Doctor Who Series 12: Ten Huge Questions After The Haunting Of Villa Diodati

8. Is There A Link Between The Cybermen and Frankenstein's Monster?

Frankenstein’s monster was once used as a metaphor for the Doctor’s regeneration (The 1996 TV Movie), and some of the horror elements of the story inspired the fourth Doctor story The Brain of Morbius, where the scientist, Solon, tries to construct a new body for the Time Lord, Morbius, using parts of various species. There has never been an explicit link made to the Cybermen before.

But have we come full circle with the fiction that an encounter with the lone Cybermen inspired Mary Godwin to write The Modern Prometheus? The Cybermen were created by Kit Pedler, whose involvement with Doctor Who began as an unofficial scientific adviser in the mid-1960s. Pedler was interested in exploring the devastating effects of science gone wrong and the Cybermen were one example.

Shelley’s Frankenstein is told from the perspective of its flawed hero, after the events. The scientist looks back at his creation with fear, sadness and regret. His efforts backfire. Not only does he feel responsible for his creature’s pain and ugliness, he ends up destroying the companion he was making for him. Similarly, Pedler saw in the Cybermen a vision of what humanity might become if we overreach ourselves and try to control life and death.

The key difference between Frankenstein’s monster and the Cybermen is that the latter lack emotions. There is no scientist left to regret their creation. They march on relentless to a future that is far bleaker than the one Shelley imagined. Mary refuses to believe that the lone Cyberman lacks heart and ends up writing Frankenstein as the creature she thought Ashad was.