Big Finish Doctor Who/Recap/034 Spare Parts

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


An origin story for the Cybermen of Mondas, written by Marc Platt. It was an inspiration of sorts for the Doctor Who episodes "Rise of the Cybermen" / "The Age of Steel" (on which Marc Platt got a story credit): one of the story's most powerful scenes (the Doctor speaks to a partially-converted Cyberwoman who does not understand what's been done to her) is drawn from this audio.

Tropes:

  • Catch Phrase: The phrase "We. Will. Survive." is used repeatedly by the Cybermen in general, particularly the Central Commitee and their Dragon, "Zheng". It manages to sum up the whole species' character and drive pretty effectively.
  • Foregone Conclusion: Invoked, as the Doctor spends much of the story wrestling with the conflict between established history (ie. Cybermen) and his own decent nature that's imploring him to help the Mondasians.
  • Grandfather Clause: This being an origin story, some aspects of the concept are explored and played in different ways, for example the name is explained by the fact that Mondas often affixes 'man' to the end of a job title, e.g. doctorman, sisterman, electriman.
  • High Octane Nightmare Fuel: Certainly the Body Horror nature of the transformations, and the creepy apocalyptic nature of the society.
    • This drama takes the Cybermen, who had ended up with serious Flanderization, and makes them terrifying again.
    • The Doctor's description of the Central Commitee as a sort of biomechanical Hydra of withered bodies and intertwined mechanical parts is damn near the creepiest idea for a Hive Mind ever.
  • Mechanical Horse: With shades of Hellish Horse. Brrr.
  • Mind Probe: The Doctor.
  • Strapped to An Operating Table: The Doctor.
  • Tear Jerker: Yvonne's fate is certainly deeply upsetting.
  • What Do You Mean It's Not Political?: It's well known that Terry Nation modeled the Daleks after the Nazis, not so well-known that Kit Pedler modeled the Cybermen after the Soviets. Spare Parts takes this allegory and runs with it, with a completely state-run world where a shadowy "committee" delegates allocation of resources with ruthless efficiency.
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