Doctor Who: EVERY Version Of The Cybermen Explained

14. Cyber-Scouts (First Appearance: 1985)

Some Neomorph Cybermen operated solely as guards.

Many of these units, designated Cyber Scouts, looked no different to standard Cybermen. This was the case for the Scout that patrolled the rocky terrain of the Death Zone in order to identify the Doctor and the Master.

Likewise, the Cyber Scout that partially-converted prisoners Stratton and Bates took out on Telos (and subsequently used as a disguise) was silver.

However, in other cases, Cyber Scouts were rendered in a different colours, to better match their surroundings.

For instance, the Scouts that the Cybermen deployed in their 1980s sewer lair were all black, which made them difficult to spot in the sewer’s dimly lit tunnels (though paradoxically, they also carried vibrant orange blasters).

The Sixth Doctor successfully managed to disable one of these Scouts by jamming his sonic lance into its chest, but didn’t count on the fact that its built-in tracker would alert the Cybermen of its death (and, therefore, the Doctor’s presence).

A black Cyber Scout also stood guard in the lair’s control room, before joining its fellow Cybermen in apprehending the Doctor’s TARDIS.

Cyber Scouts seem to have subsequently been phased out, though the idea of all-black Cybermen would eventually be revisited.