Rise of the Cybermen (TV story)

Rise of the Cybermen was the sixth episode in the second series of Doctor Who. Narratively, it marked the first appearance of Pete's World and the Cybermen that originated there.

Synopsis
On a parallel Earth, a deadly new version of the Doctor's old enemy is about to be reborn.

Plot
In a laboratory, Dr. Kendrick examines a humanoid metal form and declares “It’s alive” and his wheelchair-bound boss, John Lumic, is proud of this achievement. Dr. Kendrick warns him that they must tell the authorities in Geneva about their new development, as this is a new form of life. Lumic orders his new creation to kill the luckless doctor, which it does. Lumic then tell his staff to set sail for Great Britain.

The TARDIS accidentally falls through a hole in the time vortex, crash-landing and apparently dead, cut off from the universe from which it draws energy. It's arrived in what turns out to be London in a parallel universe: almost, but not quite, the same. There are zeppelins in the sky, the population use advanced EarPods instead of mobile phones, and Rose's father Pete is alive and a very successful businessman, marketing a health drink called Vitex Lite ("Trust me on this!" is the slogan).

The Doctor manages to find a small part of the TARDIS which is still alive, and gives up a bit of his life to help his ship regenerate. Since this will take around 24 hours, he reluctantly agrees to let his companions explore the parallel Earth, but he chases after Rose to persuade her not to seek out her "father". One of the powerful players on this earth is John Lumic, owner of Cybus Industries. Lumic is obsessed with the extension of life through cybernetics, since he is confined to a wheelchair by a fatal condition. His latest experiment, a human "upgrade", is nearing completion, and Lumic has one of his scientists killed for raising ethical objections. He has his henchmen round up bands of homeless people and take them to the Cybus factory at Battersea Power Station and "upgrade" them. He also later has a meeting with Pete Tyler and the President of Britain, the latter of whom refuses to allow Lumic to carry on his experiments. Knowing that the President will be attending Jackie Tyler's birthday that night, Lumic accesses the security arrangements and house plans in Jackie's mind via her EarPods and orders a new batch of upgrades be created.

The Doctor and Rose witness a crowd pause as the EarPods they wear download information directly into their brains, and this advanced technology piques the Doctor's interest. The EarPods are manufactured by Cybus, who also own Pete's company, Vitex. The Doctor decides to attend Jackie Tyler's birthday celebration, since the President and many other high profile guests will be there and he may be able to find out more about the Pods.

Mickey, left to his own devices, seeks out his Gran, who died in his universe. While visiting her he's abducted by two people in a blue van: Jake and Mrs Moore, who take him back to their base where they meet Ricky, Mickey's double from this universe. The three of them are the "resistance", a team who have been investigating Cybus' abductions of homeless people with the help of an inside agent. Their contact has just advised that a group of "upgrades" is leaving the Cybus factory. The resistance head off to tail the Cybus truck, taking Mickey with them.

Disguised as catering staff, the Doctor and Rose infiltrate the party, but before they can find out anything useful Lumic's "upgrades" arrive, and the Doctor recognises them as "Cybermen". They smash their way into the house and kill the President before rounding up the rest of the guests to be upgraded into Cybermen themselves.

Rose, the Doctor and Pete manage to get outside, where they meet up with Mickey and the others, but Ricky and Jake's guns are useless against the Cybermen, who surround them. The Doctor tries to surrender, claiming he volunteers for the upgrade, but the Cybermen refuse; as "rogue elements", they are to "perish under maximum deletion..."

Cast

 * The Doctor - David Tennant
 * Rose Tyler - Billie Piper
 * Mickey Smith / Ricky Smith - Noel Clarke (uncredited as Ricky Smith)
 * Jackie Tyler - Camille Coduri
 * Pete Tyler - Shaun Dingwall
 * John Lumic/Cyber-Controller - Roger Lloyd-Pack
 * Jake Simmonds - Andrew Hayden-Smith
 * The President - Don Warrington
 * Rita-Anne Smith - Mona Hammond
 * Angela Price - Helen Griffin
 * Mr. Crane - Colin Spaull
 * Dr. Kendrick - Paul Antony-Barber
 * Morris - Adam Shaw
 * Soldier - Andrew Ufondo
 * Newsreader - Duncan Duff
 * Cyber-Leader - Paul Kasey
 * Cybermen's voice - Nicholas Briggs
 * Cybermen - Gethin Jones (uncredited), Kevin Wickenden (uncredited)

The Doctor

 * The Doctor explains the destruction of the Time Lords made it near-impossible to cross between universes, though he doesn't explain how, exactly.
 * The Doctor powered a green crystal with ten years of his life to power the TARDIS once more so that it can return home. We don't know whether he meant ten years of his entire lifespan or only of his current incarnation.

Companies

 * International Electromatics is a front company for Cybus Industries, it has the same name of the company used by Tobias Vaughn in the Doctor's universe (DW: The Invasion)

Cultural references

 * Jake Simmonds refers to Cybus Industries' kidnapping of homeless people as similar to the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Individuals

 * Veronica of Reykjavík hand made flower sculptures for Jackie's '39th' birthday.
 * Jackie has a dog called Rose.
 * The Preachers consist of; Jake Simmonds, Ricky Smith and Angela Price

Technology

 * Almost everyone uses EarPods.

Story notes

 * Early reports erroneously gave the title of this story as "Rise of the Cyberman."
 * When Rose's phone picks up the Cybus network and connects a video plays and during it you can hear a man say "And it's good news for Great Britain as John Lumic returns to the country of his birth. Mr Lumic, the inventor of high contact metal, has denied reports of ill health." This so called 'High contact metal' could be what is produced when Jackie has her Earpod's overridden by Lumic and two 'metal' looking prongs emerge from them and meet at the top of her head, this could also be what the handles on the Cybermen's head's are, they could be used for communication with other cybermen.
 * This is the first episode of the new series to be directed by Graeme Harper, the only classic series director to direct for the new series.
 * This is the first episode in which the Doctor breaks tradition of wearing white plimsolls with his brown suit, red plimsolls with his blue suit and black plimsolls with his black suit by wearing black ones with his brown suit. This occurs again later in DW: The Impossible Planet, Love and Monsters and Fear Her in which he wears the same combination as in this episode.
 * According to Russell T Davies, the fact that Jackie has her 40th birthday in this episode was a deliberate, if obscure, reference to the fact that Rise of the Cybermen occurred in the 40th anniversary year of The Tenth Planet. (BBCR: Doctor Who at the BBC: The Tenth Doctor)

Ratings

 * 9.22 million (BARB official)

Myths

 * According to The Sun, Lloyd Pack broke his leg just days before filming began on the episode, requiring the scripts being rewritten to place his character, John Lumic, in a wheelchair. Writer Tom MacRae told Doctor Who Magazine in issue #369 that no rewrites were necessary: the script had always had Lumic in a wheelchair.

Filming locations

 * The scene where Mickey, the Doctor and Rose all split up away from each other in the alternate universe was filmed outside the recently built Riverfront Arts Centre in Newport.

Production errors

 * The clock face of Big Ben is square however it reverts back to round in the following episode. This was because in this episode, Big Ben was represented by a computer-generated establishing shot, but in The Age of Steel, Big Ben was captured in genuine location filming.


 * When Mickey meets his Gran, the boom mike operator is reflected in her sunglasses.

Continuity

 * Ricky Smith's name refers back to the previous Doctor's insistence on calling him that name to annoy him, particularly while visiting Cardiff. (DW: Boom Town)
 * The Doctor has previously travelled to parallel universes in DW: Inferno, EDA: The Shadows of Avalon, NA: Blood Heat, and a future Doctor travels to one mentioned in DW: Battlefield.
 * The Cybus Industries Cybermen, Mickey Smith, Jake Simmonds and Pete Tyler all reappeared in DW: Army of Ghosts / Doomsday.
 * The Cybermen reappeared in the 2008 Christmas special DW: The Next Doctor.
 * PDA: Loving the Alien featured an alternate Earth where the humans embraced Cyber technology.
 * Rise of the Cybermen is partially inspired by Marc Platt's BFA: Spare Parts.
 * One of the first homeless people who is transformed into a Cyberman (the one talking to one of the freedom fighters) appears later in DW: Blink.
 * The story takes place in a parallel universe in which the Cybermen were created on Earth, rather than on Earth's twin planet Mondas as described in DW: The Tenth Planet.

Timeline

 * This story occurs after DWM: The Green-Eyed Monster
 * This story occurs before DW: The Age of Steel

Home video releases

 * Rise of the Cybermen was sold on Series 2 Volume 3, along with The Age of Steel and The Idiot's Lantern.
 * It was also sold as part of the Series 2 Box Set, which included the specials Children in Need Special and The Christmas Invasion.
 * It was also sold on Issue Ten of the Doctor Who DVD Files, along with the second part of this episode, The Age of Steel.