Earthshock

"The history of your planet is secure after all. Thanks to the Cybermen!"

Writer: Ian Marter

Format: Novel

Released: August 1983

Series: Target 78

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan

Synopsis 

"'Why on Earth?' asked Nyssa disapprovingly. 'Why on Earth not?' replied the Doctor.

A group of palaeontologists have been savagely attacked while carrying out a study of fossilised dinosaur remains in an underground cave system on twenty-sixth century Earth. A party of troopers and Professor Kyle, the only survivor of the attack, are investigating the deaths when they come across the Doctor and his companions at the site of the massacre. The time travellers are immediately suspected. 

Verdict 

Earthshock was a fantastic novelisation of a televised story I really do love. I've seen the TV story of this adventure on two occasions and upon my last viewing I scored it at full marks so you can forgive me for having very high expectations of the novel. At first, I thought things were starting off pretty slowly and nothing much exciting was happening. But soon after the first mention of the TARDIS crew regulars things kicked on into a quite excellent little novel. I love doing these Target adventures, particularly the ones that consist of roughly 120 pages, as they're the perfect length for my frequent train journey from south to mid Wales as I go from my mother's to my father's. I was almost laughing at how perfect the timing was this time around as just as I finished the last line of the last page I noticed the station coming into view where I get off. Not a bad choice out of my selection of Targets I didn't think! I really liked the quarrelling between the Doctor and Adric about the latter wanting to go back home. I really liked the references to Full Circle and Warriors' Gate and I thought it was great how Adric thought Romana may be able to help him and the TARDIS return home to E-Space. The Doctor dismissing the very idea of going to another universe without discussion was very typical of our hero. I liked how Nyssa and Tegan were slightly on the side of Adric though as they hoped to calm the Doctor down so that he'd at least consider the request. The Doctor wanting to take a wonder whilst he'd handed over access to the TARDIS computer to Adric was good and I loved the humour in him selecting Earth as the location. Nyssa and Adric both seemed to be bored of coming to this planet and even Tegan seemed slightly disappointed at being back on her home planet once again. The Doctor though was joyful and set off out into the dark surroundings of the cave system. It was obvious from the get go, and the Doctor's ability to somehow lure danger towards himself on so many previous occasions, that things wouldn't work out in a great way. They were soon approached and blamed for a savage attack that caused the massacre of a group of palaeontologists. It was pretty obvious that the Doctor and co weren't the culprits but it certainly didn't look good for them. As things went on I liked how the Doctor gradually got on to the friendly side of Lieutenant Scott, who I thought was a very good character. I also really liked Professor Kyle as well as Ringway when it comes to the characters of the story. The build up to the reveal of the Cybermen was intriguing and much different to what I was expecting. With the book at 120 pages I was guessing that they'd appear around the thirty page mark but they actually turned up nearer the fiftieth page! Nonetheless, it wasn't the most spectacular of entrances but the very presence of the Cybermen added something very special to the novel. I liked how there was nothing hidden about their plan. They just wanted to blow up Earth for revenge and to prevent the Galactic Congress from building an alliance against the Cybermen. I loved how the scene where the Doctor's meddling in past plans of the Cybermen was depicted. The references to The Tenth Planet, The Tomb of the Cybermen and Revenge of the Cybermen were wonderful and I loved the descriptions of the First, Second and Fourth Doctors. The shift in scene from the caves to the freighter allowed for a climatic ending to the novel. We had key characters dying, the TARDIS team being separated and Cybermen inside the TARDIS itself! The way the Cybermen were stopped was fantastic and even the silver monsters were shocked. I liked how they again exploited the Doctor's emotional weakness but he used their weakness of exposure to gold. The freighter fluctuating in time was quite incredible and I loved how the mention of the dinosaurs' extinction came full circle with the freighter actually being the thing responsible! It was quite a comical irony until it was revealed Adric was still trapped on board trying to break those codes to prevent the crash. When all seemed well he was distracted and would never know if he was right. Adric died as the freighter collided with Earth putting an end to dinosaur life. The atmosphere of the TARDIS was presented incredibly solemnly in print. Overall, a really excellent novel! 

Rating: 9/10