10 Times Doctor Who Made Obvious Mistakes

While running zombies have become slightly more acceptable in the years following 28 Days Later, the sprinting Cybermen of Neil Gaiman's difficult second Doctor Who episode haven't.

The design is sleek, and therefore feels slightly more like there are cybernetically-augmented human remains housed within. However, the decision to make the Nightmare in Silver Cybermen infinitely adaptable was a step too far. They felt like machines learning how to respond to threats, rather than the cold, logical cyborgs that were first created in 1966.

The horror of the Cybermen is that there's a person inside each one, whose personality and emotions have been stripped away from them. They're augmented by all manner of horrifying Cyber-attachments, and there's a reason for that teardrop design on the eyes.

It's telling that after introducing these comic-book robot warriors, Steven Moffat went on to write two of the most horrific Cybermen stories ever told. Dark Water/Death in Heaven has the Cybermen offer a cure for death itself, while World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls mutilated the Doctor's companion into Cyber-form, and had her remain conscious of her fate after the procedure.

After all the body horror, Gaiman's Cyber-sprinters now feel like a distant, unwanted memory.