The ultimate DIY: How to build your own Cybermen
Radio Times said it best – The Cybermen have had more upgrades than the iPhone. While the Daleks will forever go down in history as the most iconic and scariest challenge to the Doctor, the Cybermen will, undoubtedly, be the more interesting and most misunderstood. Created by Dr. Kit Pedler, the unofficial scientific advisor to Doctor Who, and Gerry Davis, former Doctor Who script editor, the Cybermen made their first appearance in William Hartnell’s final story, “The Tenth Planet”, in 1966.
The Cybermen were originally a wholly organic species of humanoids originating on Earth’s twin planet Mondas which had drifted out of the solar system rendering it both isolated and frozen given their distance from the sun. For sheer survival, they slowly began to implant more and more artificial parts into their bodies as a means of self-preservation. This led to the race becoming coldly logical, calculating and a bit zombie-like, with every emotion deleted from their minds so they could cope with their new look – hence their enigma of being both interesting and misunderstood all at the same time.
Fast forward 48 years and the latest model, a sleek Iron Man meets Transformers version, which was last seen in the Doctor Who series 8 finale, “Death in Heaven”. At a Royal Television Society event on Tuesday, Millennium FX, the company that produces prosthetics and monsters for the series, premiered some behind the scenes footage which features a detailed look at how a Cyberman is made. In addition, the video highlights some other radical, retro designs for some alternate Cybermen, along with a few pointers on how to build our own Cybermen. You won’t see this on Ask This Old House, trust me.
