With everything that happened in Series Eight of Doctor Who, it would be understandable if one missed a few details. We had the relationship between Clara and Danny Pink that was seemingly shoved down our throats. We had the new incarnation of the Doctor finding himself, and wrestling with the question of whether or not he was a good man. Then, we had the mysterious female who was later revealed to be Missy, the Master regenerated. It was quite the season of turmoil.
Perhaps it would be easy to overlook another possible storyline from Series Eight. Yet, it seems as though there was another overarching question with the robotic entities from early in that season. During the first episode, the Doctor and Clara had to face a group of clockwork robotic droids, a group that was slowly losing their mechanical selves as they scavenged parts from humans. Then there were the robots of Sherwood. Each of these entities were looking to enter some sort of “Promised Land.”
Then, at the end of the season, we came to learn that Missy’s Heaven was simply a factory for her to create a race of Cybermen from the dead. The dead rose up en masse, an army ready to cater to her ever whim, until she offered control of that squad to the Doctor. These Cybermen still remembered their past lives, with Danny protecting Clara and the Brigadier saving his daughter when she fell out of the airplane.
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Could there be a connection? With the robotic creatures from earlier in the season all hoping to reach this “Promised Land” or “Cyber Mecha,” if you will, and the dead returning as Cybermen, there would appear to be some sort of a link. Are these robots looking to find some shred of humanity, a link to something they have been unable to find in their time on Earth?
Likewise, when the humans in Heaven are given the option as to whether or not to delete themselves, could this be the catalyst to turn them into the new version of Cybermen? By deleting themselves, they may have simply removed the emotional sections of their mind, removing those things that make them human.
It could be that the two entities are related. The Cybermen from the end of Series Eight had been formerly human, and recalled their past lives. The robotic beings that the Doctor encountered at the beginning of the series, meanwhile, wanted to find that humanity. Is there a link?
Perhaps, in Series Nine of Doctor Who, this storyline will be explained further. For now, it is interesting to wonder what connection, if any, there is between the Cybermen and the robotic entities from earlier in Series Eight.
Next: Are David Tennant and Paul McGann in Series Nine Finale?