The Cybermen

Home Planet: Mondas/Telos (original series) / Parallel Earth (new series)
Appearance:Cyborgs - Humans In A Metallic Shell
Weaknesses: Gold / Gravity / Radiation

Steel giants with the strength of ten men. A menace to the Doctor in two universes. Humanity faces a choice - become like the Cybermen... or be deleted!

Cybermen are cyborgs - organic beings who have had technology grafted onto their bodies. The original Cybermen were "human" natives of Earth's twin planet Mondas - although they appear to have been physically larger than humans. Later generations of Cybermen were forcibly converted human beings. The conversion process adds a metallic exoskeleton and provides the Cyberman with much greater strength and endurance than they otherwise would have had. The process also affects the subject's brain, removing emotional responses and overwriting the original being's personality. At various points in the Cybermen's history, their bodies have been vulnerable to the effects of gravity, radiation, and gold dust clogging their breathing filters.

Millennia ago, during prehistoric times, Mondas was knocked out of solar orbit and drifted into deep space. The Mondasians, already far in advance of Earth's technology and fearful for their race's survival, sent out spacecraft to colonise other worlds, including Telos, where they pushed the native Cryons aside and used the planet to house vast tombs where they could take refuge in suspended animation when necessary.

On Mondas, the Mondasians were dying out, and therefore, in order to survive and continue the race, they replaced most of their bodies with Cybernetic parts. Having eventually removed all emotion from their brains, to maintain their sanity, the natives installed a drive propulsion system so they could pilot the planet itself through space. As the original race was limited in numbers and were continually being depleted, the Mondasians — now Cybermen — became a race of conquerors who reproduced by taking other organic beings and forcibly changing them into Cybermen. The origins of the Cybermen were further elaborated upon in Spare Parts.

The move to "cybernise" Mondasians must have commenced on Mondas before they conquered Telos. Otherwise, there must have been some ongoing contact between Mondas and Telos after it was conquered, or the move to develop into Cybermen must have been paralleled after that point.

Some Cybermen are given titles, being credited as "Cyber Leader" (or variants thereof), "Cyber Lieutenant", "Cyber Scout" or the "Cyber Controller". The Cyber Controller in particular has appeared in multiple forms, both humanoid and as an immobile computer, and has also been referred to as the "Cyber Planner" or "Cyber Director". The Controller seen (and destroyed) in various serials also may or may not be the same consciousness in different bodies; it appears to recognize and remember the Doctor from previous encounters. In Iceberg, the first Cyber Controller is created by implanting a Cyber Director into the skull of a recently converted Cyberman.

The Cyber-Controller in "The Age of Steel" used the brain of John Lumic, the creator of the Cybermen in that parallel reality. In "Doomsday", a Cyber-Leader appears, and when he is destroyed, mention is made of downloading his data files into another Cyberman unit, which is then upgraded to Cyber-Leader.

The 2008 Christmas special, "The Next Doctor", featured a new variant called a Cybershade. The Doctor theorises that it is a more primitive version of a Cyberman, using the brain of a cat or a dog. In the same story a "Cyber-King" appears; according to the Doctor, it is a "Dreadnought-class" ship for use in invasions resembling a Cyberman hundreds of feet tall, and contains a Cyber-factory in its chest. It is controlled from within its mouth. Its right arm can be converted into a cannon, and its left into a laser.

Expect to see a new story regarding the feared Cybermen in 2010 with Matt Smith and the fifth season of Doctor Who.

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