So where did the Cybermen get their Doctor Info from?

[SiHart]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Cybermen in The Next Doctor are the ones from the alternate universe- Cybusmen, dragged into the void at the end of Doomsday. They've met the Doctor twice- both times, the Tenth Doctor who travelled to their universe and then when they travelled to ours...

So where did they get all their information about the Doctor's past from then? There's no rational reason for them to have it. The clips were great to see, but they cause a bit of a continuity problem that I haven't been able to think a way around.

So has anyone got any theories?

Si xx

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I'd imagine they got the information (and the tubey things themselves) from the Daleks, the same as quite a lot of their other technology.

That leaves the question of what happened to all those millions of Daleks though, and why they didn't fall out of the rift too (unless that was dealt with at the end of the last series and I forgot).

It ALSO leaves the question of where the Cyberking came from, and why they would have a spaceship at all seeing as they are just dimension travellers from another Earth, or how the doctor knows all about such ships of old.

And why they wanted Dervla Kirwan to be their leader.

And what the Cyberdogs were all about.

[WhiteCrow]

I thought there was a line that they actually did steal the info from the Daleks whilst in the void.

Also remember they took over many people from Torchwood One during the battle of Canary Wharf. And have you forgotten that Torchwood was the organisation set up specifically to monitor the Doctor? No doubt they would have "assimilated" some information.

[Pip Madeley]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Cybermen in The Next Doctor are the ones from the alternate universe- Cybusmen, dragged into the void at the end of Doomsday. They've met the Doctor twice- both times, the Tenth Doctor who travelled to their universe and then when they travelled to ours...

So where did they get all their information about the Doctor's past from then? There's no rational reason for them to have it. The clips were great to see, but they cause a bit of a continuity problem that I haven't been able to think a way around.

So has anyone got any theories?

Si xx

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=xpF_EIiokEw

5:57 in.

[shada pavlova]

And those millions of Daleks will probably resurface during 2010.

[Captain Tancredi]

The fact that the infostamps plug into the Cybermen's chests suggests that they're Cyber-technology.

They're still a fairly hamfisted way of justifying the flashback sequence, though.

[SiHart]

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=xpF_EIiokEw

5:57 in.

Thanks. I missed that when I was watching on Christmas Day.

Si xx

[WhiteCrow]

The fact that the infostamps plug into the Cybermen's chests suggests that they're Cyber-technology.

C'mon it's data from the Daleks on a system compatable with Cybermen. Just means the Cybermen are guilty of illegal file sharing is all.

And in any case even if it is Dalek technology - do you remember from Rise of the Cybermen how John Lumic had created a system to allow different technologies to interface together - which was their eventual undoing as it allowed a Nokia from Earth A to turn off the emotion chips on all the Cybermen of Earth 1.

[Rob McCow]

Pip - I can't be bothered to click on the You Tube link, can you please tell me what is said? Ta mate!

[WhiteCrow]

What I said!

[shada pavlova]

John Lumic had created a system to allow different technologies to interface together

I think he subconsciously designed himself to be compatible with daleks. Look.



Eh? Eh? Eh?

[Dave Lewis]

I think he subconsciously designed himself to be compatible with daleks. Look.



Eh? Eh? Eh?

I have an image of Michael Wisher giving Roger Lloyd-Pack a vigorous seeing to.

"I shall wipe the man-milk from the face of my duvet..."

[Jason Thompson]

The info-stamps are a weird one. If they're Dalek technology they're not very conveniently built for a Dalek to handle, even given the new versatility shown by the 'sink plunger' hand in the new series. As for being compatible with Cybermen, I suspect the Cybermen would be capable of reverse engineering one or two and then modifying themselves with a suitable information port. No indication is given how many Cybermen fell from the void, what time period they arrived in, or how long has elapsed for them between arriving and travelling to Victorian London. (as an aside, no mention is made if the Cybermen we see here are all that fell from the void, so there could now be a time-travel capable race of Cybermen flitting around our universe, ready to appear in future episodes. Convenient, that...).

One thing does worry me, though. These are supposedly simple memory devices. Basically a USB memory stick for an alien. They should really think more about the design, since damaging them not only corrupts the data but sends out a deadly energy beam or damages whatever plugs it in! This is the same kind of design as the consoles in Star Trek, all of which routinely blow up in a shower of sparks, killing or injuring (usually by flinging them backwards over a nearby railing) the pour soul standing at that workstation. Step down the power requirements, guys!

[Paul Hayes]

I don't think it's much of a stretch that the information was stolen from the Daleks, but the info-stamps themselves belong to the Cybermen. I have songs by The Beatles on my computer, but the Fab Four didn't build the thing.

[Llordllama]

Easy answer: Woolworths, along with all the shop fittings to build CyberKing 2.0!

[WhiteCrow]

This is the same kind of design as the consoles in Star Trek, all of which routinely blow up in a shower of sparks, killing or injuring (usually by flinging them backwards over a nearby railing) the pour soul standing at that workstation. Step down the power requirements, guys!

The problem is Star Trek Next Generation is based in the 24th Century. But the Sun got Health and Safety outlawed by the 22nd Century. Hence the Enterprise was built by a bunch of cowboys, hence why the consoles kept exploding killing people (they were the most explosive thing on the ship), also why the holodeck kept threatening to kill people, and the reactor was always threatening to overload and kill everyone on the ship.

[FlyingBeastie]

i hate the new series cybermen. simple as that.

and i love the cybermen! i wish they'd bring the old ones back- story and design. i hate the new ones with their cheesy "delete" catchphrase...excuse me, i need to

[Mike Saville]

Don't mind them, but I'd like to see non Lumic ones appear too- although I know that's really unlikely because it'd confuse the viewers, and they've spent shitloads of money on the current ones so they'll want to maximise usage of them.

As for the data devices, I saw no real conflict. We live in an era that can share info between seemingly incompatible devices, and through a million and one connectors- both real and virtual- so it's not beyond the wit of a race that can completely replace a human being with an alternate cybernetic structure to develop a file converter.