Cyberman: Scorpius

Cyberman #1.1

by Nicholas Briggs

The human race is about to become extinct. Mankind is fighting a long and costly war with its android creations in the Orion System. The deadlock must be broken at all costs. The president of Earth must think the unthinkable.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Audiobook, War, Futuristic, British Literature

1 pages, Audio Play

First published September 20, 2005

About the author

Nicholas Briggs is a British actor and writer, predominantly associated with the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and its various spin-offs. Some of Briggs' earliest Doctor Who-related work was as host of The Myth Makers, a series of made-for-video documentaries produced in the 1980s and 1990s by Reeltime Pictures in which Briggs interviews many of the actors and writers involved in the series. When Reeltime expanded into producing original dramas, Briggs wrote some stories and acted in others, beginning with War Time, the first unofficial Doctor Who spin-off, and Myth Runner, a parody of Blade Runner showcasing bloopers from the Myth Makers series built around a loose storyline featuring Briggs as a down on his luck private detective in the near future.

He wrote and appeared in several made-for-video dramas by BBV, including the third of the Stranger stories, In Memory Alone opposite former Doctor Who stars Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant. He also wrote and appeared in a non-Stranger BBV production called The Airzone Solution (1993) and directed a documentary film, Stranger than Fiction (1994).

Briggs has directed many of the Big Finish Productions audio plays, and has provided Dalek, Cybermen, and other alien voices in several of those as well. He has also written and directed the Dalek Empire and Cyberman audio plays for Big Finish. In 2006, Briggs took over from Gary Russell as executive producer of the Big Finish Doctor Who audio range.

Briggs co-wrote a Doctor Who book called The Dalek Survival Guide.

Since Doctor Who returned to television in 2005, Briggs has provided the voices for several monsters, most notably the Daleks and the Cybermen. Briggs also voiced the Nestene Consciousness in the 2005 episode "Rose", and recorded a voice for the Jagrafess in the 2005 episode "The Long Game"; however, this was not used in the final episode because it was too similar to the voice of the Nestene Consciousness. He also provided the voices for the Judoon in both the 2007 and 2008 series. On 9 July 2009, Briggs made his first appearance in the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood in the serial Children of Earth, playing Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary Rick Yates.

Reviews

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 3 out of 5]

I cannot give individual rating, so a complete review is going to be equal to the four parts of this audiobook.

This is a new type of audiobook for me. First of all, the correct term is AudioDrama (very similar to Black Library - or they are similar to these ones).

In the beginning you are inducted into the story in the thick of a battle between humans and androids. Back home, where no conflict is present, there are rallies against the war (imagine the rallies in USA for the Vietnam War). Karen, a military officer, ascends to the presidency with the help of Paul Hunt, a mysterious man that was chief of a investigation called "Scorpius".

After the death of former president by the Cyberman, Paul Hunt tells Karen that only with their help humanity shall triumph. Liam, friend of Karen, now commander in chief of the armed forces is weary of Karen change and don't trust Paul Hunt, now risen to advisor for the president of the world.

First, framed for things he did not, he (Liam) became persecuted and was forced to exile with the help of an android.

It was very interesting to see them work together. Android (Samantha) and Human (Liam) against a common foe - the cybermam. You must understand that from the start there is a palpable aura of mistrust between those two races.

This book has no Doctor Who, as you've imagine and deals with a dimension where cyberman were asleep throughout the galaxy but some were unearthed by archaelogists and now are trying to rule the galaxy once more. With the help (servititude?) of some humans they are trying to get to Telos, where they will activate every cyberman asleep. Millions upon Millions. At the same time, the story travels between earth where Karen advised by Paul is trying to built more cyberman enlisting first refugees and prisoners and then "normal" humans.


Spoilers Ahead:

The final confrontation is quite good with Telos being desactivated, after Karen, now a cyberman, is killed. The open ending give the propose to have a second series. Sam and Liam are stranded in a ship without hyperdrive.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve got to admit, I was a wee bit disappointed with this one. I did, not long ago, just finish the epic Dalek Empire Series 01-02 & Dalek Empire Series 03-04 stories and I couldn’t help feel that this is just more of the same stuff. We’re just substituting Cybermen for Daleks and swapping out character names; so, at least initially, it feels like merely recycling old material. Hopefully it will pick up as the story progresses.

[Natira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teil 1 von 4
guter Start, die Audio-Begleitung war sehr atmosphärisch

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good part 1. Rmeinds me of classic WHO

[Terrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting start for this Doctor Who spin off.

[Tabitha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story seemed a little jumbled, somewhat all over the place

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very promising start. Looking forward to the next part.

[Seb Hasi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can’t lie, going into this range I just naturally anticipated a Nick Briggs vanity project which are more than common and meme-able these days. I was then pleasantly surprised how ‘okay’ the first story was. The Cybermen don’t really appear and that is something that really does work as they provide a shadowy menace as the characters start to move into place in their positions in the narrative. Karen Brett and Liam Barnaby are very archetypical protagonists but there are some very obvious twists that are being hinted through the runtime.

The negatives here for me is that the story is almost written in a way that expects you to be immediately emotionally attached to the characters, as when chaos kicks off and hell rains down; characters dying is not remotely saddening as someone who’s had 5 lines is hardly likely to break my heart. The other negative is that there is far too much introduced in this first episode, meaning you have to juggle trying to learn who is who, pay attention to the plot, try keep up with all the android/humanity war continuity, and try and keep up with the mildly erratic pacing of the story. It sounds like a trivial complaint but as much as I did enjoy the story, I did finish it having only a really faint grasp of what was going on.

[Todd · Rating 2 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Frank Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

"What is Scorpius, exactly?"

Not your typical Doctor story. Well, not even actually a Doctor story. But I mean without the Doc and co. traipsing around we get less of an investigate-and-discover narrative. In episodes when we watch the scenes of only story-specific characters, we know those characters will eventually run into the Doctor and I suppose that I was subconsciously anticipating that even though it wasn't going to happen. My brain kept trying to pick out which voice was the Doctor and which was his companion and I had to work a bit harder than usual to follow the story.

Now, I enjoyed this. I think it's a great set up for the series and I like the intentionally dark tone of the story. But I have to comment on what felt to me like an overuse of atmospheric sound effects. I'm probably exaggerating a little, because I didn't actually count, but the first five minutes of this had maybe ten lines of dialogue and the rest was sound effects. It felt like it was used to stretch out the story a bit.

About the story. Well actually I don't want to say too much about it. Humans have been mucking about with androids, we learn that much straight away (or even back in BF DW 017 - 'Sword of Orion'). From the beginning this story starts to address classic scifi themes like how much control we should have over our creations and how much empathy they deserve.

Towards the tail end of this story Madam President makes a speech that I suspect will come back to haunt her. One of those great "over my dead body" lines where you fully expect that outcome.

Novels are greater than audio dramas but also, content is greater than no content, so get in, have a listen, and enjoy. I did and I'm keen to find out where this series goes.

[Debra Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absolutely fantastic audio adventure. It reminded me of the old 1930's and 40's sci-fi radio dramas. This was why better than the Dalek Empire series. I was really sucked in. Can't wait to see how she reacts when realizes she is working for the Cybermen.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

A different Doctor Who spinoff - only tangentially connected to the main universe by the Orion War and pending Cyberization of the human race.

[Jepha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This first part had a really promising start; the setting was set up well, characters introduced cleanly, I wish the rest of the story had continued as well as it began.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting start. Not quite as good as the beginning of Dalek Empire though.

[Saturnberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scary!!!