Earthshock

A chance materialization in an underground cave system in the 26th century brings the TARDIS crew into contact with a military group investigating the slaughter of a group of archaeologists. The scientists were masscred by a pair of androids protecting a massive bomb, and behind the androids are the Cybermen, once more intent of destroying the Earth. With the bomb deactivated, the Cybermen resort to their fallback plan of ramming the planet with a huge freighter powered by antimatter, but when the freighter enters a time warp it ends up arriving at Earth during the time of the dinosaurs and triggering their extinction upon impact - with Adric still on board.

The Cybermen make their return to the series after an absence of about seven or eight years, and to heighten the impact of that return they have been re-styled and updated once more to be taller and more machine-like. The Cyberman head changes to include a glass chin, and inside can be seen the mouth of the actor much akin to their original appearance in 1967 when they still had teeth and their eyes could be seen rotting away within their masks. They still look like men in suits, though; as the Cyber army awakens and marches through the hold of the freighter (and there are a lot of them this time) they pass by the camera and we get a full of view of... well.. Cyber-bum. And it's not a bad bum, but are we supposed to believe that the Cybermen replaced everything in their bodies from brains to nervous systems to internal organs, but left their bums alone? A bad edit, in the end. The other point of contention with the Cybermen is their voices; now deep and booming and not as flat and computer-like as before, they still sound as if there is some trace of emotion inside them. Daleks are allowed to hate and go into a rage but Cybermen are supposed to be driven by logic, and logic would not see the Cyberleader crushing a communicator in apparant rage when his plan falls apart.

Another first for the series this time: the TARDIS is invaded by the Cybermen and occupied for a time in part four.

Earthshock features some interesting effects as well, including a flashback sequence with the first, second and fourth Doctors as the Cybermen review their history with the Doctor's interferance with their plans. This was my own first glimpse of vintage Doctor Who clips from The Tenth Planet and The Wheel in Space back when I first saw this adventure broadcast on Channel 17 on a Saturday afternoon back in... well whenever it was.

Cybermen aside, Earthshock has a defining moment like few other adventures; the death of a companion, in this case, Adric. Trapped on board the freighter as it hurtles down onto Earth, he becomes the third companion to die in the series, joining Sara Kingdom and Katarina. Do we miss Adric? Not especially, but the impact of his death is felt by everyone on the TARDIS crew, and it is driven home by the final credits of part four beind scrolled over black in silence as opposed to the usual theme music and starfield sequence.

Earthshock got the revisionist treatment recently and was put out on DVD with a new GCI effects option, replacing the laser weapons from firefights against the Cybermen with better effects and creating a new sequence showing the freighter hitting Earth. I did not watch the original version when I viewed Earthshock, choosing to see the show from a different light this time. Fans keep squawking about the retouching of the effects but the in the end the show still goes on, Adric still dies, the Cybermen are still back, what's the problem?

I think Jay said it best, even though we did not watch this one together : "Adric. Boom. You're dead. We get it,"

At least now the TARDIS will be a bit less cramped.

NEXT EPISODE : TIME FLIGHT