Blood of the Cybermen was the second of The Adventure Games, a series of five games in which the player had the ability to play as the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond. Though the Cybermen in this game resembled those from a parallel universe, they also had a different logo on their chests.
As with other games in the Adventure Games line, Blood of the Cybermen was initially released in the UK for free download for PC and Mac users in June 2010. In July 2010 an international version was made available for a fee through Direct2Drive, which has chosen not to release the Mac OS version of the game. [1]
Aside from Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, the voice cast for this game includes Sarah Douglas, best known as Ursa in Superman II.[2]
Synopsis
The Doctor and Amy materialise in the Arctic — where members of a survey team are turning from flesh to metal and digging something sinister from under the ice that's been waiting thousands of years — an army of Cybermen!
Plot
Present Day, Earth. The Doctor and Amy arrive in the Arctic, where they find a crashed skidoo, and discover an unconscious rider at the bottom of an ice cliff. The Doctor and Amy rescue the rider, who tells them that their base has been invaded. The Doctor, Amy and the rider, Chisholm, then travel by TARDIS to the GSO base, where Chisholm is attacked by a Cybermat. He explains to the Doctor that those infected by Cybermats slowly turn into Cyberslaves. Chisholm then locks himself in a tower to prevent him from attacking the Doctor and Amy as he starts to mutate.
A Cyber-arm in the Arctic?
The Doctor and Amy head towards the main dome in search of other survivors, and are confronted by a Cyberslave. After defeating it, they head into the dome and discover the director of the project, Professor Elizabeth Meadows, who is working on a cure. The Doctor and Amy then go in search of a Cybermat in order to get a sample of the virus to work from. When they return, they discover that Meadows has vanished. The Doctor completes the cure, and then heads over to the tower to administer it to a partially converted Chisholm.
The Doctor and Amy head down a lift to a series of tunnels, leading them to a large Cybership. Heading up to the top, Amy is captured by the Cyberslave, and the Doctor reaches the room containing the Cyber-Lord, and Meadows, who is revealed to be a Cyberslave. She threatens that unless the Doctor revives the Cybermen, Amy will be the first of a new race of Cybermen. Having no choice, the Doctor proceeds in reviving the Cybermen, and succeeds.
The newly revived Cyber-Lord states that Meadows is no longer necessary and may now be deleted, and shoots her. He attempts to shoot the Doctor, but the Doctor manages to escape, and heads over to the Cyber-conversion area where Amy is being held. Freeing Amy, they then proceed back to the Cybercommand area via a different route.
A cyberslave attacks
They are cornered by the Cyber-Lord and two Cybermen, who are then killed by the fully-restored Chisholm, using a laser of a detached Cyberarm. The Doctor then reverses the revival process, and states that it should be a "good half hour before the thing blows." A Cyber voice is then heard stating that it is 2 minutes until total meltdown, and the Doctor, Amy, and Chisholm make an escape. Back outside the dome, the Doctor states to Chisholm that the Cyberslaves should revert as the virus has been destroyed in the process, and that if he mentions his (the Doctor's) name to investigators everything will be all clear. The Doctor and Amy then leave in the TARDIS. A group of Cybermen stand still in the snow, but an electrical crackle is heard...
Cast and characters
- The Doctor - Matt Smith
- Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
- Chisholm - Barnaby Edwards
- Elizabeth Meadows - Sarah Douglas
- Cybermen - Nicholas Briggs
Crew
- Anwen Aspden - Executive producer: Interactive
- Charles Cecil - Executive producer: Interactive
- Mat Fidell - Senior producer
- Richard Jenkins - interactive producer
- Steven Moffat - executive producer
- Pat Phelan - executive producer
- Piers Wenger - executive producer
- Beth Willis - executive producer
- Original Music by Murray Gold
- Casting by Andy Pryor
- Art Direction by Darren Mills
- John Hackleton - artist
- Michael Hirst - art lead (as Mick Hirst)
- Dominic Hood - art manager (as Dom Hood)
- Richard Jordan - concepts
- Richard Jordan - storyboards
- Chris Pepper - artist
- Will Tarrat - design lead (Incorrectly spelt Will Tarratt)
- Matthew Cox - sound effects (as Matt Cox)
- Pat Phelan - sound/music editor
- Chantal Beaumont - graphic design lead
- Simon Bradley - animator
- Robin Butler - animator
- Ian Deary - animation lead
- Phil Hanks - animator
- Shruti Rao - animator
- Lee Taylor - animator
- Stephen Thomas - animator (as Steve Thomas)
- Simon Wottage - animator
- Ron Grainer - composer: ori
- Doug Sinclair - music editor
- Pat Phelan - music editor
- Lindsey Alford - script editor
- Toby Allen - additional support
- Jason Ausmus - quality assurance
- Tom Barker - quality assurance
- Hayley Brant - additional support
- Mark Bridges - quality assurance: lead
- Carl Cavers - vice president: european
- Charles Cecil - voice director
- Sarah Cook - design and scripting
- Sean Davies - programmer
- Nick Deakins - quality assurance
- Carl Dixon - programmer
- James Drew - additional support
- Henry Durrant - programmer
- Neil Fielding - additional support
- Damian Fowkes - additional support
- Mark Freeman - quality assurance
- Ian Grutchfield - brand executive
- Richard Josebury - technical project manager
- Ifty Khan - legal manager
- Dan Mallinson - programmer
- Gary McLoughlin - additional support
- Sean Millard - creative director
- Nana Nielsen - design and scripting
- Philip Palermo - quality assurance
- Paul Porter - studio head
- Stephen Robinson - technical director
- Gary Russell - voice director
- Laura Schofield - additional support
- Julie Scott - production executive
- Tom Sedden - programmer (Incorrectly spelt as Tom Seddon)
- Nick Sibbick - additional support
- James Sutherland - programming lead
- Mark Thackeray - additional support (Incorrectly spelt as Mark Thackery)
- Nate Umipeg - quality assurance
- Mike Welsh - design and scripting
- Phil Woods - programmer
- Stuart Yarham - design and scripting
References
- Amy asks the Doctor whether he's seen the movie The Thing. The Doctor responds, "The Carpenter/Kurt Russell thing, or the Howard Hawkes thingy with the walking carrot?"
- The Doctor states that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle based his character of Sherlock Holmes on the Doctor's detective skill.
- The Doctor states that Alpha Ceti Beta 6 is a very bright star.
Story notes
- This game was incorrectly titled Winter of Terror.
- This game's tagline was "The Cybermen are Coming".
- A new type Cybermats which have the "cyber head" logo that the Cybermen have on their chests appears. This is the first time since any Cybermats have appeared since Revenge of the Cybermen.
- The Cybermats have the ability to change people into "robots".
- This episode features a new Cyber-race called Cyberslaves, which are converted humans.
- It is not stated in the story whether the Cybermen in this story are from Mondas or Pete's World. However, a "Who Fact" on Cybermen in the game refers solely to the Mondasian Cybermen, while another on Cyber-Biology refers first to Cybermen and then "the Cybermen created by John Lumic" as if they're a different group. In game, their use of Cybermats and awareness of the fact that the Doctor is a Time Lord, as well as the Doctor's reference to "races" conquered by them, suggest that they are the Mondasian versions. Despite this, physically they resemble the Pete's World Cybermen - but lack the Cybus logo - and the Doctor states they use organic brains in metal shells and they use terms such as "Delete" (like the Pete's World versions).
- Placement of this story is difficult. Amy asks who the Cybermen are during this story, but she also appears unfamiliar with them when they appear in The Pandorica Opens. This may be due to the cracks in time. Rory's absence would logically place this story prior to the series finale, and if one is to assume that the Adventure Games occur in the order they are presented this would logically place the story after Cold Blood and, of course, City of the Daleks.
- The date is 4 May 2010 ("the present day" in the game). When the Doctor accesses the laptop and looks up about Meadows, it says her daughter's birthday is 5 May which the Doctor says is tomorrow.
- According to the game files, this was originally going to be the first episode.
- This episode is similar to the Star Trek: Enterprise episode Regeneration, which also shows a project in the Arctic Circle stumbling upon the ruins of a spacecraft that crashed years ago manned by Cyborgs, the Borg. The Borg have often been compared with the Cybermen.
Promotion
As part of the promotion of this episode a live talk with Phil Ford and Nicholas Briggs was broadcast via the BBC website on 22 June 2010. Fans were encouraged to write in with questions and read along with two exclusive script extracts.
Production errors
- Amy refers to herself wearing heels and causing her to have trouble standing once the ice starts shaking even though she is wearing flat cowboy boots.
- A few Cybermen have their "Delete" cut off, sounding like they are saying "Del".
Continuity
- Cybermats appear. (TV: Revenge of the Cybermen, Closing Time)
- Amy says the Cybermats are worse than spiders, to which the Doctor replies "I'd rather you change the subject" — a reference to his fear of spiders. (TV: Planet of the Spiders)
- The virus that converts people into Cyberslaves may be related to (or the same as) the virus the Cybermen once planned to use to convert flesh into metal. (AUDIO: The Reaping)
- Cyber-tombs appear in the ruins of the Cyberman ship. (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen)
- The Doctor acquired the Cyber chest plate and kept it in his drawing room. (GAME: TARDIS)
- Amy is able to wear her normal outfit in the Arctic thanks to the TARDIS; when the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith went there, they were flown in and Sarah had to wear heavy cold-weather clothing. (The Seeds of Doom) In both cases, the Doctor is able to resist the weather (at least for a short time).
External links
- The Adventure Games at the BBC Doctor Who site.
Footnotes
- ↑ Joystiq - Forgive the TARDIS-ness: Doctor Who games arrive today in the US, 22 July 2010, accessed 4 December 2011
- ↑ Kasterborous - Kneel Before Ursa!, 12 August 2010; accessed 4 December 2011
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