The A-Z of Classic Who | Earthshock: Alas, Poor Shithead

There's a certain quality to Earthshock that makes rather difficult to talk about, but I'll do my best, because that's what I'm here for. It's themes and style have been done since then in stories of various quality, by writers of various competence, but Earthshock will always be the template of how to do a bleak Doctor Who story. And make no mistake, Doctor Who had never been this bleak before. The Doctor loses in this story. Completely. It's only by luck having someone as skilled as Adric where he needed to be that the Cybermen don't end up wiping out the Earth. The entire story just involves events slipping away from the Doctor, the enemy overcoming all the opposition easily, and although the outcome is victory, it has a price.

But more on that later. It's usually customary to begin at the beginning, and what a beginning. Part One of this story is one the best episodes of the show: atmospheric, gripping and almost creepy, the mystery unfolds perfectly, the deaths of Scott's soldiers are brutal, and the cave sets look really good (for once). The episode only falters when it has to cut back to the TARDIS crew, and even then the character work surrounding Adric, who let's not kid ourselves, had been a completely useless shithead up to this point, is good and welcome stuff.

The androids themselves are masterful creations: yes, it's fairly obvious that they're two blokes in suits, but that doesn't detract from their menace.

The Cyber-Androids were annoyed to have their spelunking holiday ruined by those pesky soldiers

And then, of course, that cliffhanger. It's effect is somewhat blunted these days, given everyone and their mum knows the Cybermen are in this story, not at all helped by the fact they're on the bloody DVD cover, but back in the day, I can't imagine how shocking it would have been - the Cybermen suddenly returning after all these years, out of nowhere. Almost like how shocking John Simm's Master returning would have been if the BBC weren't a bunch of complete morons.

"Someone's former Prime Minister!.... oh wait hang on"

Unfortunately, the story falters at this point, with Part Two being the weakest of the four. The first half of the episode is pretty much just The Exposition Show, with the Doctor and the Cybermen explaining at length everything the audience needs to know. It's not awful or anything, but there were probably better ways to communicate that information. The second half of the episode is basically just 'The Doctor and Adric go for a wonder around the freighter', but that's happily intercut with the introduction of the freighter's crew. Beryl Reid's Captain Briggs is a brilliantly bitchy no-shit character - you certainly sympathise with her annoyance at Ringway's by-the-book whinging, just as you can sympathise with his betraying the human race to the Cybermen because of how fed up he is with her. 

"If we don't get these drug- I mean errr vital supplies back to Earth, I'll be in serious trouble. They'll break my knees!"

The freighter shows off some of eighties Who's best production designs, and the Cybermen throughout the second half of the story become a seriously powerful menace - their awakening and tearing through the ship's crew like butter is brilliantly brutal, and Briggs' realisation that there are 15,000 Cybermen on her ship is a fantastically shocking moment. The music in this story is also fantastic - it adds to the feeling that the Cybermen are unstoppable, although this is somewhat blunted by the sight of two of them just standing around having a chat at one point.

"Did you see that ludicrous display last night?"

It's not all perfect - the insistence on having the Cyber Leader be one the Doctor has previously met is a bizarre and fairly unnecessary choice, while Nyssa is pretty much sidelined for the entire story, save to spurt technobabble and tell Scott to stay in the TARDIS about three different times before she final gives up and tells him to sod off, taking Tegan with him. No doubt Nyssa was happy for the peace and quiet.

"For gods sake, I just came out here for a spliff, can't you two leave me alone!"

Of course, there is one companion that all of this comes down to. Adric, you annoying, whinging shithead. How could you break our hearts so.

Obviously a companion had to go out of the three - it's no coincidence we've covered three stories from this era so far, and all three of them have had companions sidelined for good chunks of the stories. And it would obviously be Adric - not only had he been there the longest, there were interesting things still to do with the other two and not with him. 

There were two choices with what to do with him - they could drop him somewhere out of the blue (like they would eventually do with Nyssa), or they could do something bold and new. They chose the later.

Until the ending, Earthshock had been a bleaker, more brutal story than usual, but no more so than The Dalek's Master Plan or The War Games or something along those lines. There was no indication the Doctor would fail to win as he always did. The first time it becomes a little off is when Adric is left behind when they go the Cybermen take the Doctor and Tegan to the TARDIS, but they'd just jump in and rescue him right? 

Berger always Walked like an Egyptian at the most inappropriate times

The first indication that something is seriously wrong is when Adric leaves the escape pod - mainly because this involves a bunch of otherwise obviously dead supporting characters surviving, and presumably going on to live long, happy lives. Someone has to die - this dramatic tension so expertly built up has to be going somewhere, and we're rapidly running out of options.

I should point out that in terms of directing, writing etc. these scenes are all masterfully done - as Adric begins to succeed on the freighter's code, sending it back in time and reducing its impact potential, it's almost as if he is going to pull it off - until one last Cyberman comes and ruins it all. It's an almost perfect scene: we see the Cyberman coming up behind Adric and he doesn't until it's too late. "Now I'll never know if I was right" is the immediate line - Adric is resigned to what's going to happen. But the audience can barely comprehend it - it hasn't quite come out of nowhere, but for both the audience and the characters, it might have well as done.

Meanwhile, the Doctor has brutally murdered some Cybermen (as you do) but there's nothing to be done. He, Nyssa and Tegan watch as the freighter smashes into Earth, wiping out the dinosaurs, and with it, the Doctor's victory record. He has lost. And his friend has paid with his life.

It might well be the finest 5 minutes in the show's history, capped off with the silent credits that many hate, but I think it was absolutely the right choice - jumping from the shock and sadness straight into the jaunty eighties Howell theme would have been a horrific idea. Yeah, the silent credits are a bit cheesy, but they let what has happened sink in. 

The ending makes Earthshock. It's a shocking, bleak ending that results in failure of the highest order for our previously infallible hero. I doubt The Caves of Androzani would have been possible without this story - otherwise the Doctor being unable to influence events and failing to do anything to make the situation right would have been without any credibility. But after this, anything is credible. 

It's a lesson NuWho has failed to learn in my opinion - never once has the Doctor not come out on top eventually, because the way it's dramatically structured leaves no room for something as blunt and shocking as the end of Earthshock. And obviously the first two showrunner's insistence of not actually killing off their beloved characters, and the current showrunner's insistence on not having any actual characters, doesn't really help things. But I'm glad we got the usual 'Bash NuWho' bit of the blog post out of the way. It wouldn't be the same otherwise. 

Final Score: 10/10. Earthshock isn't perfect, it makes mistakes. But what it gets right, it gets so very, very right. A threatening villain, a great story, some interesting side characters and a gut punch ending makes it one of the best stories in the show's history. 

Next Episode: Enlightenment