 This is the second story written by Neil Gaiman whose first Doctor Who story, "The Doctor's Wife", won the 2012 Hugo Award for the Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.
This story features the return of the long-standing Doctor Who villains, the Cybermen. These iconic villains made their debut in 1966 First Doctor story "The Tenth Planet" and they most recently appeared in the 2011 story "Closing Time".
The Cybermen in this story introduce a dramatic evolution to the Cyberman race employing a multitude of new abilities that replace the previous design they had maintained since their return, in the revived show, in the 2006 Tenth Doctor story "Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel".
The previous design of the Cybermen also appear in this story, but are not the primary threats.
Executive Producer Steven Moffat has revealed that the Cybermen were redesigned because they did so often in the show, before it was revived in 2005, but so far they had been consistent in the revived series. The evolution of the Cybermen has been occurring for decades. In "The Tenth Planet" their bodies appeared to be a combination of cloth and metal. They looked markedly different in their following story, "The Moonbase", and have evolved in virtually all their subsequent stories.
Likewise, the Cybermats have also evolved with their progenitors into a more compact form known as Cybermites.
Neil Gaiman has revealed that he was motivated to provide a ‘rationalisation’ for the Cybermen in current Doctor Who continuity. Before the show was revived in 2005 the Cybermen were depicted as alien cyborgs, while the revived series depicted them as human upgrades from a parallel Earth. Neil Gaiman opined that his Cybermen stemmed from an encounter and amalgamation of these two types of Cybermen following the 2008 Christmas special "The Next Doctor".
‘Cybermen were always the monsters that scared me the most’, Steven Moffat has stated. ‘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’.
Neil Gaiman has revealed that when Steven Moffat contacted him, about writing for the show and asked him to make the Cybermen ‘scary again’, he decided to ‘take the 1960s Cybermen and everything that's happened since. I thought back to when I was six or seven year's old - "The Moonbase" and "The Tomb of the Cybermen". I saw those when they were first broadcast’. However, Neil Gaiman has also revealed that he ‘got completely side-tracked by a mad, strange romp’.
Matt Smith has stated ‘I think it will be a fan's favourite because, well, without giving anything away, it just will be, because there's something in it... Neil's brilliant ideas will always add a level to Doctor Who, which will be interesting’.
This story has attracted a guest-cast of familiar television and film actors: Tamzin Outhwaite is best known for her role as Melanie Owen in BBC One soap opera EastEnders between 1992 and 2002, and has gone on to star in many television dramas including Hotel Babylon.
Jason Watkins, who played Webley, played villain Herrick in the first series of Being Human (created by Doctor Who writer Toby Whithouse) and currently stars in the Sky One sitcom Trollied. In 2009 he played The White Guardian in the Big Finish Productions Key2Time audio trilogy with Peter Davison.
The cast is also joined by Warwick Davis playing the part of Porridge. He has appeared in films such as Return of the Jedi, The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy and, as Professor Flitwick, in the Harry Potter films. He was also the star of the Ricky Gervais comedy series Life's Too Short.
Appropriately enough for a writer noted for his spooky stories, the read through for this story took place in Cardiff on Halloween (Wednesday 31st October 2012) and recording on the story began one week later on 7th November 2012.
Some location filming took place in early November 2012 at Castell Coch. It has been revealed that during this time, a copy of the read-through script was found in a taxi in Cardiff. It was marked as being Eve De Leon Allen's copy with the working title of "The Last Cyberman". After appearing in a photo, posted on Facebook, it was eventually returned to the BBC.
This story is directed by Doctor Who newcomer Stephen Woolfenden, who has previously worked as an assistant or second unit director on shows such as Neverwhere, State of Play and Strike Back, as well as feature films such as the last four Harry Potter movies.
This story's title, "Nightmare in Silver", is reminiscent of the Twenty Fifth Anniversary Cyberman story, "Silver Nemesis". In both cases the Silver is referring to Cybermen.
Calvin Dean, who plays Ha-Ha, is no stranger to the world of Doctor Who. He appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures back in 2009, playing the part of Chris, in the two-part story "The Gift".
Angie and Artie Maitland travel in the TARDIS for the first time - as they had previously blackmailed Clara into taking them on a trip in The Doctor's time machine at the end of "The Crimson Horror".
The ‘six hundred and ninety-ninth Wonder of the Universe’ is how Webley describes the chess-playing Cyberman. The Wonders of the Universe were referenced by The Doctor in the 1974 Third Doctor story "Death to the Daleks". He explained there were 700 of them, but as one - the City of the Exxilons - was destroyed, in the last part of that story and he ruefully reflected, ‘…the universe is down to six hundred and ninety nine Wonders!’.
Listen out for the line ‘The Cyber-Planners built a Valkyrie…’. In Norse mythology the Valkyries (or simply valkyries) were magical maidens who selected dead warriors, killed in combat, taking them from the battlefield to be brought back to life in order to fight alongside gods. The name literally means ‘chooser of the slain’ and they were tied in with the stories of Ragnarok. Coincidentally, The Doctor fought the so-called Gods of Ragnarok in the 1988 Seventh Doctor story "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy".
When The Doctor calls Clara, ‘A mystery wrapped in an enigma, squeezed into a skirt that’s just a little bit too tight…’ he is misquoting Winston Churchill. In a BBC broadcast, in October 1939, Winston Churchill declared, ‘I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest’.
The Captain mentions a ‘solid state, sub-etha ansible class communicator’. This is a reference to sub-etha technology from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, a former Doctor Who script editor. Neil Gaiman, the author of this story, wrote Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion.
The area where the TARDIS materialises resembles the lunar surface it landed on in the 1967 Second Doctor story "The Moonbase". In fact the name of that story is referenced when Artie notes ‘This is like a Moonbase or something…’.
The Doctor previously visited an amusement venue controlled by aliens in the 1988 Seventh Doctor story "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy".
Angie's mobile phone has no service, indicating that The Doctor didn't give her a super-phone, as he had with every one of his regular companions since his ninth incarnation (see "The End of the World", "42", "The Doctor's Daughter", "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship"). She is given a new phone from the TARDIS at the end, although it isn't clear whether or not this is a super-phone.
The scene where the Cyberman snatches Angie uses a camera technique called Bullet Time, popularised in the science fiction film The Matrix. In this instance it’s used to make it appear that the Cyberman is moving with incredible rapidity with his speed contrasted by the near stillness of the humans, The Doctor and even laser bolts that seem frozen in mid-air.
The Doctor is heard saying to a Cybermite, ‘Hardly a Cybermat’ - a reference to the cyber-rodents he encountered in "The Tomb of the Cybermen", "The Wheel in Space", "Revenge of the Cybermen" and "Closing Time".
Whilst under possession by the Cyber-Planner, The Doctor is heard mimicking the Ninth Doctor's accent and catchphrase of ‘Fantastic’, as well as the Tenth Doctor's of ‘Allons-y’.
The Cyber Planner/Plotter first appeared in two Second Doctor stories, "The Wheel in Space" and "The Invasion", though in those instances it was a stationary mechanical device.
The mindscape scene where The Doctor talks with his cyber-self is similar to the scene from the Radio Times comic strip "Dreadnought" where the Eighth Doctor battles a cyber version of himself inside his mind when the cybermen attempt to convert him.
When The Doctor lets the Cyber-Doctor access his mind all ten of his previous incarnations appear, including the Tenth Doctor's regeneration into the Eleventh Doctor that took place at the end of the 2009/10 story "The End of Time". Each image of the previous incarnations were taken from photographic stills that were used as promotional material during the respective actors' tenures.
Also during this sequence The Doctor claims that he can regenerate at will and when describing the state of the neurons in The Doctor's brain, the Cyber-Planner says he has had ‘ten rejigs’ - i.e. ten regenerations.
It is suggested that The Doctor and Clara meet on Wednesdays for their travels, as opposed to Clara being in residence aboard the TARDIS.
When playing chess against the Cyber-Planner, The Doctor is heard to reveal that the Time Lords invented chess.
The Doctor also played chess in "The Sun Makers", "The Androids of Tara", "The Curse of Fenric" and "The Wedding of River Song". Also, the Time Lords inventing chess was a query first considered by the Second Doctor in the BBC Books' The Past Doctors Stories novel "Dreams of Empire".
The Doctor's defeat of the Cyber-Planner, distracting him with a bluff about an alleged checkmate to drain his power, is the same stratagem he used against Fenric the in 1989 Seventh Doctor story "The Curse of Fenric".
The Doctor has a ‘Golden Ticket’ for Hedgewick's World of Wonders - possibly a nod to the Golden Tickets from Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Webley's costume of a top hat and cane is also similar to what Willy Wonka wears.
Waxworks creatures from previous story are seen in Webley's room. These include an Uvodni head (seen in The Sarah Jane Adventures story "Warriors of Kudlak"), a Blowfish head - marking its first appearance in Doctor Who proper ("Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang"), a Shansheeth head ("Death of The Doctor"), a Chameleon ("The Faceless Ones"), a dummy ("The God Complex") and several aliens seen in "The Rings of Akhaten", including an Ultramancer, a Pan-Babylonian and a Lugal-Irra-Kush.
Porridge is revealed to be inside the undefeated automated chess player. A very similar chess-playing machine, The Turk, was constructed by the Hungarian inventor Wolfgang von Kempelen in the 18th century and was actually controlled by a man inside. This invention was also referenced in the Big Finish Productions audio story "The Silver Turk" - where the Eighth Doctor encountered a damaged early Cyberman that was being used to play chess.
The Doctor echoes a quote from his former companion Rory Williams when confronted by the troops aiming guns at him: ‘Don't shoot, I'm nice!’ (see "The God Complex").
The Doctor and his cyber-self discuss The Doctor removing himself from databanks across the universe (see: "Asylum of the Daleks", "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" and "The Angels Take Manhattan").
The Doctor is heard to say ‘You've had some cowboys in here’ (see "The Girl in the Fireplace and "The Eleventh Hour").
The Doctor tells the Cyber-Planner that earlier versions of the Cyber operating systems could be scrambled by gold or cleaning fluid. The Cybermen's weakness to gold was first shown in "Revenge of the Cybermen" and, during "The Moonbase", The Doctor's companions Ben Jackson and Polly Wright mix a cocktail of cleaning solvents (referred to as ‘Cocktail Polly’) that is used to dissolve the Cybermen's chest units.
It has been a long-established fact that gold can incapacitate and even kill Cybermen. As well as the Vogans using this precious metal to defeat the Cybermen, in "Revenge of the Cybermen", The Doctor has exploited this weakness in "Earthshock" and there’s even a strong suggestion in "Battlefield" that UNIT have stocked up on gold-tipped bullets in case they ever encounter the Cybermen.
It is revealed that the Cyber-Wars lasted one thousand years and that the planet Hedgewick's World is on was used to hide 3 million Cybermen and also repair them.
The Cyber-Doctor answers to Clara's question of ‘More Cybermen?’ with ‘They're waking from their tomb right now’ is a possible reference to the television story "The Tomb of the Cybermen".
Subsequently, the Cybermen exiting their tombs mirrors the cliffhanger at the end of episode three of the 1982 Fifth Doctor story "Earthshock", when three rows of Cybermen march towards the camera.
The Cyber-Tombs featured in two previous stories; the 1967 Second Doctor story "The Tomb of the Cybermen" and in the 1984 Sixth Doctor story "Attack of the Cybermen".
The Cyber mind-control on humans was first seen in "The Moonbase", where the scientists operating The Gravitron were remotely controlled by the invading Cybermen using brain implants, in order to disrupt Earth's weather.
The Cybermen's ability to adapt to attacks is reminiscent of the Borg from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Additionally, the Borg used nanotechnology to convert individuals, similar to the Cybermites, and The Doctor's and Webley's cyber-appearance is reminiscent of the Borg's half machine, half human face. Similar to the Borg in Star Trek: First Contact the Cybermen in this story assimilated new members by use of something coming out of their wrists.
The converted Webley tells The Doctor that the Cybermen have turned children into Cyber-Planners in the past because of a child's imagination. This mirrors the reasoning behind the Renegade Daleks' use of a young girl as their Battle Computer in the 1988 Seventh Doctor story "Remembrance of the Daleks".
Whilst not being able to convert non-humans in the past, the Cybermen can now process creatures like Time Lords, at least partially. The Doctor is also heard to state that the Cybermen can't convert non-human beings. However, in his sixth incarnation, he met Cybermen who, whilst in the Land of Fiction after Zoe Heriot piloted them there, converted; Faries, Trolls, Merpeople, Vampires and even a Whale into their Cyber-forces, in the Big Finish Productions audio story "Legend of the Cybermen".
It is never made clear whether these Cybermen are of the Mondasian or Cybus variety, although they use the phrase ‘upgrade’ and one of Webley's Cybermen being similar to the ones from "Closing Time" with his other two having the Cybus logo like the ones in the 2010 story "The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang". Webley's explanation that the Cybermen have adapted and that the new models will be unstoppable may hint that the two types of Cybermen have encountered each other and merged their technology. This would explain why Cybus-like versions had Mondasian ships in "The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang" and "A Good Man Goes to War", why two of Webley's models have the Cybus logo and why the Cyber-Wars lasted longer than has been previously stated.
The ‘Cyberiad’ refers to the collective consciousness of the Cybermen.
The Cybermen having died out/been wiped out was also a plot element of "The Moonbase", "The Tomb of the Cybermen" and "Revenge of the Cybermen".
UNIT also designed a device that would blow up a planet to be used if left with no other options, It was called the Osterhagen Project (see "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End").
During the exterior shot of Porridge's ship, writing in Aurebesh is visible on the hull. This is the writing system used in Star Wars by the Galactic Republic and later the Galactic Empire, paralleling the presence of an unidentified human empire in this story.
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The Firsts:
The first appearance of Cybermites.
Angie and Artie Maitland travel in the TARDIS for the first time.
The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Stephen Wolfenden.
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(Position = 7 out of 9)
(Position = 203 out of 241)
