Welcome to ‘Neptune Connect’ in ‘The Fifth Doctor by Tim Bradley’ series of ‘Doctor Who’. This is the first of five stories chronicling the end of Billy Walker’s journey as a travelling companion in the TARDIS with the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa. It’s pretty exciting. 🙂
I’ve always wanted to do a Cybermen story with the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy. I did my take on the Daleks in ‘Doom of the Daleks’ and ‘Return to Christmas’ and my take on the Sontarans in ‘The Stockbridge Terror’. So, here’s a chance to do my take on the Cybermen.
I wrote this story back in the first two months of 2014. I watched and listened to plenty of Cybermen stories in terms of research and helping me to gain inspiration on how to write the Cybermen. This included both classic TV series and new TV series Cybermen stories.
I was also inspired by my favourite ‘Star Trek’ movie ‘Star Trek: First Contact’, featuring ‘The Next Generation’ team. The film features the Borg, who are considered the ‘Star Trek’ equivalent of the Cybermen, especially when they assimilate everyone to be like them. 🙂
In terms of writing my Cybermen story with the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy, I wanted to do a ‘Doctor Who’ version of ‘Star Trek: First Contact’. If you’re familiar with the film, you might find echoes of it featured throughout this story when you read it from start to finish.
That’s not to say this is a direct copy of ‘Star Trek: First Contact’ being translated into ‘Doctor Who’ terms. Far from it. There are also elements of other Cybermen stories featured to make the plot of ‘Neptune Connect’ different to how ‘First Contact’ did things.
There are elements of ‘The Invasion’ and ‘Rise of the Cybermen’/’The Age of Steel’ featured in this story. This is evident in the human villain featured in the story named Giles Tada, who has elements of Tobias Vaughn and John Lumic mixed in throughout this story.
And of course, I want Giles Tada to be played by Brent Spiner to make the connection between ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘Star Trek’ evident. 😀 I also have in mind for Brent Spiner to play Giles Tada’s son Jamie. I’m sure he can play both older and younger roles in this story.
There’s a character named Betty Phillips in the tale. I had in mind for her to be played by Nina Toussaint-White who played Mels in ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’. The story is set in San Francisco in 2054. I’m pretty sure that Nina Toussaint-White can play Betty with an American accent. 😀
Of course, I saw ‘Earthshock’ as the Fifth Doctor’s TV story with the Cybermen to help me with writing ‘Neptune Connect’. I also listened to ‘Spare Parts’ – an audio story which depicts the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa witnessing the ‘genesis’ of the Cybermen on Mondas.
This is before the audio story ‘Genesis of the Cybermen’ gets its release in March 2025. I also wrote ‘Neptune Connect’ before ‘Warzone’ and ‘Conversion’ came along. I decided not to amend ‘Neptune Connect’ to match the continuity of what occurred in those tales.
Essentially, this is my take on how the Fifth Doctor copes with confronting the Cybermen again following the demise of Adric in ‘Earthshock’. It connects to the Doctor’s relationship with Billy, especially as the Doctor is concerned with the safety of his friends.
I don’t know if the way I’ve done it is better than how the Doctor behaved in ‘Warzone’ and ‘Conversion’. Hopefully, my take on it should be interesting enough and I’d like to think ‘Neptune Connect’ showcases the Fifth Doctor’s character development in a unique way.
This story was also an opportunity to explore more of the TARDIS, especially when the Cybermen attempt to take control. I got the opportunity to explore rooms like the Cloister Room as well as the Zero Room, which Christopher H. Bidmead introduced in his stories.
There are also echoes of ‘The TV Movie’ featured in ‘Neptune Connect’, especially when we spend time in the TARDIS cloister room. I don’t know if I’ve done it justice in a Fifth Doctor environment, but hopefully it should be quite entertaining in tying things together.
I enjoyed writing ‘Neptune Connect’ when I wrote it back in 2014 and I’m glad to share it on ‘Bradley’s Basement’ at last. I hope you’ll enjoy my take on the Cybermen and how the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy tackle them. ‘The end of Billy Walker’ in ‘Doctor Who’ begins!
TIM BRADLEY, February 2025
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