1939: Genesis of the Cybermen

July 9, 2019

By AHNZ

Coal mine specialist rescue crew, 1939.

“As a kid I remember the rescue guys walking around the streets of Dobson in their Breathing Apparatus as part of their training.”- B. Duggan

If I saw men dressed like this walking around as a kid then I’d grow up to get a job with the BBC in the 1960s on Doctor Who.

And what I would come up with would be the Cybermen!

Hard to think that isn’t exactly how it went down. However I cannot easily discover who designed these costumes first used on the TV show in 1966. Some uncredited BBC props guy, I suppose.

“The Cybermen as they emerge from the sewers onto the streets in their first invasion of Earth..”- Wikipedia

This Cyberman association with emergence from the subterranean fits very well with the presumed inspiration. What these men in Dobson, New Zealand, were doing here will have been occurring back in England too. And if this were not enough bionic inspiration for future artists, World War II would soon provide many more and quite soon after these photos.

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Note: Today happens to be 100 years since the birth Jon Pertwee (Of all the men who played the Doctor and battled the Cybermen, he’s my favourite.)

Image ref Auckland Weekly News, 4 October 1939; Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries (not that I can find it there myself)

ref. Timespanner; Facebook post

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