DS Forums

 
 

the best ever cyberman design goes to...


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 03-04-2014, 12:51
Mr Seta
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Posts: 294

Okay, I've done a search & it looks like such a thread has never been posted. So which is your favourite design? I struggle as I like elements of a lot of them.

Trying to keep it relatively simple (as there have been subtle variations or add-ons) lets go with:

-Mark I (Tenth Planet)
-Mark II (The Moonbase to Wheel in Space)
-Mark III (The Invasion to Revenge of the Cybermen)
-Mark IV (Earthshock to Silver Nemesis)
-Mark V (Rise of the Cybermen to Closing Time)
-Mark VI (Nightmare in Silver)

You may like a specific variation too. Like if I had to choose one, it would probably be the Revenge of the Cybermen design.
..Then again, I do like elements of the next variation from Earthshock onwards, and I quite like the very latest one, although it is a bit C3POish (not that's a bad thing -it still looks great and I prefer it over the last one which looked like it had flared pants!)
Mr Seta is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 03-04-2014, 13:04
November_Rain
Guest
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 8,506
I think I like the Earthshock ones best. I would like to see a modern take on those at some point in the future.
November_Rain is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-04-2014, 13:18
Mulett
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Essex
Posts: 8,406
I think I like the Earthshock ones best. I would like to see a modern take on those at some point in the future.
Me too. That design perfectly reflected the nature of the Cybermen (half human-half machine). The NuWho Cybermen might just as well be robots, to be honest.
Mulett is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-04-2014, 14:14
doublefour
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 5,748
Have to go for the cybermen design in Earthshock to Silver Nemesis. It's a design that stands the test of time also, the balance between human and machine is the best also. I do like the design from Rise of the Cybermen, more the face than the clunky bodies.
doublefour is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-04-2014, 14:50
adams66
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: uk
Posts: 3,703
Tenth Planet for me.
Considering this was 1966, those designs and the execution of the costumes was phenomenal. I like the bulky chest units, the massive lamp, the still human hands. Something very creepy about them still having human hands.

Even the voices are terrific - OK they don't always work quite right, the voice isn't always quite in synch with the actors, but the idea of it is superb. A mouth opening, synthesised speech, with the stresses and emphasis all wrong to our ears, and at the end the mouth just closes. Brilliant.

I would love to see these updated for the 21st Century - keep the design as it is, but simply update with modern tech and costume ability. Like they did with the Daleks in 2005. Just imagine what these Cybermen could look like today.

Having said that - have you seen this?
http://mattsav-concept.blogspot.co.u...re-design.html
A fantastic blend of classic Cybermen, Tenth Planet Cybs and today's designs. Give this guy of job on Who. Now!
adams66 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-04-2014, 14:55
bp2
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 1,040
The Moonbase design
bp2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-04-2014, 15:05
Mrfipp
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 606
I have to say "Earthshock", which is odd because I felt that Classic Cybermen designs were fairly weak after "The Invasion". I think it's a good balance between being human-like, and being machine-like. It's just a good design that is simply great.

However, I also really like the ones from "The Tenth Planet", and from "Nightmare in Silver", but for the absolute opposite reasons.

I like TTP design because of how human it is, it's cybernetic augmentation gone too far, and there's something a little sad about it. All they are at this point are human corpses hooked up to life support systems.

The NiS design because of how machine it is, there is nothing human left to them. All humanity has been removed, and there's nothing recognizably human left in there, and what little there is has been reduced to data.
Mrfipp is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-04-2014, 16:25
saxy
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 499
Moonbase. Cold and so, so creepy.
saxy is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 03-04-2014, 16:31
Pull2Open
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: The Id
Posts: 12,242
Invasion, classic design
Pull2Open is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-04-2014, 16:50
Virgil Tracy
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 24,017
any chance we could have pics , I can't remember them all .
Virgil Tracy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-04-2014, 16:59
Michael_Eve
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 6,080
The Earthshock Mark IV design is the one I automatically think of, but that's partly an age thing as that story was the first I saw with the Cybermen as a kid. In retrospect, although I do find Mark I strangely effective, especially combined with the sing song voice, I'd go with Mark II. (agree that The Invasion Cybermen look great, but the flarey Seventies version loses them points!)
Michael_Eve is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-04-2014, 17:04
CELT1987
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Scotland
Posts: 10,241
Earthshock Cybermen. Far better then the recent ones.
CELT1987 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-04-2014, 17:06
davrosdodebird
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: The Whoonie Inn
Posts: 7,601
any chance we could have pics , I can't remember them all .
*plugs own video*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZcSW5Cqz3g
davrosdodebird is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 03-04-2014, 17:39
Virgil Tracy
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 24,017
ok I'd go for Wheel in Space , the first one with the teardrop eyes .

all the new-Who designs should be trashed along with the fat Daleks .
Virgil Tracy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-04-2014, 20:37
The_Judge_
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Harrow, Middlesex
Posts: 2,445
Cool vid, loving the song selections!
The_Judge_ is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-04-2014, 23:37
davrosdodebird
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: The Whoonie Inn
Posts: 7,601
Cool vid, loving the song selections!
Thanks Judge!
davrosdodebird is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 04-04-2014, 00:28
performingmonk
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 18,064
How they were in Tomb of the Cybermen is perfect, for me. Earthshock was also alright but their voices...

The current design hardly makes any sense. It's as though they now can't do a proper Cyberman design because they're afraid of it being too scary.
performingmonk is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-04-2014, 01:11
joe_000
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 410
Earthshock. Much creepier where you can still see parts of the human body like the Borg in Star Trek. The nuwho versions are rubbish IMO. Too much robot and not enough human. The production team should see the clues in the name.... Cyber man
joe_000 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-04-2014, 03:07
Tom Tit
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 2,454
Tenth Planet definitely. They were the most human and therefore the most frightening.

I feel they've got progressively worse since then. Each one on the list I feel I like just a little bit less than the previous one.
Tom Tit is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-04-2014, 08:47
johnnysaucepn
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 6,651
I like the most recent revamp, a lot of the elements look like they've been taken much closer to the originals. I just can't get over them moving fast. You don't make them interesting by making them unbeatable. They shouldn't be fundamentally broken. Basically, they should be zombies.
johnnysaucepn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-04-2014, 11:52
allen_who
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 2,049
Me too. That design perfectly reflected the nature of the Cybermen (half human-half machine). The NuWho Cybermen might just as well be robots, to be honest.
OMG I never even realised this before with that is so true Mulett... agree 100%. They are only creepy when you have a sense of humanity in there...
allen_who is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-04-2014, 12:09
Mulett
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Essex
Posts: 8,406
OMG I never even realised this before with that is so true Mulett... agree 100%. They are only creepy when you have a sense of humanity in there...
It was interesting that, back in the 80s, although the return of the Cybermen in Earthshock was considered a big success, there was also a lot of unhappiness among some Who fans that the Cybermen seemed to have emotions (in particular, anger).

But I thought that worked. You can only care so much about a completely emotionless enemy.
Mulett is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-04-2014, 13:35
rwebster
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 1,231
OMG I never even realised this before with that is so true Mulett... agree 100%. They are only creepy when you have a sense of humanity in there...
I think Rise of the Cybermen and Age of Steel had a good balance. You could see the process, and identify that they used to be people. As it is, though, we rarely meet the people they used to be, and rarely see the glimmer of humanity within - whether in their dialogue or their design. It's the point where the two intersect that's harrowing, and they've increasingly drifted away from that. There's the conversion, they use the conversion a lot, but there's rarely the sense that you're effectively being invaded by yourselves.
rwebster is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-04-2014, 15:12
ShootyDogThing
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 1,127
I think Rise of the Cybermen and Age of Steel had a good balance. You could see the process, and identify that they used to be people. As it is, though, we rarely meet the people they used to be, and rarely see the glimmer of humanity within - whether in their dialogue or their design. It's the point where the two intersect that's harrowing, and they've increasingly drifted away from that. There's the conversion, they use the conversion a lot, but there's rarely the sense that you're effectively being invaded by yourselves.
I completely agree with this, and it's why I rank that two-parter so highly. In more recent episodes, they're interchangeable with any other kind of robot; the 'point' of them seems to have been forgotten.
ShootyDogThing is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-04-2014, 15:45
rwebster
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 1,231
I think most episodes do generally invoke the cyber thing at least a little bit. The Next Doctor had them convert their closest ally, Closing Time had cyberconversion at its heart, huge plot point, right at the end, and Nightmare to Remember put most of its cast into walking comas and sent an entire cyberplatoon into the Doctor's skull. They're good at incorporating that stuff - but it's like corruption of living tissue is their special ability, rather than their very essence as it was in Rise of the Cybermen and, to a lesser extent, Army of Ghosts. I think a lot of the most interesting Cyberman stories are yet to be told.

We've not seen them as proper body snatchers, yet. A cyber platoon that maims, rather than kills - and takes its prisoners somewhere abominable.
rwebster is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 23:56.