Earthshock (1982)
Review
More about Doctor Who
More about this serial
Review
This is a four-part serial, first broadcast between 8th - 16th March 1982. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric take on the Cybermen and save the earth, though the dinosaurs don't make it. Not all's well that ends well, though.
The good bits:
- nice, creepy first episode
- excellent pacing, with never a dull moment
- a fine performance by Peter Davison as the Doctor
- I enjoyed seeing two characters that are usually played by males - the freighter's ruthless captain and the world-weary first officer - played by elderly women. In the captain's case this doesn't quite work, as she's simply cast too much against character, but the first officer does well
- the writing for the companions is better here than in 'The visitation'. They're ciphers - Tegan plain-spoken and practical, Adric eager to learn and eager for approval, and Nyssa the scientist - but at least there's some differentiation between them
Mixed feelings about:
- the use of the companions in this story. Adric and Tegan do things that are relevant to the plot, but Nyssa spends another serial mostly cooped up inside the Tardis
The not-so-good bit:
- the obligatory soap-opera scene aboard the Tardis in part one
The puzzling bits - and it's to the story's credit that you only realise with hindsight how much of these there actually are. Beware, spoilers ahead:
- location, location, location. Why are the androids and the bomb in that remote cave, and how did they get there? And what was the Tardis doing in that cave, again?
- the captain, the first officer and the Tardis crew. Why does it look like the captain and the first officer are starting to trust the Doctor and Adric, even when they still suspect them of murder and they haven't yet found a common enemy in the Cybermen?
- the freighter and the Cybermen. If the Cybermen are able to install a bomb and leave some androids in some remote cave, why do they need to crash a spaceship into earth in order to stop a conference? Why not just plant a bomb or let loose a couple of killer androids?
- the dormant Cybermen. Why are there dormant Cybermen aboard the freighter? Wouldn't they, in their dormant state, be unnecessarily vulnerable in a potentially hostile environment?
- unexpected time-travel. What causes the freighter to travel back in time? Is time-travel something that all freighters of the era can do? If not, how does it happen in this case?
The interesting bit:
- the 'locks' that the Cybermen use to keep the freighter on course can be 'unlocked' by applying logic. In this, there are echoes of the use of symbolic logic in 'The tomb of the Cybermen'. I rather like this as I could imagine an alien, from a culture where locks are unknown, wondering why we use little three-dimensional puzzles to protect the things we value
My verdict:
Another case of 'enjoy the ride, don't think about the story too much'.
More about Doctor Who
An introduction:
Doctor Who reviews: introduction
More "nice!" Doctor Who:
Doctor Who reviews: nice!
More from the Peter Davison years:
Doctor Who reviews: 1982 - 1984
Similar stories:
Doctor Who reviews: history twister
Original version of this review:
06/09/03
More about this serial
Episode guides:
BBC Cult
Serial reviews:
Behind the sofa
Outpost Gallifrey
DVD reviews:
Outpost Gallifrey
Intro |
Previous |
Next |
Appreciation |
Chronology |
Themes |
DVD releases |
DVD appreciation |
Links |
Menu |
Exit |
Meta |
Talk
On this page Transitional HTML 4.01 and CSS 1 are used. If you're seeing this text you either have CSS switched off in your browser, or you're using a browser that can't handle CSS. If you're using an older browser version, you might want to consider upgrading.