Även om det aldrig har uttryckligen bekräftats att Cyberman inte äter, har vi aldrig sett dem äta någonting i Old Who eller New Who, och det finns signifikanta bevis för att de inte behöver äta.
Mina omständigheter är följande:
1) Även i berättelsen om en halvmånad halv-cyberwoman nämndes inget om mat.
TANIZAKI: Some elements have been augmented. Some are still human. Sensory capacity, for instance. Her breathing and hearing appears completely cybernetic. And yet...there's also bare flesh. Amazing. Perhaps 55% augmentation with 45% awaiting completion. Do you think? Or perhaps, maybe 60/40. It's fascinating.
IANTO: Can you make her human again?
TANIZAKI: You took parts from a Cyber conversion unit and modified them into a life support for her? How did you know what to do?
LISA: I told him.
Torchwood - Cyberwoman
På något sätt i det här avsnittet finns det några konsekvenser som hon äter, eller att Ianto har skrattar mat till henne. Ändå har hon levt ganska länge enbart på grund av det livsstödssystem som de cobbled tillsammans ut ur extra cyber-tech. Den obligatoriska ledningen tidigt i det här avsnittet att något inte har rätt är ett "internt strömavlopp", som saknar bitar av mat.
2) Det är ganska klart att Cybermen i både Old Who och New Who är nästan helt robot, och hjärnan är vanligtvis störst om inte den enda organiska komponenten kvar.
Om inget annat organiskt material kvar skulle säkert minska behovet av mat. Huruvida det inte eliminerar behovet av mat beror på vetenskaplig spekulation, jag är inte beredd att göra, men det verkar säkert att anta att science fiction tech kan bevara en mänsklig hjärna utan mat.
KRAIL: Yes, Cybermen. We were exactly like you once but our cybernetic scientists realised that our race was getting weak.
BARCLAY: Weak? How?
KRAIL: Our life span was getting shorter, so our scientists and doctors devised spare parts for our bodies until we could be almost completely replaced.
POLLY: But that means you're not like us. You're robots!
KRAIL: Our brains are just like yours except that certain weaknesses have been removed.
BARCLAY: Weaknesses? What weaknesses?
KRAIL: You call them emotions, do you not?
POLLY: But that's terrible. You, you mean you wouldn't care about someone in pain?
KRAIL: There would be no need. We do not feel pain.
The Tenth Planet
DOCTOR: They were, until they had all their humanity taken away. That's a living brain jammed inside a cybernetic body, with a heart of steel. All emotions removed.
Rise of the Cybermen
LUMIC: The most precious thing on this Earth is the human brain, and yet we allow it to die. But now Cybus Industries has perfected a way of sustaining the brain indefinitely within a cradle of copyrighted chemicals. And the latest advances in synapse research allows cyberkinetic impulses to be bonded onto a metal exoskeleton. This is the ultimate upgrade. Our greatest step into cyberspace.
Rise of the Cybermen
Du kan tolka den här linjen som en uttrycklig bekräftelse på att New Who / Petes World Cybermen inte behöver någon mat. Tyvärr har de inte alltid varit helt konsekventa om den organiska hjärnans sak ...
DOCTOR: Loose thinking. The trouble with Cybermen is they've got hydraulic muscles, and of course hydraulic brains to go with them.
Revenge of the Cybermen
Och det finns även en instans där "organisk del" dör.
AMY: And what's a Cyberman?
DOCTOR: Oh, sort of part man, part robot. The organic part must have died out years ago. Now the robot part is looking for, well, fresh meat.
AMY: What, us?
DOCTOR: It's just like being an organ donor, except you're alive and sort of screaming. I need to get round behind it. Could you draw its fire?
The Pandorica Opens
Så ledsen kan jag inte basera något järnklädda argument på den här punkten, vilket är anledningen till att jag sa "vanligtvis".
3) Det verkar ganska klart att Cybermen kräver kraft.
KAFTAN: A Cyberman would stand in that form and be, well, revitalised?
VINER: Yes, that's reasonable. These projectors were probably made to fire in neuro-electric potential. Yes, that's it, I think you're right.
Tomb of the Cybermen
Jag antar att "skjutning i neuroelektrisk potential" är i stort sett samma sak som "laddning".
DOCTOR: See? Compressed information. Tons of it. That is the history of London, 1066 to the present day. This is like a disc, a Cyberdisc. But why would the Cybermen need something so simple? They've got to be wireless. Unless, they're in the wrong century. They haven't got much power. They need plain old basic infostamps to update themselves. Are you all right?
The Next Doctor
DOCTOR: Took me a while, alot on my mind. (stands and turns around) Let's see, this ship crashed here centuries ago, no survivors, but the systems are dormant waiting for power. And then the council stick a load of new cables right on top of you. Bitey wakes up and channels the power, you start crewing up from the shop as best you can, not enough power, not enough parts.
Closing Time
4) I New Who beskrivs cybermen ibland som "odödliga", vilket skulle vara märkligt om de skulle svälta ihjäl.
CYBERMAN: You are in pain. We can remove pain forever.
LUMIC: No, not yet! I'm not ready.
CYBERMAN: We will give you immortality.
...
DOCTOR: Yeah, but that's it. That's exactly the point! Oh, Lumic, you're a clever man. I'd call you a genius, except I'm in the room. But everything you've invented, you did to fight your sickness. And that's brilliant. That is so human. But once you get rid of sickness and mortality, then what's there to strive for, eh? The Cybermen won't advance. You'll just stop. You'll stay like this forever. A metal Earth with metal men and metal thoughts, lacking the one thing that makes this planet so alive. People. Ordinary, stupid, brilliant people.
The Age of Steel