Doctor Who: Earthshock (1982) - Review

A staple of Classic Doctor Who, 'Earthshock' is regularly cited as a seminal episode in the series as a whole. Part One's shocking (pun intended) cliffhanger has become iconic in the show's history, while the ending to Part Four has become more memorable for it's surprisingly strong execution.

The sixth story in Doctor Who's nineteenth season (and Peter Davison's first), 'Earthshock' marked the return of the Cybermen - not seen since 1975's 'Revenge of the Cybermen' in Tom Baker's first season - in a brand-new iteration that would continue to return in 'The Five Doctors', 'Attack of the Cybermen' and 'Silver Nemesis' before the show's cancellation in 1989. Peter Davison himself has cited the Cybermen as one of Doctor Who's scariest monsters, so giving him to opportunity to face them in his first season (and the Daleks in his last) seemed appropriate.

I was able to watch the special BFI screening of 'Earthshock' on 17th November 2018 - the brand-new restored version present on Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 19 Blu-ray boxset - and it really was quite something to see it on the big screen. While 'Genesis of the Daleks' a few months before had been terrific, 'Earthshock' had definitely been given a slightly better restoration, given that the restoration team had access to the original film prints used. I believe that the BFI's sound mix was the 5:1 stereo mix by Mark Ayres, which sounded great. It's hard to believe that something like 'Earthshock' can look this good on a huge screen, and certainly justifies the effort put in for these Doctor Who: The Collection Blu-ray sets.

The story itself is very nicely directed, setting itself in dark caves, an atmospheric (and expansive) cargo hold and the bridge of a rather impressive spaceship (captained by Beryl Reid, who got many laughs from the audience throughout). Director Peter Grimwade shoots the Cybermen very well for the most part, making them appear constantly threatening; the updated designs also help to make them look more robotic than previous appearances, while David Banks' performance as the Cyber-leader would become a staple of 80's Who (even if he is surprisingly emotional for an emotionless Cyberman - "excellent!"). Malcolm Clarke's music really adds a sense of atmosphere to the proceedings, while the performances all round are very good.

On a first viewing of 'Earthshock', I found that the story was quite slow. It seemed to take until half-way through Part Three for the story to really get going, but upon a second viewing, I did start to appreciate the tension being built over the course of the first two installments. The interval between Parts Two and Three gave something of the edge-of-your-seat feeling you'd get each week, and I have to say that 'Earthshock' can be appreciated more as weekly television from a pacing perspective.

That being said, I couldn't help but wonder if the story was a little too convoluted. After Part One, the soldier left above-ground completely disappeared from the story (making me wonder what had actually happened to him while the Cybermen were trying to invade), while the rest of the soldier characters began to feel almost completely redundant. Nyssa gets virtually nothing to do across the whole story (aside from exposition), while Tegan just ends up getting captured (strange, given that the Cybermen killed everyone else). There's also the odd "oh, Doctor Who" moment - my personal favourite was the two Cybermen having a little natter in a corner together. "Hi Dave, how's it going?" "Yeah, alright. Just trying to blow up the Earth or something". There is little conclusion for the threat of the Cybermen - just going off in an escape pod - although it's understandable that the production team felt that a return was inevitable at this point. Quite how they managed to bury a bomb in those caves without anyone noticing is beyond me though.

'Earthshock' is a strong episode of Doctor Who that is still fondly remembered today, and while it's not in my personal Top 10, watching this new restoration did give me a new perspective on it as a whole. To be fair to the story though, I watched Part One at six years old and then didn't get to watch the rest for another four or five years! No wonder I was initially a bit disappointed.

Edit: I have since re-watched 'Earthshock' on the Season 19 Blu-ray release, and I have to say that perhaps third time really is the charm. With this and 'The Visitation', Eric Saward seems to have written the best stories in Season 19. There's a lot to enjoy with 'Earthshock', even if there are some issues with the story as a whole.