Monday, 8 December 2014

(572) Earthshock - Part 1

Earthshock is an important story in Doctor Who because it marks the return of the Cybermen and also the departure of Adric from the show. The former is more interesting because they were a regular feature in the 1960’s. They appeared in 5 stories in three years from 1966 to 1969 and in the subsequent 12 years, they only appeared in ‘Revenge of the Cybermen’. In an interesting statistic, Cyberman episode accounted for 10% that were transmitted whereas during the 1970’s it was 1.5%. Anyway the most important thing about this story to many is the death of Adric. I have to say that before I started this marathon I would have been looking forward to this story but having recently found a new appreciation for Adric, I think that this story takes on a whole new meaning. I personally think that this is one of the best Peter Davison stories but it had nothing to do with not liking Adric before.

The story starts off with a crew that are going into some caves for people that have gone missing. I have to say that I think that they are some hapless during this episode that I struggle to muster any interest in them. They manage to get picked off by the androids with a great deal of ease. Even when they come across the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan it seems that they cant do serious with any great enthusiasm. The regulars start off with quite a row because Adric decides that he wants to go back to E-Space and this leads to the Doctor going a bit OTT about it. They end up underground and come across some bones.
The episode plods along rather well because of one new technique used. The lighting has been turned down and this means that there is quite an atmosphere which is something that cant be created with bright light. The claustrophobic feel to the adventure also helps make it feel like more happens in the episode than actually happens. The androids appear at moments and the lighting benefits them because then can move about quite easily. The Cybermen make their first appearance in 170 episodes and even though they are on screen for just a few seconds, its amazing what impact they have. It has to be one of the best cliffhangers in recent times on the show. Knowing that they appear does take some of the thunder out of the ending but watching in 1982 it must have been an OMG moment which doesn’t happen in Doctor Who. John Nathan Turner turned down a cover on the Radio Times to hide the fact that the Cybermen were returning. This was a brave and ultimately wise move. I remember how the human Dalek from ‘Daleks in Manhattan’ was ruined by the Radio Times so at least common sense was used here.

This hasn’t been quite the sprint out of the starting blocks that I hoped and remembered. There is some good stuff with the regulars but to be honest, when the story moves back to the hapless crew then I lose a bit of interest because I think that the regulars’ story is more interesting and the departure of Adric is the most interesting aspect of that.

 

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