Cyberman invasion of Earth (The Invasion)

The Cyberman invasion of Earth, known by the Cyber-Planner as the Cyber-invasion and once referred to as Invasion Zero, (PROSE: The Invasion) was an attempted invasion of Earth by the Cybermen in the late 20th century. (TV: The Invasion) It was recorded in the history computer as the First Invasion of Earth by the Early CyberFaction of Planet 14 (PROSE: Iceberg) and in the Cyber-Documents of Earth, which were compiled into the CyberHive by the ArcHivist Hegelia. (AUDIO: The Early Cybermen)

Besides the involvement of the Cybermen, the invasion was notable for marking the second encounter between the Doctor, then in their second incarnation, and Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, as well as the newly formed UNIT's first dispatching of a major alien incursion. (TV: The Invasion)

Date
The invasion occured four years following the London Event (PROSE: Downtime, TV: The Invasion) Conflicting dates included 1969, (PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy) 1970, (PROSE: No Future, Killing Ground) 1975, (AUDIO: Last of the Cybermen) or the late 1970s. (TV: The Web of Fear, The Invasion) According to Hegelia, the invasion took place some time in the 1970s, (AUDIO: The Early Cybermen) possibly the year 1970. (PROSE: Killing Ground)

According to one account, it took place eight years prior to the destruction of Mondas, placing it in 1978, (PROSE: The Cyber Files) but the dating of all incursions involving UNIT in the 20th century was problematic. (PROSE: Interference, The Enfolded Time, etc.)

Cyber-activity
There were multiple conflicting accounts of the origin of the Cybermen who allied with Tobias Vaughn and their relationship to the CyberMondans involved in the 1986 Cyberman invasion of Earth, which took place later in the absolute timescale but seemed to foreground less advanced models of Cybermen.

According to the Cyber Files, pieced together from incomplete Matrix data by Jolennon and Palmac, (PROSE: The Cyber Files) the Cyberman invasion of Earth aided by Vaughn actually predated the destruction of Mondas from the Cybermen's point of view, constituting an early incursion before Mondas had fully entered the solar system. It took place in 1978, eight years before the "true" invasion. (PROSE: The Cyber Files)

As recorded in the CyberHive, the Cybermen who were to wage the "first invasion" were of the "Early CyberFaction", descended from the original CyberMondasians. Unlike their fellow Mondasians, who performed only the essential bodily modifcations needed to preserve their endangered lives, this CyberFaction fully embraced cyber-conversion and ultimately left their home planet of Mondas. Taking off into outer space, these Cybermen established a base on Planet 14. Unlike the CyberMondans, they were immune to radiation and gold. (AUDIO: The Early Cybermen, PROSE: Iceberg) However, the Eighth Doctor would encounter Cybermen of the CyberFaction design, but those he encountered were evolved CyberMondans who had adopted the design after surviving the destruction of Mondas. (AUDIO: Human Resources)

The people of Planet 14 would also evolve into a Cyberman species of their own. (TV: The Doctor Falls) At some point, the Second Doctor and his companion Jamie McCrimmon appeared on Planet 14, and were from then on recognised as a danger by the CyberFaction. (TV: The Invasion) Prior to coming to Earth, the Faction had invaded the planet Isos II and converted its humanoid population into Cybermen. By repurposing Isos II's monorail system, a dimensional warp was created which led to Earth. A large invasion fleet of Cybermen waited on Isos II while a smaller amount of Cybermen and a Cyber-Planner went through the warp to establish themselves on Earth and put the planet into a weakened state. (AUDIO: The Isos Network)

Ahead of the invasion, a scout ship was sent to Earth. The vessel crashed, with the Cyberman piloting it being killed, and became buried in the ground near Cambridge. (AUDIO: The Blue Tooth)

According to a second account, Mondas and Planet 14 were one and the same planet, originally known as Marinus. As it turned out, the planet had been visited by the Sixth Doctor and an elderly Jamie, long after defeating the invasion from their perspectives. There, they witnessed the genesis of the Cybermen as the Voord converted themselves into what resembled the early CyberFaction. Ultimately, the Doctor was denied the opportunity to prevent the rise of the Cybermen by the Time Lords. (COMIC: The World Shapers) Later, however, the Twelfth Doctor cited Mondas, Planet 14 and Marinus separately amongst the places where the Cybermen begun as a result of parallel evolution. (TV: The Doctor Falls)

Historians who had been allowed access to the "Monster Vaults" of the databanks in the Doctor's TARDIS identified the "Invasion Cybermen" as an altered form of the Telosian Cybermen who were themselves descended from the Mondasian Cybermen. Following a defeat on the Moon, the Cybermen retreated to the ice tombs of Telos, where they were eventually awoken. The later Cybermen attempted two invasions of Earth using forms of hypnotism. (PROSE: The Monster Vault) Indeed, according to another account, a force of Cybermen from the 30th century travelled back in time to Jersey in 1939, fleeing to mainland Britain when the Nazi German forces invaded the following year. The Cybermen left behind a sleeper force in the Le Mur Engineering factory, which the Nazis began studying. The fleeing Cybermen set up a new base of operations in the Peddler Electronic Engineering factory in London. In November 1940, the Cyber-Leader which led the group of Cybermen away from the Channel Islands was damaged by a bomb and went mad, committing a series of murders around London's East End to sustain itself. The Seventh Doctor used the Blitz to destroy this force of Cybermen by lighting up the Peddler Electronic Engineering factory, making it an easy target for the Luftwaffe. The following day, the Doctor travelled to Jersey to destroy the remaining Cybermen in the Le Mur compound and put an end to the Nazi research. After the Doctor departed, Patrick Mullen and Cody McBride discovered a third, much larger dormant Cyberman army hiding in the London sewers beneath London in preparation for a later invasion. (PROSE: Illegal Alien)

Establishment of UNIT
In 1958 the United Nations began setting up a global organisation to combat extraterrestrial threats. By 1967, UNIT was established. (TV: Survivors of the Flux)

Four years prior to the Cybermen's "first invasion" was the London Event, an attempted invasion of Earth by Robot Yeti controlled by the Great Intelligence, based in the city of London. This attack opposed by a British Army forces led by Colonel Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, and ultimately defeated with the assistance of the Second Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon. (PROSE: Downtime, TV: The Web of Fear) Following this incident Alistair became the Brigadier of UNIT's forces in the UK. (TV: The Invasion)

The invasion
After several years, (PROSE: Prelude Iceberg) they had established a base on the dark side of Earth's Moon. The Cyber-Planner had contacted the industrialist Tobias Vaughn, the head of the International Electromatics corporation. Vaughn installed micromonolithic circuits in his company's appliances, designed so that they could be used to emit a hypnotic signal. With IE appliances prominently spread across the world, the signal could be used to control the Earth & pave the way for an invasion. He also grafted cybernetic arms onto several of his workers. Vaughn had a Cyber-Planner installed in his office, and the agreement was made that Vaughn would be in charge of the Earth once it was taken over.

International Electromatics was accidentally brought to the attention of the Second Doctor, after he went in search of Professor Travers for assistance with the TARDIS' Visual stabiliser circuit. Alongside the newly formed UNIT, the Doctor discovered this plan and that Vaughn was also developing a contingency for himself in the form of the Cerebration Mentor. Vaughn was unable to put the Mentor into mass production before the Cybermen used the hypnotic signal, but the Doctor was able to develop neuristors to protect the UNIT forces from the signal. With the UNIT forces free from the signal, a resistance was made against the Cybermen. The Cybermen, having mistaken this for a betrayal, decided to use a Cyber-megatron bomb to destroy all life on Earth instead.

Filled with hate for the Cybermen by this decision, Vaughn defected and led the Doctor to the radio transmitter. UNIT forces were able to destroy the transmitter, and avert the bomb's delivery, though Vaughn was killed by a gun blast from a Cyberman in the process. (TV: The Invasion) The invasion fleet from Isos II came to Earth when the planet was put under cybercontrol by radio waves from IE products, but it was destroyed in a chain reaction started by missiles fired by UNIT. (TV: The Invasion, AUDIO: The Isos Network)

Aftermath
Bits and pieces of damaged Cybermen remained in the London sewers. One Cyberman managed to cannibalise garbage it found in the sewers to repair itself and create a considerable amount of Cybermats. The Third Doctor and Jo Grant stopped it from infecting an entire hospital with cybermites. (PROSE: The Piper) In 1975, two Cyberman heads were found in the sewers; one was sent to the Leamington Spa Lifeboat Museum (GAME: Security Bot) while the other head would eventually end up in Henry van Statten's Vault. (TV: Dalek)

UNIT also kept Cyberman parts from the invasion. This included two Cyberman heads, one of which was stored at the Underbase, (TV: Death in Heaven, COMIC: The Age of Ice) and a number of broken Cyberman parts which were stored in the UNIT Vault. Five years after the invasion, when UNIT HQ was transformed into a space-time Waypoint supercharged with vortex energy, some of the Cyber-parts managed to reassemble themselves into a working Cyberman, seemingly more advanced than the original invasion soldiers. However, Jo Grant killed it using her gold bracelet before it could start the invasion anew. (GAME: Lost in Time)

Some Cybermen survived the destruction of the invasion fleet. Many were propelled into deep space. One Cybership crashed in Antarctica, where it remained frozen and hidden for two decades. (PROSE: Iceberg) Another Cybership managed to escape back to Isos II. The Second Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon, and Zoe Heriot followed the ship and destroyed all traces of the Cybermen on Isos II. (AUDIO: The Isos Network)

Vaughn survived his apparent death by transmitting his mind into a robotic copy of himself created with cybertechnology. For many centuries, Vaughn continued to influence Earth while repairing his robotic body with parts salvaged from failed Cyberman attacks on humanity. (PROSE: Original Sin, AUDIO: Original Sin)

During his trial by the Time Lords, the Second Doctor, speaking in defence of his violations of the non-interference policy, cited the Cybermen as an example of the evil he fought against, describing them as "half creature, half machine" species whom attempted to conquer the Earth. Via a Thought Channel, the Doctor projected the image of a "early CyberFaction" Cyberman, the type which waged the first invasion. Considering the Doctor's plea, the Time Lords sentenced him to exile on Earth in the 20th century with a forced regeneration. (TV: The War Games)

Some months after the Cyberman invasion, (TV: Planet of the Spiders) the newly regenerated Third Doctor appeared on Earth, the secret of how to operate the TARDIS lost to him. Meeting the Brigadier once again, the Doctor was employed by UNIT as a scientific advisor, assisting them with numerous alien incursions, (TV: Spearhead from Space) including the "early CyberFaction". (AUDIO: The Blue Tooth) It was during this time that the Doctor and Jo battled the surviving Cybermen leftover from the invasion and its hospital plot. (PROSE: The Piper)

Eventually, at a point some years after the invasion, the First Omega Crisis forced the Time Lords to extract the Second Doctor from his time stream to assist the Third Doctor in combating Omega. As a result, he was reunited with the Brigadier and Benton, explaining that he was indeed an earlier version of the Doctor they were presently associated with. Ultimately, having been saved from Omega thanks to their help, the Time Lords returned the ability to operate the TARDIS to the Third Doctor. (TV: The Three Doctors) Later still, at a UNIT reunion, the Second Doctor and the Brigadier reminisced about the Yeti, the Cybermen and Omega, with the Brigadier observing that they had "seen some times". (TV: The Five Doctors)

Lloyd Kingsley-Sayle shot a film about the Cyberman invasion. At the request of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, the Second Doctor posed as a scientific advisor on the set. The Brigadier was concerned that the movie would reveal too much about UNIT. By this point, the general public did not remember how UNIT knew it happened, but enough remembered something to start getting suspicious if the film were stopped. The Doctor "correct[ed]" events in the film while also making friends with Lloyd's seven-year-old daughter Kate, who had been kidnapped for a week the last year and returned mysteriously. As the Doctor made changes to the film script, amending details of the invasion and most importantly changing the name of the unknown invaders to the fictional Zexians.

A Cyber-infiltration unit recorded his suggestions and evaluated their success rate for an invasion of Earth; the Cybermen had been monitoring the film's progress through an implant in Kate's skull that they put in when they kidnapped her. After several changes to the script, the success rate for invasion reached 100 percent. However, the Doctor had been aware of what was happening all along, entered the control room, and suggested that the Cybermen leave Earth before UNIT arrived to destroy them. Kate then undergone a successful surgery to remove the implant. (PROSE: Scientific Adviser)

In February 2021, Maxwell Grey interviewed Douglas as part of his research into the Mandela Effect. Douglas told him his recollections of "metal men" outside St Paul's in the late 1960s, comparing it to a similar event others have reported seeing in the 2010s. (PROSE: The Mandela Effect, Or Monsters on the Streets of London)

Behind the scenes

 * The Discontinuity Guide dates this invasion to 1969, following the Cyber-invasion of Planet 14. It goes on to suggest that, whilst on Planet 14, the Doctor "let slip" about the Nemesis and so inadvertently drew the attention of the Cybermen to Earth.