If your curiousity was piqued by the BBC’s Doctor Who Twitter feed yesterday, you’ll be gratified to know that they’ve announced the return of the Cybermen for the second half of Series 7!
We’ve got some hugely exciting #DoctorWho news to report tomorrow… Check out the site in the morning to find out more! bbc.in/NupXo6
— Doctor Who Official (@bbcdoctorwho) November 6, 2012
However, the excitement has built considerably today as we’ve learned that not only are the metal monsters returning (in what seems to be their own episode as opposed to an incidental Closing Time/A Good Man Goes to War/The Pandorica Opens-style appearance) but the episode is the one written by the wonderful Neil Gaiman.
Says Steven Moffat:
‘Cybermen were always the monsters that scared me the most! Not just because they were an awesome military force, but because sometimes they could be sleek and silver and right behind you without you even knowing. ’ He added, ‘And with one of the all-time classic monsters returning, and a script from one of our finest novelists, it’s no surprise we have attracted such stellar names as Tamzin, Jason and Warwick.’
Directed by Stephen Woolfenden, the as-yet-untitled adventure guest stars Warwick Davis (Life’s Too Short, Harry Potter, Return of the Jedi), Tamzin Outhwaite (EastEnders and Hotel Babylon) and Jason Watkins (Being Human and Lark Rise to Candleford) as “a band of misfits on a mysterious planet…”
However, as the accompanying BBC photo betrays, it doesn’t look as though the Cybermen are getting a redesign…
am i the only one who was expecting a little more from the “hugely exciting” feed.
I think Neil Gaimans great…but we knew he was writing an episode.
I was expecting either a Tennant announcement, William Russell or something else…
Thats 2 grand announcements that have been a little flat…
This is great news. At last a writer with genuine imagination has a shot at an all-time-great classic monster. IMO, Gaiman has the potential to give us a Cyberman story that’s outstanding. The alien planet setting will give these monsters a scope they’ve not really had since the narrow limitations imposed on them by previous new series’ writers. I’m a little disappointed they’re not redesigning them, as the Russell T. Davies’ design is too derivative of Iron Man to really capture the sense of rotting corpses inside biological life-support suits and is a long way from the replacement limbs and organs in the original vision of Cybermen creators, Dr Kit Pedlar and Gerry Davis. But for fans of the classic series and those newcomers who also enjoy the Who DVD back-catalogue, the name of Gaiman’s Cyberman planet will be something we’re all keeping our fingers crossed about.
The picture above probably bears little relation to the actual story.
I’ll withhold judgement. Yes, Gaiman is a fine writer, but the Cybermen haven’t been genuinely frightening ~ or even INTERESTING ~ since ‘Earthshock’.
Maybe original and new Cybermen will finally meet?