What can I say what hasn’t been said about this one?
This one is definitely a Highlight for the early Days of BF (admittedly a bit “overrated”) but still excellent as ever. I really love the whole Concept of the Cybermen, sadly only rarely we explore the personal tragedy of conversion or the body horror of it. This one does, and it really does it well. I think one thing I noticed with early BF plays that they can be quite unmemorable, sadly, despite often having a pretty solid cast with solid performances. With this one, I still vividly remember most of the Cast besides our leads. Davison and Sutton are really stellar here. And the world building is superb. It’s amazing. Is it perfect? No, I don’t think so, but I wouldn’t blame anybody viewing this one as one of the best.

My first BF audio and a really special one indeed, the perfect duo was choosen to visit Mondas on its last leg, both the Doctor and Nyssa s plotlines are amazing, the cybermen voices, the scenes, the comitee, pretty much everything about this story is top tier

🔟🔽 = MASTERPIECE!

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

“GENESIS OF THE CYBERMEN!”

Spare Parts opens with one of the most atmospheric, tense, and dramatic first parts of any Big Finish story I’ve heard. It sets the scene and the rapidly deteriorating Mondasan society effectively; it introduces the local population, all fleshed out beautifully and performed with real heart, and it slowly reveals the emerging Cyberman threat and the genesis of the Doctor’s second biggest foe.

With the Mondasian inhabitants at the forefront, Spare Parts successfully blends strong character drama with a fascinating science fiction adventure. The very humane Cybermen are the most creepy part of the entire story. Their sing-song voices, as heard in their first appearance in The Tenth Planet, are spot-on and just as horrifying as before.

Marc Platt creates a properly engaging, emotionally grating, and vivid story, and the performances help it come to life. Even Davison and Sutton carry plenty of weight as the 5th Doctor and Nyssa, and this comes from someone who isn't a big fan of either character. Davison goes in with fierce emotional energy, and Sutton brings out all the best qualities of Nyssa; the two of them interact with the guest cast effortlessly.

Spare Parts forms an ominous and tragic atmosphere from the onset, slowly revealing more and more of the story that will eventually end up being the origin story of the Mondasian Cybermen. It's horrifying to hear about the experiments made on the humans on the planet; it's terrifying to hear how Cybermen are created and how they suffer under all those metal parts; how the necessity of survival drives the surviving humans on Mondas on the brink of disaster and finally tipping over. There are some truly harrowing and heartbreaking scenes in the final two parts, so emotional and horrifying that you will never forget them.

Platt nails the 5th Doctor and Nyssa and their distinct personalities dealing with the Cybermen post-Adric. He also nails the inherently creepy original Cybermen and writes deeply humane characters that the listener cares for. The tense and dark atmosphere translates incredibly well through Platt's dialogue, and the best parts are those that force the characters to express their emotions.

The plot is fairly simple, yet effectively deep and tragic. The script doesn't attempt to hide the fact that we are following the origins of the Cybermen but truly builds up to that pivotal, harrowing moment. There is a logical reason as to why the Cybermen are created, and the story expertly ties into their later (and earlier) appearance in the 1966 TV classic The Tenth Planet. It's also refreshing to hear a story that forces the Doctor to help despite knowing that there is nothing he can do. It's like an audio version of The Fires of Pompeii.

Origin stories for popular villains are always intriguing, and Spare Parts is no exception. It's the crumbling world of Mondas and the events leading to the rise of the Cybermen that keep this story immensely engaging and deeply emotional. And the listener will be engulfed by the harrowing story, despite knowing how it all will end.

At the time of release, Spare Parts was immensely original, thanks to the way it handles the Cybermen and gives them a human edge that is usually forgotten in their other appearances. We have received several alternate origin stories since, but nothing hits quite as hard as this one (including the 2006 two-parter, which was inspired by this adventure).

The sound design and music are among the finest in early Big Finish, and they help create and maintain the dramatic atmosphere that will stick with you long after you've finished listening.

People repeatedly highlight Spare Parts as one of the most emotional and hard-hitting Big Finish Doctor Who releases, and I can understand why. It's dark, it's tragic, and it's scary. It gives the Cybermen a backstory, which, to date, is the best one they've been given.

22.07.2022

People really say this is one of the best BF plays of all time. They're wrong, of course. It's a curious origin story, but not much more really. The secondary cast blend into one, I had difficulty differentiating the characters. The central conflict is stated but not iterated upon. The conclusion is rushed, things just happen one after another with no rhyme or reason, and I paused several times because I had more interesting thoughts due to being distracted from this. 1.5/5

The 5th Doctor and Nyssa arrive on the planet Mondas and discover a population eking out an existence below ground; a situation which will see the beginning of the Cybermen.

Nyssa meets the Hartley family and witnesses their daughter, Yvonne, become a proto-Cyberman. The Doctor meets Thomas Dodd, a ‘spare parts’ black marketeer and the earliest Cyber forms.

The planet Mondas is dying and the Committee is processing humans into Cybermen to allow them to survive on the surface of the planet. Despite the Doctor and Nyssa’s efforts, the humans trudge inexorably towards their predestined fate – to become the Cybermen.

The Doctor is horrified when Doctorman Allen, the creator of the cyber process realises that his alien physiology could be the answer to the problems she has been having with humans rejecting the process. Against his will she includes her findings in the process meaning that all Cybermen are, in part, based on a template of the Doctor.

However, the Committee eventually loses all vestiges of humanity and the processed Cybermen begin to take charge; their cold logic defeating the cries of even Doctorman Allen, who finally realises the terrible mistake she has made.

The Doctor and Nyssa succeed, however, in destroying the Committee – now the Cyberplanner – and the Cybermen’s commander, Sheng. They leave Mondas presuming that, if nothing else, they have given the Cybermen a chance to coexist with the unprocessed humans and that Allen is planning on reversing the processing as far as possible, allowing the Cybermen to at least experience some emotion.

In their absence, we discover that Sheng is still alive and that the humans are doomed after all…

As Lance Parkin states in A History, the dating of Spare Parts is difficult as there is little in the story itself to suggest when this occurs relative to Earth.
The Doctor states that Mondas’ technology is millennia ahead of Earth, therefore implying that although the setting and characters reflect 1950s Northern England (all planet’s have a North), this is merely an affectation for the purposes of storytelling; giving the drama somewhat of a post-World War Two vibe.

The Doctor does state that, due to the Committee’s decisions the planet is ‘stuck in the 1950s’ suggesting that were it not for the cybernetic enhancements to their population, the Mondasian culture would be millennia ahead of Earth in technology and culture, seeing as their ‘1950s’ has occurred whilst Earth humans are still little more than apes.

A History suggests that this story occurs somewhere between 65,000,000 BC and 12,000,000 BC. The planet begins its journey back to our solar system at the end of this story and Parkin suggests that, as this will not take as long as the journey out due to the propulsion system, that the Cybermen may well pilot Mondas around the Universe before re-entering out Solar System in 1986 as seen in The Tenth Planet.

It’s interesting that in this ‘prehistory’ section of the Universe’s history, it is the 5th Doctor and Nyssa who seem to be witnessing many of the events (both real and, in the case of The Boy that Time Forgot, artificially created). They have visited Jurassic Earth, witnessed the destruction of the dinosaurs, visited an alternate prehistoric timeline and now, have seen the early days of Mondas. Looking ahead, they will also visit the distant past of Nyssa’s own planet Traken, in Primeval.

Spare Parts is simply put – superb. It is the ultimate tragedy. As listeners, we know exactly what the Mondasians will become and to see it painted for us with human characters who you really care for, brings home the horror far more than the origins of the Daleks in Genesis of the Daleks ever does. Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton are brilliant in one of their best performances as the Doctor and Nyssa. The personal level of seeing the beginning of the Cybermen so soon (relatively) after Adric’s death hits home and the contrast between the Doctor’s initial desire to leave Mondas to its ultimate fate and Nyssa’s determination to fight against it happening makes for some passionate scenes. The guest cast are note perfect, particularly Sally Knyvette (of Blakes 7 fame) as Doctorman Allen and Paul Copley as Mr Hartley.

It is quite possibly the ultimate Cyberman story and will stand as, not only one of the best stories that Big Finish have produced, but one of the best Doctor Who stories of all time.