Doctor Who: Earthshock - REVIEW - Cybercember 

"Excellent!" It's been one week of CyberCember! Thanks so much for all the support! So much of that is because you hit the "like" button, leave comments and share the videos and it's hugely appreciated!

The DVD commentary for this is absolutely solid gold. At one point it goes quiet and then Peter Davison remarks, "Beryl Reid didn't have a clue what was going on."

16:10-16:43 YAY! Cyber-Jeff and Cyber-Steve have returned to bring us laughter and hilarity once again. Hope to see them again soon.

I’d actually say that Adric is the Jason Todd of Doctor Who.

The part where the ship ends up being the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs is a quintessentially brilliant touch.

"Now I'll never know if I was right" Get the tissues ready for this one folks!

I love how they use a clip from The Wheel In Space but it's meant to be Tomb of The Cybermen, but the story was still missing.

Gotta confess, I’m a little disappointed you didn’t end the “Excellent” counter with a clip of Charles Montgomery Burns.

Favourite quotes of the day.. A few this time.. "DESTORY THEM, DESTORY THEM AT ONCE!" "Excellent!" "More Power!"

I was a 13 year old Dr Who fan in 1982 and let me tell you, the shock reveal of the Cybermen at the end of episode 1 was the most exciting thing that had ever happened!

3:56 Oh, I never realised that the communicator was still in what remains of her hand. Now that's nasty...

No mention of Malcolm Clarke's terrific musical score? I think thats what really helps make this episode be truly memorable. I mean can you imagine this episode without his musical stings when the Cybermen appear?

Sorry for the blank screen at 27:18. It's meant to be a clip from 'Full Circle' where Adric gets given his badge. For some reason it didn't process in the render. But I will fix it when doing the full marathon compilation in 2021.

I also love the clear chins on the Cybermen's helmets so that you can see the human heads inside. I think that even though they are cyborgs, people tend to forget that they were once human and view them just as robots. Though, yes, in this episode, they do come across as too human. I also agree about the TARDIS being too crowded. There often wasn't enough storyline to go around, which is what I think part of the problem with the last two seasons of current Who. I was a kid when Adric was a companion, so he didn't annoy me. In fact, him being young meant that I could identify more with him. So when he died in this episode, I was not only shocked, since this was the first time I had ever seen a companion die, I was also upset because I liked the character. So this serial made quite an impression on me. You always hear about Steven Moffat killing off companions, but in truth, every companion of his era that "died" actually had some sort of life beyond that death. Not so with Adric. His death was permanent which I think gives it more weight in the Who universe.

Ahhh yes. Earthshock. The beginning of the 'Excellent' era (1982-1988).

It’s actually quite easy to understand why Adric is like how he is. First off, he’s a teenager. Who hasn’t done things they later cringe at as a teenager? He started with the Fourth Doctor, eventually being the sole companion for an unknown period of time, at least one TV story. Adric and the Fourth Doctor have a great student and mentor relationship, Adric giving the Doctor just enough admiration while the Doctor curbs Adric’s worst ego trips. They have great chemistry in The Keeper of Traken, and Adric makes a great team with Nyssa in that story too. Then comes the fall. When the Fourth Doctor regenerated into the Fifth his personality changed, he was literally a different man from whom Adric had been travelling with. Much less of an ego in need of stoking, the Fifth Doctor was less comfortable in general social situations. Less the life of the party and more a glass of ginger beer in the corner. Factor in the addition of meek Nyssa and the loud, combative Tegan fighting for attention from the Doctor, no wonder Adric acted out more. The proud Alzarian and the Australian, fights were guaranteed to happen and the Doctor and Nyssa would leave the room when mediation wasn’t possible.

“Small beautiful things is what life is all about”

Fun fact about me and this story, This was the first story in the classic series I've seen on VHS along with Pyramids of Mars, In fact this story was my first Cybermen story I've watched in general, These stories made me travel time to appreciate the classic series, And that's one history to remember through time.

7:40 Yay! The Revenge of the Cybermen curse has been lifted! 16:10 Is it me, or does anyone else think “You know what’s going? Maybe it’s another drill.” when they see this moment?

*sees it’s time for Earthshock in Cybercember* Me: “E X C E L L E N T”

Earthshock Now we're talking Edit: I kinda find it funny how Mr Tardis is always critical of the Cybermen plans. Maybe he should become Cyber Planner 😂

In fairness to the Cyber-Leader's hammy acting, they do acknowledge it as odd in-universe with the Doctor even snarking about it ("Compared to the others, this one's positively flippant.")

I have a very special relationship with this episode. When I was a kid, and probably just after Tennant's first season finished, my grandfather got me a bunch of classic who stories on DVD, all Part 1's, in little cardboard slips. One of them was Earthshock and the first full Classic story I got on DVD was Earthshock. This is the story which made me fall in love with the Cybermen and I still love it today. Thank you for doing it justice with this review and Merry Christmas.

Part 5 was in the review? Excellent!

Rewatched this episode yesterday and I think it's the peak of Cybermen stories in Classic Who. 18:27 Also, is the Cyberman that gets frozen in the shield door a reference to Han in Carbonite from Empire Strikes Back?

The 80s Cybermen are my all time favourite versions of the monsters, part of why I liked the Lone Cyberman is because he reminded me of the great David Banks Cyber-Leader. The battle of wits between Their Fifth Doctor and The Cyber-Leader is one of the best seen on the show. "Excellent" indeed. My head cannon was that the Cybermen had evolved, they understand emotions but have none of the 'weaknesses' associated with them.

What I love is that Adric and Nyssa have themes. Themes for companions are usually associated with modern Who, but it started in the 80s.

I like how part 1, with the caves and the dinosaurs, seems to be saying “Silurian story” but then, bam! Cybermen! Not quite a “she’s actually a never-before-seen incarnation of the Doctor” level twist, but still a good one.

15:41 - 15:57 I was hoping you'd build up that "excellent" compilation, then follow it up with Mr. Burns saying "excellent".

Out of all the Cybermen and actors in the classic series, I freaking love the 80's Cybermen and their design in fact it's probably my all time favourite costume in the whole of the classic series, Plus David Banks as the Cyber Leader is one hell of a best actor, He's one of my favourite Cybermen actor after Peter Hawkins Roy Skelton and Nicolas Briggs.

I know, I know, most fans of the show see Adric as one of the most annoying and unlikable companions of all time...but he'll always be special to me. I found him incredibly relatable when I started getting into Classic Who (my first Doctor Who DVD was The Visitation, having listened to the audiobook first, which was read by Matthew Waterhouse). An incredible story, which gave Adric possibly the best send-off he could have ever received. Also, Earthshock Cybermen for best Cyberman design!

I don’t think season 19 gets enough credit. Castrovalva is a good opener, Kinda is such a thought provoking story, The Visitation, imo, is Doctor Who distilled and then there’s Earthshock. Four to doomsday and Black Orchid are average and yes Time-Flight is awful, but I think the good outweighs the bad.

I remember when I was in a Dr Who fan club as a kid, when they showed this story, someone had dubbed laughter over the final scene of Tegan and Nyssa crying. Cheers and wild applause from the audience. Adric was not a popular character.

"EXCELLENT!!!" This is indeed an excellent review.

Remember the ‘shock’ of seeing the cybermen, back when it was first broadcast when I was 12 years old.

I saw this when it originally aired. The reveal at the end of the first episode was an incredible surprise. Fantastic stuff and a great story.

Cyber-Leader is still the best representation of the Cyber-Men. He has character that other recent Cyber-Men before and after lack. Instead of them being just robots, the visible mouth chin, they have presence in this and it makes you more engaged.

This story gets me every time. Especially Adric's death. I well up every single time.

Earthshock was amazing when it first aired. The shock reveal of the Cybermen, and then that ending. There was literally nothing else like it on TV at the time. Arguably the best 5th Doctor story. Still one of the all-time best who stories.

I'm really intrigued how you got that Cybermen space invaders effect (reminds me of David Banks' cyber history book with it's various species of cybermen) at the beginning of these videos

I remember watching this at the time but can't remember the the surprise revelation of the Cybermen being very memorable to me, what was memorable was the clips of past Doctors. The shock ending I do remember making a big impression. I remember sitting on the edge of my seat for the first episode of Time Flight to see if he was really dead. I also remember the aching disappointment when all my friends tuned in for Time Flight after hearing about the ending of Earthshook and the next day hearing the word 'crap' (polite version) shouted in my face all day. What a wasted opportunity. And annoying they were right: Time Flight is rubbish. [Genesis to Revenge. Androzani to Twin. No it's definitely Earthshook to Time Flight that has the biggest drop off in quality.] Loving your reviews.

brilliant video! so happy you are doing the 5 doctors!

BERYL REID! She was NEVER miscast in anything...LEGEND.

Earthshock is one of my favourites. I use to own on VHS but I never got round to buying the DVD. I think it's one of Peter Davison's best as The Doctor (I met Peter Davison in 2009) and it is one of Doctor Who's darkest episodes. The Cybermen make a good comeback after a 7 year absence and with their new look they looked truly menacing with their 80s look. It had a good story. Peter Davison and the cast all give good performances. A shame it was Matthew Waterhouse's final appearance as Adric. Although Adric was a annoying character, his death at the end of the story was tragic. Although Adric getting off the escape pod just as it was taking off and trying to unlock the controls and stop the space freighter to crash land on prehistoric Earth, it was an act of heroism and sacrifice and he gave his life to save the Earth. 5:13 The Cybermen returning in the cliffhanger of Episode 1 is one of Doctor Who's best cliffhangers. John Nathan-Turner deciding to keep the Cybermen returning in Earthshock a secret was a really good decision. Earthshock is one of the best Cybermen stories and one of the best of Old Who.

This is only my favourite Cybermen story, but my favourite Doctor Who story of all-time.

EARTHSHOCK was THE BEST Cybermen story in the eighties

“I’m just a mouth on legs” - Tegan, a more self-aware companion.

Great review, MrTARDIS, but I've got one little nitpick - Adric's gold star for mathematical excellence only weakened the Cyber Leader. It took several blasts from the Cyber gun to actually kill him.

hands down my favourite cyberman story of all time, david banks as the cyberleader was perfect casting in my opinion, also eric saward does a fantastic job of bringing the cybermen back from the brink.

Next time on Cybercember: The Five(ish) Doctors: The Pre-Sequel

Earthshock is always gonna be remembered as that story where a companion straight up died. And personally, I think the Modern series needs more companion deaths

Bloody loved that Cyberman in The Five Doctors sketch

I like to imagine that second in command Cyberman was, in his former life, known as Smithers....

Nice little funny sketch with the 2 cybermen talking to each other 16:10. Though forgive me for sounding nit-picky but I think the voices could have been better as they sounded more like daleks. It would have been easier and have sounded more accurately like 80s cybermen if you'd just pitched down your voice or mixed it with a deeper pitch of your voice.

It's true that on first broadcast the end of Episode 1 was one of the best cliffhangers ever - but only if you recognised the enemy! After an absence of seven years from the TV screens, I'm sure that I wasn't the only 9 year old in 1982 who had never heard of the Cybermen.

It would be super awesome if you did a review Spare Parts! It more than anything else is the follow-up to Earthshock, and is really just the best Cyberman story you could possibly ask for. Not to mention one of the most famous, and well known Doctor Who audios out there for very good reason. I think it adds a lot to the mythos and interpretation of the Cybermen, and would be a *cough* excellent addition to Cybercember. (And its only like $2.00!)

I must have watching this 10 times now , just makes me remember how good this story is! After all it is my favourite

Nyssa just proves how smart she is in her run, often staying in the relative safety of the TARDIS. Nyssa will outlive us all.

I've been looking forward to this one, first Old Who story I ever saw and still one of my personal favourites.

I say Earthshock is an awesome Cybermen story like Tomb of the Cybermen the Moonbase and also Tenth Planet

I'm looking forward to tomorrow! I love the Five Doctors it was one of the first few classics I watched because it had Sarah Jane and was just one long thing.

One of the best Cyberman stories and a highlight of Davison's run, which is generally quite hit and miss IMO. Peter Grimwade wasn't a very good writer but he could absolutely direct the hell out of a story, and Eric Saward's script is "excellent!". It's a brilliant "reboot" of an old monster that cemented the Cybermen as a force of nature in Doctor Who - without this, the Cybermen could've been consigned to history after Revenge flopped but Earthshock made them legendary. The Fifth Doctor gets some of his best characterisation and the story is endlessly watchable and of course the ending is just a gut punch. I would argue no story since has been quite so revelatory and unexpected (MAYBE Fugitive of the Judoon. Maybe).

Simply Excellent

It might be an unpopular opinion, but I quite like the flare ups of emotions in these cybermen (particularly David Banks). I like to think that sometimes the heat of the moment ruptures the programming and he has a burst of rage or indulges into smugness. It makes him a much more interesting adversary. David Banks himself wrote a novel (Iceberg) where it is implied cybermen sometimes emulate emotion so as to intimidate humans. Honestly I think it should be left to individual viewer to decide for themselves.

I watched this in 1982 as an 11 year old and sheesh it was a stunning ending!

So here, I will provide my theory about the bomb and why it is among the fossils of extinct dinosaurs. I think Saward literally "lost the plot" which I think was going to include a typical time travel paradox. I think that he had intended the bomb to have been a still active remnant of the freighter that crashes at the end killing off the dinosaurs (that's why the bomb is in that rock layer surrounded with dinosaur bones). The cybermen would have located the bomb, tried to activate it but without realising what they had found was the remains of the ship they were on. Saward's plotting , particularly in his Dalek stories, was never particularly coherent and I just tink this idea was simply forgotten but bits of it remained in the broadcast story.

Time for quite possibly the Best cybermen story. There’s a friend I had, who loved doctor who and he would’ve loved to have seen this review and both of us to talk about it. Oh well.. poetic how this story also has a companion departure~ the most sudden and saddest and terrifying companion departures. Can’t wait for the Attack of the cybermen story, because well- I have the same emotional attachment towards the serial as Earthshock for the same reasons. Series 19 is honestly my favourite series from the classic series. Well, either- it’s either series 19 or Series 12 or Series 22. Series 20 and 21 are also really good though. Peter Davison’s tenure was amazing. _ Also, I say the cybermen can time travel. They planted the bomb on earth in the past.- In those caves. But, they still will not alter history. It could be that after this story, the cybermen just went “SCREW IT-“ and just then decided to break the rules of time, out of spite.

This was my first classic Doctor Who story and I'd recommend anyone starting with this one if you want to get into the classic series!

Beryl had a bit of a career lift here on the tale of the kids show Get Up And Go with Mooncat

Next Time: The Doctor returns to Telos to battle the return of the Cyber-Controller, The violence within a man's hand, More references and continuity, And it will all end with a powerful note.. Be ready for the Attack of the Cybermen, There is logic to I said! EDIT: My bad, That's not until another two days now as now I've been informed.

All jokes aside I'm still legitimately curious about what those two cyberman were talking about.

I remember watching Earthshock on VHS in the early 2000s and the Cyberleader's death was the scariest Doctor Who scene 10 year old me had ever seen

Tbh, as much as I love this story, I don’t think it would be nearly as good without its cliffhanger to Part 1 and ending.

I can remember the first time I saw this show on PBS (public broadcasting service) in the USA. When the show began, I thought something had gone wrong with the broadcast and I was watching some other show. My other memory was the ending and the ending credits, which made a big impact on me at the time. It's an OK show, but part of that is due to my dislike of both Adric and Tegan as companions, not to mention the backlash that Peter Davison had from the Tom Baker era.

17:50 they do actually answer that partially; there’s a line of dialogue later (ep 4?) that states the red alert around earth would blast down a missile. Why “these caves” specifically isn’t elaborate upon, beyond they’re on Earth & Earth’s the target. Maybe it was meant to be holdover continuity from Revenge? Wherein the bombs needed to be deep underground to cause planet-scale damage. Granted there’s no explanation for how the bomb got there but that wasn’t a question The Doctor asked. If I had to guess though, it’s why they had to resort to using androids to deliver & guard it. Presumably there was a window for entirely inorganic objects to slip through.

The 3xcellent counter is... well, obviously excellent. Also pay attention to Davison's entire era as a silurian, tereleptil, Master, and many others all exclaim the same thing. Your reviews and overviews are first rate. Thank you much!!

I like the angle of the leader actively suppressing his emotions with it occassionally surfacing

I actually really like the trend of cyber-leaders, controllers, etc having more emotional goals, and it's something I've noticed that Modern Who does a lot. Classic Who did it a few times, with this Cyber-Leader, and the Cyber-Controller from Tomb (who isn't emotional, but he's definitely more unique). It's a really great counter-weight to the emotionless, identical Cybermen. Also, the point that Cybermen can exploit emotional weakness was brought back as a thing in The Doctor Falls. The Cybermen advertised their attack, hovered in the sky for a fair while, all to attempt to weaken the Doctor's defenses.

I was 6 years old in 1982 when I saw this episode. My Aunt had a bootleg copy from the UK which ran in PAL but my VCR was NTHC. The picture quality was abysmal, which I think added to to mystery of the story. I had no idea the Cybermen were the bad guys, and I was left speechless by their reveal during the Part One cliffhanger. Adric dying at the end was the cherry on top of one of the greatest episodes of the show. The internet has spoiled this type of surprise. You haven't talked about the music in your reviews. The Invasion and Eartshock have two of the best soundtracks of the show. The clanging of Eartshock is especially moody. I wish it was still used today.

My lame review (( I began to review stuff back in early 2020, and I was not a pro at it... )): OH MAN, I loved this episode and I enjoyed listening to the dinosaur discussion. Good cliffhanger tho. Can't wait to see what will happen next! Good ol' solid episode. It's so atmospheric and the music is terrifying.

Finally someone WHO appreciates Classic WHO! Amazing review. Adric's death was so impactful on me when I saw it for the first time.

Earthshock was the very first Classic series episode that I got on DVD not long after going to the sadly now closed Dr Who Exhibition in Blackpool.

I'm not sure I'd call Beryl Reid stunt casting unless you think it impossible for an older women to be captain of a freighter. She had done a fair amount of comedy but was also a serious actress. In the same year she appeared in Earthshock she won a BAFTA for playing Connie Sachs in Smileys People. A decade earlier she had won a Tony and a Golden Globe for her role in The Killing of Sister George. JNT would have been honored to have her.

Personally my favourite Cyberman Story and was one of my very first Doctor Who stories

Really enjoying these reviews mate. Hopefully one day the collection box sets will be re-released so I can watch this story with remortgaging my house.

I like them saying "Excellent" I want it to come back.

Such a shame how often Nyssa did get sidelined. She has a genuinely interesting character profile but real talk here, Sarah Sutton got paid for standing around and showing off the BBCs costume department for 90% of the time.

My favourite cyberman story

When will the bit marathon of this come out?

This is the first Cybermen episode I have seen and seeing these Cybermen made me look that they were supposed to look like until I saw the previous Cybermen appearances which looked better than the Earthshock version but the worst appearance would have to go with Nightmare in Silver which were too much like robots followed by the Silver Nemesis design which looked similar to the Earthshock design but too shiny and were underpowered compared to other Cybermen stories due to them being easily defeated by throwing gold at them.

Hands-down, my favourite Cyberman story!

I can't wait for The Five Doctors review, there are so many "firsts" there

What a great classic story, I love it.

Yeah has is flaws but we know the 80's Doctor Who had a lot worst but anyway was a really good review of "Earthshock" not such fan of the 80's Cybermen design but that mouth chain add something really odd to them, but anyway can't wait to see the "The Five Doctors" Review.

Probably my favorite classic who cyberman story. That being said, while i like it more as a story than the other cyberman stories it's definitely not my favorite depiction of the cybermen as they still feel much too emotional, though it's miles better than something like silver nemesis.

Well, big finish did do a story where Adric survives, but it’s not a happy ending for him... The boy that time forgot, if you’re interested.

These cybermen are the best love the design

It turns out rust Adric’s fate is even more crazy….. because as reavield in an audio book the Doctor latter created a bubble universe which revived Adric and he became the Scorpion King. Crazy right.

I'm surprised that you didn't mention how the doctor not only shoots a gun (which wouldn't happen in modern who) but shoots a gun at a cybermen on the tardis. (Even through "temporal grace" is supposed to be a thing.)

Still cry every time!