Mondas (Doctor Who)
Encyclopedia
Mondas is a fictional planet in the British science fiction television
series Doctor Who
. Mondas is the homeworld
of the Cybermen
, a race of cyborg
s.
Mondas is first mentioned in the 1966 Doctor Who serial The Tenth Planet
; this episode is also the first appearance of the Cybermen, a race that recurs in numerous Doctor Who stories. In the The Tenth Planet, a New Zealand astronaut discovers a newly-arrived planet near Earth
, between the orbits of Mars
and Venus
. Later, a Cyberman informs the personnel of a nearby space station that this planet is the home of his people, the Mondasians. When the Cyberman mentions the planet's name, a Doctor Barclay inquires whether Mondas isn't an ancient name for Earth (c.f. the Latin mundus). The Cyberman confirms, and claims that, billions of years ago, Mondas and Earth were twin planets until Mondas drifted into deep space. (In his novel Cybermen, Davis Banks writes that the Moon
's orbit around Earth was the cause of Mondas' break from orbit.)
The Cybermen began to send spaceships to conquer and colonise other planets, including Telos
, where they pushed the native Cryons aside (Attack of the Cybermen
) and established the "tombs" of the Cybermen, vast vaults where they could take refuge in suspended animation
if needed (The Tomb of the Cybermen
).
Eventually, the Cybermen fitted a propulsion system to Mondas itself. This allowed them to pilot the planet through space, returning it to the solar system in 1986 (the setting of The Tenth Planet). The Cybermen invaded Earth while Mondas drew closer, draining Earth's energy to replace and supplement its own. However, the energy absorbed was too much, and Mondas disintegrated along with the Cyber forces on Earth.
The 2006 episodes "Rise of the Cybermen
" and "The Age of Steel
" introduced Cybermen who originated from an Earth in a parallel universe, rather than on Mondas. The Tenth Doctor
alludes to Mondas when he explains that the Cybermen of his own universe started from a planet "just like" the Earth.
and illustrated by John Ridgway
and Tim Perkins, (Doctor Who Magazine
#127-#129) shows the Voord of the planet Marinus using stolen time technology to "quick-evolve" themselves into the earliest Cybermen, which would make Marinus an earlier version of Mondas, before a change of name.
Incompatible with this explanation, the Virgin Missing Adventures
novel State of Change
by Christopher Bulis
takes place on Terra Nova, a duplicate of Earth which may possibly later turn into Mondas.
The monthly series of comic strips written by Alan Barnes
and drawn by Adrian Salmon
, The Cybermen (DWM #215-#238) ignored this and took place on an unspoiled version of Mondas. It is not an origin story per se, but a sequence of events taking place in a larger history beginning with the story The Dead Heart, taking place some time after Mondas has begun its journey. It showed Cybermen similar to those shown in "The Tenth Planet" discovering and warring with Silurians
and Sea Devils.
The last story of the cycle, The Ugly Underneath, depicts the original Cybermen having died out, by which time an Earth-like, technologically modern civilisation has arisen to replace them. The comic strip ended with the implication that revived Cybermen will, one day, still take over the planet. The Sea Devils and Silurians do not appear in this story.
In the Big Finish Productions
audio play Spare Parts, the Fifth Doctor
and his companion Nyssa arrived on Mondas prior to the rise of the Cybermen, while it was still drifting through space. There, they discovered the Mondasians living underground in a culture virtually identical to that of England
in the 1950s, although with more advanced technology. The play relates the slow slide of the Mondasians towards cyber-conversion, conceived by the cybernetic gestalt intelligence controlling Mondas (an early version of the Cyber Planner seen in The Wheel in Space
and The Invasion
) as a solution to the planet's increasingly desperate situation.
Like for the other spin-off
media, the canonicity of these and other non-televised accounts is uncertain.
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...
series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
. Mondas is the homeworld
Homeworld
Homeworld is a real-time strategy computer game released on September 28, 1999, developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment. It was the first fully three-dimensional RTS. In 2003, Relic released the source code for Homeworld...
of the Cybermen
Cyberman
The Cybermen are a fictional race of cyborgs who are amongst the most persistent enemies of the Doctor in the British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. Cybermen were originally a wholly organic species of humanoids originating on Earth's twin planet Mondas that began to implant more...
, a race of cyborg
Cyborg
A cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...
s.
Mondas is first mentioned in the 1966 Doctor Who serial The Tenth Planet
The Tenth Planet
The Tenth Planet is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 8 October to 29 October 1966. It was William Hartnell's last regular appearance as the First Doctor, and the first story to feature the Cybermen...
; this episode is also the first appearance of the Cybermen, a race that recurs in numerous Doctor Who stories. In the The Tenth Planet, a New Zealand astronaut discovers a newly-arrived planet near Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
, between the orbits of Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
and Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
. Later, a Cyberman informs the personnel of a nearby space station that this planet is the home of his people, the Mondasians. When the Cyberman mentions the planet's name, a Doctor Barclay inquires whether Mondas isn't an ancient name for Earth (c.f. the Latin mundus). The Cyberman confirms, and claims that, billions of years ago, Mondas and Earth were twin planets until Mondas drifted into deep space. (In his novel Cybermen, Davis Banks writes that the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
's orbit around Earth was the cause of Mondas' break from orbit.)
The Cybermen began to send spaceships to conquer and colonise other planets, including Telos
Telos (Doctor Who)
Telos is a fictional planet from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is an arid and mountainous planet, with little sign of vegetation...
, where they pushed the native Cryons aside (Attack of the Cybermen
Attack of the Cybermen
Attack of the Cybermen is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts from 5 January to 12 January 1985. It opened Season 22 of the series...
) and established the "tombs" of the Cybermen, vast vaults where they could take refuge in suspended animation
Suspended animation
Suspended animation is the slowing of life processes by external means without termination. Breathing, heartbeat, and other involuntary functions may still occur, but they can only be detected by artificial means. Extreme cold can be used to precipitate the slowing of an individual's functions; use...
if needed (The Tomb of the Cybermen
The Tomb of the Cybermen
The Tomb of the Cybermen is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that originally aired in four weekly parts from September 2 to September 23, 1967 and is the earliest serial starring Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor to exist in its entirety...
).
Eventually, the Cybermen fitted a propulsion system to Mondas itself. This allowed them to pilot the planet through space, returning it to the solar system in 1986 (the setting of The Tenth Planet). The Cybermen invaded Earth while Mondas drew closer, draining Earth's energy to replace and supplement its own. However, the energy absorbed was too much, and Mondas disintegrated along with the Cyber forces on Earth.
The 2006 episodes "Rise of the Cybermen
Rise of the Cybermen
"Rise of the Cybermen" is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The episode features the return of Cybermen, where they are created on Earth itself. It is the first part of a two-part story, the concluding part being "The Age of Steel"...
" and "The Age of Steel
The Age of Steel
"The Age of Steel" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on 20 May 2006 and is the second part of a two-part story that was the first to feature the Cybermen since Silver Nemesis in 1988. The first part, "Rise of the Cybermen", was...
" introduced Cybermen who originated from an Earth in a parallel universe, rather than on Mondas. The Tenth Doctor
Tenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by David Tennant, who appears in three series, as well as eight specials...
alludes to Mondas when he explains that the Cybermen of his own universe started from a planet "just like" the Earth.
Other appearances
The comic strip The World Shapers, written by Grant MorrisonGrant Morrison
Grant Morrison is a Scottish comic book writer, playwright and occultist. He is known for his nonlinear narratives and counter-cultural leanings, as well as his successful runs on titles like Animal Man, Doom Patrol, JLA, The Invisibles, New X-Men, Fantastic Four, All-Star Superman, and...
and illustrated by John Ridgway
John Ridgway (comic artist)
John Ridgway is a British comics artist.-Career:Ridgway began his career initially as a hobby, drawing D.C.Thompson's Commando War Stories alongside professional work as a design engineer...
and Tim Perkins, (Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
#127-#129) shows the Voord of the planet Marinus using stolen time technology to "quick-evolve" themselves into the earliest Cybermen, which would make Marinus an earlier version of Mondas, before a change of name.
Incompatible with this explanation, the Virgin Missing Adventures
Virgin Missing Adventures
The Virgin Missing Adventures were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which had been cancelled in 1989, featuring stories set between televised episodes of the programme. The novels were published from 1994 to 1997, and...
novel State of Change
State of Change
State of Change is an original novel written by Christopher Bulis and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
by Christopher Bulis
Christopher Bulis
Christopher Bulis is a writer best known for his work on various Doctor Who spin-offs. He is one of the most prolific authors to write for the various ranges of spin-offs from the BBC Television series Doctor Who, with twelve novels to his name, and between 1993 and 2000 he had at least one Doctor...
takes place on Terra Nova, a duplicate of Earth which may possibly later turn into Mondas.
The monthly series of comic strips written by Alan Barnes
Alan Barnes (writer)
Alan Barnes is a British writer and editor, particularly noted for work in the field of cult film and television.-Biography:Barnes served as the editor of Judge Dredd Megazine from 2001 until December 2005, during which time the title saw a considerable increase in the number of new strip pages. ...
and drawn by Adrian Salmon
Adrian Salmon
-Biography:Salmon's early work included The Cybermen for Doctor Who Magazine and Judge Karyn for the Judge Dredd Megazine. He then spent time working on various Panini Comics titles including The Rugrats and Action Man...
, The Cybermen (DWM #215-#238) ignored this and took place on an unspoiled version of Mondas. It is not an origin story per se, but a sequence of events taking place in a larger history beginning with the story The Dead Heart, taking place some time after Mondas has begun its journey. It showed Cybermen similar to those shown in "The Tenth Planet" discovering and warring with Silurians
Silurian (Doctor Who)
The Silurians are a fictional race of reptile-like humanoids in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The species first appeared in Doctor Who in the 1970 serial Doctor Who and the Silurians...
and Sea Devils.
The last story of the cycle, The Ugly Underneath, depicts the original Cybermen having died out, by which time an Earth-like, technologically modern civilisation has arisen to replace them. The comic strip ended with the implication that revived Cybermen will, one day, still take over the planet. The Sea Devils and Silurians do not appear in this story.
In the Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
audio play Spare Parts, the Fifth Doctor
Fifth Doctor
The Fifth Doctor is the fifth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Peter Davison....
and his companion Nyssa arrived on Mondas prior to the rise of the Cybermen, while it was still drifting through space. There, they discovered the Mondasians living underground in a culture virtually identical to that of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in the 1950s, although with more advanced technology. The play relates the slow slide of the Mondasians towards cyber-conversion, conceived by the cybernetic gestalt intelligence controlling Mondas (an early version of the Cyber Planner seen in The Wheel in Space
The Wheel in Space
The Wheel in Space is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in six weekly parts from 27 April to 1 June 1968...
and The Invasion
The Invasion (Doctor Who)
The Invasion is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in eight weekly parts from 2 November to 21 December 1968...
) as a solution to the planet's increasingly desperate situation.
Like for the other spin-off
Doctor Who spin-offs
Doctor Who spin-offs refers to material created outside of, but related to, the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....
media, the canonicity of these and other non-televised accounts is uncertain.