Series 2 (2006)
Episode title: Rise of the CybermenFeaturing: Tenth Doctor
Companions: Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith
First shown: 13th May 2006
Related articles: Cybermen, Pete Tyler
Guide: In a laboratory, Dr. Kendrick examines a humanoid metal form in front, declaring that “It’s alive” while his wheelchair-bound boss, John Lumic, is proud with their achievements. Dr. Kendrick advises Lumic that they will have to tell Geneva about their creations, as it is a new form of life, but Lumic orders the machine to kill Kendrick before telling his staff to prepare to sail for Great Britain. Onboard the TARDIS in flight, the Doctor and Rose recount past adventures, leaving Mickey to feel like the “tin dog” when the TARDIS is rocked by an explosion and goes dark. The Doctor reckons that they’ve fallen out of the Time Vortex and landed somewhere, so they take a look outside to find out where. At first they assume they’ve landed in London, until they notice the zeppelins flying in the sky, to which the Doctor realises that they’ve landed in a parallel universe’s London. Retrieving an Arton power cell from the TARDIS, the Doctor begins to recharge it by blowing some of his life force onto it, but it will need 24 hours to recharge fully so he reluctantly allows his companions to explore the parallel universe.
Mickey goes off to find his grandmother, while Rose goes somewhere else with the Doctor following, warning her against trying to find Pete Tyler, who is alive in this universe. On their exploration, they discover that most of London wears EarPods that feed news and updates direct to the wearer’s brain, which concerns the Doctor. Using Rose’s superphone to locate the origin of the broadcasts, the Doctor decides they need to go to Pete Tyler’s estate. Meanwhile, homeless people are rounded up by Cybus Industries, secretly being filmed by Jake, a member of the Preachers, where they’re taken to be upgraded at the Cybus factory in Battersea Power Station. Lumic has a meeting with Pete Tyler and the President of Great Britain to discuss his advances in science, but the President isn’t happy with what Lumic is doing and orders him to stop. Using Jackie Tyler’s EarPods, Lumic searches through the house arrangements for her birthday party later that night that he knows the President will attend. Meanwhile, Mickey finds his grandmother, who died in his universe, before being abducted by Jake and Mrs. Moore, who take him to the Preachers base where he meets his double from this parallel universe, Rickey.
Mickey learns that the Preachers, consisting of Rickey, Jake and Mrs. Moore, are the resistance against Cybus Industries, secretly filming their abductions of homeless people with the help of an inside agent. They receive information that a new batch of upgrades is leaving the Cybus factories and they go to investigate. Meanwhile, disguised as catering staff, the Doctor and Rose infiltrate Jackie’s birthday party where they try to learn more about the Cybus EarPods. However, before they can discover anything useful, Lumic’s creations arrive to force the guests into upgrading themselves to become better. The Doctor recognises the creations as Cybermen, who came from Earth’s twin planet, Mondas, in his universe, instead of being created in this way. The Cybermen kill the President for refusing to allow Lumic to do what he wanted, before surrounding the rest of the party guests, preparing to force them into upgrading. The Doctor, Rose and Pete escape outside, but find the entire estate surrounded by Cybermen, as Mickey and the Preachers arrive, having followed the truck of upgrades to the estate. Rickey and Jake open fire on the Cybermen, but find their guns are ineffective on them, so the Doctor surrenders, offering himself willingly to the upgrade but the Cybermen refuse, stating that they are “rogue elements” and are subject to “perish under maximum deletion.” The Cybermen march forward on the Doctor, Rose and Pete and the episode ends on this cliff-hanger. This episode is the first of a two part story. Read the episode guide for the second episode here.