The Cybermen, created by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, have always been my favourite Doctor Who enemy. The cold cyborgs captured my nascent imagination in the pages of Marvel Comics' Doctor Who Weekly and the Target novelisation of The Tenth Planet. I'd pore over enigmatic black and white photos from The Moonbase to The Invasion, and spend hours drawing the mechanical menace.
The surprise return of the Cybermen in Earthshock, cemented their status forever, and was the stuff of playground legend. So, news of the impending return of the Mondasian originals, from 50 years ago, has piqued my interest. Despite fond childhood memories of reading The Tenth Planet; I've yet to watch the original serial on DVD! Another chink in my so-called Whovian armour.
The Mondasian menace will appear, alongside Missy (Michelle Gomez), in the two-part finale for season 10, which is currently being filmed in Cardiff with director Rachel Talalay at the helm. Talalay is no stranger to Doctor Who and it bodes well for an exciting end to the upcoming season.
Peter Capaldi and Steven Moffat both exit the series this Christmas. And the appearance of the Mondasian Cybermen fulfils a personal wish Capaldi has had for sometime.
“I’d also like to see – this is really one for geeks – the return of the Mondasian Cybermen,” he said in 2014. “They came from the planet Mondas and first appeared in [1966 story] The Tenth Planet. They were absolutely terrifying, with cloth faces. That was really creepy.”
Doctor Who returns to television screens 15th April.
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