Day 172: The Tomb of the Cybermen Episode 3

The Cybermen are now back to their roots, after their Moonbase interlude where they just provided a known monster and nothing much else. Here, their emotionlessness is part of the core of their plan, as is their wish to conquer the Earth through conversion. Indeed, it's only really now that this is brought up with the Cybermen, as The Moonbase failed to mention it and The Tenth Planet had it as a disturbing subtext, but here it is presented to us front and centre: they wish to convert the human race and remove all of their emotions. And the effect of this is it allows a climate of fear to be created around these creatures, because conversion is not a process that is performed quickly, like shooting someone in the face, for instance, instead it is done slowly, with a build up to the main event. This means that the Cybermen have more time to extend tension, thus making it tenser for the audience and creating a more exciting programme. But what happens to the cyber-convertees? We'll find out next time