We're shown a few characters being cyberized, so they didn't forget…or did they? This story also came under heavy fire during a time when the show seemed to ratchet up the violent content, even depicting blood when Lytton has his hands crushed by the Cybermen. But wait, what do we have here? In "Attack of the Cybermen," not only are the silver ones a bunch of push-overs - who needs gold when you can just knock their heads off with ease - but they appear to be nothing more than robots inside.
The new series created a whole new parallel universe strain of Cybermen that turned them into just human brains in empty tin cans - a move I've always felt severely undercuts the body horror aspect of the creatures. With the Daleks around, they're always going to be the #2 baddie, but they can be great fun, and their zombie-like underpinnings - underneath the plastic and metal and silver wetsuits are the decayed remains of the organic beings assimilated into their cyber-collective (yup, the Borg stole this) - make them even creepier than their pepperpot rivals. But from the drab grey quarries of Telos to the ridiculous vacuform Cryon costumes (tinsel moustaches, I ask you) to the pathetic Cybermen (more in a minute) led by the same Controller that appeared decades earlier in "Tomb of the Cybermen" (played by the same actor, Michael Kilgarriff, but with a comical pot belly) to the sudden decision to make the TARDIS changing form a running gag that thankfully ends within the same story - this is a benchmark for bad Doctor Who.
Neither do I have a problem with a guest cast boasting such luminaries as Brian Glover, Terry Molloy (usually Davros but here in a human part for a change) and of course Colbourne (returning from the previous season's similarly continuity-laden mess, "Resurrection of the Daleks"). I have nothing against Baker and Bryant, both game to make something of their poorly conceived characters. It'll cause you nothing but pain and tears. If you're a casual fan or a new series viewer eager to explore the myriad worlds of classic Who, I can't encourage this behavior here. There are those of us that have steeped ourselves in every aspect of Who lore for most of our lives and "Attack of the Cybermen" still makes our brains hurt. That's their home world, you see, although lately they've been using the planet Telos as a base well, I say base, although really it's nothing more than an icy tomb, and there are some half-cyberized workers digging in a quarry there, and then there's this race called the Cryons, and they're… Look, never mind. It's 1985 this time around though, Halley's Comet is right around the corner, an old enemy by the name of Lytton (Maurice Colbourne) is preparing for a very strange bank robbery, and the Cybermen are skulking around the sewers - as they often do - to change history and prevent the destruction of Mondas. The Doctor (Colin Baker) is still reeling from a very unstable regeneration and together with his hapless companion Peri (Nicola Bryant), he lands back in good ol' Totters Yard, where it all began back in November 1963.