Why the Cybermen Are Now More Threatening than the Daleks
Guest contributor Zachary Bernstein thinks the Metal Menace have never been more relevant.
Monsters are so wonderful in showcasing humanity’s fears. Yet, why do certain monsters mean more to some than others? Well, one monster cannot define the sum total of fears of life experiences and tragedies. Thankfully, there are plenty of monsters for different occasions to be scared of. The Cybermen are a particular breed of horror, and in certain instances some villains can be more terrifying than others.
The Cybermen are mechanized humanoids from the lost Tenth planet of the Solar System, Mondas. They once appeared as we do now, yet after augmentations made over generations, their humanity was lost forever. Spreading in colonies of hidden Tombs across the galaxy, their survival was all but insured forever. In recent continuity, a race of Cybermen from a parallel earth entered the fray, only to be exterminated by the Daleks in the Series 2 finale Doomsday. These Cybermen were finished off by the 10th Doctor in the 2008 Christmas Special, the Next Doctor.
In Matt Smith’s tenure, the return of the Mondasian Cybermen came about as early as the Series 5 finale, The Pandorica Opens. Though the shift was not explicitly stated, these Cybermen are most likely Mondasian. In the Neil Gaiman penned episode in Series 7, the Cybermen took an upgrade in design that paid homage to a more classic Mondasian design. I would like to note that I found an uncanny similarity in this redesign to the Marvel superhero Iron Man, which I feel is a cross fandom attempt to garner appeal.
More recently, the Cybermen have escalated as a menace to the Doctor; an almost completely upward scale. During the Series 8 finale, the Cybermen unwillingly partnered with the Mistress and had a profound upgrade. It wasn’t enough that Cybermen moved on in Series 7 to desire and convert Time Lords, now the Cybermen could convert the dead. I wonder, why have the Cybermen all of a sudden become more threatening to me than the Daleks? In a previous article, The Brilliance of the Daleks, I explained how I believe that the Daleks’ appeal comes from a relation made between those monsters and human history. The Daleks are an enemy of another time, made in the memories of warn torn Britain. The Cybermen, however, are a newer breed of villain.
The Cold War saw an arms race between the so called Western allies and the Eastern powers. The integration of competitive technology continues to this day in a corporate/marketing atmosphere. The human race, now more so than ever, is rapidly approaching a mass integration of technology not unlike the kind seen upon the cyborgs in our fictions. The Cybermen have never been more relevant. What originally appeared as the final villain of the 1st Doctor’s tenure has become one of the three most recurring villains of the show’s 51 year history (along with the Daleks and the Master).
I haven’t been as terrified of the Daleks since the Russell T. Davies era ended, and I think that this might just be due to the notion that the Daleks are not the most relatable monsters right now. In this Digital Age of mass social media, the aggregated fears of assimilation into technology and the immersion of a cyber-world makes the Cybermen far more relevant. The loss of our humanity and the transformation into a species of drones who drive to work every day to fuel the machine of industry is not a new idea.
Popular monsters such as Zombies have resurged in popularity since the 1980s. With the tremendous success of Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video, a genre revival of zombies entered the forefront of western horror. In regards to audiences, the anger and frustration being expressed here of a disgruntled population found release in this type of monster. The Borg rose to the upper echelons of infamy in Star Trek in the early 90s as the sci-fi community was receptive to fears of drone obedience and lack of creative free will. I believe the Daleks resurged in popularity in the mid-00s during the RTD era due to the fact of the crisis emerging in the Middle East, and the memories of fear from alien invasion were revived if not for only a short while.
One of the most pressing topics at hand in mass media that I have witnessed would be the rise of the Digital frontier, a social prospect that has the priority of a great deal of the population. I predict that the Cybermen will only grow more infamous in their ventures in the coming episodes. I certainly hope to see the prospect of an upgraded Cyber army (be them Time Lords, or the dead, or both!) actually inflict some catastrophic damage and consequence to the Doctor Who universe. The ideas have been teased for a few years now, and I wish to see them actualised.
