Every Doctor's Best Cyberman Story

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]the Cybermen. One of Doctor Who's most iconic villains, one of the big three, one could argue, but uh more on that another time. Today, I'm going to be reviewing all of their televised stories and determining every doctor's best Cyberman story. A quick little caveat for this video. Um, unlike the Daleks, the Cyberman's appearances are not as neatly distributed, meaning doctors such as the third, eighth, and ninth doctors don't even get a Cyberman story, and many incarnations only get one to themselves. This means I'm going to be a little bit more generous with what I consider to be a Cyberman story so that we can keep this a little bit more fair.

[00:00:41]My list, my rules.

[00:00:42]>> Get used to it or go home.

[00:00:44]>> Kickstarting our list is the first Doctor Story, The 10th Planet. And it also happens to be the first doctor's final story. So, we have our first clear winner. Seriously though, this story is magnificent. And it's very clear why the show would continue to develop the Cybermen as one of its greatest threats.

[00:01:02]The Cybermen are cold, calculated, brutal, and incredibly disturbing. Their distorted artificial voices send shivers down your spine. And their grotesque Frankensteinian designs are iconic to this day. And conceptually, they're just fantastic. The end point of technology of surgery, of our unrelenting desire to survive. The 10th planet is technopobia at its finest and a phenomenal final story for the first incarnation of the titula character. So, huge props for that, too. Moving on to the second doctor and oh yes, this is more like it.

[00:01:42]Spanning the rest of the 1960s, we have a whopping four Cyberman stories to choose from. And it's not an easy call.

[00:01:49]Starting us off is the moon base. And it's a glorious continuation of the 10th planet with an iconic redesign, a truly terrifying physical presence, and a somewhat convoluted but disastrous invasion plan. This story exposes us to some of the real technological cunning of the Cybermen with them sneaking about the titular moon base and gradually infiltrating it, depositing a debilitating plague and setting their sights on the awesome gravitron.

[00:02:15]Admittedly, the Cybermen feel a little out of character here, seeking to eliminate human life rather than convert it, which is a slight issue with the earlier Cyberman stories if you, like me, prefer the horrifying conversion concept at their core. But ignoring that, this is a brilliantly paced base under siege story that sees the Cybermen arguably at their scariest. Following this is the brilliant season 5 opener, The Tomb of the Cybermen. One of Matt Smith's personal favorite stories, and it's an ongoing debate as to which of the two stories is better, and for good reason. They're both incredible. Tomb perfectly flips the perspective of the moon base, seeing humanity enter and engage the Cybermen's home turf on Telos. There's a strong undercurrent of corporate greed, like all good Doctor Who stories, and a really striking tone and atmosphere running through the adventure. Also, like the Moonbase, it's a very breezy four-parter. One of the few classic stories you can very comfortably sit and watch in one sitting, containing some lovely character moments that cement Patrick Troutton as a second doctor, and some brilliant worldbuilding and lore additions for the Cybermen, introducing us to the creepy cyber mats, the gruesome cyber controller, etc. It hasn't aged perfectly, [clears throat] but it's a classic for a reason. Book ending season 5 was yet another cyber invasion. This time taking the Metalmen off Earth and into space in the six-part epic, The Wheel in Space. Rather fittingly, this story saw the Cybermen and Matts breach a space station called the Wheel in an attempt to beacon their invasion fleet. It's arguably a little long and the repetitive base under siege formula of the Cybermen stories up to this point causes a lot of people to be turned away. It also doesn't help that the majority of this story is missing, meaning its slowb burn pacing doesn't quite land as well as it should. But I still love this story. The Cybermen are treated to yet another redesign. And though some of it is inelegant, I think the sleek new design looks very uncanny and it's nice to see the upgrading nature of the Cybermen visualized so frequently. Although I can't really defend their everchanging voices.

[00:04:24]Someone made a grave error there.

[00:04:26]Despite this, their presence is chilling in this story. And although they don't physically appear until the cliffhanger of part two, you can just feel them looming in the shadows, orchestrating everything methodically. Yeah, I think it's gravely overlooked. The real winner has to be the invasion, though, doesn't it? Clocking in at eight parts, this story is addictive from start to end.

[00:04:49]There's just so much that it's trying to achieve and it succeeds in every single aspect. Not only is this essentially acting as a soft launch for the early '7s era of the show, not only is it acting as a sequel to the previous seasons, The Web of Fear, but it also acts as a largecale finale to the growing cyber storyline of the previous two seasons, sending them off with a big bang before their infamous half decade hiatus. This story treats us to one of the greatest human antagonists in the show's history with Tobias Vaughn and his absurd but brilliant Bond villain performance. It reintroduces us to Nicholas Courtney's Alistister Gordon Lethbridge Stewart now as the Brigadier of Unit, a ridiculously iconic and beloved character going forward, but also showcases the fire power of the Cybermen in a way that we've never seen before and arguably haven't seen since.

[00:05:39]An incredible feat since they don't appear for half the story and even then are mostly playing second fiddle to Vaughn. A testament to the brilliant storytelling at the heart of the invasion. It's just it's peak. It's it's just peak. So the third doctor doesn't have anything. A brief and I mean brief cameo here and there. That's it. My absolute goat gets nothing. Yes, he does meet them in the five doctors. We're getting there. Don't worry. As for the fourth doctor, surprisingly in his seven season stint as the time lord, he gets one Cyberman story. One. And it's not very good. Okay, that's mean. Revenge of the Cybermen is okay. Ironically, the worst element of it is probably the Cybermen themselves. The central conflict between the Cybermen and the Vogans is decently interesting, and that's if you mostly ignore the fact that the Cybermen are the Cybermen. I do really like the setting, returning to space station Nerva, a location established earlier in season 12's The Ark in Space. Surprisingly, the cybermats are handled really well. Their redesign is fabulous, and their functionality is greatly improved. Some of the cyber schemes also hearken back to stories like the moon base with them spreading plagues among the crew.

[00:06:52]Unfortunately, the Cybermen are just very out of character, too emotional, and just too warhungry, favoring destruction over conversion. I'm also just not really a fan of their allergy to gold. I don't think it adds anything interesting and it just makes the second half of the story a hunt for awe.

[00:07:08]Boring. And then after another painstaking half decade without them, they return and in full swing with a respectable four stories over the span of 6 years, two of which were gifted to Peter Davidson's Fifth Doctor. Like I said earlier, I'm going to be a little bit more generous with what I regard as a Cyberman story, meaning we are definitely covering the Five Doctors here. I don't think that's necessarily cheating, though, as the Cybermen are a very prominent force throughout the 20th anniversary special. I'd be hardressed to find anyone who doesn't at least enjoy the Five Doctors. Yes, it's coated in fan service and it's technically the three and a half doctors and it's basically one giant runaround in a quarry, but all that aside, it's an endlessly entertaining 90-minute celebration of the best show ever. It's one of the first stories I ever watched, so it's always going to hold a very special place in my heart. And it was my introduction to the Cybermen to this day. Seeing that gorgeous 80s design, hearing the majesty of David Banks Cyber Leader, and listening to that iconic Cyber Gun sound effect hits me with the biggest wave of nostalgia. And there's so many awesome moments that are forever cemented in my mind. While they may not be at the center of the story, the Cybermen act as a brilliant pacing device, pushing the story further and further along. And weirdly enough though, there's little to no mention of conversion and the Cybermen are basically just treated as familiar enemies that can be easily thrown into the story. They just work here in a way that stories such as Revenge of the Cybermen or even Closing Time could only dream of. But uh I'm getting ahead of myself there. Really though, the ultimate Cyberman story for The Fifth Doctor has to be Earthshocked. That absolutely spine- chilling cliffhanger sets the tone for the rest of the story and kickstarts an absolutely horrifying and relentless attack from the cybermen that barely lets up for a second until it crescendos with the death of a companion. Again, there's barely any mention of conversion or body horror present, but there kind of doesn't need to be. This story, like all the best Cyberman stories, just understands them as an unstoppable force, as an inevitability. No matter how many times they're defeated, no matter how much humanity evolves and grows, the Cybermen will always be there, pushing our characters to their limits, both physically and mentally, until there's nothing but grief and devastation.

[00:09:40]This story right here is why we love the Cybermen. As for six and seven, oh [ __ ] They both only have one Cyberman story each. So again, it's very easy to choose a best for each of them. [laughter] However, it's not so black and white for either of them, as both of their cyber stories prove to be pretty controversial. Starting with Attack of the Cybermen, and I got to say, I really dig it. I think this is by far one of the strongest sick doctor stories and one of the strongest Cybermen stories post60s. Does it have issues? Oh yes, it has issues. The most glaring being the fact that it's essentially a sequel to three different Doctor Who stories. Two of which came out a whole two decades prior, which severely jumbles the story as it's trying so hard to shove Cyberman lore down your throat to every chance it can. Telos, Mondas, the Cyber Controller, but it's also a ridiculously entertaining story and it's one of the best treatments of the Cybermen in the classic series in my opinion. They feel ruthless, powerful, and are playing to their core strengths at all times, dealing with cyber conversion and colonization and furthering that relentlessness that they were imbued with in Earthshock. Plus, look at the stealth Cyberman. That thing's [ __ ] awesome. How can you hate a story with that thing in? I know that it's a bit too graphic for some and too caught up in the show's law, but I don't think it's as egregious as people say. And as for the gore, I think it goes just far enough to pass. Like my good friend DWF fan 91 says, the story has a real bite to it, and I love it for that. And rounding off the Cybermen's run in the classic series is the infamous Silver Nemesis.

[00:11:22]>> I don't like it very much.

[00:11:24]>> Oh, there's some positive elements to it.

[00:11:27]Not really. No, I can see what they're trying to go for with Silver Nemesis. a bit of a timehopping romp where three parties are all racing for an object of ultimate power called the nemesis. No, not that one. It's a thrilling concept, but it just falls completely flat in execution. It's a story that lacks any real atmosphere or tension, and it fails to elaborate on any of its storylines in an interesting or compelling way, ultimately resulting in a story that feels completely halfbaked. You've got this bplot of a band of neo-Nazis wanting to use the nemesis to start the fourth Reich, but you honestly forget about their existence for half the story, mostly because they literally change nothing and the story itself forgets about them for long stretches of time. And then you've got Lady Pine, Lady Pinefort, and then you've got Lady Pain, who was supposed to harbor all of these dangerous secrets about the Doctor, and it's clear that the writers want her to come across as a very mysterious and intriguing character, but the execution of her character is cheesy. and again halfbaked. And in the end, the doctor waves away the only interesting part about her as if it doesn't matter. So why should it? But the worst defense is the fact that the cybermen themselves are so poorly utilized, basically only existing to be cannon foder. They pose absolutely no threat and possess absolutely no aura besides a somewhat cool shootout at the beginning of part two. It's also the most infuriating inclusion of their weakness to gold, which was quite poor beforehand, but reaches new stages of dreadful in this story. They may as well not even be here because they don't disrupt the story at all. The characters basically just swish their wrists and the cybermen are dead. And what's the deal with those cyber gods? They're just men in silver headphones. What are they even doing here? What story purpose do they serve? For [ __ ] sake. I'll give this story one thing. It's definitely entertaining and the jazz music in the beginning was lovely, but on the whole, it's a poor sendoff for the Cybermen.

[00:13:20]They deserve infinitely better than this. Hey guys, Mr. Greavves from the future here. I forgot about Real Time, the incredibly static webcast animation that's technically not even canon due to its to this day unresolved cliffhanger.

[00:13:36]Still, I thought it was worth mentioning. The Cybermen are awesome, cold, and sinister. Uh, the six doctor gets a gorgeous new costume, which we all wish is what he really had on TV.

[00:13:47]And it features the lovely Evelyn Smay, who deserves way more recognition within the fan base. Doesn't really change anything. I'm still going with Attack of the Cybermen, but you know, real time.

[00:14:00][sighs] Again, nothing on TV FOR PAUL MAN. # morejustice for man. I love you, Paul.

[00:14:09]And now we reach the 2005 revival and nothing for Eckleston either. Are we living in the darkest timeline or something? We live in a world where John Perwe, Paul Man, and Christopher Eckleston, three of the best doctors, don't get to face the cybermen on screen. If there truly is a god, then why does he let us suffer? So, so I guess we're moving straight on to David Tenant, and we're back on track. The David Tenant era of Doctor Who gives us four exciting new Cyberman stories. Yes, four. And well, okay, maybe calling them all exciting was a bit of a stretch, but which is the best? Rounding off series four of the revival is the festive special, The Next Doctor. Now, if you've seen my ranking festive specials video, you'll basically know my thoughts on this episode. It's fun. It's a bit of camp. The central concept is really intriguing, but the real talking point here is the Cybermen, and they're okay.

[00:15:01]They're treated more as a generic villain that doesn't need setting up, which is understandable as the episode is running with a lot. They're not necessarily treated poorly. They do have some really cool moments throughout, particularly in the graveyard. And I love the new cyber leader design. But the less said about some things, the better. While we're on the topic of the less said, the better. Cyberwoman, it's Yeah, I'm not really going to touch on this, but um I acknowledged it.

[00:15:29][laughter] I I definitely acknowledged it. Barbecue sauce. With half of them out of the way, that leaves us with only two contenders.

[00:15:38]The midpoint two-parter and the epic finale of series 2. Now, this might surprise a lot of you, but the winner here isn't as obvious as you might think. Rise of the Cybermen and Age of Steel are running with a lot of interesting ideas. It furthers the idea of the inevitability of the Cybermen.

[00:15:53]Hey, that's a good episode title. And the concept of parallel evolution reaching its extreme by literally taking us to a parallel universe. The conversation between the Doctor and Lumik is great and perfectly nails down what's so interesting about the Cybermen. To be fair, the Cybermen in general are just great in this story.

[00:16:11]They're reinvented for the 21st century in such a clever way. I know a lot of Doctor Who fans don't like the stomping and the delete catchphrase, but I think it makes perfect sense for 2006. It gives the Cybermen an iconography that they were never able to rival the Daleks with before. I think it also surrounds them with so much dread. Their marching and stomping in the background is the same kind of horror as the veil in Heaven. You can keep running, you can get tired. The Cybermen don't. They just keep on marching. On the other hand, you've got Army of Ghosts and Doomsday.

[00:16:43]A very solid story running with a lot of great ideas again. And the Cybermen themselves have such an awesome buildup in Army of Ghosts. And then they get absolutely [ __ ] They get destroyed, demolished, just [ __ ] annihilated by the Daleks, and they barely even put up a fight. It's a shame, and I think in hindsight, it's really ruined the reputation of the Cybermen for the general public. Just when Rise of the Cybermen made them cool for a whole new generation, Doomsday just I'm running out of words. Just just [ __ ] obliterates them. Just ruins any street cred they could have had. Doomsday is a really good episode. It's probably one of the most rewatchable episodes in the whole show. And the dialogue, man, it's off the charts. It's incredible. We all know and love the [ __ ] fight of Canary Warf. Okay, it's iconic. But as a Cyberman story, Rise of the Cyberman is the clear winner here. So, Matt Smith, what happened, bro? As covered previously on the channel, this guy really drew the short straw when it came to the Dalek stories in my eyes. But holy crap, Victory of the Daleks looks like Citizen Kane when you compare it to his Cyberman stories. Unlike the Daleks, I'm not going to take into consideration the Pandora opens or the time of the Doctor just because these are very clearly not Cyberman stories. The Cybermen are just kind of there, unlike the Daleks who had some real agency in those episodes. So, ultimately, that only leaves us with closing time and Nightmare and Silver. Starting with closing time and what's left to say that hasn't been said already. To try and be different, I'll list off some of the positives. The Cybermat is really neat and balances comedy and horror really well. The doctor's scenes with Alfie are really wholesome. And I also think, [ __ ] this is hard to say. Craig is a pretty good character with a very compelling, relatable storyline in this episode. I honestly think that most of the hate he gets is because of the lodger and because he's played by my number one enemy, James Cordon. And you know what? If the Cybermen weren't in this episode, it would probably be a very cute but very middle-of the road episode. But the Cybermen are in this episode. So now, to be fair, the idea of a cyber ship crashing underground with the inhabitants slowly draining the local power supply and converting the town's folk using scrap metal is awesome. That's the kind of horror story I'd love to see from the Cybermen. I've literally written my own Doctor Who scripts with a similar concept. Let me know if you want to see them. But this isn't a horror story. This is closing time where the Cybermen are basically just set dressing and then they get blown up because of love. Yep, you heard that right. The Cybermen, the monsters in Doctor Who whose sole concept is that they remove emotion, get defeated by the overwhelming power of love. It's appropriate for this era of the show, but is that is that really a good thing?

[00:19:24]Holy [ __ ] But why do I have so much to say for closing time? Anyway, Nightmare and Silver isn't much better. While it characterizes the Cybermen a bit better to an extent, it also just misuses them in the most horrific way possible. I really like the idea of the Cybermen constantly upgrading themselves to overcome any and all weaknesses they might have, except gold. Of course, gold still kills them. But I really do not like the idea of the Cybermen basically just becoming invincible. They literally just follow playground rules. Nuh-uh.

[00:19:54]I'm invincible to your anti-cyberman good now cuz I said so. The rest of the story is also just bit cringe really in it. The doctor and Mr. Clever is really weird. I'm not sure why it gets praised so much. Why is everyone just okay with an overly emotive cyber planner? Angie and Arty are a horrific inclusion, and it's a total waste of Mr. Shakespeare. I mean, Jason Watkins. The setting's really fun, and I love the backdrop of the cyber wars, but there's really not much to latch on to here. It's a pretty entertaining episode, and there are some cool cyber moments. But when an episode literally caps off with this line, >> mystery wrapped in an enigma squeezed into a skirt that's just a little bit too tight.

[00:20:40]>> It's certainly not going down as one of the greats. Also, it's really weird that Nightmare and Silver is the second Cyberman story to feature Silver in the title that has this really halfbaked thematic throughine of chess. Maybe history really does repeat itself. So, overall, I can't believe I'm saying this, but the winner here is probably Closing Time. Look, they're both really rough, okay? But Closing Time is by far the most cohesive and emotionally resonant story. I can see myself re-watching the odd clip from Closing Time every now and then, but I actively try to stay as far away from Nightmare and Silver as possible.

[00:21:17][sighs] My voice is getting tired.

[00:21:19]Moving on to Peter Capaldi's 12th Doctor, and we all know where this is going. Dark Water and Death in Heaven is unfortunate. I'm a firm Dark Water Defender. I love a lot of what that story is setting up and doing with its characters, and the reveal of the Cybermen is phenomenal. Death in Heaven, though, immediately the atmosphere is gone. The Cybermen are treated horrendously, acting as an Iron Man parallel more than anything else, and the story just fumbles over every hurdle. The third act especially is just ludicrous. Again, the Cybermen get overtaken by love. Do I even need to elaborate? And yeah, the afterlife concept just goes absolutely off the rails. It was a decently chilling concept in the previous episode, but Death in Heaven implies that any and every humanoid character in Doctor Who ends up as a Cyberman or ends up trapped in the Matrix. Even the Brigadier, who we literally see as a Cyberman in this episode. Bad moment. You all know it.

[00:22:16]you all hate it. The one redeeming quality of this story is Missy. She's awesome. Michelle Gomez is awesome. And actually, I I do really like the resolution of the Good Man arc. But yeah, the winner is World Enough of Time. Obviously, this is one of my all-time favorite Doctor Who stories and maybe even my favorite Cyberman story.

[00:22:36]The return of the iconician design. The first ever multi master story on TV. The end of Kapali's reign as the Doctor in the most cinematic fashion possible. A bittersweet sendoff to Bill and Nardole, one of the greatest TARDIS teams ever, and the Cybermen at their most terrifying yet. Like all the best cyber stories, the feel relentless and inevitable in this story. In fact, the Doctor technically loses this one. He doesn't even defeat the cybermen or save the humans. He literally just pushes them back and buys people more time.

[00:23:06]That's it. The Cybermen win. It's perfect. If that alone doesn't convince you that this is one of the best Cybermen stories, then I really don't know what will. As for the 13th Doctor, I'm going to be a little cheeky here and distribute the Cybermen's appearances as generously as possible. I did warn you.

[00:23:24]So, let's get the obvious one out of the way. Ascension of the Cybermen and the Timeless Children. One of the most controversial episodes in all of Doctor Who. and kind of for good reason, but you all know all about that. So, let's see how this runs as a Cyberman story.

[00:23:37]It's got a heavy backdrop with the Cybermen practically exhausted of resources and the human race all but extinct. But then it introduces a new wave of Cybermen that are basically just robots. Way to misunderstand your main villain. and completely sidelines them in the second part, unceremoniously disposing of perhaps the most interesting character to come out of the Chibnel era and just instantly replacing them with cyber lords. Actually, a novel idea. It's basically what they did in Nightmare and Silver, but it makes sense and it's kind of interesting. I sure hope they don't end up doing nothing with this idea. Sorry, guys. Even as a Cyberman story, it's just there's no redeeming this episode. Then we've got the power of the doctor. Yes, it's a Cyberman story. Shut up. Overall, it's a fun romp. It's really messy. But the Cybermen, the Cybermen got it good in this episode. We get to really feel their presence in this story as they overtake Unit and face off against Tegan Yvanka again, which gives us some really great character moments. I feel like I've said character moments a lot in this video. Chimnel also writes his previous wrongs by incorporating cyber conversion again. Yay. And Ashard is kind of nonsensically brought back to life, but it's fine cuz he's cool as [ __ ] I also love the cyber factory moon, the cyber moon, whatever it's called. It hearkens back to their origins with Mandas being cannibalized by cyber propulsion technology and whatnot. And I think that's really cool.

[00:25:05]Unfortunately, the episode doesn't lend much time to any of these elements, meaning they don't really get to breathe, but it was a good effort anyway. I I do really like the Cybermen in this episode. It's like Earth Shock 2. Two Earth, two shock. But the winner's got to be The Haunting of Villa Darty, hasn't it? Yeah, I'm kind of cheating by putting this on its own, but it it kind of deserves it, doesn't it?

[00:25:26]It's mostly disconnected from the series 12 finale, acting as a tiein more than anything else. Again, Ashard is cool as [ __ ] in this episode. I really like the idea of a halfway Cyberman. I think it's such a daring concept because if you get it wrong, you get it wrong bad. But the performance really sells it and the design is topnotch. Plus, he is just a really good character, at least in this episode. That speech about him slaughtering his children for not submitting to the will of the Cybermen or whatever, that shit's tough. I also love the ambiencece and the subtle horror of this story. I also think this is one of the stronger episodes for the 13th Doctor. The characterization is on point, and I got to stop praising this guy, but Ashard gives her a really interesting moral opposite to play off of. I personally find the episode a little overrated. I'm not a fan of everything it's doing. It's a little cringe in places and the first act kind of drags a bit, but it's a strong episode nonetheless and a very worthy winner for Jody Whitaker in my opinion.

[00:26:24]Finally, moving on to the 15th Doctor is played by Shooty Gatwa. And oh, shocker.

[00:26:31]He doesn't have one. Just another comic book trying to make up for how shafted he was. Oh well. So, those were my picks for every doctor's best Cyberman story.

[00:26:42]Let me know whether you guys agree with my choices in the comments below. And if not, what would you have gone with? Just before I leave, I want to tell you about this Minecraft server that myself and other YouTubers such as The Force Dalek have been working on. As you can see on the map, there are loads of islands and communities that you can be part of, such as the Dalek Republic, which Greavvesand is a part of, or you can start your own. If you want to be part of this awesome collaboration, join the Discord server today linked in the description below. As always, I have been your host, Mr. Greavves, and until the next one, guys, take care of yourselves and goodbye for now.