Cybermen rock! But Cybermen with big budgets rock hard! I was too young to see the original Cybermen shows but as a child they were my favourite novelisations of the series (along with the UNIT shows). The novelisation of the very first Cybermen appearance is great and I can remember bits of it even now. The themes of transformation, man-machine and the quest for eternal life are more relevant now than they were in the Sixties. After all just this week we've been debating the ethics of selecting embryos for cancer genes.

This show wasn't that deep but it is just Part One of a two parter (with a proper cliffhanger ending) and it was well-written with more for Mickey to do than normal. Styling wise though I love the new Cybermen look and for once the show hasn't had to improvise with domestic junk sprayed silver.

I also liked the way that the Cybermen were proper Dr. Who monsters in that they intrude into your life. They look alien and yet, unlike CGI, they look like something that really could appear in your house or on your street. There was also proper attention to detail such as making sure they were taller than the humans and getting the coordinated machine movement right. It's great stuff!