Home Planet: Mondas or Parallel Earth
Life Form: Cybernetic Organism
Physical Characteristics:
The Cybermen were seen to change with almost every encounter. The Cybermen are humanoid, but have been cybernetically augmented to the point where they have few remaining organic parts. Their appearance constantly changes almost as though they continue to 'upgrade' themselves.
Usual Cyber features include:
- A metalic body
- Mask like, unmovable face
- A human brain
- Varieties of weapons
- A neural inhibitor - removing emotion
Although the Cybermen often claim that they have done away with human emotion, they have exhibited emotions ranging from anger to smug satisfaction in their confrontations with the Doctor.
It has been suggested thatCybermen deliberately remove their emotions as part of the conversion process to stifle the physical and emotional trauma of becoming a Cyberman. The conversion process in the parallel Earth is termed "upgrading".
During this 'upgrading' process, some of the parallel Earth Cybermen did retain some memories of their pre-conversion lives, although their emotional response was varied.
Cybermen have a number of major weaknesses:
- Gold
- Solvents
- Their own guns
- Gravity based technology
- Excessive levels of radiation
- Breaking of their neural inhibitors
Some Cybermen are given titles, being credited as 'Cyber Leader', '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'.
Weapons
Over the years Cybermen have been shown with various forms of weaponry:
- Large energy weapons attached to their chests
- An electrical discharge from their hands, which stunned the target
- A hand-held cyber-weapon shaped like a pistol - 'X-ray laser'
- A large laser cannon
- 'Death rays' built into the chest unit
- Large rifles for medium distance combat
- Weapons built into the helmet
- Hand-held cyberguns
- The ability to electrocute victims through touch
- A retractable energy weapon housed within the forearm
History
Origins
During prehistoric times, the planet Mondas was knocked out of solar orbit and drifted into deep space. Because the Mondasians were dying out, they replaced most of their bodies with Cybernetic parts in order to survive and continue the race - much like the Toclafane. They eventually removed all emotion from their brains to prevent themselves going mad because of what they had done to themselves.
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 Cyber-Wars
Five centuries after the destruction of Mondas, the Cybermen had all but passed into legend. On the planet Telos, a Cyberman resting place was discovered where the Mondasians, before they had become entirely Cyber, had created large pods where they could be suspended in time. However, those hybenating within the pods were not Mondasians but full Cybermen. They were briefly revived before the Second Doctor returned them to their eternal sleep.
By the beginning of the 26th century, the Cybermen were back in force, and the galactic situation was grave enough that Earth hosted a conference in 2526 that would unite the forces of several planets in a war.
The Cybermen faced complete defeat now that humanity was united against them in the Cyber-Wars. The glittergun had been developed as a weapon against them, and the native Cryons of the planet Telos had also risen up and sabotaged their hibernation tombs. Using a captured time travel machine, a group of Cybermen travelled back to Earth in 1985 to try to prevent the destruction of Mondas, but were stopped by the Sixth Doctor.
Parallel Earth
More recently, the Tenth Doctor
crashed into a parallel universe where the Cybermen are being created on modern-day Earth. These alternate Cybermen were created as an 'upgrade' to humanity, allowing the brain to survive in an ageless steel body. These Cybermen also referred to themselves as 'Human.2' and deleted all those deemed incompatible with the upgrade. They were eventually stopped by The Doctor and Mickey.
The Battle of Canary Wharf
These parallel Cybermen reappeared '
Army of Ghosts' and '
Doomsday'. They did this by discovering a breach between universes caused by the passage of an interdimensional void ship. It was revelaed however, that the void ship did not belong to the Cybermen but was in the possession of the Daleks. For the first time ever, Dalek and Cybermen met face to face.
They Cybers offered a truce and the idea that the two great races should join together. However, the Daleks refused as they still believe that every other race should be exterminated. This resulted in an all out war in the middle of London with Cybers trying to 'upgrade' all of humanity and the Daleks trying to destroy everything.
They were both stopped in the end by The Doctor who re-opened the breach, causing the Cybermen and Daleks (who had been saturated with background radiation from the Void) to be sucked back into it. The breach then sealed itself, leaving the Cybermen and Daleks seemingly trapped in the Void forever.
Return
The Cybermen returned in the Xmas special 'The Next Doctor' where they were joined by Cybershades and a CyberKing. The Doctor used stolen Dalek technology to send the huge CyberKing into the time vortex.
In 'The Pandorica Opens', the Cybermen were one of many aliens who formed an alliance against the Doctor.
Episodes appeared: The Tenth Planet, The Moonbase, the Invasion, Revenge of the Cybermen, Earthshock, The Five Doctors, Carnival of Monsters (briefly), Silver Nemesis, Dalek (briefly), Rise of the Cybermen, the Age of Steel, Army of Ghosts, Doomsday, The Next Doctor, The Pandorica Opens.
