Earthshock

Now I'll never know if I was right.

The great Adric death story. As so few of the Doctor's companions actually die as a means of departure, this was bound to be impactful (no pun intended) but the fact that Adric seems to be so universally loathed as a character has given his death story an added bit of ironic pleasure to fans. Of course, how does it hold up as an overall story is the primary question I'm concerned with.

Plot Summary

On Earth in the mid-26th century, a group of soldiers is investigating an attack on a scientific expedition in an underground cave system. After setting up sensors on the surface, the soldiers head down with the sole escapee, Professor Kyle.

On the TARDIS, Adric argues with the Doctor as he wants to return home. The Doctor argues against him as he doesn't know if he can return to E-space. The TARDIS materializes in the cave system being explored by the soldiers and the Doctor storms out of the TARDIS to cool off. Nyssa encourages Adric to do the calculations while she and Tegan talk to the Doctor. If Adric has the formulae, it will be easier to persuade him.

The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan are picked up by the surface scanners and the soldiers head towards them. However, one soldier falls and dislocates her shoulder she is sent back and one soldier from the surface heads down to assist them. All three are waylaid by two androids and killed, which show up on the surface scanner as momentary flashes, although the androids themselves are not visible.

In the caves, the Doctor cools down a bit and Nyssa and Tegan further distract him by examining a group of dinosaur fossils embedded in the cave wall. The three wander into the central cavern where the excavations were taking place. The soldiers come and arrest them while also sending a second squad to look for the missing soldiers. That squad is also killed by the androids. Lieutenant Scott forces the Doctor to dig through a rock pile where a small, metal door is uncovered. This activity attracts the androids who attack the soldiers. The soldiers take cover and fire back. The Doctor directs the soldiers fire and the androids withdraw as they're self-preservation instinct kicks in.

Adric, noting some commotion outside the TARDIS goes to investigate and sees the androids. The Doctor also sees him and directs the soldiers to fire at the door. The androids, controlled by the Cybermen, are ordered to defend the door. Adric distracts one with a thrown rock and the soldiers destroy it. The second one is also gunned down. With their defense compromised, the Cybermen activate the bomb behind the door. Discovering it, the Doctor orders Nyssa and Tegan to get everyone into the TARDIS. The Doctor uses the TARDIS to temporarily block the signal to the bomb. The Cybermen are able to override the block but it buys the Doctor enough time to defuse the bomb.

The Doctor traces the signal to a cargo ship approaching Earth, having just left a space docking station. He lands the TARDIS in the hold and looks for the crew. At the same time, a security patrol is wandering around as three crew members have recently disappeared. Also wandering around is Lt. Ringway, investigating a broken security camera. The Doctor and Adric hear screams and find the two security members dead. Ringway find them and takes them to the bridge to be interrogated by the Captain.

On the bridge, Captain Briggs interrogates the Doctor and Adric who maintain their innocence and tell the captain about the bomb. Before she can make up her mind about hauling them off to the brig, the Cybermen awaken a group of dormant Cybermen and proceed towards the bridge. The bridge is alerted to the power drain and they see the Cybermen on the monitors. The crew set up defensive positions to hold the Cybermen back.

Nyssa also registers the power surge. Lt. Scott opts to lead his men out of the TARDIS to investigate. Tegan takes Professor Kyle's overalls and heads out with them. The Cybermen overrun the crew's positions, taking no casualties as the crew's guns have minimal effect. Ridgeway turns on the Captain as he is a Cyberman agent. He is disarmed though when distracted by Adric and the Doctor seals the bridge.

Lt. Scott's squad find two Cybermen and concentrate their fire. Both are wounded with one escaping. Tegan rushes up, seizes the other wounded Cyberman's gun and kills him. The Doctor sets up a defense that kills one Cyberman but the others break through. Observing the Cyberman wounded by the soldiers, the Cyberleader concludes Ridgeway lied to them about the number of people on board and kills him. The Cyberleader then orders the activation of more Cybermen as they approach Earth.

Separated from Tegan, Lt. Scott orders his men back to the TARDIS. As they enter, one is killed by two attacking Cybermen. Scott and his men kill the two Cybermen but not before they fire a shot that kills Professor Kyle. Tegan meanwhile is captured and taken to the bridge.

On the bridge, the Cybermen install controls to ensure the cargo ship will crash with Earth and warp velocity. There is currently a conference between multiple planets to ally against the Cybermen taking place. The original plan had been to detonate the bomb but with the Doctor's defusing of the bomb, the devastation wrought be the crashing ship would be enough to destroy the delegation. With the device installed, the Cyberleader orders his men to evacuate the ship where they will be picked up the Cyberfleet. Two guards and a small squad are left to ensure no complications and to observe the human response to death. He then takes Tegan as hostage and forces her and the Doctor back to the TARDIS along with his second-in-command. Adric is left with the Captain and Lt. Berger.

Observing the Cybermen evacuating the ship, Lt. Scott and his remaining men storm the bridge, killing the two guards. Adric and Berger immediately start working to override the circuits to prevent the ship from crashing into Earth. Scott's men set up a defense against the remaining Cyberman patrols. On the TARDIS, the Cyberleader orders his second to search to ensure there is no other crew. He then orders take-off to observe the crash.

Scott's men hold off the attacking Cybermen, although several are killed doing so. Adric and Berger's efforts begin to succeed and the interference at warp causes a time jump. The ship pulsates towards 65 million years ago. However, it is unstable and the Doctor cannot land the TARDIS on the ship. Unaware of the full extent of the time jump, Captain Briggs order the evacuation of the ship. With two locks down and one to go, Adric leaps off the escape pod at the last minute to try and save the ship.

Angry at the failure of the plan, the Cyberleader prepares to shoot the Doctor but the Doctor crushes the gold fragments of Adric's mathematical badge (that he had given him earlier) into the intake of the Cyberleader. The gold fragments interfere with his system and he shoots wildly, damaging the TARDIS console. The Doctor grabs his gun and shoots him in the chest, killing him.

Having been radioed by Lt. Scott that Adric is still on board, the Doctor tries to manipulate the TARDIS to get on board. However, the console is damaged and the other Cyberman appears, attracted by the shooting. Nyssa guns him down but it is a further loss of time.

On the cargo ship, Adric has nearly deactivated the last lock when a wounded Cyberman appears. It shoots the console and then collapses. Now, unable to steer the ship Adric can only watch the viewscreen as Earth approaches.

On the TARDIS, the Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa can only watch as the ship enters the atmosphere and explodes, killing Adric and wiping out the dinosaurs. Nyssa and Tegan hug each other crying as the Doctor looks down to Adric's crushed badge.

Analysis

It's actually a shame that Adric dies at the end of this story; not that I miss Adric as I've always felt the Fifth Doctor had too many companions and Matthew Waterhouse is not that best actor. But the big shock ending of Adric's death overshadows a really good story involving the Cybermen. It's even worse when you consider that Adric is ultimately killed by his own stupidity. Granted, he may not have been aware of how far back in time they had gone, but his insistence on continuing to try and save the ship got him killed.

But, leaving aside Adric's death, this is an excellent story. It is probably the most competent and terrorizing the Cybermen have ever actually been. Yes, they were probably a bit scarier at the end of Episode Two of The Tomb of the Cybermen but they are far more cunning and ruthless here. The Cyberleader makes an excellent adversary as he is not entirely devoid of emotions. He is coldly logical, but there is a sadistic relish in him to see not only the plan succeed but also to see the Doctor fail. The Cyberleader even has a valid reason to keep the Doctor alive while on the cargo ship as he would lack the time and expertise to fly the TARDIS off the cargo ship. Once off, he would have presumably killed the Doctor and his companions on the mission was successful, rendering him even with a further degree of maliciousness.

The pacing, direction, and lighting of this story was also excellent. Each episode built on the previous one with a good amount of tension and the constant use of darkness built on that tension. It also hid any deficiencies that might have been otherwise found. That is actually a significant change as one of the principle complaints about the Fifth Doctor era is how poorly lit many of the stories are, rendering the monsters ridiculous looking.

The acting was stellar in this. Sad to say, it was because again the companions were minimized. Adric of course got screen time and he did fairly well. Tegan was actually quite good in her few scenes; the lesson there being to give her more action oriented moments rather than just standing and reacting. I enjoyed the cargo ship crew, especially the Captain, who was a real salty, ball-crushing bitch. She was both believable and enjoyable in her interactions with the crew and Doctor. She took a backseat as the Cybermen took over, but she still had a good line or two towards the end.

The only acting weak links were Nyssa and Professor Kyle. Kyle wasn't bad at the beginning but she didn't say or do much. However, when paired with Nyssa in observation on the TARDIS, Nyssa's blandness seemed to rub off on her. Nyssa also didn't register much, even in tense scenes where the Cybermen are trying to break into the TARDIS and Kyle is killed. She keeps the dead-eyed look and fails to modulate her voice in any significant way that would register much emotion. It was just the same level only modulated in volume here and there.

Evaluating the Cyberman story on it's own, the first 3.75 episodes merit a 5 easily. But the whole story must be looked at and that includes the last five minutes which are almost completely given over to Adric's death. Here is where the problems crop up and they are multiple.

I've already mentioned how Adric more or less killed himself by not getting on the escape ship and that is a mild annoyance to begin with. I can imagine that in his first treatment of the story, Eric Saward either kept Adric on the escape pod or he himself crushed his badge into the Cyberleader, allowing the Doctor to grab the gun and shoot him. However, when word came down that Adric was being killed off, a quick rewrite put him here. It's not bad writing, but it emphasizes some of Adric's flaws, undoing some of the more noble and soft moments he had in the earlier part of the story.

The second problem is that with escape of all the secondary characters, tension and reaction are being driven by the Doctor and his three companions. The Doctor is fine and Adric isn't too bad either, but Nyssa and Tegan are terrible. Tegan goes way over the top and Nyssa tries but still comes across as somewhat uninterested, even when shouting Adric's name as the freighter explodes. It gets worse when Nyssa and Tegan hug for comfort and Sarah Sutton hides her face because she is actually laughing, yet you can still sort of see it. The acting chops required are insufficient to carry off the emotional depth required of the scene. The Doctor's stunned silence is about the only believable reaction in the bunch.

Not quite tied to Adric's death, but necessary to ensure it is the action scene just before where the Cyberleader and his lieutenant are taken out. The Cyberleader scene is pretty good, with Tegan assisting the Doctor in attacking the Cyberleader before the Doctor shoots him down. However, when the lieutenant comes back in, he walks slowly up behind the Doctor, gun poised, but still waits for Nyssa to see him, let her grab the gun and shoot him before he does anything. The fault there lies in the direction but it is so clumsy and unbelievable that it just ruins the tension they are trying to build. If he had gotten a shot off at the Doctor, leaving Nyssa free to grab the gun because she was a lower priority, that would have made sense. But the scene as is is just clumsy.

Despite my disappointment with the wrap up, it doesn't hurt the overall story in a significant way. The base story is still very good and I wouldn't hesitate to watch this one a second time around. I just wish it could be enjoyed without taking on all the baggage of being the death story for Adric.

One final aside. If you get a chance to view the version with the updated effects for the crash, I'd watch that. The original has the viewscreen of the cargo ship staring at a globe and then the ship exploding amidst a star field. The updated effects show a cleaner Earth and the ship actually entering the atmosphere as it blows up and it is much less dependent on the viewer using their imagination to understand what happened. It's not overly significant but it does up the appreciation of the final scene.

Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5