4. The Tenth Planet (1966)
The first appearance of the Cybermen has long been the subject of excitement amongst fans given that the only surviving moment of the final episode is the series first regeneration of William Hartnell into Patrick Troughton. The bulk of the episode leading to this moment, however, remains lost, but a recent DVD release animated the missing episodes allowing new viewers to enjoy the story more or less as intended. These early Cybermen hail from Earths twin planet, Mondas, which makes a reappearance in the solar system for this story, bringing back its inhabitants who have replaced many of their body parts with machines. The Cybermen in this story have, unusually, individual names, such as Krang and Jarl, and still appear to have human hands. Their skin-tight costumes and bulky respirator units appear strange and utterly alien. The stretched material over the actors face is more dehumanising even with the later bulky masks. In black and white, they are utterly chilling and their sing-song voices are much more intimidating than the deep, sonorous tones that would seep into the 80s Cybermen. In fact, the revived Doctor Who Who series would veer closer to these original Cyber voices, showing just how chilling their original iteration of really were. Never mind the much vaunted regeneration sequence, its the Mondasian monsters who are the real stars of the Tenth Planet.