [[Zoe Heriot]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Legend of the Cybermen]]'')


[[File:Cyberking.jpg|thumb|The Cyberman-created CyberKing stomps Victorian London. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Next Doctor]]'')]]
==== Post-21st century ====
Due to the Daleks' [[Dalek invasion of Earth (The Stolen Earth)|damaging the barriers between realities]] by using the [[Reality bomb]] ([[TV]]: ''[[The Stolen Earth]]''/''[[Journey's End]]''), a small amount of Cybermen were able to escape the Void, assisted by technology stolen from the Void-trapped Daleks while the rest of the Cybermen, along with the Daleks trapped in the Void, perished. Landing accidentally in London, in the year [[1851]], these Cybermen, under the leadership of a [[Cyber-Lord (The Next Doctor)|Cyber-Lord]], made an alliance with the human [[Mercy Hartigan|Miss Hartigan]], created a minion race known as [[Cybershade]]s and began construction of a dreadnought robot called the [[CyberKing]] with which they planned to conquer the Earth. They also came across [[Jackson Lake]] and his family, who in his fugue state absorbed knowledge of [[the Doctor]] from an [[infostamp]]. Lake and his new companion tried to defeat them, but were unsuccessful until the real, Tenth Doctor arrived. When Miss Hartigan was converted into the CyberKing and the ship became mobile, the Doctor showed Hartigan what she had done and in her anguish she destroyed herself and the Cybermen, with the CyberKing sent to be disintegrated in the Time Vortex before it fell on London. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Next Doctor]]'') This event was then erased from history by the [[Time Field]] ([[TV]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone]]''), resulting in no one but the Doctor remembering it.
The [[Space Marines]] fought the Cybermen on [[Titan 317]] in the latter half of the [[22nd century]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Janus Conjunction]]'')
[[File:ClassicCybermen.jpg|thumb|The Cybermen on [[Aprilia III]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Assimilation² (comic story)|Assimilation²]]'')]]
The [[Sixth Doctor]] encountered Cybermen in [[2191]]. By using a [[Selachian]] ship the Cybermen had conquered [[Agora]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Killing Ground]]'')


An army of Cybermen were located in [[Incan Temples]]. ([[GAME]]: ''[[The Mazes of Time]]'')
[[File:Tomb of the cybermen tv.jpg|thumb|left|The Cybermen released from their tombs. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tomb of the Cybermen]]'')]]
The Cybermen had all but passed into legend when an archaeological expedition on the planet [[Telos]] found the [[Cyber-tomb]]s. Hordes of Cybermen waited in [[cryogenic suspension]]. Earth's [[Brotherhood of Logicians]] intended to awaken them, believing the Cybermen would be receptive to their cause. The tomb would be sealed again ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tomb of the Cybermen]]'') and later re-activated. ([[TV]]: ''[[Attack of the Cybermen]]'')


Another army of Cybermen invaded medieval England, they began converting the locals by creating large statues of themselves to make the locals gather to see them. When the Doctor and [[Amy Pond]] arrived, they activated the Cybermen's power systems and used electrical currents to disable the Cybermen. ([[GAME]]: ''[[The Mazes of Time]]'')
==== Cyber-Wars ====
{{main|Cyber-Wars}}
During the [[Orion War]] of the early [[26th century]], humans tried to salvage [[Cyber-Technology]] from derelict ships to defeat the androids. This led to both sides nearly wiped out and the temporary conquest of Earth before the Cybermen resurgence was stopped. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Sword of Orion]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Cyberman (audio series)|Cyberman]]'')


Other groups of Cybermen apparently managed to escape the Void, but into a different point in time and space. Eventually these Cybermen would become a space-faring race. One group, during what appeared to be an early period for them in space-travel, possibly around the [[26th century]], were attracted towards an artefact they could not identify, which was in fact a Dalek [[Time Axis]]. As their technology was incapatible with [[time travel]], their ship was destroyed. The Cybermen escaped and took over the ship, the ''SS Lucy Grey''. The [[Eleventh Doctor]] and Amy were also attracted to the ''SS Lucy Grey'' by the signal from the Time Axis. The Doctor was able to overload the ship's systems, destroying the Cybermen before the Daleks arrived. ([[GAME]]: ''[[Return to Earth]]'')
[[File:Earthshock.jpg|thumb|right|Cybermen and a [[Cyber-Leader (Mondas)|Cyber-Leader]].([[TV]]: ''[[Earthshock]]'')]]
In [[2526]], several planets united to oppose the Cybermen in an event called the [[Cyber-Wars]]. A force of Cybermen tried to devastate Earth with a [[Cyberbomb]] and convert the survivors. Failing this, they hoped to crash the freighter into Earth and cause an ecological disaster. Although the effort failed, the freighter was catapulted back in time to become the "[[meteor]]" that wiped out the [[dinosaur]]s. ([[TV]]: ''[[Earthshock (TV story)|Earthshock]]'')


[[File:Cybus Cyber-tomb.png|thumb|left|The Cybermen in suspended animation in Cyber-Tombs on Telos. ([[GAME]]: ''[[The Mazes of Time]]'')]]
One of the last acts of the Cybermen in this war the attempt to blow up the planet [[Voga]] to stop the production of [[glittergun]]s. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Revenge of the Cybermen (novelisation)|Revenge of the Cybermen]]'') In the aftermath of their failure, the Cybermen were reduced to scattered remnants. One group relentlessly hounded the remaining fragment of Voga. ([[TV]]: ''[[Revenge of the Cybermen]]'')
The Doctor later encountered these Cybermen on [http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Telos Telos], where the earlier arrival of [[Billy Jones]] had caused the "advanced guard" to awake from the cyber-tombs early to defend the others. The Cybermen tried to convert Billy, but he was saved by the Doctor before they could do so. ([[GAME]]: ''[[The Mazes of Time]]'')


The Cybermen were among the species that made up the [[the Alliance (The Pandorica Opens)|the Alliance]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'') However, the Alliance was never formed after the [[Big Bang Two]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Big Bang]]'')
The war ultimately ended when the [[Tiberian spiral galaxy]] was blown up, destroying apparently all of the Cybermen. ([[TV]]: ''[[Nightmare in Silver]]'')


The dead shells of some of these Cybermen were recovered after the [[Cyber-Wars]] and put on display at [[Hedgewick's World of Wonders]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Nightmare in Silver (TV story)|Nightmare in Silver]]'')
=== Later history ===
[[File:Attack 3.jpg|thumb|The Cybermen on Telos, planning to change history. ([[TV]]: ''[[Attack of the Cybermen]]'')]]
On Telos, the Cybermen plotted to change history and divert Halley's Comet to Earth to destroy it and to save Mondas. ([[TV]]: ''[[Attack of the Cybermen]]'') At some point, Telos was shattered by an [[asteroid]] impact. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Telos (audio story)|Telos]]'')


One Cyberman fell through the void into a universe where the Doctor was the main character in a television show called "Doctor Who". The [[Eleventh Doctor]] sent the Cyberman back into the Void to "its own home". ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who (comic story)|The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who]]'')
Telos was not the only site of Cyber-Tombs. There were dozens across the galaxy and more wars were started. [[Bernice Summerfield]] spoke of the Telos expedition and other tombs being discovered in the past tense. She was sent to one by [[Irving Braxiatel]] in the early [[27th century]]. Braxiatel intended to use the Cybermen as a private army but was thwarted. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Crystal of Cantus (audio story)|The Crystal of Cantus]]'')


==== Cybermen on Centuria ====
{{Ainley|c}} sent [[The Graak]] to a Cyber-Tomb populated by Cybermen to steal a [[Cybermat]]. These Cybermen were either going in- or coming out of the tombs. ([[GAME]]: ''[[Destiny of the Doctors]]'')
[[File:BITCS11.jpg|thumb|left|The Cybermen on Centuria. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Time of the Cybermen]]'')]]
[[File:Original_Cyberman_with_cyber-lider_Revengecybermen.jpg|thumb|left|Post wars Cybermen and a [[Cyber-Leader (Mondas)|Cyber-Leader]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Revenge of the Cybermen]]'')]]
Around [[2875]], the remaining Cybermen from the Cyber-Wars ship finally caught up to Voga, now in orbit around [[Jupiter]]. Their attempt to destroy it would be defeated and their craft and themselves detroyed due to the involvement of the [[Fourth Doctor]], [[Sarah Jane Smith]], and [[Harry Sullivan]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Revenge of the Cybermen]]'')


During the [[41st century]] an interplanetary info-thief stole Cyberman blueprints from the [[Torchwood Archive]] and used them to build a new Cyber army on [[Centuria]] with the intent of auctioning them of as hi-tech soldiers. However they turned on him and made him a half-converted slave. They started to kidnap hundreds of tourists and convert them. However, the Doctor discovered this while on Centuria for a holiday and the beach he was on was attacked. He and the other beachgoers were thrown into a van. [[Jayne Kadett]], who was tracking down interplanetary Info Theft when the Cybermen caught her, revealed to the Doctor what had happened. The Doctor and Jayne managed to escape the Cybermen and blow the restraint circuits; the Cybermen factory ([[Factory Zero One]]) was destroyed. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Power of the Cybermen]]'')
[[File:Doctor in Real Time.jpg|thumb|A Cyberman with the [[Sixth Doctor]]. ([[WC]]: ''[[Real Time (webcast)|Real Time]]'')]]
By [[3286]], the Cybermen had been thought dead for centuries. A group of these Cybermen led by a [[Cyber-controller]] attempted to gain time travel. Around this time, Goddard arrived. Goddard was a super developed Cybermen,from an [[Alternate timeline|alternate]] [[1930s]] where the human race had become cyborgs indistinguishable visually from humans thanks to a Cyber virus. The Cybermen manged to reverse-engineer the virus Goddard brought but were defeated by the [[Sixth Doctor]]. ([[WC]]: ''[[Real Time (webcast)|Real Time]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Real Time (audio story)|Real Time]]'')


[[File:Tpofc.jpg|thumb|The Cybermen attempt to upgrade. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Drones of Doom]]'')]]
[[File:The Flood.jpg|thumb|left|A number of Cybermen crowd around a beaten [[Destrii]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Flood (comic story)|The Flood]]'')]]Cybermen from the far future would use time travel to return in time to the [[2000s]] to convert Earth. They used rain that caused extreme emotions (sadness, fear, anger) to convince the humans that emotions were bad and to accept conversion willingly. The reason they needed humans from a past era was clear to the Doctor; in the future of the Cybermen, the human genetic template had been corrupted and augmented by their interactions with many alien races. The Cyber-conversion protocols were keyed to human or Mondasian biology; the number of available converts would drop dramatically.
The Doctor and Kadett followed the Cyberman's signal, taking a robot-run airship across the now-deserted [[continent]] of [[Azlon]] on the planet Centuria. Before arriving at the airbus terminal (a Cyber-conversion factory), the conductor/law enforcer became influenced by the Cybermen's hypnotic signal, which was being used to subjugate the arriving humans. The Doctor, Kadett and a reprogrammed robot conductor pretended to be hypnotised and follow the other arrivals. Seizing the right moment, the Doctor disrupted the hypnotic signal and the conductor robot attacked the Cybermen. A stray shot from the conductor ruptured the fuel banks, causing a huge explosion which killed most of the newly converted Cyber-drones (basic work units) as their humanity started to become more dominant. As the Doctor and Kadett fled the explosion, they found a bit of a map in a Cyberman's hand. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Drones of Doom]]'')


Using the TARDIS, the Doctor and Kadett followed the Cybermen's map to Centuria's arctic zone where the Cybermen planned to ship upgraded human drones. [[Homaj]], a half human, half Cyber drone, escaped the Cybermen who forced him and others to mine Hargstones. A giant purple [[Ice Snake]] attacked, but Cybermen with [[Cyberdog]]s deleted it. Homaj ran off into the frozen wasteland but the Doctor and Kadett were captured and taken to a huge mine below the ice. Inside the mine, the Doctor created a distraction while Kadett stole some explosives. The distraction caused a Cyberman to split one of the cave walls, disturbing a nest of Ice Snakes which attacked them. Escaping the mine, the Doctor and Kadett saw the Cybership has already departed with its cargo. Homaj waited for them and informed them he had intercepted a message saying that the cargo was going to Centuria Central. He then took the explosives from Kadett and headed back to the mine. In an act of self-sacrifice, he permanently sealed it. The Doctor and Kadett left in the Tardis in pursuit of the Cybership. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Enemy Mine]]'')
The Doctor offered to regenerate for them so they could gather the data of his regeneration and upgrade their conversion protocols to include other races, in exchange for leaving the Earth alone. The Cybermen agreed, but betrayed him at the last moment (the Doctor was expecting this). Using the fragment of the Time Vortex the future Cybership used as a power source, the Doctor destroyed the Cyberfleet and dissolved them into rain. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Flood (comic story)|The Flood]]'')


[[File:Totc.jpg|thumb|left|The Cybermen threaten to kill. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Time of the Cybermen]]'')]]
The Cybermen were notable customers of the information regarding [[the Doctor]] held by the [[Inforarium]]. When the Eleventh Doctor discovered the Cybermen, as well as the [[Dalek|Daleks]] and [[Sontaran|Sontarans]], had been purchasing this information, he infiltrated the Inforarium and memory-proofed their database using methods he learned from [[Silent|the Silence]]. The information sold was thus instantly forgotten. ([[HOMEVID]]: [[The Inforarium (TV story)|''The Inforarium'']]) This led to the Cybermen losing data on the Doctor.([[TV]]: ''[[Nightmare in Silver (TV story)|Nightmare in Silver]]'')
The TARDIS landed in Centuria Central in a temporal stasis field. Kadett was caught in the frozen moment but the Doctor, being a Time Lord, could resist the field. Cybermen in a patrol aircar spotted him moving around and pursued. The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to bring the aircar crashing down, drawing the attention of other Cybermen, who arrived to salvage parts and take them back to base. The Doctor smuggled himself into the base with the salvage. The base was the Triplanetary base which the Doctor suspected had been robbed of its Hargstone reserves to enable the Cybermen to maintain a stasis machine. The Doctor learned from the Cybermen that they had built the stasis machine from Torchwood files and used the device to subdue opposition. Choosing the most secure place for the machine, the Doctor escaped and headed for the bank's vault, but it was made of titanium and was protected by laser-proof glass and destructor rays. When the Doctor couldn't get in he used the sonic screwdriver to turn the destructor rays inwards, destroying the stasis machine. The Cybermen had a mental link with the machine that enables them to move around inside the stasis field, so when the machine was destroyed the temporal feedback overloaded their circuits. However, a Cyber-helmet in the shadows glowed red, suggesting that the Cybermen presence on Centuria wasn't completely destroyed. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Time of the Cybermen]]'')
[[File:Cyberman_Nightmare.jpg|thumb|A Cyberman on [[Hedgewick's World of Wonders]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Nightmare in Silver (TV story)|Nightmare in Silver]]'')]]
A thousand years after the destruction of the [[Tiberian spiral galaxy]] and the end of the Cyber-Wars, the Cybermen were thought to be extinct. Yet surviving Cybermen lay beneath the future site of [[Hedgewick's World of Wonders]]. When the theme park was built, the Cybermen began using [[Cybermite]]s to kidnap people as "spare parts". [[Angie Maitland|Angie]] and [[Artie Maitland]] arrived on Hedgewick's World with the [[Eleventh Doctor]] and their nanny, [[Clara Oswald|Clara]], and were taken by the Cybermen. With enough components to reawaken them, after being presumed extinct for a thousand years, the Cybermen awoke from their tombs.
[[File:Cybermen Nightmare2.jpg|thumb|left|Cybermen attacking [[Natty Longshoe's Comical Castle]] ([[TV]]: ''[[Nightmare in Silver (TV story)|Nightmare in Silver]]'')]]
The Cybermen began attacking [[Natty Longshoe's Comical Castle]] to convert the humans there, but the Doctor, in a battle for his mind with the [[Cyber-Planner]], [[Mr Clever]], had them stop in place to bring in the local resources to win the [[chess]] game. The Doctor used a [[hand pulse]] to redistribute Clever among the rest of the Cybermen. Angie and Artie were also released. Emperor [[Ludens Nimrod Kendrick Cord Longstaff XLI]] gave the verbal command to start the countdown of a planet-imploding bomb. This drew the attention of his ship, which [[transmat]]ted the Doctor and the humans on the planet while the Cybermen were left behind. The planet and the Cybermen were destroyed; however, one Cybermite survived the destruction. ([[TV]]: ''[[Nightmare in Silver]]'')


== Other information ==
=== Final evolution ===
* The [[Tenth Doctor]] kept one of the [[Cybus Industries|Cybus]] logos from a Cyberman chest plate in [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Unicorn and the Wasp]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Taking of Chelsea 426]]'')
By the [[101st century]], the Cybermen had nearly died out. Several centuries earlier, they had chosen a [[Cyberlord|new name]] for their species and become pacifists. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Synthespians™]]'')
 
The Cybermen would ultimately transcend into pure energy. They would redeem the whole of sentient life and become the most peace loving-species in the whole of creation, purely thought with no physical presence. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The World Shapers (comic story)|The World Shapers]]'')
 
=== Undated events ===
[[File:Miniscope.jpg|thumb|A Cyberman inside [[Vorg]]'s [[Miniscope]] ([[TV]]: ''[[Carnival of Monsters]]'')]]
During the [[Gallifreyan history#The Dark Time|Dark Times on Gallifrey]], the Cybermen were excluded from the games in the [[Death Zone]], because the Time Lords believed they had an unfair advantage over other victims of the games. [[Borusa]], having found the [[Game of Rassilon]], transported a squadron of Cybermen to the Death Zone to threaten and harass the [[Third Doctor]] and [[Sarah Jane Smith]]. These Cybermen were mostly destroyed by a similarly transported [[Raston Warrior Robot]]. The survivors allied with {{Ainley}}, but he betrayed and destroyed them. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]'')
 
The [[Seventh Doctor]] and [[Catherine Broome]] battled a squad of Cybermen in the Prenadene asteroid belt.([[PROSE]]: ''[[Companion Piece (novel)|Companion Piece]]'')
 
A Cyberman was among the life-forms exhibited in [[Vorg]]'s [[Miniscope]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Carnival of Monsters]]'')
 
The Cybermen were part of the [[Fifth Doctor|Supremo]]'s alliance in the war against [[Morbius]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Warmonger]]'')
 
The remains of one Cyberman were put on sale at [[the Maldovarium]] market. The [[Eleventh Doctor]] purchased the Cyberman's head and called him "[[Handles]]". ([[TV]]:'' [[The Time of the Doctor (TV story)|The Time of the Doctor]]'')
 
The Cybermen were involved in the [[Siege of Trenzalore]]. After being summoned to [[Trenzalore]] by [[the First Question]], the Cybermen attempted to pass through the [[Papal Mainframe]]'s [[force field]]. One attempt involved a [[Wooden Cyberman]] as it was low-tech and would not trigger any alarm system but the Doctor tricked the Cyberman into destroying itself. Later, the Daleks attacked the Mainframe and learned how to break the [[force field]]. The Cybermen followed them and fought the Doctor and the [[Silent]]s until all the Cybermen, like many other species involved in the battle, were either killed or saw fit to retreat. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of the Doctor]]'')
 
=== Alternate timeline ===
{{Section stub|it's difficult to tell, given its lack of a proper resolution after ten years, but ''[[Real Time (webcast)|Real Time]]'' seems to involve some sort of divergent timeline}}
In an [[Alternate timeline (Time & Time Again)|alternate timeline]] created by the [[Black Guardian]], the [[First Doctor]] never left [[Gallifrey]]. He became [[Lord President]]. The Cybermen were one of many aliens which invaded [[Earth]], and fought over the planet with other races. This timeline was destroyed when the [[Seventh Doctor]] retrieved the [[Key to Time]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Time & Time Again (comic story)|Time & Time Again]]'')
 
If the [[Eleventh Doctor]] and [[Jean-Luc Picard]] did not defeat the Cybermen and [[the Borg]], the Cybermen would eventually defeat the Borg, and invade both the Doctor's universe and the [[Federation universe]], with planets invaded incluing; [[Raxacoricofallapatorius]], [[Qo'noS]], the [[Judoon]] homeworld, and finally Starfleet Academy in [[San Francisco]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Assimilation²]]'')
 
===Parallel universe===
In the [[Federation universe]], the Cybermen invaded an Archaeological site on [[Aprilia III]] and began to convert the people onboard into Cybermen. They encountered the [[Fourth Doctor]], [[James T. Kirk|Captain James T. Kirk]], [[Spock]], [[Leonard McCoy|McCoy]] and [[Montgomery Scott|Scotty]]. The Fourth Doctor stopped them by using the gold on Kirk's [[communicator]] to clog the Cybermen's respiration. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Assimilation² (comic story)|Assimilation²]]'')
 
[[File:Cybermen and Borg.jpg|thumb|left|The Cybermen with [[the Borg]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Assimilation²]]'')]]
The Cybermen entered into an alliance with another [[cyborg|cybernetic]] species, [[the Borg]], from a [[Federation universe|Federation]] due to their identical goals of assimilating other species. On [[Stardate]] 45635.2 in [[2368]], a joint Borg/Cyberman assault force attacked the [[United Federation of Planets|Federation]] planet [[Delta IV]] and quickly overran it. This attack made the Cybermen known to the Federation. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Assimilation²]]'')
 
=== Other references ===
An image of a Cyberman was one of the fears pulled from the Doctor's mind when he faced the Keller machine. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Mind of Evil]]'')
 
In their war with the [[Cybermen (Pete's World)|Cybermen of another universe]], the [[Cult of Skaro]] noted their resemblance to the Cybermen from our universe. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doomsday]]'')
 
=== Mysteries and discrepancies ===
[[File:Voord Cybermen.jpg|thumb|left|The Sixth Doctor with the [[Voord]], some partially turned into Cybermen. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The World Shapers]]'')]]
 
On [[Telos]], the [[Second Doctor]] seemed to have knowledge, if not foreknowledge, of the Cyber-Tombs. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tomb of the Cybermen]]'') The [[Cyber-Planner]]'s reference to having met the Doctor on [[Planet 14]] also remains obscure, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Invasion]]'') though one account tries to explain this in a way which contradicts previously disclosed information about the [[creation of the Cybermen]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The World Shapers (comic story)|The World Shapers]]'') By the time the Cybermen invaded [[Space Station W3]], the [[Second Doctor]] was "known and recorded as an enemy of the Cybermen". ([[TV]]: ''[[The Wheel in Space (TV story)|The Wheel in Space]]'')


== Behind the scenes ==
== Behind the scenes ==
* The non-narrative based work Doctor Who: The Visual Dictionary revealed much more:
=== Inspiration for the Cybermen ===
The idea for the Cybermen came from [[Kit Pedler]]'s interest in new medical advances and his fears of where they might lead. Early concepts of the Cyberman design emphasised the "man" part of the name, but the proposed design would have cost too much money. Indeed, the televised version of ''[[The Tenth Planet]]'' featured much more human-like Cybermen with human hands.


:The Cybermen are powered by thermionic generators, their brain was kept in a patented protein solution at 6 °C, and their armor made from a very, very durable manganese-steel alloy.
Prologues to certain [[Target Books]] novelisations reflect the earlier ideas about the Cybermen and state they perfected the science of cybernetics to gain immortality. The Cybermen were the result: immortal, but at the price of loss of their humanity.


The points of weakness on Cybermen were the ankle joint and the exposed coolant lines on the inner (right) side of their left knee.
=== Development of the characters ===


Their fingertips incorporate touch sensitive pads and their voice-box was located in their metal mouth (that doesn't open obviously, only lights up blue when they talk).
The second appearance of the Cybermen in ''[[The Moonbase]]'' (pre-planned by the production team even before ''[[The Tenth Planet]]'' had aired), re-designed them radically, making them much more [[robot]]ic in appearance. The Cybermen went through another major re-design in ''[[The Invasion]]'', yet another in ''[[Earthshock]]'', one in the comic strips in ''[[The Flood (comic story)|The Flood]]'' and one more in ''[[Nightmare in Silver]]''. Minor re-designs would take place as well. As the Cybermen stories do not appear in a chronological order, this makes their evolution rather confusing; more 'advanced' Cybermen are around at the same time as more 'primitive' ones. This can be explained by time travel, though the Cybermen only captured one time ship. ([[TV]]: ''[[Attack of the Cybermen]]'')


The coolant lines were Kevlar-lined and were bullet-resistant.  
=== The Brilliant Books ===
The [[Tardis:Valid sources|non-narrative]] sources ''[[The Brilliant Book 2011]]'' and ''[[The Brilliant Book 2012]]'' had further information about Cybermen.


The particle-beam gun technology is capable of being handheld with an outsized grip (because Cybermen are so big) or being incorporated into their forearm. The particle beam guns were top of the arms market and were constructed in John Lumic's Blue Skies laboratory.  
* According to ''[[The Brilliant Book 2011]]'', at Blenheim Palace, the [[Fourth Doctor]] was hunting [[Cybermat]]s, suggesting Cybermen activity.
* According to ''[[The Brilliant Book 2012]]'', at one point, [[Vastra]] and [[Jenny Flint|Jenny]] battled the Cybermen.


* According to [[Tardis:Valid sources|non-narrative]] information in [[DWBIT 17|''DWBIT'' 17]] and the ''[[DWBIT Daleks vs Cybermen Special]]'', during the [[Battle of Canary Wharf]], the weaponry of the Cybermen was mostly ineffective to [[Dalek]] casing, but there were some Dalek casualties as the Cybermen were able to tear the domes of some Daleks right off, some instances as part of an ambush.
=== ''Cybermen'' ===
* In another ''Dalek Wars'' page in ''Battles in Time'', a single Cyberman ended at the bottom of the oceans of Philjax III during the Daleks' battle with the Squeeth.
The non-narrative source ''[[Doctor Who: Cybermen]]'', by [[David Banks]], went into further detail about Cybermen and Cyberman factions. Banks created a number of terms — CyberFaction, CyberNomad, CyberTelosian, CyberMondasian, and others — to explain the differences in the Cybermen's costumes on television. Some of the terms, in adapted forms, appear in his later novel, [[PROSE]]: ''[[Iceberg (novel)|Iceberg]]''. It is these forms — [[Mondan]] and [[the Faction]], which this wiki prefers, according to our [[T:CAN|canon policy]].
* In a website launched by the BBC for the promotion of season 2,  International Electromatics, it is indicated that Cybus Industries derived their Cyberman technology from the deactivated bodies of alien Cybermen found at the North Pole.
*In the non-canon [http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/SP SP]: ''[http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Doctor_Who:_The_Monsters_Are_Coming! The Monsters Are Coming!]'', The [http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Lurman Lurman] [http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Vorgenson Vorgenson] used his machine, the Minimiser, to capture several Cybermen to be part of his travelling show dedicated to the [http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Eleventh_Doctor Eleventh Doctor]. The Cybermen were one of many many mind-controlled versions of his recently encountered enemies. It was revealed that the [[New Dalek Paradigm|New Paradigm Daleks]] had planted the idea in his head to attract the [http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Eleventh_Doctor Eleventh Doctor] to the show with his monsters, and capture him in the Minimiser. This plan worked, although Vorgenson learned the truth. The audience managed to save the Doctor and helped him to release the Cybermen from the Minimiser to destroy the Daleks.
* [[Neil Gaiman]] has stated<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sfx.co.uk/2013/05/07/exclusive-neil-gaiman-talks-doctor-who-and-cybermen/|title=EXCLUSIVE – Neil Gaiman Talks Doctor Who And Cybermen|date of source=May 7th, 2013|website name=SFX|accessdate=January 5th, 2014}}</ref> that he has the theory that at one point, the Cybus Cybermen encountered the [[Mondas]]ian/[[Telos]]ian [[Cyberman (Mondas)|Cybermen]] and the two races merged into one, explaining why, in [[Series 5 (Doctor Who)|Series 5]] and [[Series 6 (Doctor Who)|Series 6]], the Cybermen share characteristics of both the originals and the Cybus versions. It may also explain why the Cybus Cybermen appear in the ice tombs on Telos (in ''[[The Mazes of Time (video game)|The Mazes of Time]]'') and why the Cybermen have connections with Mondas Cybermen in the past but have the Cybus design (in ''[[Assimilation² (comic story)|Assimilation²]]''). This merged Cyber race is implied in Gaiman's [[Series 7 (Doctor Who)|Series 7]] episode ''[[Nightmare in Silver (TV story)|Nightmare in Silver]]'' where the Cyber-suits of two Cybus Cybermen are seen and said to have been found after the [[Cyber-Wars]] (a Mondasian Cyberman conflict) along with the suit of a Cyberman of the Cyber Legions. However, no explicit confirmation of this theory is given in the episode.


== Footnotes ==
The history Banks presented as "non-fiction" was largely ignored by other authors and so can't be considered in the writing of most of our articles.  Here are some of the points that Banks made which never made it beyond ''[[Doctor Who: Cybermen]]'':
{{reflist}}
* The departure of the CyberFaction (that is, [[the Faction]]) from Mondas was thought to have occurred around 5000 BC in what Banks called the "First Divergence".
{{Cyberman variants}}
{{Cyberman stories}}


* In the "Second Divergence", a group which author [[David Banks]] called "CyberNomads"<!--REF term; do not link--> diverged from the Faction. These so-called "Nomads" searched for the [[validium]] statue [[Nemesis]] and tried and failed to destroy [[Voga]].


* Possibly after the 21st century, the Faction abandoned their home in the Sol system and journeyed into the galaxy to colonise a suitable planet. The Cybermen which colonised Telos, possibly in 2175, split from the Faction and were called the CyberTelosians<!--REF term; do not link-->. This group united with the CyberNomads after they discovered the frozen CyberTelosians, and became CyberNeomorphs<!--REF term; do not link-->. These Cybermen planned to use Halley's Comet against Earth and were taken to the Death Zone on Gallifrey.


In other words, what Banks was trying to do was create terms for each of the different costumes he and his fellow performers had worn throughout the years.  In effect he was saying that the costumes in ''[[Attack of the Cybermen]]'' were of CyberNeomorphs, the ones worn in ''[[The Tomb of the Cybermen]]'' were of CyberTelosians, and so forth. 


The idea has not been widely ignored by other works.  Even he did not in his book,  ''Iceberg'', which mentioned none of his terms precisely.  It did not reference the CyberNeomorphs and CyberTelosians, and called the CyberFaction, "[[the Faction]]", and CyberMondasians, "[[Mondan]]s".
{{Cyberman_variants}}
{{cyberman stories}}
{{NameSort}}
{{NameSort}}
[[Category:Cybermen (Pete's World)|*]]
[[fr:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:The Alliance]]
[[Category:Mondasian species]]
[[Category:Cybermen (Mondas)]]
[[Category:Cyborg species]]
[[Category:Time-travelling species]]
[[Category:Time-travelling species]]
[[Category:Cyborg species]]
[[Category:Species influential to Earth's past]]

Revision as of 20:55, 27 December 2014

You may wish to consult Cyberman (disambiguation) for other, similarly-named pages.

The Cybermen of the Doctor's universe, sometimes known as N-Space, were a race of artificially modified humans who originated from the planet Mondas, Earth's twin planet. (TV: The Tenth Planet)

The Cybermen took it as their primary aim to conquer the universe, converting where possible to boost their numbers. Fear of such conversion was prevalent on many worlds and so the Cybermen came to be objects of terror. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen)

Characteristics

Variants

The Cybermen were cybernetically augmented humanoids. Though they varied greatly in design over time (most likely due to the technology available to them), the many versions had several things in common. Nearly all were silver in colour, except for a black variety in the London sewers. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen, et. al)

Cybermen also exhibited exposed circuitry and tubing covering a rubbery or mylar-like outer skin. (TV: The Tenth Planet) Cybermen frequently attempted to increase their numbers by cyber-conversion.

A Mondan. (TV: The Tenth Planet)

The Mondasians which the First Doctor met on Snowcap Base in December 1986 had undergone a less radical conversion and still retained biological hands. (TV: The Tenth Planet)

All other Cybermen were entirely covered by their metallic suits. (TV: The Moonbase onwards) Some partial conversions were known to exist that still held human features, among them Tobias Vaughn. (TV: The Invasion)

The Cybermen on the Moonbase and those released by Eric Klieg on Telos were slim. (TV: The Moonbase, The Tomb of the Cybermen) The ones which infiltrated Briggs' freighter in 2526 had bulkier, more imposing forms. (TV: Earthshock) Cybermen like these also existed in the 1980s. (TV: Silver Nemesis)

A black Cyberman. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen)

Mondasian Cybermen had a quavering voice which put inflected syllables in a seemingly random, sing-song manner. (TV: The Tenth Planet) Later Cybermen spoke in more of a monotone, emphasising their lack of emotion. (TV: The Moonbase)

Conversion

Cyber-conversion was the process by which compatible beings were physically and mentally altered into Cybermen. This process was necessary for the Cybermen to increase in number. It was carried out at many locations. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen)

Cyber-conversion. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen)

Partial conversions occurred. In a partial conversion, the subject took on several features of the Cybermen. For example, Tobias Vaughn's torso was immune to gunfire. (TV: The Invasion)

Vulnerabilities

The Fifth Doctor uses Adric's gold badge against the Cyber-Leader. (TV: Earthshock)

Cybermen had major weaknesses. The most notable was the element gold which, being non-corrosive, choked their respiratory systems, a property exploited by the glittergun used during the Cyber-Wars. (TV: Revenge of the Cybermen, Earthshock, Silver Nemesis) On occasion, the mere touch of gold was toxic to them. Gold coins or gold-tipped arrows might destroy them. (TV: Earthshock, Silver Nemesis) Gold also blocked their sensors and caused the cybermats to malfunction. (PROSE: Revenge of the Cybermen)

Other weaknesses of the Cybermen included the combination of solvents known as Cocktail Polly (TV: The Moonbase) and excessive levels of radiation. (TV: The Tenth Planet)

Cybermen affected by the Cerebration Mentor, an emotion-enhancing device, went "mad". (TV: The Invasion)

Some Cybermen could be damaged (but not killed) by ordinary gunfire. (TV: Silver Nemesis)

20th century guns could damage Cybermen, but did not kill them. Explosives and bazooka shells took them down easily. (TV: The Invasion, Silver Nemesis) UNIT developed gold-tipped rounds to combat Cybermen. (TV: Battlefield) At close range, attacks with energy and laser weapons could kill Cybermen. (TV: Earthshock)

Raston Warrior Robots counted Cybermen among the many beings they could kill. Although equipped only with javelins and blades, the technology of the robots allowed them to easily destroy several Cybermen. (TV: The Five Doctors)

Technology

The Cybermen forces in 2526 used the Cyberlance, a powerful, hand-held cutting weapon. They also used the Cyberscope, a device that allowed Cyber commanders to view the battlefield remotely and access a computer database (containing, among other data, information on their race's encounters with the Doctor). (TV: Earthshock)

The Cyberman's distress signal is activated. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen)

Cybermen in 1986 had a built-in distress signal in their heads that could be activated manually. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen)

The chest unit of a Cyberman was vital to the operation of its life support system. (AUDIO: Telos)

While the Cybermen were capable of time travel, (TV: Earthshock, AUDIO: The Reaping) it was still primitive, limited and even dangerous as late as the 30th century. (PROSE: Illegal Alien) Should the Cybermen have mastered time travel, they would have become strong enough to crush the Draconians, the Sontarans and even the Daleks. (WC: Real Time, AUDIO: Real Time)

Weapons (short range)

A Cyberman with a gun. (TV: The Invasion)

When they attacked Earth in 1986, Cybermen carried large, hand-held, energy weapons. (TV: The Tenth Planet)

On the Moon in 2070, Cybermen could produce arcs of electricity from their hands to stun and disable. (TV: The Moonbase)

In the 21st century, the Cybermen who attacked Space Station W3 had death rays built into their chest units. (TV: The Wheel in Space)

The Cybermen encountered by UNIT in the late 20th century displayed these same built-in weapons. They also carried large rifles for medium range combat on London's streets. (TV: The Invasion)

The Cybermen who attacked the Nerva Beacon had their weapons built into their helmets. They were activated with the touch of a hand. (TV: Revenge of the Cybermen)

In time, the Cybermen came to favour the hand-held cyber-gun over the built-in weapon. (TV: The Invasion onwards)

Weapons (other)

In the 20th century, the Cybermen invasion fleet had a megatron bomb that could destroy all life on Earth. (TV: The Invasion)

In 2070, the Cybermen had a cannon which could operate in the vacuum of Space. They used it on the surface of the Moon. Due to its mass, it required two Cybermen to operate it. (TV: The Moonbase)

Cybermen in 2526, the invaders of Voga, and the Cybermen removed by Time Scoop to the Death Zone had portable cyber-bombs that could devastate planets. (TV: Earthshock, Revenge of the Cybermen, The Five Doctors)

Neurotrope X incapacitated humans before the Cybermen made an overt move. (TV: The Moonbase) Cybermen sometimes used Cybermats to spread the virus to the population. (TV: Revenge of the Cybermen)

The Cybermen were strong enough to kill with their hands without any extra weaponry or electric-based attack. (TV: Earthshock)

Culture

Cybermen made survival their central objective. Since they could not reproduce naturally, they needed to create new members of their population by other means, via cyber-conversion. At times they tended to focus on converting the population of Earth, at other times on simply destroying it. (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen)

Cybermen tended toward covert activity, scheming from hiding and using human or other agents, cybermats or androids to act as their proxies until they appeared. (TV: Revenge of the Cybermen, Earthshock, Attack of the Cybermen)

Individuality and emotion

Throughout their history, Cybermen, for the most part, lacked individuality or names. This was a result of their emotions being removed during the conversion process. (TV: The Tenth Planet, et al.)

A few Cybermen had individual names such as Krang (TV: The Tenth Planet) or Kroton. (COMIC: Throwback: The Soul of a Cyberman)

In the script and cast listings for The Tenth Planet the individual Cybermen had names. They were Krail, Talon, Shav, Krang, Jarl and Gern. (REF: Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia)
A Cyber-Leader. (TV: The Five Doctors)

Cybermen in positions of authority included the ground level Cyber-Leader who commanded a group of ordinary Cybermen. Cyber-Leaders were sometimes aided by a Cyber-Lieutenant. Immobile computer-like Cyber-Planners would sometimes make decisions and long term plans. (TV: The Wheel in Space, The Invasion) The Cyber-Controllers, who possessed enlarged craniums, had the position of highest possible authority. (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen, Attack of the Cybermen)

Cybermen no longer possessed emotions and viewed them as a weakness. However, several of the Cyber-Leaders displayed characteristics that could be linked to emotions such as anger, amusement, and, at times, smugness. (TV: Earthshock)

History

Early history

Cybermen were originally a wholly organic species of humanoids who arose on Earth's former twin planet, Mondas. Mondas drifted into the outer solar system to become an orphan planet. The Mondasians adapted by turning themselves into cyborgs. (TV: The Tenth Planet) Eventually all of the Mondasians underwent forced cyber-conversion. (AUDIO: Spare Parts) According to another account, they evolved from the Voord and Mondas was once the planet Marinus. (COMIC: The World Shapers)

See Creation of the Cybermen for more details.

The original Mondasians retained more of their organic form. They had personal names. Another group, the Faction, left Mondas and headed for Planet 14. These developed into groups without connection to one another. (PROSE: Iceberg)

Mondas developed a drive propulsion system. This was placed in the planet's core to move the entire world. As the original Cybermen were limited in numbers and were continually being depleted, they decided to invade Earth. (TV: The Tenth Planet)

Middle history

20th century

Cybermen in 1954. (COMIC: The Good Soldier)

In 1903, after receiving a wealth of information from the future, Grigori Rasputin saw people made of metal. (AUDIO: The Wanderer)

The Seventh Doctor and Ace fought Cybermen in London in 1940. (PROSE: Illegal Alien) They would later fight them in Nevada in 1954. These Cybermen were from Mondas, trying to invade. Their attack was delayed until 1986. (COMIC: The Good Soldier)

A Cyberman rises from a London sewer. (TV: The Invasion)

By 1970, Cybermen, specifically the Faction led by a Cyber-Planner (PROSE: Iceberg), had established a base on the dark side of Earth's Moon. The Cyber-Planner had contacted the industrialist Tobias Vaughn, the head of the International Electromatics corporation. Vaughn installed mind control circuits in his company's appliances, paving the way for an invasion. He also grafted cybernetic arms onto several of his workers.

Vaughn had a Cyber-Planner installed in his office. The plot was uncovered by the newly formed UNIT and the Second Doctor, who helped avert the invasion on the Earth and at the Cyberman base on the Moon. (TV: The Invasion)

From the mid 1970s through 1985, Cybermen lurked in the sewers below London, awaiting another invasion. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen) This would happen in December 1986. (TV: The Tenth Planet) At some point a Cyberman's head was taken and was stored in Henry van Statten's Vault, where he held alien artefacts. According to its label, it was recovered from the London sewers in 1975. (TV: Dalek)

A Cyberman in the TARDIS. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen)

Having captured a time vessel, the Cybermen knew that the First Doctor would eventually destroy Mondas. They planned to divert Halley's Comet towards Earth in 1985. They hoped the destruction of Earth would change the past so Mondas would survive. The Sixth Doctor foiled them. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen)

A Cyberman encounters the Doctor. (TV: The Tenth Planet)

In December 1986, the First Doctor met an advance force of Mondans near Snowcap Base in Antarctica. This force was to prepare for Mondas' return to the Sol system and to drain Earth's energy for the Cybermen. Mondas absorbed too much energy and was destroyed, as were the Cybermen on Earth who depended on Mondas for power. (TV: The Tenth Planet) Following the destruction of Mondas, the Cyberman would make Lonsis their new home. (AUDIO: Human Resources) One account also claims that the Cyberships were examined and exploited by humans, allowing them to make advances in space travel. Sarah Jane Smith described the invasion as "both the greatest disaster and most astonishing blessing ever to have happened to the human race." (PROSE: The Power of the Daleks)

The Cybermen and a group of mercenaries led by Karl made an alliance with the Daleks in a gambit to sabotage a peace conference on Earth in 1988 and have the planet destroyed. The Cybermen and the mercenaries had a much more active role than the Daleks, as they were tasked with kidnapping an American envoy on whom the success of the conference depended and in capturing the Doctor whom the Dalek Emperor declared a vital part of the plan. The Daleks took a more behind-the-scenes approach as they planned to use the mercenaries and Cybermen as nothing more than scapegoats who could be blamed for the destruction of Earth by the Galactic Council while the Dalek involvement remained a secret. When the Sixth Doctor revealed this information to the Cybermen and the mercenaries, they immediately turned on the Daleks. (AUDIO: The Ultimate Adventure)

Cybermen on Earth. (TV: Silver Nemesis)

In November 1988, a scouting party was sent to Earth in search of a statue made of validium called Nemesis, a Time Lord weapon. The Cybermen met Lady Peinforte, who brought many of their number down with gold-tipped arrows. The Leader apparently forced the Seventh Doctor to surrender the Nemesis. Their Force was destroyed by Nemesis as the Doctor had instructed. (TV: Silver Nemesis)

21st century

In 2000, the Cybermen infected the Earth computers with a virus that removed all vowels. (PROSE: Vrs)

Cybermen in 2005. (COMIC: The Flood)

In 2005, (COMIC: Hunters of the Burning Stone) Cybermen from the future time travelled to Earth to announce themselves to the public. They hoped to flood Earth, using a powerful water-like nerve agent to make humans willingly participate in cyber-conversion. The Eighth Doctor, having absorbed a segment of the Time Vortex for a brief period of time, turned their entire army to dust, and decomposed their ship slowly, causing it to explode soon after. (COMIC: The Flood)

In 2006, Cybermen again invaded Earth's South Pole. (PROSE: Iceberg) In the same year, the Cybermen on Lonsis tried to invade Earth via the portal in the main branch of Hulbert Logistics.The Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller destroyed them. They used a quantum crystalliser to make the Cybermen and their ship rapidly rust into dust. (AUDIO: Human Resources)

In 2008 several Cybermen and a Cyber-Planner who were allergic to gold attempted to gain Time travel. They converted Bryon but their ship was destroyed by Charlotte Pollard (AUDIO: The Girl Who Never Was)

In 2021 a group of Cybermen pretended to want to become organic again. A space program used this to their advantage. However the Cyberleader lied, in fact having tricked the agency into creating a conversion chamber. The Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex foiled this scheme. (AUDIO: The Harvest)

By 2070, the Cybermen were known and feared in several galaxies (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Cybermen) but were thought extinct by Earth. At this time the Earth's weather was controlled by the Gravitron installation in the Moonbase, the Faction planned to use the Gravitron to disrupt Earth's weather and destroy all life on the planet. (TV: The Moonbase)

Cybermen in the Land of Fiction. (AUDIO: Legend of the Cybermen)

In 2079, (AUDIO: Second Chances) Space Station W3 was the site of a takeover by the Faction, but were defeated by the Second Doctor. (TV: The Wheel in Space) In a second attack on the wheel, the Cybermen were sent into the Land of Fiction by Zoe Heriot. (AUDIO: Legend of the Cybermen)

Post-21st century

The Space Marines fought the Cybermen on Titan 317 in the latter half of the 22nd century. (PROSE: The Janus Conjunction)

The Cybermen on Aprilia III. (COMIC: Assimilation²)

The Sixth Doctor encountered Cybermen in 2191. By using a Selachian ship the Cybermen had conquered Agora. (PROSE: Killing Ground)

File:Tomb of the cybermen tv.jpg
The Cybermen released from their tombs. (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen)

The Cybermen had all but passed into legend when an archaeological expedition on the planet Telos found the Cyber-tombs. Hordes of Cybermen waited in cryogenic suspension. Earth's Brotherhood of Logicians intended to awaken them, believing the Cybermen would be receptive to their cause. The tomb would be sealed again (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen) and later re-activated. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen)

Cyber-Wars

Main article: Cyber-Wars

During the Orion War of the early 26th century, humans tried to salvage Cyber-Technology from derelict ships to defeat the androids. This led to both sides nearly wiped out and the temporary conquest of Earth before the Cybermen resurgence was stopped. (AUDIO: Sword of Orion, AUDIO: Cyberman)

Cybermen and a Cyber-Leader.(TV: Earthshock)

In 2526, several planets united to oppose the Cybermen in an event called the Cyber-Wars. A force of Cybermen tried to devastate Earth with a Cyberbomb and convert the survivors. Failing this, they hoped to crash the freighter into Earth and cause an ecological disaster. Although the effort failed, the freighter was catapulted back in time to become the "meteor" that wiped out the dinosaurs. (TV: Earthshock)

One of the last acts of the Cybermen in this war the attempt to blow up the planet Voga to stop the production of glitterguns. (PROSE: Revenge of the Cybermen) In the aftermath of their failure, the Cybermen were reduced to scattered remnants. One group relentlessly hounded the remaining fragment of Voga. (TV: Revenge of the Cybermen)

The war ultimately ended when the Tiberian spiral galaxy was blown up, destroying apparently all of the Cybermen. (TV: Nightmare in Silver)

Later history

The Cybermen on Telos, planning to change history. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen)

On Telos, the Cybermen plotted to change history and divert Halley's Comet to Earth to destroy it and to save Mondas. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen) At some point, Telos was shattered by an asteroid impact. (AUDIO: Telos)

Telos was not the only site of Cyber-Tombs. There were dozens across the galaxy and more wars were started. Bernice Summerfield spoke of the Telos expedition and other tombs being discovered in the past tense. She was sent to one by Irving Braxiatel in the early 27th century. Braxiatel intended to use the Cybermen as a private army but was thwarted. (AUDIO: The Crystal of Cantus)

The Tremas Master sent The Graak to a Cyber-Tomb populated by Cybermen to steal a Cybermat. These Cybermen were either going in- or coming out of the tombs. (GAME: Destiny of the Doctors)

Post wars Cybermen and a Cyber-Leader. (TV: Revenge of the Cybermen)

Around 2875, the remaining Cybermen from the Cyber-Wars ship finally caught up to Voga, now in orbit around Jupiter. Their attempt to destroy it would be defeated and their craft and themselves detroyed due to the involvement of the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, and Harry Sullivan. (TV: Revenge of the Cybermen)

A Cyberman with the Sixth Doctor. (WC: Real Time)

By 3286, the Cybermen had been thought dead for centuries. A group of these Cybermen led by a Cyber-controller attempted to gain time travel. Around this time, Goddard arrived. Goddard was a super developed Cybermen,from an alternate 1930s where the human race had become cyborgs indistinguishable visually from humans thanks to a Cyber virus. The Cybermen manged to reverse-engineer the virus Goddard brought but were defeated by the Sixth Doctor. (WC: Real Time, AUDIO: Real Time)

A number of Cybermen crowd around a beaten Destrii. (COMIC: The Flood)

Cybermen from the far future would use time travel to return in time to the 2000s to convert Earth. They used rain that caused extreme emotions (sadness, fear, anger) to convince the humans that emotions were bad and to accept conversion willingly. The reason they needed humans from a past era was clear to the Doctor; in the future of the Cybermen, the human genetic template had been corrupted and augmented by their interactions with many alien races. The Cyber-conversion protocols were keyed to human or Mondasian biology; the number of available converts would drop dramatically.

The Doctor offered to regenerate for them so they could gather the data of his regeneration and upgrade their conversion protocols to include other races, in exchange for leaving the Earth alone. The Cybermen agreed, but betrayed him at the last moment (the Doctor was expecting this). Using the fragment of the Time Vortex the future Cybership used as a power source, the Doctor destroyed the Cyberfleet and dissolved them into rain. (COMIC: The Flood)

The Cybermen were notable customers of the information regarding the Doctor held by the Inforarium. When the Eleventh Doctor discovered the Cybermen, as well as the Daleks and Sontarans, had been purchasing this information, he infiltrated the Inforarium and memory-proofed their database using methods he learned from the Silence. The information sold was thus instantly forgotten. (HOMEVID: The Inforarium) This led to the Cybermen losing data on the Doctor.(TV: Nightmare in Silver)

A Cyberman on Hedgewick's World of Wonders. (TV: Nightmare in Silver)

A thousand years after the destruction of the Tiberian spiral galaxy and the end of the Cyber-Wars, the Cybermen were thought to be extinct. Yet surviving Cybermen lay beneath the future site of Hedgewick's World of Wonders. When the theme park was built, the Cybermen began using Cybermites to kidnap people as "spare parts". Angie and Artie Maitland arrived on Hedgewick's World with the Eleventh Doctor and their nanny, Clara, and were taken by the Cybermen. With enough components to reawaken them, after being presumed extinct for a thousand years, the Cybermen awoke from their tombs.

Cybermen attacking Natty Longshoe's Comical Castle (TV: Nightmare in Silver)

The Cybermen began attacking Natty Longshoe's Comical Castle to convert the humans there, but the Doctor, in a battle for his mind with the Cyber-Planner, Mr Clever, had them stop in place to bring in the local resources to win the chess game. The Doctor used a hand pulse to redistribute Clever among the rest of the Cybermen. Angie and Artie were also released. Emperor Ludens Nimrod Kendrick Cord Longstaff XLI gave the verbal command to start the countdown of a planet-imploding bomb. This drew the attention of his ship, which transmatted the Doctor and the humans on the planet while the Cybermen were left behind. The planet and the Cybermen were destroyed; however, one Cybermite survived the destruction. (TV: Nightmare in Silver)

Final evolution

By the 101st century, the Cybermen had nearly died out. Several centuries earlier, they had chosen a new name for their species and become pacifists. (PROSE: Synthespians™)

The Cybermen would ultimately transcend into pure energy. They would redeem the whole of sentient life and become the most peace loving-species in the whole of creation, purely thought with no physical presence. (COMIC: The World Shapers)

Undated events

A Cyberman inside Vorg's Miniscope (TV: Carnival of Monsters)

During the Dark Times on Gallifrey, the Cybermen were excluded from the games in the Death Zone, because the Time Lords believed they had an unfair advantage over other victims of the games. Borusa, having found the Game of Rassilon, transported a squadron of Cybermen to the Death Zone to threaten and harass the Third Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith. These Cybermen were mostly destroyed by a similarly transported Raston Warrior Robot. The survivors allied with the Tremas Master, but he betrayed and destroyed them. (TV: The Five Doctors)

The Seventh Doctor and Catherine Broome battled a squad of Cybermen in the Prenadene asteroid belt.(PROSE: Companion Piece)

A Cyberman was among the life-forms exhibited in Vorg's Miniscope. (TV: Carnival of Monsters)

The Cybermen were part of the Supremo's alliance in the war against Morbius. (PROSE: Warmonger)

The remains of one Cyberman were put on sale at the Maldovarium market. The Eleventh Doctor purchased the Cyberman's head and called him "Handles". (TV: The Time of the Doctor)

The Cybermen were involved in the Siege of Trenzalore. After being summoned to Trenzalore by the First Question, the Cybermen attempted to pass through the Papal Mainframe's force field. One attempt involved a Wooden Cyberman as it was low-tech and would not trigger any alarm system but the Doctor tricked the Cyberman into destroying itself. Later, the Daleks attacked the Mainframe and learned how to break the force field. The Cybermen followed them and fought the Doctor and the Silents until all the Cybermen, like many other species involved in the battle, were either killed or saw fit to retreat. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)

Alternate timeline

This section's awfully stubby.

it's difficult to tell, given its lack of a proper resolution after ten years, but Real Time seems to involve some sort of divergent timeline

In an alternate timeline created by the Black Guardian, the First Doctor never left Gallifrey. He became Lord President. The Cybermen were one of many aliens which invaded Earth, and fought over the planet with other races. This timeline was destroyed when the Seventh Doctor retrieved the Key to Time. (COMIC: Time & Time Again)

If the Eleventh Doctor and Jean-Luc Picard did not defeat the Cybermen and the Borg, the Cybermen would eventually defeat the Borg, and invade both the Doctor's universe and the Federation universe, with planets invaded incluing; Raxacoricofallapatorius, Qo'noS, the Judoon homeworld, and finally Starfleet Academy in San Francisco. (COMIC: Assimilation²)

Parallel universe

In the Federation universe, the Cybermen invaded an Archaeological site on Aprilia III and began to convert the people onboard into Cybermen. They encountered the Fourth Doctor, Captain James T. Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scotty. The Fourth Doctor stopped them by using the gold on Kirk's communicator to clog the Cybermen's respiration. (COMIC: Assimilation²)

The Cybermen with the Borg. (COMIC: Assimilation²)

The Cybermen entered into an alliance with another cybernetic species, the Borg, from a Federation due to their identical goals of assimilating other species. On Stardate 45635.2 in 2368, a joint Borg/Cyberman assault force attacked the Federation planet Delta IV and quickly overran it. This attack made the Cybermen known to the Federation. (COMIC: Assimilation²)

Other references

An image of a Cyberman was one of the fears pulled from the Doctor's mind when he faced the Keller machine. (TV: The Mind of Evil)

In their war with the Cybermen of another universe, the Cult of Skaro noted their resemblance to the Cybermen from our universe. (TV: Doomsday)

Mysteries and discrepancies

The Sixth Doctor with the Voord, some partially turned into Cybermen. (COMIC: The World Shapers)

On Telos, the Second Doctor seemed to have knowledge, if not foreknowledge, of the Cyber-Tombs. (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen) The Cyber-Planner's reference to having met the Doctor on Planet 14 also remains obscure, (TV: The Invasion) though one account tries to explain this in a way which contradicts previously disclosed information about the creation of the Cybermen. (COMIC: The World Shapers) By the time the Cybermen invaded Space Station W3, the Second Doctor was "known and recorded as an enemy of the Cybermen". (TV: The Wheel in Space)

Behind the scenes

Inspiration for the Cybermen

The idea for the Cybermen came from Kit Pedler's interest in new medical advances and his fears of where they might lead. Early concepts of the Cyberman design emphasised the "man" part of the name, but the proposed design would have cost too much money. Indeed, the televised version of The Tenth Planet featured much more human-like Cybermen with human hands.

Prologues to certain Target Books novelisations reflect the earlier ideas about the Cybermen and state they perfected the science of cybernetics to gain immortality. The Cybermen were the result: immortal, but at the price of loss of their humanity.

Development of the characters

The second appearance of the Cybermen in The Moonbase (pre-planned by the production team even before The Tenth Planet had aired), re-designed them radically, making them much more robotic in appearance. The Cybermen went through another major re-design in The Invasion, yet another in Earthshock, one in the comic strips in The Flood and one more in Nightmare in Silver. Minor re-designs would take place as well. As the Cybermen stories do not appear in a chronological order, this makes their evolution rather confusing; more 'advanced' Cybermen are around at the same time as more 'primitive' ones. This can be explained by time travel, though the Cybermen only captured one time ship. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen)

The Brilliant Books

The non-narrative sources The Brilliant Book 2011 and The Brilliant Book 2012 had further information about Cybermen.

Cybermen

The non-narrative source Doctor Who: Cybermen, by David Banks, went into further detail about Cybermen and Cyberman factions. Banks created a number of terms — CyberFaction, CyberNomad, CyberTelosian, CyberMondasian, and others — to explain the differences in the Cybermen's costumes on television. Some of the terms, in adapted forms, appear in his later novel, PROSE: Iceberg. It is these forms — Mondan and the Faction, which this wiki prefers, according to our canon policy.

The history Banks presented as "non-fiction" was largely ignored by other authors and so can't be considered in the writing of most of our articles. Here are some of the points that Banks made which never made it beyond Doctor Who: Cybermen:

  • The departure of the CyberFaction (that is, the Faction) from Mondas was thought to have occurred around 5000 BC in what Banks called the "First Divergence".
  • In the "Second Divergence", a group which author David Banks called "CyberNomads" diverged from the Faction. These so-called "Nomads" searched for the validium statue Nemesis and tried and failed to destroy Voga.
  • Possibly after the 21st century, the Faction abandoned their home in the Sol system and journeyed into the galaxy to colonise a suitable planet. The Cybermen which colonised Telos, possibly in 2175, split from the Faction and were called the CyberTelosians. This group united with the CyberNomads after they discovered the frozen CyberTelosians, and became CyberNeomorphs. These Cybermen planned to use Halley's Comet against Earth and were taken to the Death Zone on Gallifrey.

In other words, what Banks was trying to do was create terms for each of the different costumes he and his fellow performers had worn throughout the years. In effect he was saying that the costumes in Attack of the Cybermen were of CyberNeomorphs, the ones worn in The Tomb of the Cybermen were of CyberTelosians, and so forth.

The idea has not been widely ignored by other works. Even he did not in his book, Iceberg, which mentioned none of his terms precisely. It did not reference the CyberNeomorphs and CyberTelosians, and called the CyberFaction, "the Faction", and CyberMondasians, "Mondans".

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v • e
Cyberman stories
For the purposes of this list, a "Cyberman story" is one in which one living, authentic Cyberman plays a part within the confines of the story, outside of flashbacks to previous stories and cliffhangers that lead into the following story. For this reason, stories such as Dalek are absent due to only featuring deceased Cybermen on display. Stories like Carnival of Monsters, A Good Man Goes to War and The Vanquishers are also not included due to the Cybermen's appearance being of little consequence to the plot of the story.
Television
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Sword of Orion • Spare Parts • Real Time • The Harvest • Silver Lining • Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Crystal of Cantus • The Reaping • The Gathering • The Blue Tooth • Human Resources • The Girl Who Never Was • The Ultimate Adventure • Kingdom of Silver • Legend of the Cybermen • The Silver Turk • Last of the Cybermen • Return to Telos • The Isos Network • The Tyrants of Logic • Code Silver / Master of Worlds • Hour of the Cybermen • Conversion • Return of the Cybermen • The Gates of Hell • Scourge of the Cybermen • Altered Status • Monsters in Metropolis • Secrets of Telos • Way of the Burryman / The Forth Generation • Bad Day in Tinseltown • Willkommen • Wulf • Übermensch • Auf Wiedersehen • The Great Cyber-War • Sins of the Flesh

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