Earthshock

"Now I'll never know if I was right."

Writer: Eric Saward
Format: TV
Broadcast: 8th-16th March 1982
Season: 19.06

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan, Adric

Synopsis

The mysterious disappearance of an archaeological team is merely the prelude to a deadlier threat for the Doctor and his companions - the Cybermen want to destroy Earth, and will use any means at their disposal. The Doctor's ingenuity is stretched to its very limits as he battles to defeat the Cyber army at any cost. But even he does not realise just how high that cost will be...

Verdict

Earthshock was an excellent story and served as a wonderful and emotional sendoff for Adric as companion. He was a controversial character and was not the most liked person to ever appear in the show but this adventure made you feel quite guilty about that with his impromptu death. This was probably the fourth time that I have watched this story now and the impact of Adric's demise at the conclusion of the story still hit me. The silence that accompanied the end credits just added to the shock factor of what was a brilliant moment. It's emotional and shocking and that's just fantastic. As if that wasn't enough, this serial also saw the long-awaited return of the Cybermen. Surprise returns like that are very rare now so I can't imagine how good of a cliffhanger the one to part one must have been at the time. The only thing I can compare it to is the reveal that Missy was the Master in Dark Water. I had no idea about that revelation so it really stunned me on broadcast which was magnificent. Anyway, the Cybermen themselves were terrific and whilst I absolutely adored the helmet design, watching now in 2018 made me realise that the whole costume actually wasn't that great. It was quite flimsy and they even seemed quite skinny which didn't do so much for the image of them being powerful. Their plan to destroy Earth in the midst of an intergalactic conflict was terrific and I liked how they feared the combined forces of a planetary alliance. I'd quite like this space conflict of the 26th century to be explored further (Big Finish, perhaps?) and I do hope it happens at some point. The Cybermen discovering that the Doctor was present and working out who he was made me rather happy. That's because it provided marvellous flashbacks to The Tenth Planet, The Tomb of the Cybermen and Revenge of the Cybermen. I'm a sucker for things like that being the continuity fan that I am. The references to Full Circle, Warriors' Gate, Logopolis and Black Orchid were also good moments. The revelation that Ringway was a traitor was good and I liked how quickly the Cybermen just disposed of him when they weren't happy with his work. The Cyber Leader was fantastic and I liked how he enjoyed having power and control over the Doctor. His explanation of why emotional attachment was a weakness was outstanding and other than the ending, it was probably the highlight of the serial for me. But the story has to be about Adric. The death of a companion is such a big moment and the way that the adventure teased the extinction of the dinosaurs and then linked it to Adric's demise with the freighter was incredible. I loved it. Overall, this story was excellent and improved as it went on and if it wasn't for a little bit of a slow start, this would have had an even higher mark.

Rating: 9/10