 After their Big
Finish debut in February 2001's "Sword of Orion" the
Cybermen
return in this story for August 2002. Titled "Spare Parts" it has been written
by Marc Platt, who was previously responsible for "Loups-Garoux", the
television story "Ghost
Light" and the New Adventures novels "Cats
Cradle: Time's Crucible" and "Lungbarrow".
It has been directed by Gary Russell and was recorded on the 26th and 27th
March 2002.
 |
Spare
Parts
(Marc Platt) |
|
Starring Peter Davison, as the Fifth
Doctor, and
Sarah Sutton, as Nyssa, this story is set on the Cybermen's original homeworld,
Mondas and takes an unusual look at the Cybermen by moving away from the
'smash-and-bash' philosophy of many of the later Cyber-stories and focusing
instead on what makes them tick.
The special
guest star for this story includes actress Sally Knyvette, who is best known as
revolutionary Jenna Stannis on Blake's 7. Also in the cast are: Kathryn Guck,
Paul Copley, Derren Nesbitt, Pamela Binns, Jim Hartley, Ann Jenkins and Nick
Briggs playing the part of the Cyberleader.
As stated by
author Marc Platt: "Spare Parts is about the origins of the Cybermen and is a
sad and tragic tale. Some of it will shock… In Spare Parts, we see several
steps on the Cyber-evolutionary ladder, which culminate in the creation of the
Cybermen themselves. Might Spare Parts do for the Cybermen what
Genesis
of the Daleks did for the Daleks?"
 |
| Fifth Doctor |
|
Thinking the
TARDIS
has brought them to Earth The Doctor and Nyssa realise
that instead they have arrived in an underground city
on a frozen planet drifting light years from any star
where no planet should be. It soon becomes clear that
they are in a doomed city and that the inhabitants will
pay any price to survive even if it means that they inadvertently
give birth to what will become Cybermen…
In
the mat-infested streets The Doctor and Nyssa unearth
a black market in second-hand body parts and run the gauntlet
of augmented police and their augmented horses. Nyssa,
in helping a citizen called Yvonne rescues her trapped
father, is invited back to their house before the night
curfew and learns of the desperate times they have arrived
in. The Doctor meanwhile realises his worst suspicions
are confirmed and that they have arrived on the planet
Mondas and the Cybermen's origins have just begun.
 |
A
Cyberman |
|
It
all seems strangely familiar - the oppressed population
gradually replacing their bodily organs with manufactured
parts in a desperate attempt to avoid extinction. Artificial
organs it seems are all the range on Mondas. And silver
is the colour used for the uniforms that the workers,
who are called up to work on the surface which the population
are keen to be part of, find themselves wearing.
With the local
graveyard being dug up in the middle of the night The Doctor realises that the Mondasians are heading for a
very nasty future. And despite The Doctor's warnings Nyssa
is determined to rescue the people of Mondas, but The Doctor insists that they mustn't interfere - not this
time. Things are getting serious.
After
nearly being caught by the Sisterman, whose duties include
looking for recruits supposedly to work on the surface
of the planet, Nyssa learns that Yvonne, who has been
called up, is in grave danger of being turned into a Cyberman.
The Doctor also managers to escape capture and finally
meets up with Doctorman
Christine Allan who he learns is responsible
for the future destination of the Mondasians.
 |
Nyssa |
|
But things go horrible wrong when during a power
cut the programming of a batch of Cybermen, which includes Yvonne, is not
completed fully and the Cybermen, under the leadership of Cyberleader Zheng,
take control of the city and its population. The Doctor it seems is unable to
prevent the Cybermen from taking control and to convince Doctorman Allan of the
foolishness of allowing the rouge Cybermen to live and dictate the future path
of the Cybermen.
Meanwhile Nyssa learns the full truth of what is happening to
the Mondasians when Yvonne, now part Cyberman, returns to her family - much to
their distress. But Nyssa and The Doctor have worse things to consider when the
Cybermen grow stronger and Mondas' past takes shape.
 |
| Cybermats |
|
With Mondas in danger from a nearby nebula, and
with the city under threat of becoming frozen over, will The Doctor help the
Mondasians to decide their future for themselves or will he have a change of
heart? Why are the authorities so keen to hunt down the two strangers that have
arrived in their city? Will Nyssa's defiance cost her her own life or will she
find herself becoming a Cyberecruit? What will The Doctor do when gold seems to
be ineffective in killing the Cybermen and why are the Cybermats such a threat
and not just to the TARDIS crew and the Mondasians? What can The Doctor do when
it seems that he is being used to create a new breed of Cybermen? Will the
Mondasians be able to survive the ice as well as the onslaught of a Cyberarmy
who are after new recruits to populate their new race or should they be more
concerned about one particular Cyberman?
It seems that
the TARDIS crew might not be leaving Mondas intact and that resistance is
useless when the birth of the Cybermen is at stake…
|
|
|
|
|
|
Notes:
- Featuring the Fifth
Doctor and Nyssa.
- This story includes the Cybermen.
- Serial Number: 6C/E
- Number of Episodes: 4
- Cover Length: 100 minutes
- Episode Lengths: 1 = 29'46", 2 = 29'15", 3 =
30'36", 4 = 31'05"
- Total Story Length: 120'42"
- This story takes place between "Time-Flight"
and "Arc
of Infinity".
- Early Titles: "Collision Course"
and "Night City".
- Cover Illustration: Clayton Hickman
- Recorded: 26th and 27th March 2002
- Recording Location: The Moat Studios
- Released: August 2002
- ISBN: 1-903654-72-6
|
|
On the Back Cover:
"I'm not
even sure they are people by the end. They're just so
many tinned left-overs..."
On
a dark frozen planet where no planet should be, in a doomed
city with a sky of stone, the last denizens of Earth's
long-lost twin will pay any price to survive, even if
the laser scalpels cost them their love and hate and humanity.
And
in the mat-infested streets, round about tea-time, The Doctor and Nyssa unearth a black market in second-hand
body parts and run the gauntlet of the augmented police
and their augmented horses.
And
just between the tramstop and the picturehouse, their
worst suspicions are confirmed: the Cybermen have only
just begun, and The Doctor will be, just as he always
has been, their saviour... |
| |
|
On the Inside Cover:
WHEN GARY RUSSELL
FIRST asked me about an origin story for the Cybermen,
the first thing we agreed was that the story was a tragedy.
With definitely no CyberDavros. Just lots of good intentions
paving a long road to Hell. So I started thinking about
how Earth's twin planet Mondas and its people could possibly
survive when it's drifted away from its sun. It wouldn't
have gone far before its atmosphere froze, so the survivors
must be underground somewhere. But what Circumstances
would force its human race to abandon their humanity?
Dwindling population, dwindling resources, dwindling hope.
It's almost traditional for The Doctor to regale the Cybermen
with a catalogue of the senses and emotions they have
lost after purging their minds with cold clinical logic,
but we've barely seen it from the point of view of their
progenitors - the man and his family on the Mondas equivalent
of the Clapham omnibus. And then there's all that continuity
to juggle. So the main theme of the story is the cruelty
of loss, and the similarities between Mondas and Earth
that bring the threat of the Cybermen and who they once
were, closer than is comfortable.
|
Marc Platt,
March 2002 |
Marc Platt
is the writer of Ghost
Light, the last Doctor
Who story made by the BBC, in 1989. He subsequently
novelised both that and Battlefield, and then
wrote two of Virgin Publishing’s New Adventure
series, Time's
Crucible and Lungbarrow.
This is his second audio for Big Finish, the first being
Loups-Garoux, also featuring the Fifth
Doctor.
He lives in South-East London. |
| |
|
Production Notes:
Putting
forward ideas demonstrating exactly how the Cybermen came
to pass has long been a popular pass-time for Doctor Who
fans. Indeed, David Banks' 1988 book, Cybermen, offers
up one theory, and Gerry Davis himself put forward others
to the Doctor Who television production office. However,
we steered clear of all those ideas and rather than do
a "Genesis of the Cybermen" story per se, we wanted to
focus on the effect the Cybermen had on those around them,
rather than the nuts and bolts of their creation. After
Loups-Garoux was released, we considered no choices other
than Marc Platt to script tins one - wanting someone who
would offer a novel insight into what are, next to the
Daleks, Doctor Who's most remarkable "monsters"… |
| |
|
Full Cast List:
| The Doctor |
Peter Davison |
| Nyssa |
Sarah Sutton |
| Yvonne Hartley |
Kathryn Guck |
| Dad |
Paul Copley |
| Thomas Dodd |
Derren Nesbitt |
| Sisterman Constant |
Pamela Binns |
| Frank Hartley |
Jim Hartley |
| Mrs Ginsberg |
Ann Jenkins |
| Doctorman Allan |
Sally Knyvette |
| Zheng |
Nicholas Briggs |
The Production Team:
| Writer |
Marc Platt |
| Director |
Gary Russell |
| Sound/Music |
Russell Stone |
| Theme Music |
Mark Ayres |
| Cybermen Created by |
Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis |
| Producers |
Gary Russell and
Jason Haigh-Ellery |
| Executive Producer for the BBC |
Jaqueline Rayner |
|
|
|
|
