Tenth Doctor Era
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Rise of the Cybermen
Mickey: Leaves me what?
Jake: The number one. Top of the list! London's most wanted!
Mickey: Hah hah, OK, cool. [Beat] Say that again?
The one where Barty Crouch Jr. learns that his dad is actually the evil one.
Huh? What do you mean, "wrong universe"?
Oh... oopsie! That's right... We're visiting a different parallel universe in this one. Although... the Doctor Who crew was hopeful at arranging a Harry Potter Crossover with the Tenth Doctor at one point.
This episode takes some ideas from Marc Platt's Big Finish Doctor Who episode "Spare Parts", for which Platt receives acknowledgement in the end credits. This episode also stands out for being the first in the Revival Series to be directed by Graeme Harper, who'd previously directed the serials "The Caves of Androzani" and "Revelation of the Daleks" in the '80s, making him the only person to direct stories for both incarnations of Doctor Who. Harper would go on to direct not only the immediate follow-up to this episode, but also a number of other stories for the remainder of Russell T Davies' first tenure as head writer (plus a few episodes for The Sarah Jane Adventures).
In a laboratory, Dr. Kendrick examines a humanoid metal form and declares, "It's alive"; his wheelchair-bound boss, John Lumic (Roger Lloyd-Pack), expresses his pride in this achievement. However, Dr. Kendrick warns him that they must tell the authorities in Geneva about their new development, as this is a new form of life. Lumic promptly orders his new creation to kill the doctor, which it does via electrocution. Lumic then tell his staff to set sail for Great Britain.
Meanwhile, Rose and the Doctor are laughing about a prior adventure when the Doctor notices that Mickey is holding a control. The Doctor says he can let go. As Mickey indignantly asks if he was forgotten, the Doctor protests that he was calibrating. Suddenly, there is an explosion and the TARDIS crashes.
The entire console room suffers a blackout and all its mechanisms shut down. Gas masks drop down from the ceiling, triggered by the possibility the artificial atmospheric generators have failed. While the trio recovers from the nasty landing, the Doctor dreads to believe what has happened. The TARDIS has fallen out of the Time Vortex. Worse, he declares the TARDIS is dead. If it has perished, it cannot be fixed, and as the only TARDIS in existence, the TARDIS species is extinct. Rose asks where they've landed, thinking it has to be somewhere. Mickey peeks outside the door and remarks "Otherwise known as London".
It turns out that the TARDIS has arrived in London...but not exactly. This is a parallel universe version of London, Mickey quickly realizes, one where the skies are filled with zeppelins... and Rose's father is still alive and a very successful businessman, marketing a health drink called Vitex. The Doctor warns Rose not to get involved as it's not her world, but she's happy that he's finally pulled off his schemes and became a success.
Pete pulls up to his country manor with flowers to meet his wife Jackie, who is unhappy that he's celebrating her birthday party with a poster that has her correct age (40), not the age she is pretending to be (39, as her biography says she shares a birthday with Cuba Gooding Jr.). She turns down the flowers and wants to know why Peter hasn't got her a personal zeppelin. Jackie also shows off the personalized EarPods she got from Lumic as a birthday present as she calls for Rose… the family dog.
While Jackie is tending to the dog, Pete calls Lumic to thank him for the gift. Lumic reminds Pete that the President of Great Britain has promised to meet with them to make a final decision about Lumic's latest project. Once he hangs up, Lumic remotely hacks into Jackie's earpieces, and uses them to tap into her memories of the security codes for the house. He then "resets" her back to normal with no memory of what happened. Lumic then contacts his henchman, Mr. Crane, and tells him they'll need extra staff. Crane and a group of Cybus henchmen proceed to deploy a large semi truck for a recruitment drive.
While Rose looks up information on Pete (and picks up a news broadcast announcing Lumic's return to Britain, coincidentally just as Lumic's zeppelin is passing over her head), the Doctor and Mickey try to repair the TARDIS. He warns Mickey that they're in the wrong universe and the TARDIS can't derive energy from the new universe they're in. With the Time Lords gone, the "real" world was sealed off and the Doctor wonders how they could have gone through the barriers. Then he notices a light in the understructure grid work and realizes they have one working power cell.
Mr. Crane and his men go to a scrapyard where a bunch of homeless men are congregated, and lures most of them into the back of an International Electromatics truck with the promise of free food. One of the men, Jake Simmonds, tries to warn them that they won't be coming back, as Lumic has apparently been having homeless people abducted on a regular basis for the last few months, to no avail. As Jake films them discreetly, he hears screams coming from inside the truck as the homeless men are subdued by Mr. Crane's men and restrained.
The Doctor gets the power cell out and recharges it with ten years of his own life energy. They go to meet with Rose, who reveals she looked up the alternate Tylers and found out Jackie and Peter are rich but don't have a daughter. Rose asks for 24 hours to see the Tylers. Mickey, fed up with the Doctor's lack of respect for him, backs her up and goes off on his own, noting the Doctor will always go for Rose. And the Doctor does indeed go after Rose, telling Mickey he has 24 hours to return.
Pete meets the President of Great Britain at an airstrip as they await the landing of Lumic's zeppelin. They discuss Lumic and the amount of influence he has over British businesses. Pete admits Lumic is a brilliant man but disagrees with the President's suspicions that he's insane.
As the Doctor and Rose walk through London, they discuss Mickey. Rose comments that Mickey was raised by his grandmother after being abandoned by his parents, until she died a few years ago from a fall down the stairs. As the two realise that they take Mickey for granted, they witness a crowd pause as their EarPods download information directly into their brains. This advanced technology piques the Doctor's interest, and he uses Rose's phone to see just what they're downloading. The EarPods are manufactured by Cybus, and the Doctor is intrigued by the fact that they also own Pete's company. Seeing Rose making puppy eyes at him, the Doctor reluctantly agrees to let her seek out Pete.
Mickey has been left to his own devices and explores the parallel London on his own, where he learns of a curfew from a soldier at a checkpoint. He comes across Waterton Street and knocks on the door of Number 1. Immediately, a woman's voice calls out angrily and the door opens to reveal Rita-Anne Smith, his blind grandmother who, like Pete, is still alive in this universe and still very much a firebrand. Mickey is unable to speak at first while Rita-Anne rants angrily that she will not be disappeared like the other people, but he manages to stammer out a few words that stops the angry old woman in her flow. She is delighted to see her grandson, whom she calls Ricky for some reason, and immediately starts slapping him for apparently taking off and leaving her not knowing anything. Mickey notices the carpet on the stairs behind her, the one he was supposed to fix in his own universe but forgot to, and tearfully remarks that she'll fall and break her neck if it isn't fixed. Rita-Anne chides him for thinking himself useless and invites him in for a nice cup of tea to settle down, but Mickey is then suddenly abducted from Rita's doorstep by two people in a blue van. The people in question are Jake, the man we saw from the junkyard, and another woman, Mrs. Moore. Jake is furious at Mickey for getting in touch with his family and putting them at risk, and they tell him about what they've found out about Cybus, although he and Mrs. Moore also seem to think Mickey's name is Ricky.
Lumic makes a presentation to the President about his proposal: cybernetic exoskeletons that can house a preserved human brain. The President doesn't approve of Lumic's project, finding the whole thing obscene, and leaves while ignoring Lumic's protests. After he leaves, Pete tries to put a good face on it, but Lumic wants England, his home, to be his new birthplace. After Pete leaves, Lumic contacts Crane, who is at a lab in Battersea Power Station where he has grafted EarPods onto the homeless men. Crane demonstrates that they obey everything he orders them to do thanks to the earpieces, and gives the men basic instructions, which they all robotically obey. On Lumic's orders, Crane sends them into a neighbouring chamber to be operated on. Loud screams ring out, which Mr. Crane promptly drowns out by playing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by Tight Fit.
Mickey's resistance group arrives at their headquarters where they find the lights on. They go in to find… Ricky, who is baffled by the sight of an identical imposter.
The Doctor and Rose arrive at the Tyler estate, where they see limos dropping off guests. Rose realizes it's her mother's birthday, and she still loves parties even in a parallel universe. The Doctor comments that they do have psychic paper, which gives them a ways in. One scene cut later, the Doctor and Rose are entering the party as waiters, with Rose being very much annoyed that the Doctor couldn't use the psychic paper so they could be invited celebrities. The Doctor counters that the staff will know everything and be more forthcoming and unobtrusive than guests. This pays off when Lucy, one of the other waitresses, points out the President of Great Britain to the Doctor. Rose is shocked by the whole thing, and the fact that Pete and Jackie have a dog named Rose instead of a daughter (something the Doctor can't resist being amused by), but is happy that they have each other.
Ricky and his team interrogate Mickey and try to determine how he can be an exact duplicate. Ricky explains that they call themselves the Preachers, and they are resisting the conversion of society by technology. The interrogation is cut short when they get word from an agent, Gemini, that Lumic is on the move and they grab guns and head out, taking Mickey with them. They fall in line behind the International Electromatics semi truck as it drives past their hideout carrying the homeless men, now converted into metallic bodies.
At the Tyler manor, the Doctor notices a computer screen with the Cybus logo and decides to do some research. Rose, meanwhile, is saddened when she finds out, from Pete himself no less, that their marriage is on the rocks and he has moved out, and Jackie angrily dismisses her as lowly staff when Rose remarks that Pete is worth another try. Jackie doesn't notice Rose beyond her catering outfit, but Pete senses that she is somehow significant to him.
Outside the manor, Ricky and the Preachers look on as the converted men march out of the lorry. Meanwhile, the Doctor infiltrates Pete's office and peruses the Cybus Industries files, discovering Lumic's presentation to the President. The name "Cybus" and the emphasis on cybernetics and brains clicks in his mind and he realises... these are Cybermen that Lumic is creating.
Just then, floodlights light up the lawn as the Cybermen advance on the manor. Moments later, one of the great plate-glass windows shatters as a Cyberman puts its fist through it. Then another, and another and Cybermen flood into the house, herding the guests and staff together into one room as Lumic contacts the President over his earpiece. The President seems unsurprised at the development but demands to know who the Cybermen were before Lumic did this to them. Lumic dismisses them as insignificant and signs off, leaving the Cybermen in charge. One of the Cybermen steps forward and announces that they have been 'upgraded' into the next level of humanity, promising the same for all British citizens. The President sincerely apologises for what has happened to them, with several of the guests looking saddened as well, and declares that he will not allow Lumic's experiment to continue. The Cybermen remark that upgrading is compulsory, and the President repeatedly asks what happens if he refuses (despite the Doctor's warnings not to negotiate), to which the Cybermen respond that he will be deemed incompatible and then deleted. The one who spoke then grabs the President by the neck and electrocutes him in the same way as Dr. Kendrick. The guests and staff panic at the murder and scatter in all directions as the Cybermen begin attacking.
Rose, the Doctor and Pete manage to get outside, where they meet up with Mickey and the others, but Ricky and Jake's guns are useless against the Cybermen, who surround them. The Doctor tries to surrender, claiming he volunteers for the upgrade, but the Cybermen refuse; as "rogue elements", they are to "perish under maximum deletion".
"Delete."
"Delete."
"DELETE."
"DELETEEEEE."
Tropes:
- Above Good and Evil: John Lumic justifies his illegal creation of Cybermen with "I am governed by greater laws, old friend: the right of a man to survive!"
- Actually Pretty Funny: The Doctor can't help but laugh when he learns "Rose" in the alternate reality is the name of Jackie's pet Yorkshire Terrier. He promptly shuts up at the look Rose gives him.
- Agony of the Feet: The Doctor kicks his precious TARDIS. He promptly sits down in the command chair to massage his foot.
- Alternate Universe: Somehow the TARDIS falls through a crack in the universe and ends up in another universe.
- Arc Words: The news Rose gets on her phone mentions the Torchwood Institute, and later, at the party, Pete asks a guest how things are going at Torchwood.
- Big Bad: John Lumic.
- Big Entrance: The new Cybermen make a memorable entrance. John Lumic lampshades it.John Lumic: Mr. President, I suppose a remark about "crashing the party" would be appropriate at this point, sir!
- Black Comedy: Crane's choice of music ("The Lion Sleeps Tonight") doesn't quite cover up the screams of the converted.
- Black-Tie Infiltration: The Doctor and Rose discuss performing this trope to get into a party at the Alternate Universe version of the Tyler residence, but instead infiltrate as catering staff. Rose wishes they had used the titles Queen Victoria bestowed on them in "Tooth and Claw", though the Doctor maintains that they'll learn more information from the kitchen end of things.
- Blatant Lies: Jackie insists she's not forty years old (since that's what her official biography says), and insists her party's decorations reflect this. Pete's opening speech, and the guest's reactions, suggest everyone present knows it's an act.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: The President borrows the Doctor's "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" before rejecting the upgrade.
- Brick Joke: In "Aliens of London", the Doctor insisted on calling Mickey "Ricky" rather than admit he didn't remember Mickey's name. In this universe, Ricky is the parallel equivalent to Mickey.
- Brutal Honesty: One thing that's certain about the president of Great Britain, the man does not mince words ever.
- Call-Back:
- During the first half of the episode, the Doctor wants nothing more than to escape from the alternate universe. After all, there was that one time he was in a parallel universe which did not end well at all.
- Just as in "Father's Day", Pete is very quick to trust Rose and open up to her and just as quick to realize he's done so.
- Cast from Lifespan: The TARDIS needs energy from its home universe to start working again. The Doctor finds a component with some remaining power and breathes on it. "I just gave away ten years of my life. Worth every second!"
- Casting Gag: Roger Lloyd-Pack as John Lumic provides an interesting example. He played Barty Crouch Sr. in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and David Tennant played Barty Crouch Jr. in the same film.
- Catchphrase:
- "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." makes its second appearance, albeit from the president, this time.
- Pete has "trust me on this".
- Chewing the Scenery: John Lumic steals his scenes with his grandiose lines.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Rose doesn't like it when the Doctor so much as speaks to another woman, as evidenced by her reaction to a waitress by the name of Lucy. Naturally, he doesn't notice.
- The Comically Serious: Lumic is almost all business about his horrific deeds, but he does get a moment when he scolds Mr. Crane for mucking around with the brainwashed homeless people.Mr. Crane: (nervously) It's just, well... irresistible.
Lumic: Then resist. - Conducting the Carnage: Crane has "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" played loudly throughout his facility as mind-controlled humans march helplessly into booths where they are gruesomely converted into Cybermen.
- Continuity Nod:
- Mickey, fed up with his treatment by the Doctor and Rose, says "stay out of trouble and be the tin dog".
- The way Mr. Crane instructs the hypnotized captives into walking into a conversion chamber is reminiscent of the Cybermen ordering around brainwashed humans in "The Moonbase".
- To gather up "recruits", Cybus Industries uses a dummy company called International Electromatics. The overall design of the Cybus Cybermen in general seems to be a Call-Back to "The Invasion", right down to their creepy electronic voices being very similar. One could almost consider this story a soft remake of that story.
- Contrived Coincidence: Even though Lumic presumably knows nothing about an alternate universe with its own Cybermen, the cyborgs he creates end up looking almost identical to them and share the same name and philosophy.
- Corporate Conspiracy: Cybus Industries is actually brainwashing Londoners in order to convert them into Cybermen, as per the wishes of CEO John Lumic.
- Costume Evolution: The Cybermen see their first major redesign since "Earthshock" 24 years prior. The design introduced here is far buffer and more armorlike, removes the "earmuff" look that had been in place since "The Invasion" way back in 1968 (instead featuring a more skull-like head), and restores the "teardrop" motif last seen in 1975's "Revenge of the Cybermen". While the redesign is ostensibly meant to connect to the fact that this story is set in an alternate universe, it would be carried over to the original Mondasian Cybermen during the Steven Moffat era, before eventually being replaced with an even more advanced one in "Nightmare in Silver".
- Crapsack World: What little we know for sure about Pete's World paints a dark image. A curfew imposed by armed soldiers, a MegaCorp that beams its approved version of the news directly into peoples' heads, New Germany...
- Creepy Monotone: "Delete."
- Dead Alternate Counterpart: Inverted, with Rose and Mickey finding living counterparts of lost loved ones on the parallel Earth.
- Deadly Euphemism: "Very well, sir. I shall go on a recruitment drive."
- Digging Yourself Deeper: How long has it been since Mickey could've let go of that button, Doctor?note
- Disposable Vagrant: They're lured in with promises of free food and instead they are roboticized.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The President denying Lumic the ability to use his technology to save his own life? Harsh. Being electrocuted to death by a Cyberman? Worse.
- Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment: The Doctor warns Rose that this world's Pete Tyler isn't actually her father, but both she and Mickey head off to find their parallel Earth loved ones anyway. Both the alternate versions of Rose's parents seem to subconsciously know of their relation when they interact with her, without having any conscious knowledge of who she is. Rose has to be dissuaded from going back to save Jackie from death by the Doctor reminding her the doppelganger isn't her mother.
- The Dreaded: The minute the Doctor figures out what's happening, he's scared. Actual, proper scared. He doesn't even try to fight the Cybermen, he just tries surrendering.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Mr. Crane, Lumic's head of human resources doesn't exactly look happy going on a "recruitment drive".
- Evil Counterpart:
- Ricky, Mickey's alternate self, is set up to be this — but subverted in the next episode as they turn out to be similar.
- Alt!Jackie is a straight version; a snotty, elitist Rich Bitch.
- Evil Cripple: John Lumic, who gives off a whole bunch of Davros vibes.
- Evil Is Hammy: John Lumic starts hamming it up the very minute he wheels on screen.
- Exact Words: Peter Tyler is very careful in his description of Lumic.President: So you don't think he's insane?
Peter: Not the word I would've used, no. - Expy: Lumic and the Cybus Cybermen seem like the parallel world's equivalent to Davros and the Daleks just as much as they are to the Mondasian Cybermen.
- Fascists' Bed Time: There's a curfew. In London. Enforced by the military.
- Foreshadowing: The Doctor tells Mickey they'll meet up again in 24 hours. "If I haven't found something better," replies Mickey.
- During the scene in which she argues with Pete about her birthday banner displaying her true age (40), she called out to Rose, however her tone of voice is more the kind used on a pet, not a 20 year old woman, later in the episode it turns out that in this universe, Pete and Jackie did not have a child, but did have a pet dog called Rose.
- French Maid Outfit: Rose poses as a waitress at Pete Tyler's party.
- Genre Savvy: Mickey has no trouble with the concept of parallel worlds because he's seen them in films and comics.
- Gilligan Cut: When the Doctor and Rose are trying to find a way into parallel universe Jackie's birthday party:Rose: February the 1st. Mum's birthday. Even in a parallel universe, she still loves a party.
The Doctor: Well, given Pete Tyler's guest list, I wouldn't mind a look. And there is one guaranteed way of getting inside. [flips his psychic paper]
Rose: Psychic paper!
The Doctor: Who do you want to be?
[cut to the Doctor and Rose dressed as waiters, carrying trays out of the kitchen with the rest of the wait staff]
Rose: [annoyed] We could have been anyone.
The Doctor: [looking at her] It got us in, didn't it?
Rose: You're in charge of the psychic paper. We could have been guests, celebrities, Sir Doctor, Dame Rose. We end up serving! I had enough of this back home.
The Doctor: If you want to know what's going on, work in the kitchen. - Gory Discretion Shot: We don't see the actual process of cyber-conversion, but we do see the array of spinning blades and cutting beams as they do their work.
- Have a Nice Death: Lumic signs off to the President thusly before leaving him to be killed by Cybermen:"And now, I leave you in their capable hands, goodnight, sir! Goodnight, Mr. President!"
- High-Voltage Death: Cybermen can deliver a fatal electric shock to a target through their hands.
- Immune to Bullets: The Doctor has to tell Jake and Ricky that bullets won't do squat to a Cyberman.
- Insistent Terminology: Lumic corrects his scientist in the opening for declaring the first Cyberman is working. After all, working applies only to machines. It's alive!
- In Spite of a Nail:
- The normal-universe Cybermen are alien (though they started out identical to humans), and come from a planet called Mondas. In this universe, they're invented by some guy on Earth, and end up looking and being mostly the same. The Twelfth Doctor would later indicate this is a case of parallel evolution that happens throughout various other worlds.
- Pete Tyler and Jackie still met and married, even if they don't have a daughter (instead naming their dog Rose).
- Interdimensional Travel Device: The TARDIS is capable of acting as one, and this worries the Doctor because this sort of thing doesn't happen anymore due to the Time War.
- It's a Wonderful Plot: A variant, the parallel universe shows what would've happened if Pete never died and if Rose was never born, her absence was replaced by a dog with the same name. Pete and Jackie did consider having a baby, but they put it off because Jackie was more concerned about her image, and the two secretly divorced a month prior to the events of the two episodes. Pete suggests that the discussion was a leading cause of the divorce.
- Janitor Impersonation Infiltration: The Doctor and Rose see cars pulling up to Pete Tyler's estate and Rose realizes it's Jackie's birthday. The Doctor then shows Rose his psychic paper and asks her what she wants to be. The scene cuts to them dressed as waiters carrying trays out of the kitchen with the rest of the wait staff, with Rose very annoyed that the Doctor couldn't have passed them off as invited socialites like "Sir Doctor and Dame Rose". The Doctor counters, "If you want to know what's going on, work in the kitchen."
- Join or Die:
- Be upgraded into a Cyberman, in a horrifically painful surgery that can't be undone and leaves you welded into a metal shell forever, or be "unnecessary". And upgrading is compulsory.
- The Cybermen decide that the Doctor, Rose, Mickey and everyone else don't get the "join" option, even when the Doctor tries to surrender.
- Just Testing You: The Preachers grab Mickey from his grandmother's doorstep, with Jake angrily reminding "Ricky" that he told them not to put their relatives in danger. A very confused Mickey ad-libs that he was just testing them.
- Large Ham: John Lumic."And how will you do that from beyond the grave?!"
- MegaCorp: In this parallel Earth, Cybus Industries owns practically every major company in the country, from International Electromatics to Pete's Vitex drink brand.
- Mood Whiplash: The TARDIS has crashed, completely dead and gone. The Doctor says they could've landed anywhere, somewhere outside all normal concepts... and Mickey pokes his head out of the door and asks if he means London.
- Never Be Hurt Again: John Lumic, who has some undisclosed and presumably painful terminal illness, decides to enforce Unwilling Roboticisation upon himself and humanity in order to eradicate death and emotion.
- Newspaper Dating: Mickey, when he thinks they've just landed back in London.
- No Indoor Voice: Lumic is a dying man in a wheelchair and some sort of breathing apparatus, yet he can't stop shouting half of his lines in a dramatic manner.
- Noodle Incident: At the beginning of the episode, the Doctor and Rose are reminiscing about an incident on an asteroid bazaar involving a fire-breathing alien woman.
- Oh, Crap!:
- The Doctor, when he looks at the Cybus files in secret and figures out exactly what is coming to crash the party.
- At the cliffhanger, the Doctor gets a good one when he realises the Cybermen aren't going to let them surrender.
- Our Presidents Are Different: They're British, for one.
- Patriotic Fervor: In a hideously warped fashion. Lumic chooses his home country of Great Britain as the staging ground for the birth of his Cybermen, adamantly refusing the idea of trying to sell it anywhere else.
- Privately Owned Society: Interestingly, while the Cybermen have historically been seen as an allegory for communism, the society that creates them in this story appears to be the opposite extreme. Parallel Britain appears to be an ultra-capitalist state in which almost every company is owned by MegaCorp Cybus Industries, which also operates through dummy companies. Cybus are heavily rumoured to be paying off the government to do as they say (though the President proves this to at least not always work), and while ordinary people must live under a curfew, the ultra-wealthy live above society on Zeppelins and continue to host lavish parties which influential figures including the President attend. In a deleted scene, Mr. Crane mockingly warns Jake that the media and even the police are owned by Cybus.
- Percussive Maintenance: The Doctor angrily kicks the dead TARDIS in a fit of rage.Mickey: Did that help?
The Doctor: [defensively] Yes!
Mickey: Did it hurt?
The Doctor: Yes... ow. - Pre-emptive Declaration:Dr. Kendrick: I'm sorry, sir, but it's my duty. I shall have to inform them.
John Lumic: And how will you do that from beyond the grave?
Dr. Kendrick: I don't quite understand...
John Lumic: [to Cyberman] Kill him. [the creature electrocutes and kills Dr. Kendrick] - Pre-Mortem One-Liner: John Lumic, to a scientist with ethical concerns.John Lumic: And how will you do that from beyond the grave?
- Pun: "A remark about 'crashing the party' would be appropriate."
- Reasonable Authority Figure: The President of Great Britain, who calls the Cyber-conversion process "obscene" and refuses to allow Lumic to continue developing it in Britain, and by all appearances seems to trying to do good in the crapsack world he runs. So naturally Lumic has him killed first.
- La Résistance: The Preachers, run by Ricky, Mickey's alternate-universe self. From a kitchen.Ricky: Have you got a problem with that?
Mickey: No, it's a great kitchen. - Rich Bitch: Alt!Jackie Tyler chews out her husband for petty details, wears diamond-studded accessories, and withholds wages from well-meaning employees if they accidentally offend her. And since this is Jackie Tyler, she offends easily.
- Serious Business: Lumic snaps at Mr. Crane for messing about with the mind-controlled hobos.
- Shirtless Scene: When Mickey is captured by the Preachers once they figure out he isn't Ricky, he gets stripped down to his underwear and tied to a chair so they can scan him.
- Shout-Out: Jake mentions "The Child-Catcher", the intensely creepy villain from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: Deliberate. Crane finds the agonised screams of the converted to be an unpleasant noise, so he orders "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by Tight Fit played on the facility's speaker-system to cover it up.
- Snake Oil Salesman: What the president accuses Pete of being in a discussion before meeting Lumic, having tried some of the supposed energy tonic Pete advertises, only to find it's just pop.The President: You made money by selling a health food drink to a sick world. Not quite the ordinary Joe you appear to be, are you?
- Spoiler Title/Trailers Always Spoil: For all that it makes an effort to avoid showing the Cybermen clearly up until The Reveal, the episode preview made it pretty clear who the villains are, and the title said it outright.
- Surrender Backfire: The Doctor, knowing full well that the Cybermen are Immune to Bullets, tells everyone to submit to the Cybermen. Unfortunately, the Cybermen have already determined that the group are dangerous elements. Despite the Doctor's protests that they are willingly surrendering to become Cybermen, the Cybermen refuse to listen, declaring they will be deleted.
- Teaser-Only Character: Dr. Kendrick, who is never brought up in the episode again after Lumic has the Cyberman prototype dispose of him in the cold opening.
- Tempting Fate: The Doctor knows exactly what he's doing. Cue Stuff Blowing Up. He does it again later. Twenty-four hours in a parallel world, what could go wrong?
- There Was a Door: The Cybermen smash their way into the Tylers' mansion through the windows.
- This Is Reality: Mickey mentions how characters can dimension-hop a lot more easily in comic books. The Doctor replies that isn't that simple in the real world, before backtracking that it was easier before the Time War.
- Too Dumb to Live: Dr. Kendrick in the cold opening. Oh, you've just committed a legally questionable experiment on a living person, which includes welding a brain to an exoskeleton, and it's only at that point you think to bring up ethical concerns to your boss?
- Variations on a Theme Song: The end credits of this episode feature a unique version of the theme tune, because the episode was overrunning slightly and it was decided to forego a "next time" trailer rather than cutting anything else from the episode itself.
- Visible Boom Mic: When Mickey visits his blind grandmother, the entire crew (including the man holding the boom mic) can be seen in the reflection of her sunglasses.
- Was Once a Man: The Cybermen, who are stripped of their humanity.
- We Are Everywhere: In deleted footage, Mr. Crane catches Jake filming him abducting the homeless men and threatens him, making clear that Cybus has strong pull over the police, government, and media.Mr. Crane: And as for you, sunshine, who are you gonna take that to? Television? Newspapers? Police? [laughs sarcastically] We own 'em all. [he laughs to himself as Jake turns around and hastily retreats]
- We Named the Monkey "Jack": In our universe, Rose is the name of Jackie's daughter. In the parallel universe, "Rose" is the name of Jackie's Yorkshire terrier. The Doctor valiantly tries and fails at holding back his laughter.
- The X of Y: "Rise of the Cybermen".
- You Didn't Ask: Why the Doctor is only now learning about Mickey's family history. He points out that Rose never said, and she admits that they both tend to take him for granted.
- You Wouldn't Believe Me If I Told You:Pete: [fleeing the mansion] Who are you? How d'you know so much?
The Doctor: You wouldn't believe it in a million years! - Zeppelins from Another World: The first clue that this isn't their London comes in the form of London's airspace swarming with airships.
