Doctor Who season 12 has a startling number of Cyberman plot holes. The final three episodes of Doctor Who season 12 are - at least in part - the story of the Doctor’s most spectacular conflict with the Cybermen to date. It all began in “The Haunting of Villa Diodati,” which introduced the Lone Cyberman, the last survivor of the final Cyber War.
One quick TARDIS trip later, and the Doctor and her fam had traveled to a distant future timeline in which both humans and Cybermen had been brought to the brink of extinction. They found the last handful of humans and attempted to get them to safety through a mysterious but as yet undefined interdimensional anomaly. It turned into a fairly standard Cybermen plot, reminiscent of “Earthshock,” an episode from the Peter Davison era, albeit on a far bigger budget.
Surprisingly, though, “Ascension of the Cybermen” has an unusual number of plot holes. This is particularly remarkable given the production crew had clearly put a lot of effort into tying this story into Doctor Who’s overarching continuity; stylistically the Lone Cyberman’s design is evocative of those seen in “Nightmare in Silver” during Matt Smith’s portrayal of the Doctor. That, too, saw the Doctor and his companions travel to the distant future, and the aftermath of what they believed to be the final Cyber War. “Ascension of the Cybermen” opens with a pre-credit tease that seems a direct homage to the final shot of that story. And yet, in spite of all these connections, the script itself is littered with problems.
Who Are The Billions Of Lives At Risk?
The first issue is the most basic one of all; the stakes just don’t seem to work. Earlier in season 12, the Doctor was given a warning by Captain Jack: on no account must she give the Lone Cyberman what it wants. “The Haunting of Villa Diodati” revealed the Lone Cyberman was seeking the Cyberium, which contained all the knowledge of history of the entire Cyber race. The Cyberium had been blasted back through time by the Alliance who defeated the Cybermen, and the Lone Cyberman had pursued it. Unfortunately the presence of both the Cyberium and the Lone Cyberman risked changing the timeline irrevocably, and as a result the Doctor decided to disregard Captain Jack’s instruction.
Here’s the catch, though: in “The Haunting of Villa Diodati,” the Doctor claimed billions of lives in the future were at stake. The very next episode, she took her fam forward in time to the crisis point and unveiled a universe that had been stripped of life. Humans and Cybermen had committed an act of mutual extinction, and all other life in the cosmos seemed to have vanished as well. There was absolutely no sign of the aforementioned “billions” of living beings.
Why Are The Cybermen Killing, Not Converting?
The Cybermen’s tactics in “Ascension of the Cybermen” make absolutely no sense. It’s important to remember Cybermen don’t reproduce; they convert other living beings into Cybermen. If the Cyber race is to survive, let alone flourish, then they need other living beings to prey upon. In such a sparsely-populated galaxy, there’s no logical reason for the Cybermen to kill with impunity. For all that’s the case, though, the Cybermen clearly have no real interest in taking prisoners. Their first strike includes a number of kill-shots, and they soon march out threatening to “delete” all humans. The Lone Cyberman briefly contemplates leaving a survivor - a last human - who would be released into the galaxy to find other survivors and warn them of his might. This defies explanation, given the Lone Cyberman’s stated objective of restoring the Cyber race.
Why Isn’t The Doctor Worried She Could Be Converted Too?
Ironically, the Doctor understands the Cybermen’s tactics better than they do themselves. When the Cybermen destroy her defenses, she sends her fam away, fearful they will be converted. But the Doctor’s word-choice in this scene is quite interesting; she believes they are at risk of conversion because they are human, while she clearly has no concerns for herself. This is more than a little odd, because in “Nightmare in Silver” Matt Smith’s Doctor was almost converted. Although he was able to resist, he would have become a Cyber-Planner if he hadn’t broken free of the conversion process using an electromagnetic pulse.
Why Does The Doctor Think Gold Will Affect The Cybermen?
Of course, the Doctor’s defenses were never going to work. Again, in “Nightmare in Silver” the Doctor learned the Cybermen had upgraded beyond the gold allergy long ago. This is probably best explained away as a demonstration of the Doctor’s sheer desperation as she resorts to anything and everything she can think of.
It’s amusing to note the Doctor forgot the one thing she should have known would work against this generation of Cybermen: an electromagnetic pulse. Matt Smith’s Doctor used this to deactivate Cyber-technology in “Nightmare in Silver.” The Lone Cyberman, only partially converted, should have been particularly vulnerable to this strategy. It’s possible the Doctor discounted the idea, fearing it would fry the humans’ ship, but she could always have taken the refugees to her TARDIS.
Why doesn’t the Doctor know about the Cybermen weapons?
It’s clear the Doctor knows all about this future timeline; the opening scenes of “Ascension of the Cybermen” see her give a lengthy lecture about the state of galactic affairs. For all that’s the case, though, her knowledge of the Cybermen themselves seems remarkably limited. She’s initially far too confident in defenses she should have known couldn’t hold them back. It’s as though the Doctor hasn’t even bothered to look them up in the TARDIS databanks in order to check what her old enemies were capable of - an unpardonable lapse, given she could have spent as much time preparing for war in the TARDIS as she wanted.
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