Apparently The Cybermen are the second most popular monsters behind the Daleks but I feel they have been very badly treated in the last couple of years in the New series. I still didn't see the point of them in Closing Time and it seems in other episodes since Moffat took over, they are there just because to make up the numbers. And to be fair, during RTD's time, after the initial two-parter in Series 2, they didn't fare much better, having their asses kicked by the Daleks and then we had to endure the whole Cyber-King thing......

Thank goodness we have Classic Who to show them at their best. In my opinion The Tomb Of The Cybermen and Earthshock are two of the greatest Cybermen stories ever made, both for varying reasons. Tombs because of the atmosphere of the story and Earthsock because of it's dramatic last couple of episodes.

This thread I have managed to get all the Cyber stories onto one poll. A couple of episodes were they have featured prominently I have missed out but I have included The Five Doctors as they did have a biggish sort of role in this story. As with last week, your voting for your fave Cybermen story, not your favourite story if that makes sense.

Will be back with more villains threads after Xmas due to the Xmas Episode next week as the attention will obviously be on that.

Earthshock. Although Tomb is very good too.

Earthshock.

Then Tomb, Invasion, Tenth Planet

Hmmm... I must have done the voting wrong on the Dalek thread.

Tomb of the Cybermen FTW. It was the only time they seemed scary, except for just a bit in The Tenth Planet.

I definitely misunderstood the Dalek thread

Earthshock was so special, it was the last proper shock (excuse the pun) in DW. The story was well written, and very well acted (even Janet Fielding and Matthew Waterhouse) rounded off by one of the best endings in the programmes history!

Invasion and Tomb close seconds!

No one voting Silly Nemesis?

Shame on you!

It's a strange one for me this as I've never found any Cyberman story that good at all, yet I love the concept of them.

The Christmas ep a few years ago was widely critised yet the concept of the Cybermen, snow and graveyard worked really well. So I'd have to choose The Next Doctor

The Invasion.

Apart from the Daleks in the first series all of the returning enemies have been handled quite badly in the new run; its one of the new run's weaknesses.

Have seen very few classic who episodes and there hasn't really been an exceptionally strong Cyberman episode in NewWho yet in my opinion so I voted for Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel because I feel it's the best we've had so far.
They were all good, mind; I rarely say Doctor Who is bad. It's still miles above the rest of the things on TV, but I think we have not yet seen the New Cybermen's full potential.

Voted for Tomb - as a kid it scared me silly and no Cyberman story since then has come close..

What are you talking about? I thought Terror of the Autons caught the ire of Mary Whitehouse because of its comedy burping bins.

Joking aside, I think Simm was a better Master than the originals.

(EDIT: I voted for The Invasion, because the actual invasion itself is so iconic and the more Troughton the better)

Wasn't the comedy burping bin in "Rose" ?

I voted Earthshock as I love that story. Tomb is very watchable though, one of my favourite Troughton stories. I also quite liked Moonbase. As a rule though, Cybermen stories aren't brilliant.

Earthshock - the mystery, build up and shock cliffhanger of episode 1 and the shock ending of episode 4

I voted for The Invasion out of habit, however I actually wish now I had voted for The Pandorica Opens, as I just loved the headless Cyberman sequence.

Tomb and Invasion are excellent, I like the Cybermen from these two stories, they are more raw design wise and the way they are portrayed. In The Tenth Planet a good cyber story, the way they spoke is slightly irritating! Bit of a minor grumble but it just grates on me!
Earthshock is the best, they actually feel more of a menace and the whole story is full of suspense and shot beautifully with a real pace to the story building up. Unlike Revenge where they are "just a bunch of tin soldiers skulking around the galaxy" (or whatever the Doctor says in that story)
Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel is a close second, again they are for once a creditable menace as they should be, unlike every other appearance in New Who, Closing Time in particular is a dissapointing waste of the Cybermen. Come on SM write a proper Cyber story please. Did love the headless Cyberman sequence in Pandorica though.

I personally don't think The Pandorica Opens should be on the list, it's not a Cybermen story, it's a story with Cybermen in it if you know what I mean.....

I know what you mean, however I think it used The Cybermen better than they had been used in the show for decades, so I'm kind of glad it did....

But you have to remember I don't really like the Cybermen as a rule of thumb so that probably impacts on my view point here.

I don't think that the cybermen as Kit Pedlar and Gerry Davis envisaged have ever really been captured on screen as well as they were in Earthshock. Tomb and Invasion were absolutely ace, but I do find it quite difficult to find how they were portrayed in the 60s, menacing. In Earthshock they were positively emotionless, I don't think that had really been captured until that point.

In terms of Nu Cybermen...I just think we are still waiting for that Earthshock moment. IMO, they need to redesign them, they just don't look menacing to me, they need to be more humanoid and move less robotically. This is probably an unpopular view, but its mine none the less

I would love to see Kroton on screen, as an Invasion style cyberman...that would be ace!

Tricky. Went for Invasion, but agonised for a while.

Earthshock for me, too. Although if you want my opinion the best Dr Who Cyberman story is the audio Spare Parts...

I've treated myself to the Invasion on dvd, so will see what it's like.

you wont be disappointed!

I've taken my time over thinking on this one!
I voted for.........Tomb! It was the scariest for me (especially as a kid at the time!)
Earthshock came as a close 2nd place.

The Nu-Who series haven't quite recreated the 'scariness' of the Cybermen somehow......they just look like robots! I did quite enjoy their first re-appearance in 'Age of Steel' though!

To be honest I find the cybermen boring. In the Tenth Planet they were very frightening and effective. That slowly diminished with each far too frequent reappearance. By the 80s I find their portrayal laughable, in terms of costume, performance, their total uselessness.

Earthshock had shock value going for it and that's it. I am in no doubt whatsoever that if Adric hadn't been blown up at the end of it the story wouldn't be remembered as anything more than average.

The revamped cybermen in the new series are too much like robots and once more are not very interesting. I like Moffat's current approach: use them (and the Daleks, and the other franchise monsters) in cameos or small rolls, rather than as the central villain in a story. No more of those tedious cybermen / Daleks two parters please.