Sun, Sea and Cybermen (1973)

Stiffkey Marsh and Cley Beach, Norfolk, sometime in 1973.  An important birthday celebration looms and actors Anneke Wills and Michael Craze are invited to improvise a Doctor Who'ish scene or two for the Radio Times 10th anniversary special.

Of all the "companions and monsters" pictures taken for the souvenir magazine, this photo shoot is perhaps the most successful in capturing a sense of story, and a very Doctor Who kind of story at that.  Not just because its Ben and Polly and the Cybermen but because of locations that are at odds with mechanical men and because its aliens in the English ideal.

What happens next?  Well obviously a sunshine yellow Edwardian Roadster skids to a halt and the firm but kindly voice of an eccentrically dressed, white haired gentleman commands that if they want to live, they should get in the car and quickly.  They accelerate away at great speed as cyber weaponry tracks their escape with a chaser of smoke billowing explosive charges.  Later when they are safe, he will ask them if they are alright and call them by their names.  They will be surprised because his is a face they have never seen before.  But when he tells them who he is, they'll know straight away that its true because they were there the last time.  Of course its the Doctor, who else could it be....and then the adventure will begin again.

Steve

Cybermen - 1975 to 1982

I've been thinking about the Cybermen recently, following a couple of very good articles in a recent issues of DWM. Now I'm old enough to remember watching The Revenge of the Cybermen on first transmission back in 1975 and I was still watching when they made their surprise return in Earthshock in 1982.

 

Somewhere in between that I became a "proper" Doctor Who fan and as such you have to decide who your favourite monster is and for me it was the Cybermen.  Sure the Daleks were good but the Cybermen were much better, much scarier, much more unknown and unknowable.  As a modern fan of the new series, I'm very much of the opposite opinion because the new writers really understand the Daleks, where as the Cybermen have been reduced to tin plated soldiers, looking for a good plot.  And with hindsight, they always were.

 

Anyway my recent thoughts were about how and why the Cybermen had become my favourites back then, especially when there was so little of them on screen for so long.  And we are going back to a time before the internet, video and with little or no repeat of old shows on any of the two BBC channels. How then did they even feature in my younger life.

 

How indeed...

 

Revenge of the Cybermen 1975

 



1975

1975

 

 

1975

 

1976

 

1977

 

1977

1978

 

1978

 

1979

 

Black Legacy - Comic strip 1980

 

Deathworld - comic strip 1980

Throwback - Soul of a Cyberman comic strip  (1980)

 

1981

Earthshock in 1982

 

And there you have it; they were hiding in plain sight.   Interesting though how almost no two are quite the same and at least half are not the correct version for the story they are meant to be illustrating.  And yet the Cyber brand is clearly identifiable and strong enough to carry the race's reputation across the decade.

 

Steve