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
