History Recap / BigFinishDoctorWho034SpareParts

* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Yvonne; suffering from a chronic lung complaint, she hasn't been able to replace them with cyborg organs, and can only make do with pills. Later, while she's unwittingly waiting for cyber-conversion, Sisterman Constant diagnoses her as an "acute consumptive" reveals that she'll probably be dead in a few weeks anyway.

'''Commander Zheng:''' And IIIIIII ''am'' supe''rior'' to you. Beeee proud ''while'' [[UnwillingRobotization you still haaaave the capacity]].

[[caption-width-right:350:''”Father must see my uniform…”'']]

The one where we see the genesis of the Cybermen. Or at least the main branch.

An OriginStory for the Cybermen of Mondas, written by Creator/MarcPlatt. The story expands on the backstory of the Cybermen as detailed in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E2TheTenthPlanet "The Tenth Planet"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E1AttackOfTheCybermen "Attack of the Cybermen"]].

-->'''Zheng:''' "Doctorman Allan, we will begin again."

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: The Mondasians. The Mondasians want to live forever.

** The Doctor trying to convince Nyssa that Mondas is Earth, probably London. Nyssa, however, is fairly sure London isn't [[BeneathTheEarth in a cave.]]

* DistantSequel: The story depicts the creation of the Cybermen, long before the First Doctor's encounter with them in Antarctica in December 1986 in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E2TheTenthPlanet The Tenth Planet]]".
* DownerEnding: See ForegoneConclusion. It appears as though the Doctor has won the day. The Cyber-Planner is dead, Commander Zheng is dead, and Doctorman Allan is working on ways to reverse the process. The Doctor and Nyssa leave Mondas, wondering how things might have changed. Only Zheng isn't actually dead...

* EarlyBirdCameo: The unseen young man Eric Krailford that the Hartleys mention is better known as Cyberman Krail in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E2TheTenthPlanet The Tenth Planet]]", aka the one who introduces the species.

* GhostPlanet: Mondas is turning into one, with the population down to a [[{{Planetville}} single underpopulated city]].

This story would inspire another television two-parter story eleven years later. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E11WorldEnoughAndTime "World Enough and Time"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E12TheDoctorFalls "The Doctor Falls"]] deals with the origin of a different set of Mondasian Cybermen in a similar way. Probably due to the overwhelming popularity of this particular story, Creator/StevenMoffat went out of his way to avoid contradicting it, instead directly acknowledging it ''and every other Cyberman origin story'' as equally as "true" -- in the episode, the Doctor notes these new Cybermen are a parallel evolution of the race, [[ContinuityCavalcade just like on Mondas, Telos, Earth, Marinus and Planet 14]][[note]]If you're curious, that's "Spare Parts", various early episode novelisations, "Rise of the Cybermen"/"The Age of Steel" (and possibly [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E11DarkWater "Dark Water"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E12DeathInHeaven "Death in Heaven"]], Grant Morrison's [[Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine magazine comic]] "The World Shapers" and David Banks' [[Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures Virgin]] novel "Iceberg". There are still various inconsistencies between these stories, but [[HandWave don't worry about it]].[[/note]]. That episode also takes some stylistic cues from this one, notably the pseudo-1950s setting.

This story was an inspiration for the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episodes [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E5RiseOfTheCybermen "Rise of the Cybermen"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E6TheAgeOfSteel "The Age of Steel"]], on which Marc Platt got a story credit. One of the story's most powerful scenes (a partially-converted Cyberman doesn't understand what's been done to her) is drawn from this audio. The character of Yvonne Hartman, appearing in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E12ArmyOfGhosts "Army Of Ghosts"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday "Doomsday"]], is a CompositeCharacter of this story's Yvonne Hartley and Doctorman Allan.

This story would inspire another television two-parter story eleven years later. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E11WorldEnoughAndTime "World Enough and Time"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E12TheDoctorFalls "The Doctor Falls"]] deals with the origin of a different set of Mondasian Cybermen in a similar way. Probably due to the overwhelming popularity of this particular story, Creator/StevenMoffat went out of his way to avoid contradicting it, instead directly acknowledging it ''and every other Cyberman origin'' as equally as "true" -- in the episode, the Doctor notes these new Cybermen are a parallel evolution of the race, [[ContinuityCavalcade just like on Mondas, Telos, Earth, Marinus and Planet 14]][[note]]If you're curious, that's "Spare Parts", various early episode novelisations, the revived series, Grant Morrison's comic "The World Shapers" and David Banks' Virgin novel "Iceberg". There are still various inconsistencies between these stories, but [[HandWave don't worry about it]].[[/note]]. That episode also takes some stylistic cues from this one, notably the pseudo-1950s setting.

[[caption-width-right:350:''”Father must see my uniform.”'']]

* NobleDemon: Commander Zheng, who helps kill the Cyber Planner when he realises it's prioritizing its own survival over the people of Mondas. Unfortunately TheEndOrIsIt shows he intends recommence the plan to process everyone despite the Doctor having left notes for Doctorman Allan on how to find other solutions.

* InexplicableCulturalTies: Mondas bears an unusually strong resemblance to Earth, even for a ''Doctor Who'' planet.

* TakeAThirdOption: Stuck between using their resources to save themselves or the population, the Committee decide to convert the entire population into Cybermen.

* DrinkBasedCharacterisation: Mr Hartley's response to every crisis is the put the kettle on...until the power goes out and he can no longer do so. At the end of the episode, Nyssa gives him a packet of genuine tea leaves as a parting gift (to the Doctor's annoyance as they were a gift to ''him'' from the Emperor of China).