‘EARTHSHOCK’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
The Cybermen To Shock The Earth
We’re now on what is considered to be the highlight of Season 19 of ‘Doctor Who’! Believe it or not, this was the very first story I saw from the classic series after watching the new series of ‘Doctor Who’ back in 2006! It’s amazing how much time has passed and how much has changed for me here.
Back in 2006, I saw Series 1 of ‘Doctor Who’ with Christopher Eccleston and Series 2 with David Tennant. I’d just seen ‘Army of Ghosts’/’Doomsday’ by that point. I was enjoying the new series of ‘Doctor Who’ so much that I wanted to see some of the classic stuff from the days before I was born.
So the first classic ‘Doctor Who’ story that I went for was with Peter Davison’s Doctor. This was because I’d seen Peter Davison in ‘All Creatures Great and Small’, so I knew what he was like. I wanted to see a Cybermen story with Peter Davison’s Doctor and this turned out to be ‘Earthshock’.
I purchased the ‘Earthshock’ DVD at a Tesco store in Cardiff, September 2006. I watched the story at home with my parents. It was a very unusual viewing experience compared to watching the new series ‘Doctor Who’ episodes I’d already seen in both Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant eras.
But I enjoyed watching ‘Earthshock’ so much. Years later, people said to me that I picked a good choice with ‘Earthshock’. In many ways, ‘Earthshock’ is the story that defined the Peter Davison era of ‘Doctor Who’. I will identify on why that is the case since the tale does feature significant moments in it.
‘Earthshock’ is a four-part story by Eric Saward, who previously wrote ‘The Visitation’ in Season 19 and had become the new script-editor for the Peter Davison era of ‘Doctor Who’. The story was also directed by Peter Grimwade. He previously directed ‘Full Circle’, ‘Logopolis’ and ‘Kinda’ in the series.
As well as seeing Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor for the first time in ‘Doctor Who’, I also saw Janet Fielding as Tegan; Sarah Sutton as Nyssa and Matthew Waterhouse as Adric for the first time. It was great to see these four TARDIS regulars for the first time in the ‘Doctor Who’ TV tale with Cybermen.
At the time in 2006, I didn’t know that I would grow to love the Season 19 TARDIS team of ‘Doctor Who’ and enjoy their adventures years later both in TV and audio. I also didn’t know at the time that I would get to meet these stars in real-life, especially since ‘Doctor Who’ became a big thing for me!
I’ve had the DVD cover of ‘Earthshock’ signed by Peter Davison at the ‘H-Con’ convention in Eastleigh, Hampshire in July 2015 and by Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and Matthew Waterhouse at the ‘Dimensions 2013’ convention in Newcastle in October 2013. I’m very pleased that I’ve had my DVD cover of the story signed by Peter, Janet, Sarah and Matthew since this adventure means a lot to me.
I’ve also had the ‘Earthshock’ DVD cover signed by the ‘excellent’ David Banks who played the Cyber Leader in the story at ‘The Capitol II’ convention in the Arora Hotel, Gatwick, May 2017. I had an enjoyable chat with David Banks as we talked about how very different the ‘Earthshock’ Cybermen were compared to today’s Cybermen in the new series today. He seemed very jovial when I met him.
I’ve also had a lovely photo of Nyssa with Peter Davison’s Doctor and some Cybermen from ‘Earthshock’ signed by Sarah Sutton for my birthday at the ‘Stars of Time Film and Comic Con’ in Weston-super-Mare, May 2016. It was very nice to have that photo signed for my birthday by Sarah.
Like I said, I had already seen Peter Davison in the ‘All Creatures’ series before seeing him in ‘Doctor Who’. I was curious what Peter would be like as the Doctor and whether he would be different from playing Tristan in ‘All Creatures’. I didn’t know what to expect when I saw ‘Earthshock’ for first time.
But when I saw Peter in ‘Earthshock’, I liked his Doctor immediately. I enjoyed Peter’s youthful enthusiasm as the Doctor throughout and I also liked the balance of human compassion and alien intelligence that he put into his Doctor. Peter convinced me that he was the Doctor from thereon. 😀
Peter Davison had started the trend of ‘young’ Doctors back then before David Tennant and Matt Smith came along. Peter has become one of my favourite Doctors from the series and I’ve been so lucky to meet him at conventions! I have enjoyed chatting to him and hearing him talk on the panels.
I especially liked the moment in the story where the Doctor sees the Cybermen on the frieghter’s view-screen for the first time. Some of the lines Peter’s Doctor says in that moment echo what would be later said by David Tennant in his two-part story, ‘Rise of the Cybermen’/’The Age of Steel’.
Sarah Sutton as Nyssa is my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ companion! This was the first time I saw Nyssa in ‘Doctor Who’ through ‘Earthshock’, so I didn’t know at the time that I would grow to like her as a character as well as liking Sarah Sutton as an actress. It is extraordinary to look back on those times.
At the ‘Dimensions 2013’ convention, I surprised Sarah when I told her ‘Earthshock’ was the first time I saw her in ‘Doctor Who’. I told her I didn’t watch ‘Doctor Who’ as a kid and she said she hadn’t either which made me feel better. I’ve seen Sarah at many conventions since seeing ‘Earthshock’! 😀
I even saw Sarah in passing after I had my breakfast whilst staying at the hotel where ‘Dimensions 2013’ took place. That was nice that. 😀 Sarah has said that ‘Earthshock’ is one of her favourite stories from ‘Doctor Who’. She even told me this when I conducted an interview with her at the ‘Bournemouth Film and Comic Con’ in August 2015. You can watch this in the YouTube video above.
With that said though, I don’t think ‘Earthshock’ has Nyssa doing much. For one thing, she’s mostly stuck in the TARDIS. I did enjoy Nyssa’s scenes with Kyle in the TARDIS when they see Cybermen on the scanner and I also liked it when Nyssa used a Cyber-gun to save the Doctor from one Cyberman.
I also liked the scene Nyssa shared with Adric after having an argument with the Doctor in ‘Part One’. But aside from those lovely moments, Nyssa’s reduced to being stuck in the TARDIS where she could’ve gone out and joined the Doctor. This was a problem with the crowded TARDIS in Season 19.
This was also the first time I saw Janet Fielding as Tegan in ‘Doctor Who’. Janet remembers ‘Earthshock’ fondly when I asked her to signed the DVD cover of the story for me. She remembers it being directed by Peter Grimwade. I gather she became good friends with him after doing the series.
I’ve enjoyed seeing Janet Fielding at conventions since she comes across as likeable and funny to chat to during signings, even though she can be a bit of a force to be reckoned with. 😀 Janet is also great to see on panel talks as she can be funny and knows her stuff regarding films; television and fashion.
In ‘Earthshock’, I found Tegan to be a spirited woman since she tended to be bossy at times. I grew to like Tegan later on. I did like it when Tegan calmed the Doctor down after his argument with Adric, although I think she could’ve given him a massage rather just say “Breathe deeply and relax!”
Tegan also gets to be the action girl in this story with being gun-ho when getting to use a Cyber-gun on them. It does get tense when Tegan gets captured by a Cyberman and when she tries to pilot the TARDIS herself to stop the freighter crashing into Earth. The Doctor quickly reprimands her for that.
This was also the first time I saw Matthew Waterhouse as Adric in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. I found Matthew great as Adric in this. It was strange for me to see this story for the first time as I didn’t know that it would be Adric’s last story in the series and I didn’t know he would get killed off as well.
I’ve also met Matthew at many conventions and he’s a really nice chap to chat to. I even chatted to Matthew in the lift once when I was at the hotel where ‘Dimensions 2013’ took place. When he signed the ‘Earthshock’ DVD cover for me, I told Matthew how much I enjoyed the story very much.
I said I found ‘Earthshock’ to be a great story and Matthew agreed, calling it a ‘classic’. I must admit I did Adric a little annoying at first, but that was only because I didn’t know him very well then. That bitter argument between Adric and the Doctor when he wants to go back to E-Space did put me off.
But I grew to like Adric over time and in a strange way, especially as Matthew delivers a good performance as the character in this. I had no idea that there was a division of fan opinion on Adric in terms of whether fans liked him or not. As I indicated, the story’s end for Adric ‘shocked’ me indeed.
I was very impressed by how Eric Saward kept the Cybermen’s presence a secret throughout most of ‘Part One’ before the reveal at the end. At the time of transmission on TV, the Cybermen’s presence was a well-kept secret as nobody knew who to expect at the end of the first episode of the TV story.
I’m sure many fans were extremely excited to see the return of the Cybermen back in the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series at the end of ‘Part One’ of ‘Earthshock’. The Cybermen hadn’t been seen for a long while in the space of seven years and their previous TV appearance was ‘Revenge of the Cybermen’.
When I saw the Cybermen in ‘Earthshock’, it was pretty exciting too as I found it to be a tense, atmospheric story. Unfortunately, I’m not a fan of the ‘Earthshock’ Cybermen in terms of their costume design and voice work. I’m afraid I have been spoilt by the new series Cybermen from 2006.
I was ‘shocked’ by how the 1980s Cybermen appeared in ‘Earthshock’ and was disappointed they didn’t have the ‘ultimate upgrade’ like the new series ones did. I was also annoyed that the Cybermen didn’t say ‘delete’ as their catchphrase. They say ‘destroy’ instead! That isn’t good for me.
In terms of their costume design, the Cybermen’s headsets are the best part. But the rest looks pathetic as it doesn’t look metallic at all and the Cybermen don’t appear to be robotic as they should. The Cyber voices are fine I suppose, but it doesn’t help with the emotive dialogue they utter.
I also got annoyed when the Cyber Leader kept saying “Excellent!” in the story. I did a count and apparently the Cyber Leader says “Excellent!” thirteen times in the story. I just find the way David Banks as the Cyber Leader says it to be campy and not in the way of the ’emotionless’ Cyber Leader.
I’ve shared with Sarah Sutton and Matthew Waterhouse about my feelings regarding the 1980s Cybermen during a coffee club session at the ‘Dimensions 2013’ convention. It was interesting to hear their responses regarding the 1980s Cybermen. I hope I’ve justified myself what I feel like that.
I did like certain moments with the Cybermen in this story though, especially when the Cyber Leader used emotions to weaken the Doctor’s will. There was a moment when Tegan was to be threatened and the Doctor had to prove on whether emotions were a weakness or not before the Cyber Leader.
I really liked the flashback sequence in ‘Part Two’ that showed the previous Doctors and encounters with the Cybermen. This included showing the faces of William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker. At that time, I was getting to know the classic series of ‘Doctor Who’ in watching ‘Earthshock’.
Seeing the flashback sequence with the First, Second and Fourth Doctor’s faces when they encountered Cybermen was a true delight. I gathered that many fans who were watching ‘Earthshock’ were delighted to see previous faces of the Doctor too in having not seen them before.
The guest stars include James Warwick as Lt. Scott. James Warwick is well-known for playing Tommy Beresford in the Agatha Christie TV drama series, ‘Partners In Crime’. Scott is the leader of a squad of Earth troopers who investigate the disappearance of geologists led by Professor Kyle in some caves.
Scott is the butch military type that gets caught up in the Doctor and his friends’ adventures. It was tense when Lt. Scott treated the Doctor and friends as enemies first and telling them to “Shut up!” But thankfully he sees the Doctor and his friends as good people before he helps to rescue the Earth.
There’s Clare Clifford as Professor Kyle. Clare Clifford would later go on to star in an episode of ‘Torchwood’ called ‘Fragments’. Professor Kyle is the lead geologist who becomes concerned for her team’s disappearance inside some caves. He has Scott and his Earth troopers to help learn the truth.
Sadly Professor Kyle does trip up a lot when running with Kyle and the Earth troopers inside the caves. She also gets reduced in her role as a supporting character when she’s stuck in the TARDIS with Nyssa for the tale’s second half. I liked it when she saw the Cybermen and said “They’re huge!”
The biggest guest star of course is Beryl Reid as Captain Briggs. Beryl Reid has done a number of films both in comedy and drama and has done plenty of acting work on the stage. I found her to be interesting as the toughened captain of a space freighter with the tango hair and all that in the story.
I’m not sure if she was the right choice to play the captain role in the story and many, including Eric Saward, have criticised her casting. She does a good job at it in terms of delivering the lines and playing the character in the story. But behind-the-scenes, she didn’t seem to know what she said. 😀
The story also features June Bland as Berger, Captain Briggs’ second-in-command aboard the space freighter. June Bland was also the wife of Bill Sellars, the producer of ‘All Creatures Great and Small’. There’s also Alec Sabin as Ringway, who becomes a traitor, and Mark Hardy as the Cyber Lieutenant.
With the story being directed by Peter Grimwade, it has been known that he is hard to work with in terms of the acting fielding. I know actors like Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Matthew Waterhouse and Beryl Reid found it a challenge to work with Peter Grimwade since he’s more of a technical director.
But he has done a remarkable job in terms of making ‘Earthshock’ an action-packed adventure and done well with getting the shots he wanted in terms of lighting and pacing ever flowing throughout. ‘Earthshock’ does have the movie feel to it and Peter Grimwade is a committed director.
The issue of violence and vulnerability in ‘Earthshock’ is debatable. I can see what people are getting at in terms of there being a lot of guns used in ‘Earthshock’. But I don’t think the violence is as strong as people make it out to be. I found the story very action-orientated and it was really gripping to watch.
In terms of the Fifth Doctor being vulnerable, it was interesting to watch in terms of this story as well as the whole of Season 19. I liked the idea of Peter Davison’s Doctor being vulnerable compared to Tom Baker’s Doctor and these are issues that get echoed in the new series with some of the Doctors.
Like I said, ‘Earthshock’ features the last appearance of Adric in the TV series. I’d already seen Rose’s departure in ‘Doomsday’ at the time of watching ‘Earthshock’ on DVD. So it was a shock to see another companion exit the series, except this time he gets killed off. I didn’t even know Adric very well.
I don’t know how children were affected by Adric’s death at the time this story was transmitted on TV, but it must have been pretty traumatising for them. It was probably something viewers didn’t see coming when watching this story on TV. I certainly didn’t see it coming when I watched it on DVD.
When the end credits for ‘Part Four’ came up, there was silence. There was no familiar ‘Doctor Who’ theme music to be found at the end of that story after Adric’s death. This was strange for me when I saw the story first time on DVD and it was like staring into a void and feeling empty from watching it.
They say ‘silence is golden’, but there was nothing to comfort this tragic end after I watched ‘Earthshock’ all the way through. I don’t know if it works better to have the story end on silence after Adric’s death, but I would’ve preferred it if the story ended with the familiar theme music here.
The original DVD special features were as follows. There was the ‘Putting the Shock into Earthshock’ making-of documentary; the 40th Anniversary Celebration music video of ‘Doctor Who’; film sequences; a ‘Did You See?’ item about ‘Doctor Who’ monsters and a CGI effects option for the story. There was an info-text commentary option to enjoy; a photo gallery of the story; a mono sound audio mix option for the story; a DVD audio commentary with Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and Matthew Waterhouse and an isolated music option by Malcolm Clarke to enjoy. There was also the ‘Episode 5’ claymation parody short of ‘Earthshock’ and there was an Easter Egg that was a ‘Real McCoy’ sketch featuring an ‘Earthshock’ clip in it.
On Disc 6 of the ‘Doctor Who – The Collection – Season 19’ Blu-ray, the ‘Putting the Shock into Earthshock’ making-of documentary; the film sequences; the ‘Did You See?’ item; the CGI effects option for the story; the mono sound audio mix option for the story; the DVD audio commentary; the isolated music option and the ‘Episode 5’ claymation short can be found on there. The info-text commentary option and the photo gallery for ‘Earthshock’ have been updated for 2018 on the Blu-ray.
The new special features on Blu-ray include the making-of documentary, ‘Earthshocked’, with cast and crew interviews. There’s also the ‘Behind the Sofa’ feature on ‘Earthshock’ with Peter Davison (the Fifth Doctor); Sarah Sutton (Nyssa); Janet Fielding (Tegan) and Matthew Waterhouse (Adric) as well as Mark Strickson (Turlough) and Sophie Aldred (Ace). There’s also some studio footage of the story and ‘The Boy With The Golden Star’ interview with Matthew Waterhouse that’s taken from the ‘Warriors’ Gate’ DVD. There’s also a ‘Pebble Mill At One’ interview with Peter Davison and some BBC continuity announcements of the story. There’s also a brand-new 5.1 surround sound audio mix option for the story to enjoy.
On the PDF front, there’s production documents; scripts and the ‘Radio Times Listings’ of the story to enjoy. You need a special Blu-ray computer drive for that. The 40th Anniversary Celebration music video of ‘Doctor Who’ and the ‘Real McCoy’ sketch aren’t included on the ‘Earthshock’ disc for the Season 19 Blu-ray box set.
‘Earthshock’ was my first experience of a ‘Doctor Who’ story from the classic series and from the Peter Davison era. I’m glad it was my first experience. Despite me not being a fan of the ‘Earthshock’ Cybermen, I found this to be a great ‘Doctor Who’ tale and it has become one of my firm favourites.
I’m amazed this story started me embracing the classic ‘Doctor Who’ series as it was also my first experience of seeing Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor; Sarah Sutton as Nyssa; Janet Fielding as Tegan and Matthew Waterhouse as Adric. My life would never be the same again since ‘Earthshock’! 😀
‘Earthshock’ rating – 8/10
‘DOCTOR WHO – EARTHSHOCK’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Eighties Cybermen with New Series voices
‘Doctor Who – Earthshock’ is a brilliant novelisation/audiobook of one of my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ stories!
Since ‘Earthshock’ was the first classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV story I saw from seeing the new series, it was fair that I should purchase the audiobook of the story. I purchased the audiobook in Stratford-upon-Avon as well as the novelization from Amazon.co.uk. I read and listened to ‘Earthshock’ at the same time.
‘Doctor Who – Earthshock’ is read by the Doctor himself – Peter Davison – with Nicholas Briggs as the Cybermen voices. The Cybermen voices in the ‘Earthshock’ audiobook are very convincing compared to the TV version. The novelization is divided into 10 chapters with the audiobook spread out on 4 CD discs.
The ‘Earthshock’ book was published in 1983, a year after the TV story’s initial transmission. It was novelised from Eric Saward’s TV scripts by…Ian Marter! Yes, that’s right! Ian Marter, who played Harry Sullivan with Tom Baker’s Doctor in the TV series, has done a remarkable job in novelising ‘Earthshock’.
Ian has written a number of Target novelizations based on original TV stories including ‘The Dominators’ and ‘The Invasion’. He also novelized ‘The Sontaran Experiment’ story in which he himself appeared in. ‘Earthshock’ was his fifth novelization and he adapted the story splendidly with a ‘novel’ approach.
In terms of plot, not much has changed. Although Ian has slightly amended and adjusted certain scenes to work better compared to the TV version. He’s also provided more descriptive dialogue to story settings, making it more dynamic and action-packed, especially concerning character development.
One thing from this novelization is how Ian describes the caves at the beginning, making them like the face of a skull. The deaths of Snyder and some of the troopers are well-handled. The death of Kyle was a little disappointing, since she died heroically in the TV story whereas in the novelization she died by accident.
Another moment was when the Doctor causes an ‘accident’ in Cyber Control to revive the dormant Cybermen as he and Tegan are taken to the TARDIS. This would have explained why the Cybermen woke up unexpectedly in ‘Part Four’. I wish that was included in the TV story to make more sense.
The dialogue is sharper compared to the TV story. I found the characters easier to enjoy with their sharper dialogue compared to some of their dodgy lines through TV. The Cybermen’s dialogue has also improved since they sound less emotional and more logical like robots compared to the TV version.
I like how Ian handled the TARDIS regulars in describing who they were, including Nyssa’s aristocratic, pretty nature and Tegan’s ‘red hair’ and bossy attitude. Their dialogue was enjoyable too. I liked Nyssa’s scenes with Kyle in the TARDIS and when she rebukes Scott after mourning for Kyle’s death.
Peter Davison reads this novelisation of ‘Earthshock’ very well. Peter has read another one of these ‘Doctor Who’ audiobooks before. That was for his first TV story ‘Castrovalva’. Peter has a very good reading voice and he gets the character voices of Nyssa, Tegan and Adric sound as they were in the TV series.
I enjoy Peter’s impersonation of Tegan’s voice in the story with her Australian accent. I also liked how Peter does Nyssa’s calm tones and Adric’s obnoxious attitude before shifting to his compassionate side and before his tragic fate. Peter’s energy shines throughout as he’s enthusiastic in reading the story.
I’ve had the CD cover of ‘Doctor Who – Earthshock’ signed by Peter Davison at the ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con’ at the NEC Birmingham, November 2017. Peter was amazed that he read the audiobook for the ‘Earthshock’ novelization. He could recall doing the ‘Castrovalva’ audiobook but not the ‘Earthshock’ one. Hmm. 😀
Nicholas Briggs voices the Cybermen in this audiobook. I didn’t like the Cybermen voices in the TV version of ‘Earthshock’ and their design was terrible. Reading the book and hearing the CDs made me feel like they weren’t eighties Cybermen anymore. They sounded like the new series Cybermen!
The Cybermen sounded exactly like what Nick Briggs did for them in ‘Rise of the Cybermen’/’The Age of Steel’. The Cybermen’s dialogue was exactly right and the way Nick says the lines is brilliant. They still said “Excellent!”, but it doesn’t sound so silly and emotional as it seemed to be in the TV version.
I liked Ian Marter’s descriptions of the Cybermen, as he goes deeper into how their hydraulics worked. Even the sound effects in the audiobook helped. I was convinced these Cybermen were more robotic compared to the TV version. The scenes between the Cyber Leader and the Doctor are greatly improved.
The scene where a Cyberman clutches his chest unit in reaction to the word ‘gold’ was inspirational. Ian should know about the Cybermen and their dislike of ‘gold’, shouldn’t he? He was in ‘Revenge of the Cybermen’ after all. 😀 The scenes where people react to the Cybermen’s oily vapours were fascinating to discover.
The final end with Adric’s death was effectively handled as it carried the same emotion and weight that it had from the TV version of the story. I found myself emotionally drained and ‘shocked’ when reading and listening to the end of the story. It took me a while to settle down to sleep after reading/hearing the novelization/audiobook.
This is a great novelisation of a TV story! ‘Doctor Who – Earthshock’ is brilliant with Peter Davison reading it and Nicholas Briggs voicing the Cybermen. You will enjoy the novelization with Ian Marter’s writing on descriptions and dialogue and the audiobook will provide extra thrills to the ‘Earthshock’ experience.
‘Doctor Who – Earthshock’ rating – 9/10
DAY 22 – ‘BRADLEY’S BASEMENT’S ADVENT CALENDAR 2022
Originally posted on December 22nd 2022.
It’s Day 22 of ‘Bradley’s Basement’s Advent Calendar 2022.
Let’s see how the Cybermen make their return in the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘Earthshock’.
This video includes the closing moments of ‘Part One’ of ‘Earthshock’ and the reveal of the 1980s Cybermen, with their Cyber Leader played by David Banks. I’m sure for viewers who watched this ‘Doctor Who’ story in 1982, it must have been very exciting to see this story on its initial transmission.
It also must have been a shocking surprise for ‘Doctor Who’ fans, considering the Cybermen hadn’t been seen for a long time since ‘Revenge of the Cybermen’ in 1975. I wish my excitement of the ‘Part One’ cliffhanger extended to the Cybermen themselves, but I suppose there are fans of them. 😀
‘Earthshock’ was the first classic TV series ‘Doctor Who’ story I’d ever seen, following my viewing of the new series episodes with the likes of ‘Rise of the Cybermen’/’The Age of Steel’ and ‘Army of Ghosts’/’Doomsday’. This was also my first encounter of Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor with Nyssa, Tegan and Adric.
I did think it rude of Lt. Scott to tell the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan to ‘shut up’ when he, Professor Kyle and their troops found them in the caves. Mind you, I was inspired by this meeting when I wrote ‘Part One’ of ‘Doom of the Daleks’ when the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy ended up on Yondamus IV.
The tension is raised when the two androids attack the Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan, Scott, Kyle and their troops in the caves to protect their hatch. It builds up the reveal of the Cybermen nicely, especially when they are looking through one of the androids’ viewfinders and they close in upon the Doctor. 🙂
DAY 23 – ‘BRADLEY’S BASEMENT’S ADVENT CALENDAR 2022
Originally posted on December 23rd 2022.
It’s Day 23 of ‘Bradley’s Basement’s Advent Calendar 2022.
Do I think the Cybermen do well in their march aboard the space freighter in ‘Earthshock’?
Honestly, I would have liked the Cybermen’s march aboard the space freighter if it was replaced by Murray Gold’s Cybermen music in stories like ‘Rise of the Cybermen’/’The Age of Steel’ and ‘Army of Ghosts’/’Doomsday’. I also would have liked it if the Cybermen marched as robots or as metal men. 😐
As you can tell, I’m not really a fan of the 1980s Cybermen in ‘Doctor Who’. There’s something about them that doesn’t work for me. The Cybermen’s heads are fine, but they look like men in suits instead of looking like robots – an impression which I’ve always had from watching them in the new TV series.
I suppose the 1980s Cybermen’s guns are effective when they gun people down, but I prefer it when the Cybermen electrocute people or use arm blasters. Speaking of which, I don’t like it when the freighter crew and Lt. Scott’s troopers have guns that fire candy cane-looking beams during a battle.
Thank goodness the CGI effects option of the story on DVD and Blu-ray replaced them. People tend to criticise Beryl Reid’s performance as Briggs in the story, but I think she does okay with playing the character. Mind you, I find it weird when she ‘wants’ the Doctor and Adric ‘where’ she ‘can see them’.
She can’t see them when they’re on the floor, can she? 😀 I liked Peter Davison’s Doctor’s reaction to the Cybermen for the first time once he sees them on the bridge’s viewscreen. It’s almost similar to how David Tennant’s Doctor’s reacted to the Cybermen for the first time in ‘Rise of the Cybermen’. 🙂
DAY 24 – ‘BRADLEY’S BASEMENT’S ADVENT CALENDAR 2022
Originally posted on December 24th 2022.
It’s Day 24 of ‘Bradley’s Basement’s Advent Calendar 2022.
It’s also the last day of this year’s advent calendar on ‘Bradley’s Basement’! Let’s conclude by taking a look at how Cybermen handle emotions in the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘Earthshock’.
The scene where the Cyber Leader uses Tegan as a means of weakening the Doctor’s argument that ’emotions have their uses’. I’ll give credit to ‘Earthshock’. This is one of the most effective scenes ever in the entire story, as it’s a moment where I think the 1980s Cybermen are written quite well. 🙂
I know I tend to criticise the 1980s Cybermen a lot in my reviews on their stories, especially in terms of their aesthetics and design. This is one of the rare occasions where I think the 1980s Cybermen are done well in terms of the writing. David Banks and Peter Davison perform those scenes very well.
I enjoyed it when Tegan was being gun-ho and avoiding Cybermen when she moved about in the corridors of the freighter. Also, is it just me, or does Tegan look like a female Ghostbuster, especially when she holds that Cyber gun? 😀 It’s a pity that Tegan had to be captured by one of the Cybermen.
It’s sad that Professor Kyle got killed by a Cyberman in the TARDIS. I felt for Nyssa when she became upset and grieved over Kyle’s death. Mind you, before that happened, I’m surprised no-one noticed that the female trooper who’d been captured by a Cybermen outside the TARDIS reappeared inside.
I mean, seriously. How come no-one noticed the continuity blunder that happened when making this story? Once the female trooper is out of the TARDIS with Lt. Scott and a male trooper, she is replaced by another male trooper. Story wise and in terms of continuity, this doesn’t make sense. 😀
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Bradley's Basement 
Phenomenal review of the various adaptations of this classic Cybermen story Tim you write such depth & detail you put my feeble efforts to shame, oh i wish i could send you back in time to when i originally viewed this on tv in 1982, i was speechless at Adrics death my chips went cold lol & i thought oh well the Doctor find way save him in the next story but nah Adric remained dead.
Another thing was this was my introduction to the Cybermen so the cliffhanger to episode 1 left me scared witless & intrigued.
My only niggle with this story s Beryl Reid as the Captain, very miscast role & i didn’t buy her performance as a leader, Peter Davison is awesomely good in this & Sarah & Janet, season 19 will always hold special place in my nostalgic heart so many good memories i have watching Doctors Who at my nans eating Sausage & Chips.
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Thanks Simon.
Very pleased you enjoyed my reviews on ‘Earthshock’. I enjoy writing ‘Doctor Who’ reviews and find it astonishing I can provide a lot of detail to my reviews these days, especially with photos and such. I wish I could see the whole of Season 19 of ‘Doctor Who’ back when it was shown in 1982. Then I could meet Sarah Sutton as she was back in 1982 and tell her how wonderful she is as Nyssa in ‘Doctor Who’! 😀
Thanks for sharing your memories on watching the story with your Nan, eating sausages and chips and remembering Adric’s death vividly. Yeah this wasn’t like Rose’s exit in ‘Doomsday’. This seemed to be permeant for Adric in that he never came back, apart from ‘The Boy That Time Forgot’ of course. I’m glad that cliffhanger ending in ‘Part One’ with the Cybermen got you scared and intrigued.
Yeah Beryl Reid was miscast as Captain Briggs in the story, but I still enjoyed this with Peter Davison as the Doctor, especially after watching him in ‘All Creatures Great and Small’. This was the first time I was introduced to Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding and Matthew Waterhouse as Nyssa, Tegan and Adric and I’m glad they’ve made a big impact on me.
Off to listen to ‘Kingdom of Lies’ now!
Tim. 🙂
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Brilliant updated Blu ray review, oh how i remember this upon original transmission it scared me half to death, the Cybermen are utterly terrifying in this adventure & Adrics death was a huge shock i honestly thought there would be a way to save him in Timeflight how wrong i was.
Not only the best story of Season 19 (for me) but one of the best Doctor Who stories ever made, tense, scary, shocking, emotional.
Thanks for the nostalgia trip back to 1982.
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Hi Simon.
Glad you enjoyed my updated review on ‘Earthshock’!
Thanks for sharing your memories on this Cybermen adventure. Glad you found the Cybermen terrifying in this one. I know I’ve made fun of them in comparing them to the new series Cybermen, but this was still an enjoyable adventure and I’m glad the Target audiobook made up for my disappointment with the Cybermen by having Nicholas Briggs do the Cyber Voices in new series style. 😀 Adric’s death was a shock and this was the first time I’d seen him in a ‘Doctor Who’ story before I watched the others.
Very pleased you found ‘Earthshock’ the best story of Season 19 overall. I find ‘The Visitation’, ‘Black Orchid’ and ‘Earthshock’ as the highlights of Season 19 for me.
Glad you’ve been enjoying this nostalgia trip to 1982, Simon. Hope you enjoy my updated review on ‘Time-Flight’, the last entry in the season.
Many thanks Simon.
Tim. 🙂
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Timeflight…..Arrrrgggghhhh Noooooooooooooooooo……………the mind probe quickly the mind probe lol.
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Wait! What’s wrong with ‘Time-Flight’ again? 😀 Tim. 🙂
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Earthshock is one of the best dramas in science fiction. Your review does reflect how the 2005 remake can distort perspectives watching the original sci-fi Doctor Who. It is one of the obvious starter stories for Doctor Who, so a good choice to be your first. The story works well with the characters, Tegan is foolish and shoots off erratically, Adric a brittle personality, I think the original idea was for him to be more of a savant like the character in Asimov’s Sucker Bait. Nyssa is the only really adult companion.
Davison as the Doctor is an issue in itself. On the one hand he was obviously miscast. The Doctor is an old guy, so Davison looks completely wrong, but due to his immense acting talent he plays the character exactly as the previous four performers (and three future ones) so you ignore his unsuitable appearance and see the Doctor behind it.
The truly outstanding thing about Earthshock is that it is the best representation of a block universe in action. This is intelligent, thinking people’s science fiction, with plenty of action for the kids too. We were first reminded that the pattern of events is immutable way back in season one, which is one of Doctor Who’s great credits, there is far better scientific credibility than it is given credence for. Really there is no surprise at the ending, even for the kids who may not know altering the past can’t happen the same principle was demonstrated as recently as The Visitation and the Doctor spelled out the details yet again in Black Orchid.
Again exposure to the remake can distort perspectives. I always saw the Earthshock Cybermen as the second best style after their initial appearance in The Tenth Planet. It was right that David Banks continued to play Cyberleaders up to their last canonical appearance in Silver Nemesis. Great actor, saw him as The Doctor in The Ultimate Adventure, a reminder that there are so many alternative versions of Doctor Who.
With the dvd available I cannot see the point of making an audio remake. Did they change the story to match the self contradicting time travel of the alternative versions? Did they want a version of it for the BF canon? I bought the book because the video was not yet released.
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Hi Rob.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on ‘Earthshock’. I greatly appreciate them and it’s intriguing how you see the characters of the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric as well as the Cybermen in the story compared to me.
I’ll soon be revisiting ‘Earthshock’ in the Season 19 Blu-ray box set, which I’ve been enjoying lately. It’s amazing that this was my introduction to the classic TV series after watching the first two seasons of the new show. I know my opinion on the ‘Earthshock’ Cybermen differs from others and I appreciate how other people praise them highly than me. It’s fair enough since the ‘Earthshock’ Cybermen are bound to scare more people who watched the story around that time in 1982. I just find the Cybermen in ‘Rise of the Cybermen’/’The Age of Steel’ more scary and intimidating than that since it was my first exposure to Cybermen at that time in 2006. Then again, everyone has a different perception on this.
I have enjoyed watching ‘Earthshock’ both on DVD and on Blu-ray as well as the Target novelization/audiobook of the story by Ian Marter. I know Nick Briggs’ Cybermen voices sound new series-like than how the ‘Earthshock’ Cybermen sounded. Maybe it’s the way Ian Marter wrote them in the novelization or how Nick Briggs voiced them in the audiobook that makes them sound new series-like for me.
Many thanks for your comments, Rob.
Tim 🙂
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I would not get the audio on the basis that it would be too similar to the canon and it would make the story too familiar, and the original is so much better. Sarah Sutton and Beryl Reid or Nick Briggs. No contest. Actually this does bring to mind the fact that Sarah with her perfect narration voice should have done that talking book. I am in the habit of reading in particular voices ever since I was a kid reading Mark Hamill as Johnny Storm and Dick Grayson. Reading this now in Asaria’s voice as it is my default narration.
It is easy to over watch some material. The Keeper of Traken is an example, one of the first stories I got on multi-generation video quality. But it is good enough to survive overwatching.
Funnily one of the thrills of Earthshock is the underlining that Time is Relative in Doctor Who, unlike the 2005 version where the premise is that events get altered and the story implodes. I was seriously depressed when the 2005 remake came out, but seeing Earthshock underlines and reminds me of the break between versions.
I also am reminded of the first time I saw the Aaru films and wondered how or if this related to Doctor Who.
The joy of the Cybermen is in the concept, which is unmatched. Replace organs and limbs and there are fewer glands secreting hormones, Paraplegics reported not getting as angry as they used to. Kit Pedler took this to a logical conclusion. I never found Doctor Who particularly scary, dramatic tension, yes.
As for Briggs, I never forgave him for giving lousy reviews for classics like Terminus, as he and Russell slated Bidmead and Nyssa’s Dr Who stories, I stopped getting Dr Who magazine because they were always putting Dr Who down in it. This makes me wonder why he would want to do a new version of the material I am used to him dismissing. He even said Dr Who ended in 1980 rather than 1989/96 on Pointless! Actually I never forgave him for lots of things.
A key strength of Doctor Who is that it is science fiction, which means the ideas are credible and you can find things which may or may not be intentional but enhance the story. For one the Freighter jumping back 65 million years is not so bizarre if you consider it probably used a wormhole to travel between stars.
I’m looking at my Earthshock helmet and pads now as I type this. Proof of my nutter fan status.
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Hi Rob.
Yeah, I would have been happy if Sarah Sutton read the ‘Earthshock’ audiobook as I enjoyed her reading of ‘The Moon Stallion’ audiobook and various Big Finish Short Trip audios over the years. Peter Davison is still good reading the audiobook with Nick Briggs doing the Cybermen voices. I’ve not come across those ‘DWM’ reviews, so I can’t comment.
Many thanks,
Tim 🙂
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Great review Tim.
‘Earthshock’ wasn’t a bad story by any means, but my feelings on it are mixed. I can’t say I find the Cybermen as bad as you say as I liked their design, voices and I found them to be menacing. The Doctor, Tegan and Adric got a lot to do which I liked. Nyssa had a lot less to do (like in ‘Conversion’), but she did shoot that Cyberman towards at the end. Tegan looked cool carrying that weapon around and wearing that ‘Ghostbusters’ style uniform. She screamed a bit more than usual. One of them wasn’t scripted as a spark landed in her hair.
I found Scott, Briggs and her crew to be rather nasty in the first and third parts respectively when they accused the Doctor of murder without proof. I was annoyed that the Doctor was accused twice. I could have let it go if they were villains (Ringway turned out to be working for the Cybermen). I found their character turns to be weak, accusing the Doctor of murder one minute and fighting alongside him the next. I did like them both more when they helped the Doctor though.
Now I will address what this story is known for. That of course is the death of Adric. I found it to be very emotional and well played-out. I found it to be a better send-off than that of Tasha Yar in ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’. I’m not a big fan of Adric, but I think he had a very dramatic send-off and was determined to save Earth.
All in all, I found ‘Earthshock’ to just be above average. It was definitely better than ‘Conversion’. I can place it above ‘Kinda’, but below the other four stories of Season 19 that came before this one. I’m now on the home-stretch with Season 19 where I will watch ‘Time-Flight’ over December.
Take care, WF92.
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Hi WF92,
Glad you enjoyed my review on ‘Earthshock’. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the story.
I suppose it’s down to preference when it concerns the Cybermen, since I prefer the more robot-like ones in the 1960s stories and the new series episodes as opposed to the ones in the 1970s and 1980s. Yeah it’s a shame Nyssa got less to do in the story, even though Sarah has said ‘Earthshock’ is one of her favourite stories. 😐 I’m glad she shot a Cyberman at the story’s end. I suppose Tegan would make a good Ghostbuster. 😀 Or Cyberbuster, provided she didn’t get captured. 😀
Yeah it is quite annoying at times when the Doctor and party are accused of something wrong first before the guest cast learns to trust them later on. It happens too often in some ‘Doctor Who’ stories. I was shocked when I saw Adric killed in the story. And this was the first time I saw Adric in ‘Doctor Who’. Yes, Adric’s death is better than Tasha Yar’s death in ‘TNG’ and ‘Earthshock’ is better than ‘Conversion’.
Many thanks for your comments on my review on ‘Earthshock’ and sharing your thoughts on the story.
My ‘Time-Flight’ reviews won’t be avaiable until the last week of December as I’m sharing my updated review on the Target novelization/audiobook in the upcoming ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review season for December 2021-January 2022. Hopefully you’ll have seen ‘Time-Flight’ by then.
Have you seen my review of ‘Once, Upon Time’ yet?
Many thanks,
Tim 🙂
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I have. I decided to wait until this Wednesday to comment on your review of that and Thursday to comment on ‘Village of the Angels’. I didn’t what ‘Once’ Upon Time’ until last Friday and I thought I’d leave at least a day between some comments. I’m not 100% sure on what I’ll comment on for the rest of November, but I will be sharing my thoughts on ‘The Daemons’ as well as ‘Revenge of the Cybermen’ and ‘Warriors Gate’. I’ll try and send my latest parts on the ‘Logopolis’ discussion today.
Take care, WF92.
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No worries! 🙂
Looking forward to your thoughts on ‘Once, Upon Time’ and ‘Village of the Angels’ as well as ‘The Daemons’, ‘Revenge of the Cybermen’ and ‘Warriors’ Gate’ soon. Also looking forward to your latest on our ‘Logopolis’ discussion.
Tim 🙂
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It’s considerable how Earthshock started a specific curse for classic Dr. Who, similarly to how Aliens consequently afflicted the sci-fi cinema. Even if I can appreciate them both for their importance in the sci-fi action genre, it can make me feel much more nostalgic for the mellowed kind of sci-fi for Dr. Who prior. The buildup to Adric’s death is naturally the most dramatic element throughout the story, thanks in great part to the acting of the TARDIS team and especially Matthew. Although I’ve never thought of Beryl Reid as being miscast for Captain Briggs, even with good lines like “Pity! I’ve just composed a particularly nasty epitaph for him!”, I can suddenly see your points on that.
Curious indeed how the Cybermen for the 80s may seem emotive, despite the Doctor always chastising them for coldly lacking emotion. Still they are very effective in Earthshock and the CGI-updated crash on Earth by the freighter helps to enhance Adric’s final moment. Even with much from the modern Dr. Who today, Earthshock in its own right most uniquely holds up. Thank you very much, Tim, for your review.
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Hi scifimike,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on ‘Earthshock’. Glad you enjoyed my review on the story. ‘Earthshock’ was the first classic series ‘Doctor Who’ story I’d ever seen and it got me more into the series, despite the shortcomings I feel are present in terms of the Cybermen seeming more emotive than usual compared to new series Cybermen efforts. I know the ‘Earthshock’ Cybermen have their fans and I’ve heard arguments for why some fans prefer them over others. I appreciate that viewpoint, but it’s something I can’t share since ‘Rise of the Cybermen’/’The Age of Steel’ spoilt it for me in terms of how I percieve Cybermen as scary monsters in ‘Doctor Who’. It is fun to watch these 1980s ‘Doctor Who’ stories with Cybermen though, especially with David Banks as the Cyber Leader. Adric’s death in the story is pretty effective. It’s not something I would have done to the character, but I know how dramatic is it in terms of an exit and Matthew Waterhouse as Adric hasn’t been forgotten since then. I know I’ve made comments about Beryl Reid being miscast as Briggs, but I don’t mind her too much and she provides an interesting angle in terms of how she plays her character in the story. I agree, the CGI effects version of the frieghter blowing up for Adric’s death on DVD and Blu-ray is very effective.
Many thanks for your comments.
Tim 🙂
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Indeed, Beryl Reid is a good actress in that regard. The next thing I saw her in was Psychomania and Mrs. Lathan was certainly a most interesting role for her.
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Hi scifimike,
Thanks for sharing that. I’ve not seen ‘Psychomania’. I’m sure Beryl Reid had a very interesting role in that. I do recall seeing a book in a shop about Beryl Reid and her cats once. 😀
Tim 🙂
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You’re welcome. Other Dr. Who actors in Psychomania include John Levene, Denis Carey, Alan Bennion and Roy Holder (Krelper: The Caves Of Androzani).
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Hi scifimike,
Yes, and I see that actors like Nicky Henson (the ‘Fawlty Towers’ episode ‘The Psychiatrist’ and the ‘Doctor Who’ audio ‘Loups-Garoux’), Robert Hardy (Siegfried from the original ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ series), Roy Evans (who was in ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’, ‘The Green Death’ and ‘The Monster of Peladon’), Bill Pertwee (Hodges from ‘Dad’s Army’) and June Brown (from ‘The Time Warrior’ and ‘EastEnders’) are in the film.
Thanks,
Tim 🙂
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Every once in a while, there’s a story that comes along and radically reconfigures that which comes after. A heralded classic of ‘Doctor Who’ to be homaged, emulated, and venerated. You can see its presence everywhere from the moment it enters the collective consciousness. For good and ill.
“Earthshock” is one such story and — coming when it does — I think its presence can be summed up in one line from the first episode. Scott’s raging condemnation at the Doctor’s apparent goading (in reality, his naivety):
“Too many people have died for you to play the fool.”
It’s a rather striking line. Now and then.
Now, as we’ve long come after the era of “the madman with a box”. One which rewarded the buffoonery and japes of the Doctor’s character (to varying degrees of success). But can we see this scenario with the Eleventh or Twelfth Doctor? Thrown on his back, gun at his throat, wordless with his lack of presence. Overpowered by the brute strength of Lieutenant Scott and his grief for his murdered people. No jokes, no tension break, just the muzzle of a rifle. The line sounds almost like a wake-up call.
Then, because the series has just come from over a decade of the Third and Fourth Doctors. We’re not in a world where a quick-witted quip or a Venusian Aikido strike will get the Doctor and their companions out of danger anymore. We’re in something more brutal. Calculated. Untrustworthy. Where low-ranking crewmen sell out their fellows to be bashed to pieces only to frame the intruding Doctor. Where the Doctor himself is at the centre of a web of death, perpetrated by an old adversary, and yet is powerless to prevent any of it.
It’s the first story that feels like it addresses the “Tristan Farnon in space” interpretation of the Fifth Doctor (“The Visitation” notwithstanding) and just… smacks it aside with a Cyberman’s arm. We’re out of the cosy puzzle-solving of “Castrovalva”, in its Arcadian green, and into something closer to the used future of ‘Alien’ or ‘Outland’. Full of frayed nerves, messy interactions, human mistakes, and genuinely sociopathic villains. We won’t really see that influence evaporate until Season 24/25.
“Too many people have died for you to play the fool.”
With “Earthshock” being such a defining story for the Fifth Doctor, isn’t it interesting that his last — “The Caves of Androzani” — is so bathed in blood, and yet allows him to redeem that one final personal mistake of “Earthshock” in Peri’s rescue?
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Hi Wolfie,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on ‘Earthshock’. I enjoyed reading how you percieve this story being so different to preceeding and succeeding stories that have more humour in them and perhaps aren’t as brutal compared to this one. It’s amazing that this was the first classic series ‘Doctor Who’ story I checked out after seeing ‘Army of Ghosts’/’Doomsday’, since the original RTD era has humour echoing the Douglas Adams period of ‘Doctor Who’. There can be touches of humour now and again in the Peter Davison era, but ‘Earthshock’ is a story that tries to bring in more serious sci-fi elements, especially from movies like ‘Alien’ that probably have more serious tones to them. Peter Davison was also the reason why I wanted to see ‘Earthshock’, as I wanted to find out what his Doctor was like compared to Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant, and it’s amazing how I didn’t register him as Tristan Farnon being the Doctor, but as Peter Davison being the Doctor. I like your comparison of ‘Earthshock’ and ‘The Caves of Androzani’, as ‘Androzani’ is a redemption for Peter Davison’s Doctor after failing to save Adric in ‘Earthshock’, whereas he gets to save Peri in ‘Androzani’.
Many thanks for your comments.
Best wishes,
Tim 🙂
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Hi Tim,
Thanks. It’s interesting, isn’t it? The RTD era reminded me quite a lot of ‘The Avengers’ under John Steed and Emma Peel. The tongue could be firmly planted in cheek, but at the same time, it introduced us to one of the most brutal depictions of cyber-conversion we’d ever seen at that point. Rivalled only by things like “The Reaping”, “Real Time” or “Killing Ground”, which didn’t have to worry about the visual medium of television.
Here, we have similar grotesqueries, but an era that was deliberately trying to push back against the excesses of the Williams era. Something that Douglas Adams criticised himself. He wanted the stories played straight. You can see it in the commissioned subject matter he chose for the season. One man’s “City of Death” is another man’s “Genesis of the Daleks” (both deal with genocide). Just as one man’s “Nightmare of Eden” is another man’s “The Caves of Androzani” (both concerning lives destroyed by narcotics).
“Earthshock” kind of cements that new veneer of brutality in ‘Doctor Who’ for a number of years after. It’s there in Saward’s first script, “The Visitation”, and its depictions of violence. However, there’s a looser grip on levity, allowing for little moments of wit like Tegan’s interrogation or the Doctor’s failed attempt to educate Mace about alien life. It ends with the Terileptil burning alive in a fire (which we get to see in all its bubbling gore), but it also has Tegan popping up with a happy “G’day!” before the Doctor belts a brainwashed minion across the head with a box. Aside from a few grim quips from Briggs, there’s not a lot of levity on offer in “Earthshock”. It’s quite bleak. This is one of the Doctor’s “bad days”.
But then, that’s all according to plan. Deliberate. And judging from the reaction, quite welcome at the time. Remember, “Earthshock” came out at the same time as the first ‘Rambo’ film. It was catching the slipstream of the Hollywood action blockbuster. By the time of Peter Davison’s departure, the fan favourite was “Resurrection of the Daleks” and both outgoing star and ongoing script editor were enamoured of “The Caves of Androzani”. There wasn’t really a call for light humour. It was hard drama, instead.
When ‘Doctor Who’ eventually comes under fire, it’s from two seemingly contradictory angles. On the one hand, it’s the violent tone: which you can link to “Earthshock” (and is an old, old complaint dating as far back as the foaming Cyberman in “The Tomb of the Cybermen”). On the other, though, it’s also that the programme can’t be taken seriously… which rings false to the “Earthshock” approach. If there’s one thing it’d been doing, it was pursuing “serious science-fiction”. To the point where the theatrical Yrcarnos (played by BRIAN BLESSED) and the comedy Mentors in “Mindwarp” don’t scratch the surface of the story’s bleak atmosphere.
If the sin of the legacy behind “Earthshock” can be defined, it’s that perhaps ‘Doctor Who’ wasn’t able to weather attempts at full seasons of grim action-thrillers. As compelling a subgenre it is to visit. If necessity was the mother of invention, then variety was the father of innovation. “Earthshock” was marvellous, but not every story could be — or even needed to be — “Earthshock”.
Best,
Connor
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I certainly gained a better appreciation for the most serious science fiction over time. To make allowances for brutality in classics such as Blade Runner, A Clockwork Orange, District 9, or the Terminator films, it undeniably helps to show the violent content as something that should be avoided in real life. Perhaps in some sense Dr. Who achieved this with Earthshock, Resurrection Of The Daleks and The Caves Of Androzani. If viewers can enjoy the violent action so long as it’s on the TV or movie screens, much like the horror as children Whovians could tolerate knowing well enough that it was made up (with severe exceptions like the Auton troll doll), then some stories within the violent areas of Dr. Who might earn that much. But the 80s for all the questionable changes that classic Dr. Who needed to make for better ratings were particularly overwhelming.
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Peter Davison certainly proved how the most humbled nature of the Doctor may often be more appealing than the force-of-justice nature that most Doctors of the modern series have strongly built upon.
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Yes, you’ve pointed out something rather important, scifimike70. A very, very important aspect of it to remember. The violence was almost always treated as cautionary. A lesson and a warning. “Warriors of the Deep” — stumbling, unfortunately, because of its production troubles — has a message behind it that rings quite true for the remainder of Davison’s third season:
“There should have been another way.”
A line we can actually trace back to the first Dalek story. It’s Ganatus’s response when Susan notes the city has everything the Thals have ever wanted. They’ll never starve again. The means, nevertheless, don’t sit very well with him. It came at quite a chilling cost. And that discomfort, the resonance of that line, continues through the rest of the Fifth Doctor’s tenure decades later.
In fact, it’s interesting to look at those last three stories. “Resurrection of the Daleks” and “Planet of Fire” share an unusual link that I don’t think gets discussed very often. The Fifth Doctor experiences a wealth of character development over his last season. We end with a very different version of the incarnation than what we started with in “The Five Doctors”.
“Resurrection of the Daleks” places the Doctor in the role of a would-be assassin. By his own volition, with the gun in his hand and looking Davros face-to-face. It’s a striking “Earthshock”-style moment with the Fifth Doctor pushed to his moral extreme. He can’t do it, however much he pushes himself, as he’s not a cold-blooded killer. Davros calls it softness, but it feels a lot more like revulsion. The Doctor is removed from the situation before we discover what might have spurred him into following through.
Can the Doctor follow through on such a thing? Well, disturbingly for him… Yes. But under very specific circumstances. In situations where the exact agency of the violence is in question. The climax of “Planet of Fire” tends to be overlooked because of subsequent Master stories. His plan goes awry and the reviving gas, spurred on by the Doctor, turns into an ordinary flame. The Master begs him for help and the Doctor… Just stands there. He looks at the console (as if briefly considering it), but looks his enemy in the eye — his oldest friend — and lets him die.
That’s quite a moment for the Fifth Doctor. Already quite subdued from “Resurrection of the Daleks”, it leaves him visibly shaken. “The Caves of Androzani”, as much as a reaction to “Earthshock”, feels like him trying to prove to himself some of his core values. That heroism. In an era of film and television where it’s very difficult to tell what precisely a hero looks like anymore. And that personal discovery, his willingness to deliberately let an enemy die, carries over to the Sixth Doctor who was far more prepared to meet aggression with aggression. Fight the evil on its own terms. Often with its own methods. It’s almost like his lifesaving impulse on Androzani has gone into overdrive since the regeneration.
So, there’s a very steady progression — dare I say, escalation — floating out from “Earthshock”. And, naturally, that approach more or less evaporates when Andrew Cartmel takes the reigns. His mission statement, rather than exploring vulnerabilities in the Doctor, was far more about restoring the Doctor’s enigmatic power. The approach of “Earthshock” wasn’t really applicable anymore.
Except…
I said “Resurrection of the Daleks” was about the Doctor discovering whether he could look his enemy in the eye and end his life. Where have we heard that before?
A couple of years later in “The Happiness Patrol.” The Doctor’s careful deescalation of Helen A.’s sniper on the balcony.
We’re two incarnations later, so the impetus of the Doctor’s observations seems quite unique to the Seventh Doctor… Except, we’ve seen him look an enemy in the eye and try to make that decision before. With Davros in his fifth persona for “Resurrection of the Daleks”. One of the children of that “Earthshock” approach. Only here, strikingly, those elements are used to remove a violent actor from the story. The sniper and his spotter are disarmed.
By 1988, six years later, we finally have enough breathing room to see the Doctor put those Earthshocking lessons to use.
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Thank you, Wolfie. By 1988, thanks to the revitalizing mysteriousness of the Doctor by John Nathan-Turner and Sylvester McCoy, the blockbuster elements in Dr. Who thanks to Earthshock became more frequent via the 7th Doctor’s formidably tough justice. As for how that trait has continued with Doctors in the modern series, it quite often made me more nostalgic for the more engaging adventurousness of classic Doctors like Peter Davison.
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Hi Wolfie; Hi scifimike,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on ‘Earthshock’ and the issues of violence addressed in previous and future stories. I find it amazing how everything ties together, particularly with the legacy that ‘Earthshock’ has as a story has. I know I tend to use more humour-based situations in some of my ‘Doctor Who’ stories featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy, but even I’ve written stories that are set in violent and dangerous situations including ‘Doom of the Daleks’ and ‘Dawn of the Dwaxi’ (both feature the Dwaxi – a ultra-violent and merciless adversary) and they have the Fifth Doctor put to his limits on how he handles violent situations. Whether they foreshadow how the Fifth Doctor handles situations in the Season 21 stories is a matter of opinion. I’ve also written ‘Psychic Image’, a short story in ‘Genesis of Terror’, one of the Divergent Wordsmiths anthologies, where the Fifth Doctor is put in the ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’ situation of being made to kill Davros before it even happened. It was interesting to explore that, especially in presenting an alternative scenario where the Fifth Doctor is sent on a mission to end the development of the Daleks but with a twist in order to kill Davros first. I can’t claim to know the answers to these uneasy situations that the Fifth Doctor finds himself, but it’s interestng how it’s open for interpretation where fans and some audiences find the issues enlightening and thought-provoking whereas others like the BBC consider the violence to be too much and don’t take aboard the anti-violence messages it has. That’s what I’ve tried to put across in the anti-violence messages I have in a story like ‘Dawn of the Dwaxi’. Whether I achieved that is a matter for debate and determined by how audiences react to it. So far, the feeedback I’ve recieved on that story has been good.
Many thanks for your comments.
Tim 🙂
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I just re-watched Earthshock, followed immediately by Power of the Doctor. It made the scene between Tegan & Five that much more powerful. 🥺
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Hi Zack,
Glad you enjoyed ‘Earthshock’ and ‘The Power of the Doctor’ recently. I’m looking forward to doing a brand-new review on ‘The Power of the Doctor’ when it comes to doing the Thirteenth Doctor era in the 60th Anniversary Marathon. Hopefully, the new review will be posted in December.
Many thanks for your comments.
Tim 🙂
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Just rewatched the ‘Ace and Tegan meet their Doctors’ scenes on YouTube. They’re a couple of my favourite scenes in ‘The Power of the Doctor’. Looking forward to sharing the YouTube video in my new review for the 2022 special.
Tim 🙂
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