This article contains spoilers for lots of Doctor Who cyberman stories, including Death In Heaven.
Who cares if the effects at the end of Part Three arent quite perfect?
Although can anyone say, hand on emotional inhibitor, thatEarthshockactually needs to have Cybermen in it?
Even with Kraals,Earthshockwould still work.
What does this tell us?
Cybermen are there because of their legacy, not because they especially suit the story.
Compare this toDark Water/Death in Heaven, where Missy creates an army of Cybermen from the dead.
Similarly toEarthshock, heres where the Cybermen > Ice Warriors > Ogrons > Kraals influence is important.
As a regularly destroyed villain, people want them to be stronger.
Powerful, but easily destroyed.
Its a recurring theme with the Cybermen, this contradictory nature.
Theres a problem in combining the association with strength and the innately tragic aspects of the Cybermen.
Like a lot ofSilver Nemesisand the Cybermen, this idea doesnt entirely suit them.
UNIT stopped them, for godsake.
Its surely not that difficult?
The vampire comparison is apt.
You wouldnt be totally shocked if someone killed a Cyberman by opening the curtains unexpectedly.
This variety in their means of despatch doesnt exactly tie into an idea of strength, however.
Theres a lack of consistency, not limited to their appearance, which makes their vulnerability hard to gauge.
Logically, something illogical is going on here.
For an emotionless, logical race, there are already signs of wobbling back in the 60s.
Why do they have a target practice range?
Why did they stop having names?
Its worth remembering the situation they came from: a dying planet, a pitiful situation.
The reason Cybermen can come across as pathetic and desperate is because thats their origin story.
An idea that exists in fandom that makes more sense of the Cybermen is that they are semi-tribal.
This explains their inconsistencies, their differences in appearance, and their various levels of technology.
It might be a useful thing to confirm this onscreen, or to bring this contradiction into focus.
We already have different versions of Cybermen in the universe.
This article originally appeared in December 2014.
