I've been thinking a great deal recently about my all-time favorite Doctor Who 'monster,' the Cybermen. Specifically how gosh darn creepy it is to have a shuffling, creeping or stomping metal person smelling of antiseptic and rotting flesh decrying the benefits of simply
not having emotions and not feeling pain, and even worse
wanting you to be exactly like them! Cybermen are simply underwhelming in most of their stories because this basic concept often gets forgotten. Yeah, so I've been thinking about those creepy, emotionless, blank faces enough to conjure them into my nightmares.
Now that I've gotten my love of them out of the way (for now) I'd like to talk about the various continuity errors in--....no, wait. That's probably terribly boring. Let's talk about Space Ships, kids! Cyber-Ships (sometimes 'Cyberships', there's no real consistency) are the Space-faring vessels those lovely silver chaps, the Cybermen use to wizz about from place to place. Like the Dalek's various saucers and shuttles and battle-cruisers and what-not from the Classic Series, the Cybermen's ships never had a set design or aesthetic.
To be fair, the series ran for 26 years and 700-odd episodes, spanning seven Doctor's and many, many design teams. But, hey! The Cybermen never seemed to stop 'upgrading' their design, so why should their ships be any different. I've scoured the internet for pictures of the various Cyber-Ships. Shall we take a look?
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| The Tenth Planet Cyber-Ship |
The first appearance of the Cybermen gives us this nifty little rinky-dink Cyber-Ship. I really like this design. I'd like to think they all magnetize together in a stack, too, so you probably should ignore me.
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| The Moonbase Cyber-Ship |
Oh, this one screams 50's science fiction movie 'flying saucer.' It's far to similar in design to the Daleks oft-used saucers, so....that would be awkward in a space-battle.
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| The Wheel in Space Cyber-Ship |
This one's from the slow-paced and dull 'The Wheel in Space'. My thoughts?...NEXT!
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| The Invasion Cyber-Ship |
These are all from 'The Invasion'. This basic design shows up again in the new series, but we'll get to that. It's a fun design with the center of the ship holding that light thingy and the two lager circular sections. It's a purposeful design, functional and appropriate looking.
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| Revenge of the Cybermen Cyber-Ship |
The Cybermen disappear from the series for a long stretch and when they reappear, it's...different. This ship looks functional and basic, but I don't really think it's distinct enough. Also, it kinda looks like a--NEXT!
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| Silver Nemesis Cyber-Warships |
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| Cyber-Shuttle |
Silver Nemesis was not a great example of Cybermen superiority, but hey! The space ships look good! The shuttle is a nice idea that we never see again, too. Let's move on to the new series.
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| The Next Doctor CyberKing |
This is not a Cyber-Ship.
Capisce? Moving on.
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| The Pandorica Opens Cyber-Ship |
Hey, doesn't that look like the ship from The Invasion? Yeah, it does! Oh, that's so cool! Wonder if it shows up again....
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| Don't make him repeat the question. |
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| A Good Man Goes To War Cyber-Ship |
Holy crap, is Rory a badass! *cough* I mean.. yeah, that's another appearance from the Invasion ships.
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| Closing Time crashed Cyber-Ship |
This one is difficult to identify on account of it being lodged rather deeply into the Earth. I'd wager a guess it's at least modeled on the previous two. Any one else know for sure? Here's some concept art I dug up, if that helps:
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| Time of the Doctor Cyber-Ship. Can you see it? |
Okay, I'm calling it: The Invasion style Cyber-Ship has become standard in the new series, at least for now. This is similar to the way the Dalek Saucers from the 60's are synonymous today, becoming simply
the Dalek ships. The Invasion style spaceships are now
the Cyber-Ships.
I love the looseness of the Doctor Who continuity, it's more fun when you can make up your own theories or explanations for the various differences between stories.
Until the Cybermen realize farm-raising humans to convert is an easier solution than attempting to force upgrades on an unwilling population, I remain
frogoat
