Rise of the Cybermen ( TV story ) Rise of the Cybermen was the fifth episode in the second series of " Doctor Who " . It was the first part of a two - part story . The story featured the first televised appearance of a parallel Earth that would recur through series 2 and 4 , along with said universe ' s Cybermen . " Tardisode 5 " served as the episode ' s prologue , hinting toward the return of the Cybermen , with additional allusions to the presence of a resistance called the Preachers combating the Cyber - threat . Head writer Russell T Davies decided that it made " little sense " , when a cyborg foe would inevitably encounter the Doctor , for the writers to invent an entirely new cyborg race when the Cybermen were already an " established success " . Nonetheless , Davies , who was aware of the Cybermen that originated in the Doctor ' s universe gaining a complicated backstory over prior televised serial s , decided against building on said backstory . Instead , he chose to include their creation in a parallel universe . Davies felt that the " original 1960s fears " of organ replacement weren ' t as relevant for the 21st century . He instead wanted to focus on the fact that the upgrade of a human into a Cyberman granted people immortality through making them " uniform and emotionless " . ( DWMSE 14 ) The story was inspired by Marc Platt ' s 2002 audio play " Spare Parts " . Davies decided he wanted the two - parter " Rise of the Cybermen " and " The Age of Steel " to be loosely adapted from the Big Finish play , with a similar " feel " , just as series 1 ' s " Dalek " was adapted from " Jubilee " . Platt was paid a fee for Tom MacRae reusing the basic concepts of " Parts " and was given a credit for both " Rise " and " Steel " . Initial drafts of the parallel Earth story were very close to Mondas ' depiction in " Spare Parts " as a " dying world " . ( DWMSE 14 ) Along with inspiration from " Parts " , writer Tom MacRae was supplied the television serials " The Tenth Planet " , " The Tomb of the Cybermen " , " Earthshock " , the " DWM " comic story " The Flood " and David Banks ' " " . Director Graeme Harper also read Banks ' book in preparation for this two - parter , along with the surviving episodes of " The Invasion " , which Harper ' s mentor Douglas Camfield directed . ( DWMSE 14 ) MacRae hoped to reimagine the Cybermen not so much as " mere villains " , but as " sad " figures which he thought could be made " terrifying " through the notion of victims being upgraded into Cybermen rather than being killed ; as such they were " a cross between vampire s and zombie s " . ( DWMSE 14 ) MacRae also felt that his desire to make the Cybermen more human and distanced from being " straightforward monstrous villains " would have made the species scarier . After being offered the job of " reviving and updating " the Cybermen as the episode ' s writer , MacRae wanted the Cyberman ' s backstory to be faithful to the backstory and concept of the original Cybermen from the Doctor ' s Earth and also that they couldn ' t be interchangeable with any other mechanical being . ( TEDW 1 ) It aired during the fortieth anniversary of " The Tenth Planet " , the story that introduced the original Cybermen . It marked the first time a director involved in the 1963 - 89 series , Graeme Harper , had directed a revival - era episode . With the exception of other stories directed by Harper , no other director has returned to direct the 2005 version of the show . Synopsis . Upon landing on an alternate version of the Earth , The Doctor , Rose and Mickey learn that Peter Tyler is apparently alive and well . Lurking in the shadows are creatures made to destroy - one of The Doctor ' s greatest fears have come true . . . the Cybermen are reborn . Plot . In a laboratory , Dr Kendrick examines a humanoid metal form and declares , " It ' s alive " , and his wheelchair - bound boss , John Lumic , 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 orders his new creation to kill the luckless doctor , which it does . Lumic then tell his staff to set sail for Great Britain . Meanwhile , Rose and the Tenth 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 . The Doctor tells Rose , " We fell out of the vortex , through the void , into nothingness . We ' re in some sort of no place . The silent realm . The lost dimension . " They ' ve crashed in the Void , beyond the universe from which the TARDIS draws energy . Mickey rushes outside to find they ' ve arrived in what turns out to be London in a parallel universe : almost , but not quite , the same . There are Zeppelin s in the sky , the population use advanced EarPod s instead of mobile phone s , and Rose ' s father Pete is alive and a very successful businessman , marketing a health drink called Vitex . The Doctor manages to find a small part of the TARDIS which is still alive , and gives 10 years of his life to help his ship regenerate . Since this will take around 24 hours , he reluctantly agrees to let his companion s explore the parallel Earth , but he chases after Rose to persuade her not to seek out her ' father ' . One of the powerful players on this Earth is John Lumic , owner of Cybus Industries . Lumic is obsessed with the extension of life through cybernetics , since he is confined to a wheelchair by a fatal condition . His latest experiment , a human " upgrade " , is nearing completion , and Lumic has one of his scientists killed for raising ethical objections . He has his henchmen round up bands of homeless people and take them to the Cybus factory at Battersea Power Station to " upgrade " them . He also later has a meeting with Pete Tyler and the President of Great Britain , the latter of whom refuses to allow Lumic to carry on his experiments . Knowing that the President will be attending Jackie Tyler ' s birthday that night , Lumic accesses the security arrangements and house plans in Jackie ' s mind via her EarPods and orders a new batch of upgrades be created . The Doctor and Rose discuss Mickey , and Rose tells the Doctor that he was raised by his grandmother after being abandoned by his parents until she died a few years earlier after tripping down the stairs . As the two realise that they take Mickey for granted , they witness a crowd pause as the EarPods they wear download information directly into their brains , and this advanced technology piques the Doctor ' s interest . The EarPods are manufactured by Cybus , who also own Pete ' s company , Vitex . The Doctor decides to attend Jackie Tyler ' s birthday celebration , since the President and many other high profile guests will be there and he may be able to find out more about the Pods . Mickey has been left to his own devices , and so seeks out his grandmother , Rita - Anne Smith , and has an emotional reunion with her . He finds that , like Pete , she is still alive , but is puzzled when she calls him " Ricky " . He is then suddenly abducted from Rita ' s doorstep by two people in a blue van , Jake and Mrs Moore , who take him back to their base where they meet Ricky , Mickey ' s counterpart from this universe . The three of them are the " resistance " , a team who have been investigating Cybus ' abductions of homeless people with the help of an inside agent . Their contact has just advised that a group of " upgrades " is leaving the Cybus factory . The resistance head off to tail the Cybus truck , taking Mickey with them . Disguised as catering staff , the Doctor and Rose infiltrate the party , but before they can find out anything useful Lumic ' s " upgrades " arrive , and the Doctor recognises them as " Cybermen " . They smash their way into the house and kill the President before rounding up the rest of the guests to be upgraded into Cybermen themselves , while killing those who resist . 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 . "