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EARTHSHOCK

4 episodes. Approx. 97 minutes. Written by: Eric Saward. Directed by:
Peter Grimwade. Produced by: John Nathan-Turner.


THE PLOT

The TARDIS materializes in a cave in the distant future. In the midst
of an argument with Adric, the Doctor decides to use this as a chance
to walk around and collect his temper. But the isolation is an
illusion... as he discovers when he walks right into a group of
soldiers, who have just lost several men to an unknown alien presence.
Making him the obvious target for blame.

He establishes himself as an ally by helping the soldiers defeat two
killer androids.  He then defuses a bomb the androids had been
guarding, one which would have left Earth completely devastated. He
traces the bomb's signal to a freigher in deep space, and takes the
TARDIS to investigate. There, he finds himself and his companions in
even greater danger. Both androids and bomb were the work of the
Doctor's old enemies, the Cybermen. And they were just the beginning
of the cybermen's plan to establish their dominance by wiping out all
life on Earth!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Though most of Eric Saward's later serials would place the
Doctor in a peripheral role, he is actually characterized quite
strongly here. The Cyberleader describes him as "formidable," a term
he lives up to consistently. He is almost entirely responsible for
thwarting the Cybermen's first plan, in the cave. On the freighter, he
constantly watches the proceedings, sizing up the situation and calmly
putting the pieces together. Davison continues to play a barely-
restrained weariness with other people's stupidity. Watch him in the
final episode when he's calmly baiting the Cyberleader. When Captain
Briggs (Beryl Reid) interrupts, he gets this lovely look of annoyance
on his face. The Fifth Doctor may not be as blatant about it as his
two immediate predecessors. But he still doesn't suffer fools gladly -
just a bit more quietly.

Adric: Adric is paired with the Doctor throughout the story, allowing
the script to emphasize the teacher/student relationship between the
two. This gives him a decent role - a necessity, for the ending to
work as well as it does. But the story doesn't tip its hand. Adric is
his usual self throughout. He spends the first two episodes in a snit,
essentially throwing an extended temper tantrum to get the Doctor to
pay more attention to him. This works, as the Doctor happily brings
him along to explore the freighter in the second half... which doesn't
turn out so well for the young Alzarian, though his fate is largely of
his own making.

Nyssa: She is reduced to a peripheral role, particularly in the second
half of the story. The obligatory TARDIS cutaways may as well come
with on-screen captions reading, "Nyssa's part for the week."  These
cutaways feature what is probably Sutton's all-time worst performance
in the role. Matthew Waterhouse's acting limitations are certainly on
display - but Sutton is much worse than he is this time.

Tegan: Janet Fielding, however, is on particularly good form. Tegan's
role isn't really much better than normal. She is as headstrong and
stubborn as ever. But Fielding tempers Tegan's stridency with a
compassionate side. I like the instinctive hug she gives to Nyssa at
the end, even before she turns to the Doctor. Tegan also seems to have
taken it on herself to be the one to reason with the Doctor when it
comes to dealing with his companions as a group. While Nyssa soothes
Adric, Tegan goes out into the cave to "talk some sense" into the
Doctor.

Cybermen: The Cybermen's first appearance since 1974's Revenge of the
Cybermen. This proved to be a much more successful comeback for them -
so much so that they rejoined the ranks of the series' regular
villains. This is almost certainly their best post-1960's use. They
are genuinely formidable, with some clever camera trickery allowing
them to be seen in force at the end of Part Three. David Banks'
Cyberleader does seem a bit prone to gloating for a supposedly
unemotional being, but this is a fairly minor fault in an otherwise
strong outing.


THOUGHTS

Earthshock is, in its way, as ambitious a story as Warrior's Gate or
Kinda. Not in the same way as those stories, with their multilayered
narratives and thematic depth. None of that here.  This is a straight-
ahead action piece with no real layers beneath its surface. The
ambition here is in how far it tries to push Doctor Who's limited
schedule and budget. Eric Saward is effectively trying to mount a
Hollywood-style sci-fi/action blockbuster within the constraints of a
Doctor Who 4-parter. It's fast, violent, full of gunfire and
explosions.

On a classic Who budget, it by all rights should fall flat on its
face. But a strong production comes together with a streamlined script
and a mostly outstanding incidental score. The result may not be
flawless.  But taken on the level of an action movie, this story works
very well indeed.

A lot of the credit has to go to director Peter Grimwade. He maintains
tight control of the narrative and atmosphere, using an effective mix
of quick cuts and occasional, lingering shots. Many camera shots are
framed very precisely, with characters in both foreground and
background. The Cyberleader announces his army while standing in front
of a monitor showing the army marching through the corridors. The
Doctor defuses a bomb while Adric looks over his shoulder in the
background.

Grimwade's occasional weakness at working with actors does show
itself. Sutton is unusually poor. James Warwick, a reliable actor,
isn't quite on form. Other guest actors are largely wooden, with one
exception: Beryl Reid. Fandom insists that Reid was badly miscast, an
early example of producer John Nathan-Turner's "stunt casting" going
wrong. I strongly disagree. Beryl Reid was a terrific actress with
range and a dynamic screen energy. In a role that is rather generic on
paper, she lights up the screen and turns someone who should be just a
plot device into a strong presence. There's no question in my mind
that this story would be far the poorer without her.

It's all very entertaining. It probably should have been left as the
only story of its type, rather than being closely replicated at least
two (arguably three) times over the next three seasons. But as a
change of pace (what it was, at this point), it's effective. Even
startling.

And within the larger story of the Fifth Doctor, it marks the point at
which he is first confronted by a universe that's become just a bit
meaner and harsher than he's necessarily prepared for.


Rating: 8/10.

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