Nightmare in Silver

Uh-oh, the Cybermen are back and they are scarier than ever! Join me as I analysis the upgraded foes and prepare for the series finale! There will be spoilers so I suggest you run if you haven’t yet seen the episode!

Ah, the Cybermen, the Doctor’s greatest enemy with legs. The original Cybermen came from the planet Mondas, Earth’s twin planet. They gradually upgraded from being fairly rubbish half fabric/half metal monsters to terrifying adversaries. Fortunately they were defeatable, what with their weakness to gold and everything. In the new series the Cybermen were created by John Lumic, head of Cybus Industries, who made human 2.0 in a Parallel World, although they didn’t stay there for long.

Since The Next Doctor it’s been a bit confusing which type of Cybermen the Doctor has been facing. They have looked exactly like the Cybus Cybermen yet didn’t have the Cybus logo on their chest. Neil Gaiman, writer of this episode came up with a solution though:

“My theory is the Cybus Cybermen were sent to Victorian days and zapped off into time and space at the end of The Next Doctor. They met a bunch of the Mondasian/Telosian Cybermen, and there was some cross-breeding and interchange of technology, which is why you then get the ones that look like, but actually aren’t, the Cybus Cybermen. And then I thought well, they’re going to keep upgrading themselves – my computer doesn’t look like it did five or ten years ago, definitely not 15 years ago. It’s going to be faster and it’s going to be better.”

Fans, for once, are rather happy with this idea so although it has not been stated in the show I think it is going to effectively become canonical. Gaiman has made new look Cybermen are much more powerful than ever before. Firstly they’ve upgraded Cybermats into smaller, more covert version called Cybermites. They new Cybermen can be impossibly fast if they want to be and can also detach limbs to defeat their enemies, be that suffocating with a hand or tricking people by detaching their head from their body. I think it can safely be said that they are much more difficult to defeat now!

The episode largely focused on the Doctor’s internal battle with the Cyber Planner, the Cyberman version of himself. Matt Smith once again proved his versatility as an actor and was fantastic at being a villain. Clara spent much of the episode in charge of a platoon and she seemed to take to it rather naturally, almost as if she has been conditioned for fighting…. I also liked Porridge (played by Warwick Davis), who turned out to be the reluctant Emperor of the Universe!

Although the Cybermen were destroyed when the planet was imploded it is clear that won’t be the last we see of them. We were even teased with a way they can survive, a lone Cybermite floating through space. Suffice to say the Doctor will no doubt face them again in the coming years and if there isn’t a handy implosion device he may struggle to defeat them!

There was plenty of references to parts of the Whoniverse in the episode too with Webley’s collection showing various aliens we have seen before. It’s like a Whovian I-Spy! I managed to spot the following but their may be more:

• Spacesuits like the one the Doctor used in The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe
• One of the dummies from The God Complex
• A Blowfish, like the one from the Torchwood episode Kiss,Kiss, Bang, Bang.
• A panbabylonian and an ultramancer from The Rings of Akhaten.
• A Shansheeth from The Sarah Jane Adventures episode Death of the Doctor.

So, the series finale approaches! Will we find out The Name of the Doctor? Well maybe the prequel will give us some clues:

So, it looks like the Doctor and Clara are going to find out each other’s secrets! The episode will involve Strax, Vastra and Jenny, the mysterious Whispermen and by the looks of it the Great Intelligence! Apparently it is going to change the show forever and will lead into the 50th Anniversary Special which will air in November. It’s going to be huge! Join me next week as I try to cope with it all!