That’s pretty much how they’ve looked since they made their reappearance in season 2 of New Who.
The Old Who Cybermen had a much greater variation in their look. The creepiest were probably the ones the Second Doctor fought back in the 1960’s. They looked kind of like burn victims on life-support.
Actuallly, I was referring to their assimilating every person they captured, much like the Borg, and then the stuff that was attached to the Doctor’s face, very like the Borg. Is all of that new?
The little mites are definitely new. Previous assimilations involved the Cybermen sticking the victim in a special apparatus. The face stuff is new, as well. And while we’re on the subject of new stuff, I don’t remember the Cybermen being capable of bursts of super-speed like that one did early on in the episode when he was kidnapping one of the kids. It really made me wonder why they didn’t just do that all the time if it was something they could do.
I thought it was one of the best of the half-season. Gaiman, as always, wrote a solid and exciting script, and his upgrade of the cybermen was a big improvement over previous versions, and combined the element of both.
I loved the nods to the original series (“That’s a cybermat!” I said as soon as I saw the buglike robots, and, of course, there was the very nice nod to “Tomb of the Cybermen,” considered by a lot of old time fans as one of the best episodes of the series). The kids were a little obnoxious, but most of the episode, they were seen but not heard.
It dates back at least to their third appearanceback in 1967.
“You belong to us; You shall be like us.”
Edit - the assimilating, anyway. Not the face stuff.
I would like it if Emperor Porridge showed up again from time to time as an occasional companion. He was cool. And he could use it to get away from his duties from time to time but still not actually go missing.
They’ve always been converting others since the beginning, since it’s the only way they can reproduce. Their methods have varied over the years though.
Basically, a Cyberman is, or at least was, a human(oid) brain in a robotic body, with their emotions suppressed. They do have a survival instinct programmed in, so they convert others in order to ensure their survival.
I’m guessing it was one of their upgrades. They never could do that in the past.
If they could, they would have been able to defeat the Raston Warrior Robot.
From “The Five Doctors” - 1983
This episode was in the far far future where humanity rules across multiple galaxies and has access to planet and stellar implosion bombs, and trans-mat tech. So, the Cybermen of this period are also far evolved.
You’d think that by slashing the number of episodes that the writers could really focus on quality. But it’s not working out like that at all.
Ok episode, but not the best Cybermen episode by a longshot.
Check this out.
What I meant was that I wondered why it only happened once in the episode. It’s like a Night of the Living Dead zombie decided to be a 28 Days Later zombie for a few seconds.
In the trailer for the Series 7 finale, I can’t quite make out what River Song says at the end. A little help?
Ooh! Me likey!
The challenge for any little person actor, I always think, is to play a role so well that the viewer either sees his size as an attribute of the character and not the actor, or not see it at all. I thought Porridge was an interesting character, and by the end of the episode, his size was almost irrelevant. A good job by Warwick Davis.
Whatever you think you’re [or ‘of’] doing, don’t.
“Whatever you’re thinking of doing; Don’t do it.”
Oh, got it. Fanwank… The Cybermen only use it for kidnapping.
Solid episode, though not what I would’ve expected from Gaiman. And Warwick Davis is officially my second favorite little person actor. (Sorry, Warwick, but you’re no Peter Dinklage. And incidentally, is Richard Howland a little person, or just really, really fucking short?)
Not really getting the hate for the kids. I’m not a fan of kids in general, but they were unobtrusive and believable enough.
And finally… argh. I thought/hoped against hope that we were done with River Song last time she showed up. I feel about River Song as most people seem to feel about Daleks (and, to be honest, as I feel about Daleks… though I’m sort of missing them now, and if you gave me a choice between River Song and Daleks, I’d choose Daleks). They need to put River Song on a bus with the freakin’ Angels.
I did not enjoy this episode. I particularly disliked the whole bit with the Doctor arguing with his cyber-self and playing the chess game.
Matt Smith was showing off his physical comedy skills. I kind of liked it.
I don’t get the kid hate myself, although what’s-her-name marching off to the patrol and demanding a cure to her boredom was strange and reckless.
By funny coincidence, just earlier this week, I read the IDW comic Doctor Who/Star Trek: The Next Generation - Assimilation[sup]2[/sup]. In that comic, the Cybermen transfer into the ST universe, and form an alliance with the Borg, picking up some of their technology, before being forced out.
My headcanon is now that this episode is a direct sequel to that series.
(Also, the galaxy-spanning human empire, fighting an enemy so insidious they have a tendency to blow up entire planets to get rid of them…I wonder if this is set in the 40th millenium…)
