By Roy Mathur, on 2023-05-24 at 23:01:40--23:48:35 BST, for Captain Roy's Rusty Rocket Radio Show, Listen
I've swapped microphones. Yet again I've swapped from the Shure SM58 to the Shure SM7B because I am insane and, after many many tests (too many), it records more, and sounds smoother and flatter.
Life has been hectic, hence that little lull in podcasting. I'll talk about that soon, but for now enjoy my revisit of Earthshock.
Fifth Doctor: Peter Davison
Companion(s): Adric: Matthew Waterhouse, Nyssa: Sarah Sutton, Tegan: Janet Fielding
Notable Cast: Captain Briggs: Beryl Elizabeth Reid; prolific and extremely famous British actress; Smiley's People, The Belles of St. Trinian's, The Assassination Bureau, etc.
Director: Peter Grimwade
Writer: Eric Saward
Producer: John Nathan-Turner
Locations: On location at Springwell Quarry, Hertfordshire and BBC Television Centre, Shepherd's Bush in 1981.
Broadcast: Season 19, serial 6, story 121, following Black Orchid covered in 485, 4 x c. 25 minute episodes, and first broadcast 8--16 March 1982.
Media: Target novelisation by Ian Marter (Harry Sullivan!) (1983) and audiobook read by Peter Davison (2012), VHS (1992), DVD Doctor Who 40th Anniversary Celebration including special features with Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton, Matthew Waterhouse, Eric Saward, David Banks (Cyber Leader), Gary Gillatt; editor of Doctor Who Magazine and author of Doctor Who: From A to Z, Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss, bizarrely, Tim Collins MP (Conservative Shadow Transport Secretary) who was apparently a fan, and a comedic claymation in which Adric survives, only to be eaten by a dinosaur (2003) (NB I am being unusually pedantic because this is the version I watched), Blu-ray Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited 5--8 included with Vengeance on Varos, Remembrance of the Daleks and Doctor Who: The Eye of Harmony/The Television Movie, and special features (2013), Blu-ray The Collection Season 19 boxset with Earthshocked documentary (2018).
Unbelievably, number one in the UK charts was still Tight Fit's The Lion Sleeps Tonight.
On Earth in 2526, soldiers search for scientists lost in a cave system.
The TARDIS arrives. The Doctor finds Adric sulking in his room. He feels ignored by the Doctor and unhappy at being teased by the other companions. He wants to return to his home of Alzarius in E-Space. He and the Doctor argue about the complexity of navigation. The Doctor, accompanied by Tegan and Nyssa, goes for a walk in the caves to cool off, while Adric commences the complicated calculations required for the journey.
The soldiers begin to die and when they meet Doctor and his companions, they immediately accuse them of murder. Together, they find a hatch and are attacked by black-clad featureless androids. The Doctor suggest the soldiers concentrate their fire, while Adric, who has finished his calculations, destroys a droid with a large boulder. Inside the hatch is a planet destroying bomb. The Doctor and Adric temporarily jam the detonation signal being transmitted by Cybermen and disable it.
They and the soldiers take the TARDIS back to the source of transmission on a space freighter strewn with corpses. The Doctor and Adric are caught and taken to Captain Briggs on the bridge.
The Cyber Leader and Cybermen begin activating their brethren secreted in the 15,000 cargo silos. They capture the ship and set it on collision with the Earth. The Cybermen force the Doctor, Nyssa, and Tegan back to the TARDIS, leaving the others and Adric to die. They rush for the escape pods, but Adric stays behind to stop the crash. His tinkering takes the ship out of warp 65 million years ago.
In the TARDIS, the Doctor breaks Adric's gold star, passed to him by Adric earlier, on the Cyber Leader's breathing grill. The Cyber Leader is killed, but the TARDIS console is damaged in the struggle, making Adric's rescue impossible.
Adric's work ends when a Cyberman beam breaks the ship's console. As he plunges to his death and the extinction of the dinosaurs, he says, "Now I'll never know if I was right."
Future soldiers fighting underground against ruthless guard droids sounds a lot like The Caves of Androzanni.
I remember the watching the beginning of this one back in 1982. I distinctly remember soldiers with wrist computers running. I thought their look was very realistic as well as futuristic. In retrospect, I can see that their armour and masks were period motocross gear, including those iconic Oakley goggle-mask combos that are now expensive collectibles.
Beryl Reid's Captain Briggs is a no-nonsense, grumpy ship's captain. She and her female first officer are feminine, while remaining hardened, tough space dogs. It's an interesting and refreshing take that you don't see often in Doctor Who; Leela and Tegan excepted.
Doctor Who is often concerned with time paradoxes, but the explanations as to why they are bad seems to vary. Why can't the Doctor repair the TARDIS and rescue Adric with a quick flit back in time? He could still let the ship crash and larger historical KT event would be unaffected. Maybe I'm wrong, but New Who's explanation of time as, "A big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff" seems as good an explanation as any as it is more dependent on how it serves the story rather than logical consistency.
Adric on spaceship hurtling into the Earth 65 million years ago and causing the end of the dinosaurs is followed by his broken merit badge superimposed on a black background with no theme music as the end credits rolled. They really finished Adric off. I'm reminded of JNT's similar no-holds barred destruction of K-9. It's a pity, but at least he's given a better send off than poor old K-9. For a change he's not a whiny brat, but admirable in bravely taking on a killer droid in the caves and remaining to prevent the freighter destroying Earth. Goodbye, Adric, you did well.
This the Cybermen's return after Revenge of the Cybermen in 1975.
Apparently (unconfirmed), props from the Nostromo (Alien (1979)) were reused.
The rag Adric is clutching as the ship crashes is his older brother Varsh's belt. It is given to Adric as a keepsake by Keara after Varsh is killed heroically fighting off the Marshmen in Full Circle (pod 252).
Expect three new episodes in quick succession. Earthshock now, Time-Flight tomorrow, a normal all-things-geek non-Who specific episode the day after, then a very short break before we start Doctor Who Season 20. It's going to be great