Somehow: they did it again. Trying to live up to Spare Parts 23 years later seems like an impossible task, but it's one that was pulled off successfully. This time Tegan and Adric join the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa for the ride, showing us a different vision of Mondas.

Here, Mondas is portrayed as high-tech medieval society, I certainly didn't expect the story to start with the prince discussing his next role on stage. However, the planet is slowly dying, and the prince's younger brother Dega is trying to save their father which naturally leads him to the Cybermen.

The prince, Sylvan, forces the TARDIS thirty years into the future to find the Cybermen have already started. Dega is both a pathetic and haunting antagonist, and the slow build-up of the Cybermen is handled beautifully. And the electro music that starts at the part three cliffhanger is unbelievably cool.

Poor Nyssa is wracked with guilt for having helped inspire the Cybermen, a shame that story thread will never get explored as this is in its own continuity bubble. Also the Mondasian survivors become the first humans?

All in all: it's a fantastic story and a great remix of the Cybermen's origins.