Genesis of the Cybermen

"There are such things as miracles."

Writer: Gerry Davis (Adapted by David K Barnes)

Format: Audio

Released: March 2025

Series: Lost Stories 9.01

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan

Synopsis

A King lies dying in his castle. His eldest son Prince Sylvan is an artist with no desire to inherit a kingdom, while Prince Dega toils in his laboratory, dedicated to saving their dying people from extinction. They will all burn unless he succeeds. 

When the TARDIS arrives, its crew believe the can help. But this planet is Mondas. And this is the Genesis of the Cybermen...

Verdict

Genesis of the Cybermen was a really strong Lost Story! It's a shame that this one never made it to screen because I think it would have worked even better in the television format than it came across on audio. Whilst being strong as my rating reflects, I think this release is possibly slightly hampered by Spare Parts and that story having iconic status in kind of showcasing the same events from a slightly different perspective. Of course, The Doctor Falls establishes that parallel evolution takes place with many origins of the Cybermen but two different stories on Mondas means to me that this is firmly a lost story and not really a part of established continuity. It's a shame that this wasn't even considered for production back during the Fifth Doctor era because I think it would have worked. I'd be so fascinated to see what a 1980s take on the design of the Cybermen from The Tenth Planet would have been like. That first glimpse of them in World Enough and Time is incredible so I'd love a Classic version. I think this is a wonderfully strong idea to have a prequel to the original Cyberman story and show just how Mondas came to be where it was and what was happening. It was a little difficult to kind of retcon that this was the first encounter of the Cybermen for all of the companions and that might be down to the huge impact that Earthshock has with Adric dying. The original tale being written for the Fifth Doctor and a generic female companion makes me think it might have been better to go with Peri as the companion later in the timeline, but it's no bad thing to include more companions! There was the ability to play around as well when it came to Adric's involvement in the calculations that would set the power loop for Mondas and draw the energy from the planet. Adric getting to complete those calculations was a nice touch knowing what became of his character. I thought Nyssa had a really strong story and the suggestion of her being deeply involved in the origins of the Cybermen was tremendous. She felt so guilty by her scientific aid in the story which was understandable despite the Doctor's reassurances that he had already seen the fallout from these events and encountered the Cybermen numerous times. They always came back. They were inevitable. I thought the exploration of Mondasian society was intriguing and in part one the planet was just known as the world! It was intriguing and despite being technologically more advanced than humanity, or at least being at a further point forward, they didn't seem to have much of an expanded horizon. The TARDIS arriving in the middle of a show was quite fun and I like that it was an unexpected one with the later explanation of the planet's orbit shifting meaning it shouldn't have been in the time and space machine's path. I was a little surprised by the royal focus with Prince Sylvan being the one advocating for replacement parts and being so consumed by his reputation in the future that he forced himself upon the TARDIS. That was brilliant because then he'd vanished from his own planet for thirty years before returning to see that Dega was King now. King of the Cybermen. His position as Controller was fantastic and I like that designation being used. It was also superb continuity to have one of the Cybermen be Krail. Hearing the Cybermen still with emotion before they were complete was eerily stuff and just having one say thank you was uncomfortable. They were still very much in development. With this being a prequel. the build to reach them setting off for Earth in 1986 was an easy way to finish things as history took its course. Overall, this was a really enjoyable Lost Story that I would love to have seen on screen, but in audio it felt like it's been done before slightly which takes some of the shine off. 

Rating: 8/10