Rise of the Cybermen (TV story)

Rise of the Cybermen
Doctor:	[[doctor::Tenth Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Rose Tyler Mickey Smith
Main enemy:	John Lumic Cybermen
Main setting:	Alternative London, 2007
Key crew
Writer:	Tom MacRae
Director:	Graeme Harper
Producer:	Phil Collinson
Release details
Story number:	173a
Release number:	Series 2
Premiere broadcast:	13 May 2006
Format:	1x45 minute Episode
Production code:	2.5

Rise of the Cybermen was the fifth episode in the second series of Doctor Who. It marked the first appearance of the Cybermen from another world.

Synopsis

The Doctor, Rose and Mickey face an old enemy with a new face on an alternate Earth.

Plot

As the Doctor and Rose reminisce about a past adventure while the TARDIS is in-flight, Mickey begins to feel upset that the two take him for granted. However, before they can comment, the TARDIS is rocked by a huge explosion and goes dark. The Doctor determines that they have fallen out of the time vortex into the void, and have landed somewhere, but that the TARDIS appears dead. They find themselves on Earth in London, but in a parallel universe. Zeppelins fly in the skies and Rose spots an advertisement featuring her father Pete Tyler as a successful business leader, when in her own universe Pete has died. The Doctor notes that the TARDIS can only operate on power from its own universe, and spots a dim but glowing Arton power cell in the bowels of the ship. The Doctor breathes into it, giving away 10 years of his life but allowing the cell to start recharging, a process that will take about 24 hours after which they should be able to return to their universe. Given the wait, Rose and Mickey decide to go and check on respectively Pete and Mickey's grandmother, both alive in this universe. The Doctor, worried for both, ends up chasing after Rose.

The Doctor and Rose discover that most of the population of this universe wear special "EarPods", devices that, when activated by a signal, download massive amounts of news and information directly to the wearer's brain, information that is also received by Rose's mobile phone. They learn that the EarPods as well as Pete's company are owned by the powerful John Lumic, owner of Cybus Industries, who is presently failing to gain approval from the Ethics Committee of Great Britain for his "ultimate upgrade": a method of sustaining the human brain indefinitely within a cradle of copyrighted chemicals and allowing its impulses to be bonded onto a metal exoskeleton. Lumic secretly has been capturing homeless people and putting them to work in his Battersea Power Station factory using the EarPods as methods to control the homeless. Having been denied permission by the President of Great Britain, Lumic tells his right-hand man Mr Crane to begin the upgrade process. Crane drives an International Electromaticslorry and kidnaps more homeless people, but instead of just fitting them with EarPods, he orders them into a room filled with cutting and other machinery which transforms them into the new prototypes.

Mickey arrives at his grandmother's house to find her still alive, but before he can get acquainted with her, he is grabbed by people in an unmarked van and taken to a country house. One of his abductors, Jake, who calls him "Ricky", tells him that he is the most wanted person in Great Britain, and that they have evidence of Lumic's dealing with the homeless people. When they arrive at the base, the real Ricky, Mickey's counterpart in this universe, is there, and explains he is the leader of the "Preachers" who reject the EarPods and have been tracking Lumic's actions. After clearing the confusion between the existence of Ricky and Mickey, the group learns of pending action by Lumic and, with Mickey in tow, make towards Pete Tyler's estate.

The Doctor and Rose arrive at Pete's estate and learn that there is a large party there that night, where the President of Great Britain and Lumic will be present. The Doctor and Rose pose as part of the serving staff to investigate, and learn that this Pete and Jackie Tyler are childless but have a pet terrier called Rose. Rose meets both Pete and Jackie and learns that they have just separated secretly. As the party gets underway, Lumic presents his plans for his prototype, which the Doctor recognises right away. Before he can act, the partygoers hear the sound of troops surrounding the building, an army of metal men, which the Doctor tells Rose are Cybermen. As the Cybermen break through the windows, Lumic explains that they have been selected to be upgraded to "Human.2", and that every human will receive a compulsory free upgrade. The President resists, and is electrocuted by a Cyberman who informs them that this is the only alternative to conversion. As Jackie flees into the basement with a Cyberman in pursuit, the Doctor, Rose, and Pete jump out a window and find the Preachers there, firing their ineffective weapons at the Cybermen. As the episode closes in a cliffhanger, the Doctor, Rose, Pete, Mickey, Ricky, and Jake are surrounded by the Cybermen who, deeming them incompatible for upgrading, announce they will be deleted and move in for the kill.

Cast

• The Doctor - David Tennant
• Rose Tyler - Billie Piper
• Mickey Smith / Ricky Smith - Noel Clarke (uncredited as Ricky Smith)
• Jackie Tyler - Camille Coduri
• Pete Tyler - Shaun Dingwall
• John Lumic/Cyber-Controller - Roger Lloyd-Pack
• Jake Simmonds - Andrew Hayden-Smith
• The President - Don Warrington
• Rita-Anne Smith - Mona Hammond
• Angela Price - Helen Griffin
• Mr. Crane - Colin Spaull
• Dr. Kendrick - Paul Antony-Barber
• Morris - Adam Shaw
• Soldier - Andrew Ufondo
• Newsreader - Duncan Duff
• Cyber-Leader - Paul Kasey
• Cybermen's voice - Nicholas Briggs
• Cybermen - Gethin Jones (uncredited), Kevin Wickenden (uncredited)

Crew

Executive Producers   Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner

Written by Tom MacRae	Produced by Phil Collinson	Directed by Graeme Harper	Director of Photography Ernie Vincze BSC	Production Designer Edward Thomas	Visual Effects The Mill
Make-up Designer Sheelagh Wells	Casting Director Andy Pryor CDG	Music Murray Gold	Costume Designer Louise Page	Edited by David Cresswell	Special Effects Any Effects
Original theme music by Ron Grainer  •  With thanks to Marc Platt, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales  Cybermen created by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis

General production staff Associate Producer - Helen Vallis Production Manager - Tracie Simpson Location Managers - Lowri Thomas, Gareth Skelding Unit Manager - Rhys Griffiths Production Co-ordinator - Jess van Niekerk Production/Script Secretary - Claire Roberts Production Runner - Victoria Wheel Production Accountant - Endaf Emyr Williams A/Production Accountants - Debi Griffiths, Kath Blackman, Bonnie Clissold Finance Manager - Richard Pugsley Script department Script Editor - Helen Raynor Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - Clare Nicholson 2nd Assistant Director - Steffan Morris 3rd Assistant Director - Lynsey Muir Continuity - Non Eleri Hughes Camera Operator - Roger Pearce Focus Puller - Terry Bartlett Grip - John Robinson Boom Operators - Jeff Welch, Bryn Thomas Gaffer - Mark Hutchings Best Boy - Peter Chester Electricians - Chris Davies, Clive Johnson	Art department Supervising Art Director - Stephen Nicholas Art Department Production Manager - Jonathan Marquand Allison Production Buyer - Catherine Samuel Set Decorator - Julian Luxton A/Supervising Art Director - James North Storyboard Artist - Shaun Williams Design Assistants - Matthew Savage, Peter McKinstry, Rob Dicks, Al Roberts Standby Props - Phil Shellard, Trystan Howell Standby Carpenter - Silas Williams Standby Art Director - Nick Burnell Standby Scenic Artist - Louise Bohling Property Master - Adrian Anscombe Props Chargehand - Paul Aitken Props Storeman - Stuart Wooddisse Forward Dresser - Matthew North Specialist Prop Maker - Mark Cordory Props Maker - Penny Howarth Construction Manager - Matthew Hywel-Davies Construction Chargehand - Allen Jones Practical Electrician - Albert James Art Department Driver - Patrick Deacy Graphics - BBC Wales Graphics Costume department Costume Supervisor - Marnie Ormiston Costume Assistants - Lindsay Bonaccorsi, Barbara Harrington	Make-up and prosthetics Make-up Artists - Anwen Davies, Steve Smith, Moira Thomson Prosthetics - Millennium Effects Prosthetics Designer - Neill Gorton Prosthetics Supervisor - Rob Mayor Prosthetics Technicians - Martin Rezard, Jo Glover Movement Stunt Co-ordinator - Abbi Collins Stunt Performer - James O'Dee Choreographer - Ailsa Berk Casting Casting Associate - Andy Brierley General post-production staff Post-production Supervisors - Chris Blatchford, Samantha Hall Post-production Co-ordinator - Marie Brown Assistant Editor - Ceres Doyle Special and visual effects SFX Co-ordinator - Ben Ashmore SFX Supervisors - Mike Crowley, Paul Kelly SFX Technicians - Danny Hargreaves, Richard Magrin Sound Sound Recordist - Simon Fraser Dubbing Mixer - Tim Ricketts Sound Effects Editor - Paul Jeffries Sound Editors - Paul McFadden, Doug Sinclair

Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.

References

• International Electromatics, a front company for Cybus Industries, has the same name of the company used by Tobias Vaughn in the Doctor's universe which featured in the second doctor's era in the serial DW: The Invasion.
• The Doctor explains the destruction of the Time Lords made it near-impossible to cross between universes, though he doesn't explain how, exactly.
• The Doctor powered a green crystal with ten years of his life to power the TARDIS once more so that it can return home. We don't know whether he meant ten years of his entire lifespan or only of his current incarnation.
• Veronica of Reykjavík hand made flower sculptures for Jackie's '39th' birthday.
• Jackie has a dog called Rose.

• The Preachers consist of; Jake Simmonds, Ricky Smith and Angela Price

• Almost everyone uses EarPods.

• According to Russell T Davies, the fact that Jackie has her 40th birthday in this episode was a deliberate, if obscure, reference to the fact that Rise of the Cybermen occurred in the 40th anniversary year of The Tenth Planet. (BBCR: Doctor Who at the BBC: The Tenth Doctor)
• Jake Simmonds refers to Cybus Industries' kidnapping of homeless people as similar to the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Story notes

• Early reports erroneously gave the title of this story as "Rise of the Cyberman."
• When Rose's phone picks up the Cybus network and connects a video plays and during it you can hear a man say "And it's good news for Great Britain as John Lumic returns to the country of his birth. Mr Lumic, the inventor of high contact metal, has denied reports of ill health." This so called 'High contact metal' could be what is produced when Jackie has her Earpod's overridden by Lumic and two 'metal' looking prongs emerge from them and meet at the top of her head, this could also be what the handles on the Cybermen's head's are, they could be used for communication with other cybermen.
• This is the first episode of the new series to be directed by Graeme Harper, the only classic series director to direct for the new series.
• This is the first episode in which the Doctor breaks tradition of wearing white plimsolls with his brown suit, red plimsolls with his blue suit and black plimsolls with his black suit by wearing black ones with his brown suit. This occurrs again later in DW: The Impossible Planet, Love and Monsters and Fear Her in which he wears the same combination as in DW: Rise of the Cybermen.

Ratings

to be added

Myths

• According to The Sun, Lloyd Pack broke his leg just days before filming began on the episode, requiring the scripts being rewritten to place his character, John Lumic, in a wheelchair. Writer Tom MacRae told Doctor Who Magazine in issue #369 that no rewrites were necessary: the script had always had Lumic in a wheelchair.

Filming locations

• The scene where Mickey, the Doctor and Rose all split up away from each other in the alternate universe was filmed outside the recently built Riverfront Arts Centre in Newport.

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

• The clock face of Big Ben is square however it reverts back to round in the following episode. This was because in this episode, Big Ben was represented by a computer-generated establishing shot, but in The Age of Steel, Big Ben was captured in genuine location filming.

Continuity

• Ricky Smith's name refers back to the previous Doctor's insistence on calling him that name to annoy him, particularly while visiting Cardiff. (DW: Boom Town)
• The Doctor has previously travelled to an parallel universe in DW: Inferno, EDA: The Shadows of Avalon, NA: Blood Heat and a parallel universe comes this one in DW: Battlefield.
• The Cybus Industries Cybermen, Mickey Smith, Jake Simmonds and Pete Tyler all reappeared in DW: Army of Ghosts / Doomsday.
• The Cybermen reappeared in the 2008 Christmas special DW: The Next Doctor.
• PDA: Loving the Alien featured an alternate Earth where the humans embraced Cyber technology.
• Rise of the Cybermen is partially inspired by Marc Platt's BFA: Spare Parts.
• One of the first homeless people who is transformed into a Cyberman (the one talking to one of the freedom fighters) appears later in DW: Blink.
• The story takes place in a parallel universe in which the Cybermen were created on Earth, rather than on Earth's twin planet Mondas as described in DW: The Tenth Planet.

Timeline

• This story occurs after DWM: The Green-Eyed Monster
• This story occurs before DW: The Age of Steel

Home video releases

Series 2 Volume 3 DVD Cover

• "Rise of the Cybermen" was sold on Series 2 Volume 3, along with "The Age of Steel" and "The Idiot's Lantern".
• It was also sold as part of the Series 2 Box Set, which included the specials "Children in Need Special" and "The Christmas Invasion".
• It was also sold on Issue Ten of the Doctor Who DVD Files, along with the second part of this episode, "The Age of Steel".

See also

• DW: The Tenth Planet
• DW: The Invasion
• DW: Genesis of the Daleks
• DW: Attack of the Cybermen
• BFA: Spare Parts

External links

• Rise of the Cybermen at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• The Discontinuity Guide to: Rise of the Cybermen at The Whoniverse
• Rise of the Cybermen at Shannon Sullivan's A Brief History of Time (Travel)
• Rise of the Cybermen at The Locations Guide