N.B. there might (or might not) be spoilers in this article!

Unfortunately, thanks to the many magazines and Doctor Who reference books that litter the house, my son knew all of the major plot points of Earthshock going in.

“For some people, small, beautiful events is what life is all about.”

The Doctor, Earthshock: Part Four

He knew it saw the return of the Cybermen, he knew it explained why the dinosaurs were wiped out and yes, he knew that Adric died. It’s a testament to how good Earthshock is that he still enjoyed it.

Watching this for the first time as an eight-year old, I of course knew none of these things. The return of the Cybermen, as impressive as they are here, probably didn’t have a huge impact on me — as a return at least — because I probably didn’t remember them from their previous appearances, but Adric’s death was a huge shock. I remember turning to my Mum and saying something along the lines of ‘The Doctor will go back and save him, won’t he?’

It’s fitting that this is arguably Adric’s best story since his first, with the argument and reconciliation with the Doctor early on particularly impressive. To this eight-year old boy who was (if I do say so myself) pretty good at Maths, Adric was a great companion. Age and a bit of critical objectivity have tempered that view somewhat, but whilst he’s unlikely to top many ‘Favourite Companion’ polls, it cannot be denied that Adric had a humdinger of an exit!

“You could hide an army down here and no one would find it.”

Vance, Earthshock: Part Two

Indeed from its terrific, tense first episode (Saward in full-on atmospheric Terry Nation mode) with the androids slaughtering everything in sight, the stakes seem noticeably, appropriately higher in Earthshock — why would Tegan don combat fatigues and go all Ripley if not?

True, after the Doctor deals with the bomb on Earth, the plot does start to creak a little. I mean why, if crashing the freighter is Plan B, do the Cybermen load it with 15,000 Cybermen that require evacuating? (The Cyber Fleet is clearly nearby.) Why do they not re-activate all of the Cybermen before leaving? More importantly, what are those two Cybermen guards chatting about?

There’s a brutal efficiency about Earthshock — not only in its hand-wafting manner towards matters of plot expediency. The Doctor and Tegan’s farewells to Adric are brief; Nyssa doesn’t even get that much. Nowadays the goodbye scene would take 10 minutes (and at the end of it the companion would still survive in some form). But not for Eric Saward. If The Visitation was fairly traditional Doctor Who fare, this is much edgier. Perhaps it’s a taste of what’s to come as Saward takes over sole responsibility as script editor?

“Now I’ll never know if I was right.”

Adric, Earthshock: Part Four

My opinion of Earthshock has varied wildly over the years. I loved it as a kid, was a bit disappointed when I saw it again as an adult and grew more so with each repeated viewing. But this time, I thought it was great.

It’s the type of story — where things zip along pacily and it’s best not to think about how all it hangs together — that we get a lot of it in 21st century Who, but have not had so much of in classic Who (thus far in this marathon at least). There’s also a nice mixture of men and women in the two crews we see, which, dare I say, makes it seem ahead of its time.

Perhaps it’s the passage of time since I last watched it? Perhaps it’s because I’m watching it in its proper context again for the first time in 37 years? Perhaps it’s because, plot holes aside, it’s one hell of a ride, but on this viewing Earthshock has re-estabilished itself for me as one of the best Fifth Doctor tales.