"Hail to you, the Doctor; Saviour of the Cybermen!" We're nearing the end of CyberCember and this 'Nightmare in Silver' review is the calm before the storm. Be sure to keep the momentum going by hitting that "like" button and leaving any comment down below to appease the almighty algorithm!

Still think it's a shame Gaiman hasn't attempted another episode, I think The Doctor's Wife plus his general reputation should offer him a few more chances.

Cybus Industries: Hey Mr Stark, Can we borrow your homework? Stark Industries: Sure, just try not to make it look obvious.....

When you suggested Home Alone traps but with Cybermen instead of burglars. Wow. That's an episode I'd love to see!

I’m just waiting for your huge rant about Dark Water/Death in Heaven tomorrow.

In the abstract, I get why Gaiman made the Cybermen hyper--adaptable. You can see how that would make them more threatening, from a dramatic standpoint. However, doesn't this also kinda destroy the Cybermen as cautionary allegory since, in away, their methods are proven right? Like yeah, they sacrificed their humanity, but now, they are borderline gods.

Series 7 has possibly the worst Dalek and Cyberman story of the modern show. I know some people like series 7 but, imo, it’s such a weak set of stories. Especially for an anniversary series.

I've heard that once Gaiman completed the script and handed it in, someone (most likely Moffat) had radically edited his script.

The problem with this story is the Cybermen. They don't feel like Cybermen. One thing I will give the Cybus-Men was that they gave off the production line factory aesthetic, the industrial assembly type thing. This just look like action figure toy robots. Hell, they feel more like Daleks. That's an ironic thing in Series 7, the Dalek story feels more like a Cybermen story, and the Cybermen story feels more like a Cybermen story. Also their upgrading is basically just the Borg without impact. With the Borg, you could take a few down before they upgrade. With these guys you can't take any of them down.

Dave from 1st Grade, who MrTARDIS met only once, but Dave cherishes the memory forever: "Aw man."

This review is so well made I could easily watch it twice in one go and laugh at the jokes and find the observations interesting. It was also nice to see a bit more of a balanced argument against this episode. I either see extreme hate for this story or arrogant love from people who say: you just don’t get it. Great to see a reasonable and level headed argument. One of your best Mr T.

I like to imagine that every time the Cybermen upgrade themselves, they just give the middle finger as they go “Upgrade In Progress!”

I’d love to see Gaiman’s earlier script; would probably make a good stand-alone book free of the constrains of budget, time, and having to work with elements from the rest of series (the kids)

Tbh the bit where the doctor confronts the cyberplanner, it looks like they’re in an epic rap battles of history video

Nightmare in Silver: the story adapted to screen so badly and changed so heavily from its original script that Neil Gaiman literally presented it as his reason for being showrunner on Good Omens.

Fun Fact: The chess playing Cyberman and the two in the museum were in one draft supposed to be Invasion/Revenge Cybermen (as that makes sense continuity wise as they fought in the cyberwars) but they used the existing cybus men for budgetary reasons

Nightmare in Tinfoil, AKA The Strange Case of Dr. Who and Mr. Clever

Imagine a doctor who episode where the companion gets only partially converted, and the episode deals with the coping aspect of the Cybermen. Just think about how depressing it could be

I beat you by Infinity plus one. Man, Cyber-Steve has some real sass.

This episode on paper had the potential to be a masterpiece. The Cybermen are back, redesigned in a script written by Neil Gaiman titled Nightmare in Silver, hinting that the Cybermen could be scary again like in the classics. This should have been a 10/10 but it ended up being a 4 or 5. Disappointing. Not to mention the individual poster for this episode looked amazing. What a waste. Matt Smith was fantastic as the Cyber Planner, he deserved a better episode

7:50 Standard writing wisdom is make your villains stronger then your heroes. That's good. However, I think Nightmare proves you can make your villain too strong and throw the story out of balance. Never mind the issue with unclear rules on how they work - it basically renders the agency and choices of the main characters irrelevant, since the villains can only be taken down by a deus ex-machina that the rest of the story doesn't build up to.

"THEY'RE HERE!!!" This episode had so much potential that could have been explored had it been a two parter.

Nightmare In Silvers ending reminds me of how the episode Cold War ended where the threat is beaten by Teleportation

7:50 On paper I like the idea of the instant upgrading, it's like how the Borg in Star Trek adapt to whatever you shoot them with so they eventually become unstoppable. (Heck, they've actually got the equivalent of Borg nanoprobes in this story too with the Cybermites) In execution, however, it is indeed pretty silly.

Gaiman actually pitched this story as a two-parter and it really shows in how fast the writing is

Personally i love the hyper adaptability. It's the super speed I take issue with. It basically removes any tension from chase scenes. They show in the episode that anything that kills them quickly can't be adapted to. That why when the guy hits the Cybermen on the shoulder with the big gun it can adapt. Same with the bomb. A Cyberman would need to survive it to adapt to it. Since it obliterates everything it can't. That said it definitely shouldn't be a mainstay of their kit. It's only really good for a one off like this.

And remember that if this episode was done as two parts he would expain that this Cybermen are half Mondasian and Alternative Universe combine together, but this Iron Man Cybermen still is not a interesting design to me compare to most other designs of the Cybermen and also Matt Smith play the Cyber Planner well but why is he nearly identical to the ways of the Doctor at least to me he should be a different character.

Although I had issues with the sister, who was extremely whiny (I can’t even remember her name, and I’m sure you mentioned it in your review), Artie on the other hand was not whiny at all in this episode. I have never understood the hate for him. I guess it’s a case of guilt by association because of his sister?

So, they turned Cybermen into The Borg in plastic Iron Man costumes. Ouch.

I've always sorta enjoyed this one It's my guilty pleasure

I'm torn Mr. Clever - on the one hand, Matt Smith gives an 11/10 performances as he always does, even on a bad day. But on the other... bit emotional for a Cyber-Planner, ain't he? Also, I've been looking forward to an actual video dedicated to Death in Heaven from you for 6 years! Worth the wait! :D

The very last line in this episode (Matt Smith's pervy monologue in the TARDIS after Clara leaves) tarnishes it as much or more as the kids do

I love how this was uploaded on the same day as Asylum of the Daleks last year. Both came from Series 7, each of them featured the most iconic monster in the whole show and both are regarded as probably the worst of that series.

13:13 Umm, where? I have never seen anyone say that Matt Smith's proformance as Mr clever was crap at all. Seriously, where?

One thing that bugs me about the Moffat era cybermen is their voices. They sound too similar to daleks just with very deep pitch voice. Also I'm looking forward to hearing you tear apart Dark Water and Death in heaven tomorrow. Been looking forward to that all month

This episode has a lot of stuff I like - Matt Smith giving one of his best performances, Cybermen as the main antagonist with no added villains to undermine them, Neil Gaiman's weird names and settings and Warwick Davis. It doesn't work, I know it doesn't, but I do enjoy it as a *massive* guilty pleasure. The potential is there for a masterpiece, but it was not to be, and it's probably Gaiman's weakest work, but I can't help but like it. It's probably too intense to be the "breather" before the "of the Doctor" trilogy (that's The Crimson Horror) but it DOES work as one last standalone to showcase Smith's prowess as an actor and stands as, to date, the last standalone Cyberman story. We've got some loaded finales coming up of wildly varying quality so I do appreciate Nightmare in hindsight for its escapism.

This episode feels like it was written to be a two parter but they just smooshed the two half together and halved the budget Nightmare in silver has the bones of a fantastic Cyberman episode if it had maybe 2 more dafts

Finally, a modern cyber model I liked! The heads R closer to the classic pre Invasion Troughton models, the bodies R sleeker but still clunky, the voices R even a callback!

Great video as always! Also, I’m very much here for the PhilosophyTube references

The cybermens offensive abilities aren’t what make them so scary, it’s that they are us, that they are just regular people in these metal shells and to a good extent the body horror. That’s the biggest issue with this episode, you could really replace them here with any generic robot threat because other than the planner scenes with 11 it’s not shown that the people inside the suits were once people, something with Rise of the Cybermen got right in the past and that World Enough and Time will get right.

I've never realized it before, but the Cybermen in the revived series are just all over the place. Sure the Daleks had a couple bad episodes, but at least there were some really good ones as well. And going to Nightmare in Silver, maybe it's just a victim of Series 7B? That whole chunk of the series seemed to be plagued with issues, I don't recall there being a stand out episode of the bunch.

Next time on Cybercember: The Doctor Who/Black Mirror Crossover Extravaganza

You voiced my exact problems with the Cybermen upgrades in this episode, the electrified moat scene in particular. It's too powerful a concept which means only a deus ex machina can stop them. Like an army of hundreds can't even lose 1 Cyberman to gain an upgrade for the rest? How do they upgrade any way? They just say "Upgrade" and now they're invincible with no visual changes to indicate a difference? Aren't Cybermen imperfect beings cobbled together anyways? They can move at superspeed, like The Flash, which is the superhero that ruins the threat of any story he's associated with? It's a simple fix: have a few hundred advanced Cybermen. Every time a few are killed, have the rest have to retreat or stall and develop an actual upgrade and visually demonstrate that. The Cybermen are slowly being thinned out, but are becoming more effective, and through that keep advancing. Here's the twist, as they stack all these upgrades, they expose some new fatal weakness that allows the Doctor to cleverly defeat them in one move. Perhaps, their varied and numerous upgrades are so energy-intensive that to utilize them, they must offload some of their workload to their Cyber-Planner, overloads that, so the Doctor can take advantage and take control of the network. It doesn't have to be my specific idea that I threw together, but the Cybermen need to have some cost to their rising power or it's unfair. This reminds me of the South Park episode "Fun Time with Weapons" where Cartman keeps making up powers when playing make-believe and it's rightfully called out as cheating because he has no weaknesses or flaws and has unlimited powers and is creatively bankrupt. That's what this story is. It's a child playing make-believe with their friends, pretending to fire guns, and a brat claiming they have a forcefield to invalidate being shot, and then claiming to be invisible and then claiming they can shoot 2 bullets at once in 2 different directions, and they're heatseeking and they also go through walls, and they have unlimited ammo.

Next year we need a mastercember

I’m somewhat mixed on this story. I can see what Neil Gaiman was doing, but In execution it’s not great. Probably a 4 or 5/10

As an aside, the round faces on the new cybermen were inspired in part by what the designer saw as a failure of the Cybus versions: they're not human *enough*. Specifically the eye/ mouth placement being so far from human proportions that something of the cybermen's prior humanity is lost. So moving the eyes and mouth into a more human position was step one so the rounded features must play into this as well.

Alternate title for this show: The Cybermen become The Borg.

The Mr Clever stuff is good until we get "THEY'RE HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE" like that was a bit of overacting

The "upgrade in progress" aspect is a neay concept, but it could have worked if it was made into a type of trial and error. That making it so not everything on the table of becoming immune against.

The staging of Doctor and Cyber Planner is exactly the same staging from the musical "Jekyll and Hyde," right down to the jerky movement. He could have sung the whole thing.

Excellent review as always, but I would now like to invite anyone who wants to to be script Doctor with me and suggest ways this episode could have been made better- whilst keeping the fundamental building blocks the same. Two immediate ways I can think would be to give the Cyberplanner an actual personality other than grumpy, panto 11th Doctor. Like, start the episode with him being cold and almost awkward in this new organic body and have him slowly learn to throughout the episode how to lie and deceive convincingly. Another would be have Angie and Artie do something. Either have them be semi-converted and use this as a way to trigger some Doctor-Clara conflict that gets resolved by episode-end(something series 7 seriously lacks) or have them join Clara’s military dropout squad and through this build Clara and the kids’s bond.

I actually really like the designs here. They feel like a natural evolution to the Cybermen.

This will sound out-of-left-field, but hear me out. I convinced my family this past weekend to play CLUE, but my brother-in-law only had the DW-themed version (which is very heavily biased toward 2013). One of the weapons was termed "Clara Cyberman Gun," and I had zero idea where that came from, since my initial assumption was that it had something to do with Death In Heaven, but I couldn't remember anything like that happening in it. After a while thinking about it, I recalled that there was a Cyberman story in 2013, but that I'd had so little interest in it that I haven't watched it in 8 years. So naturally I came back to your video to confirm whether this was the source, and BOOM! There it is at 4:39. So thank you for your help in such an incredibly niche quest for knowledge.

This is a little theory, but I think the instant upgrade of the Cybermen in the electrified moat and lived might have some bit to do with the collective number of Cybermen present. We know by this point the Cybermen are sorta interconnected in their little network. And since there's an entire army of Cybermen witnessing the one being electrocuted, they're collectively fast enough to develop an upgrade.

"Dark Water" is controversial? I missed that.

Oh thank God I’m not the only one who thought these Cybermen looked like Funko Pops. I think if they’d left the helmets more similar to the Pete’s world ones they would be more visually frightening.

finally someone agrees that this doctor doesn't have a romantic bone in his body, i'e been saying this for years, the 11th doctor's relationship to romance is curios at best, participater and most, he never annunciates any romance and even if he did, he just usualy is not even aware of asnything like this happening

15:38 - I'm surprised you didn't use that 'What Can I Say But Yikes!' clip during the 'Closing Time' review. There was a joke in that episode (written by Gareth Roberts) where Craig asks the shop assistant "talk about to me about ladieswear." and I was expecting you to use that clip then. (Side Note: Thanks for getting me into the Philosophy Tube Steve Bannon video. I watched the video just for that clip alone and it's become something of a mantra.)

Hot take, this is my favorite Cyberman story. It's deeply flawed, but it just has so many creative ideas that I love that I can't help but think it's incredible.

Even Neil Gaiman can get it wrong sometimes... what a lot of people think. I sure am early!

would you cover the haunting of the Villa diodati. as i liked what they did with the lone cyberman.

Honestly, I had forgotten most of this story. The only thing I had remembered was the Cyber Planner and I liked it. Maybe I'll revisit it just to see what I think.

See I had an idea from this episode, from the chess scene where the Cyber Planner deactivates the Cybermen, pulling all their resources into the chess problem: What if the Cyberiad works like any other network, where it's more widely stretched when more Cyber units are active? So while fewer Cybermen are active, the more processing power they have to more quickly adapt to weaknesses, or use things like the speedboost ability? I honestly feel like this would make for an interesting balancing act for modern cybermen, where the more units are using the network, the weaker each individual unit and vice versa. This could also be affected by having multiple cyber planners/ cyber controllers acting as additional processing power. I see modern Cybermen keeping most of the abilities from Nightmare in Silver and the flight from Dark Waters, but not the whole converting the dead thing, as that goes against the whole point of the Cybermen and makes them considerably more overpowered. And the whole converting dead timelords and A somehow still being able to regenerate and B not burning away their bodies is so stupid I won't even touch that concept. But basically, I see Cybermen in general being somewhat weaker than they were in this episode, as this is what they were capable of with just less than half the Doctor's brain, but still a threat that becomes more severe the more processing power they have available, either through fewer active Cybermen, or more Cyber planners/ Cyber Controllers.

It's interesting that the borg rip off the cybermen then the cybermen rip off the Borg

Hi- took me a while to find your comments section. Of Moffatt's era probably world enough and time is the cybermen's most redeeming story.

So the Cybermen where essentially the borg from Star Trek

If you do end up deciding to do a Mastercember next year, hit me up, I'll send you the War Master stories and whatever Missy boxsets I have then, basically I'm just buying as many Master stories as possible, so I can probably get you most of them come next year.

Was Nightmare In Silver Neil Gaiman's fault? I heard he was pressured for time and the episode was originally supposed to be a two parter and the kids weren't meant to be in it?

wish this was a multi-parter as originally intended

Oh dear. This is gonna get bumpy.

The Cybermen went full on Borg in this episode. The instant upgrading wasn't good when the Borg did it. It wasn't good when the Cybermen did it.

This is genuinely the one episode of DW I do not like, because the cybermen are not scary, they're just robots that feel literally empty as apposed to people put into suits

This episodes grew on me over the years, I think it’s mainly Matt smiths performance that sells it for me

I like this Cybermen design

Controversial opinion. I vastly prefer this look for the Cybermen over the Cybus industries look

I think they should have had the cyber dr have a cybermanish voice to help tell then apart. Matt Smith didn't really cut it as a cyberman. I'm not sure who was mire a cyberman him or Christopher Robbie

I have a love-hate relationship with these Cybermen. I kinda like the design, the concept, the voice, the marching, the sfx, everything. But they're not Cybermen. It's just a robot. If this story were just a random new robot villain they it probably would've been great. The CyberWarriors from Series 12 are exactly how these Cybermen should have been like. They're clearly more threatening and upgraded, but they still look metal. You can say to me "That's a guy in under that suit" with the CyberWarriors and I'd agree. Even though these Cybermen DO have men under the suit, they're not written like they are. Death in Heaven shows that a human is still under that suit, yet here they're removing their heads like it's no issue. The one thing I hate the most is that these Cybermen can just be deactivated. In Series 2, they required cold storage to keep them deactivated, presumably to maintain the organics within. In Series 12, they needed those special chambers to remain deactivated. In this episode, the CyberPlanner just switches them off like it was nothing. The Cybermen do still have at least a little bit of individuality, but here they're just extensions of the CyberPlanner. I will say, the episode sounds really good. The shot of the Cybermen walking into the castle, the marching and whirring of their legs, The awesome music. There are two ways to do the Cybermen. Individual, borderline humans or marching faceless robots. Series 10 is the perfect example of how to do the human aspect, and Series 12 is the perfect example of the robotic army. To improve this episode, I'd make sure that these aren't Cybermen. They can be literally anything else, just not Cybermen. This would fix the vast majority of my problems with this episode. Secondly, this isn't a punishment platoon. This would be the emperor's personal guard investigating a potential sighting of the emperor. This doesn't change the narrative because the captain recognizes him regardless, so you might as well make them skilled

I’m so glad I’m not the only one who likes Mr Clever

I think Cold War Clara is my favourite Clara. I really like that story, it's my favorite of Series 7.

It seems like Gaiman thought he was writing a borg storyline for star trek.

thinking about it they can now overcome the daleks

Basically agree. Mat Smith is superb tho. I never did grasp the abandoned theme park set. It just didn't make any use of it and didn't look like a theme park. U said it best with death by a 1000 cuts.

Nightmare in Silver was one of my favorite episodes of Series 7 when it came out. Looking back... yeah, it might be (to me) to the Cybermen what Asylum of the Daleks was for the Daleks. A good concept for a story with the Doctor and his relationship to the antagonists being the best thing about the episode, but also riddled with plot holes and other problems that drag it down. It's not my least favourite thing in the world, but like eith Asylum, there are better stories with this Doctor and this villain.

Thanks mr tardis!

i love nightmare in silver great video

Ahhhh yes speed force cybermen. This episode could have been so much better.

If you ask me, the previous TV designs where a bit better. "Sterner" looking, if you get what I'm saying.

Ok, the idea of this story could have worked and I like it. Also, why do people hate the new designs? Im not talking about the Cybermen abilities but how they look. They're sleek, modern, and have chilling voices. Also I came up with this idea for the 60th anniversary special: The Cybermen get ahold of Dalek technology and try to use it to summon the Cybermen from Nightmare un silver. But it goes wrong and they summon all past versions of themselves and the doctor has to fight all of them.

I got to say I do like this Cyberman design a little more than the previous one (tho that one's not bad either). They just look sleek. Regarding the "tight skirt" line I think it's worth mentioning that the Doctor does slap himself a little bit after the clip you showed so the Doc is aware it's not exactly a great line of thinking. And you can even interpret this as some residual influence of the Planner if you want to. And I think you missed that the flirting with Clara in that episode was when the Planner was in control trying to deceive Clara as later in the episode after he's snapped out of it we get: DOCTOR: Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Yes! It's me. That really hurt. How did you know that was him? CLARA: Because even if that was true, which it is obviously not, I know you well enough to know that you would rather die than say it. Finish your stupid game. and CLARA: Do you think I'm pretty? DOCTOR: No. You're too short and bossy, and your nose is all funny. (Thanks chakoteya.net) There's certainly room for thinking he has some sexual thoughts but in general he's trying to downplay that aspect of himself. I think it kind of gives him a little more dimension that he has these feelings and desires but he's keeping them restrained (which actually kind of sets up the Twelfth Doctor's relationship with her if you think about it). As for Clara I can kind of justify her being a bit more assertive in this one because the kids are in danger and she's going all in to try and get through this situation to protect them. Regarding the Porridge reveal I kind of view Angie's whole bit about it being "obvious" more being a reflection of her personality than the story itself trying to condescend to the audience (tho they could have maybe played up the clues better than they did). I also think Porridge being the Emperor does add a bit if we consider him a parallel to the Doctor, the kind of person that you wouldn't expect to hold a notable title and is a little silly but holds the weight of having had to destroy a planet. Given that we're gonna encounter the War Doctor in the next episode it's kind of a nice way to remind us of that part of the Doctor's history/character through comparison prior to really examining the whole destruction of Gallifrey deal.

How best to describe the kids: Wesely Crusher times 2 ( if you dont know what im talking about go watch some Star Trek the next generation)

I don’t blame Neil gaiman for any of the faults to me it’s all filming problems, like in the script the wax figure and coin were probaly set up the re writes and filming hirt this episode bad

I love the nightmare in silver because It has got an actor from Harry potter in it

Why is Mr Clever (damn that's cringe inducing) who is essentially a Cyberman camp and flamboyant.

Fun fact: Watkins almost got the job as the doctor, but Peter Capaldi beat them to it.

This is the review I've been looking forward to the most this whole CyberCember, this story had so much wasted potential

Gaiman would be my first choice for the next showrunner

Even Neil Gaiman can get it wrong sometimes? I gathered that when he broke lockdown and travelled from New Zealand to Skye at the height of the pandemic.

Here's hoping Neil Gaiman returns to Doctor Who soon for a return to form.

I will say I was disappointed with the CGI Cyber Mites.

A well intentioned mess definitely sums it up.