Earthshock
Encyclopedia
Earthshock is a serial in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 science fiction television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 8 March to 16 March 1982. This serial also marks the final regular appearance of Matthew Waterhouse
Matthew Waterhouse
Matthew Waterhouse is an English actor and writer best known for his role as Adric in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Early life:...

 as the Doctor's
Doctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....

 companion
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...

 Adric
Adric
Adric is a fictional character played by Matthew Waterhouse in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He was a young native of the planet Alzarius, which exists in the parallel universe of E-Space. A companion of the Fourth and Fifth Doctors, he was a regular in the...

, the final episode featuring unique and unusually silent credits in memory of the character.

Synopsis

The TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...

 drops the Fifth Doctor
Fifth Doctor
The Fifth Doctor is the fifth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Peter Davison....

 and his companions in the middle of an investigation into the murder of a team of scientists in a complex of caves. Deadly androids are patrolling the tunnels, but what are they protecting... and for whom are they working?

Plot

As the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...

 arrives on Earth in its future, Adric
Adric
Adric is a fictional character played by Matthew Waterhouse in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He was a young native of the planet Alzarius, which exists in the parallel universe of E-Space. A companion of the Fourth and Fifth Doctors, he was a regular in the...

 argues with the Doctor
Fifth Doctor
The Fifth Doctor is the fifth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Peter Davison....

 about the lack of attention and respect he receives compared to Nyssa or Tegan
Tegan Jovanka
Tegan Jovanka is a fictional character played by Janet Fielding in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. An Australian airline stewardess and a native of Brisbane who was a companion of the Fourth and Fifth Doctors, she was a regular in the programme from 1981 to...

, and wishes to return to his home planet Terradon, a feat the Doctor claims is impossible. As the group explores a series of caves, they are caught by Lieutenant Scott and his men who detected their arrival. Scott accuses the group of killing the rest of Professor Kyle's exploration team as they were searching the caves for fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

s. The Doctor convinces Scott to let them help and points them to a debris of rock, where they find the bodies of Kyle's team, along with an odd metal hatch. As the Doctor examines the hatch, other men in Scott's force are killed by androids, undetectable by the humans' equipment. The Doctor is able to stop them, but the androids are able to send images back to their masters, the Cybermen
Cyberman
The Cybermen are a fictional race of cyborgs who are amongst the most persistent enemies of the Doctor in the British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. Cybermen were originally a wholly organic species of humanoids originating on Earth's twin planet Mondas that began to implant more...

, who recognize their foe. The Doctor is able to open the panel, revealing a powerful bomb that could destroy the planet, and orders Nyssa and Tegan to return everyone to the TARDIS while he and Adric deactivate it.

In the TARDIS the Doctor traces the signal sent to the androids and the bomb back to its source, a freighter spaceship outside the Solar system awaiting clearance to proceed to Earth after its cargo is inspected. The Doctor instructs everyone else to stay in the TARDIS while he and Adric explore it; the two are soon captured by the freighter's security forces when they happen upon the bodies of dead crew members, and are taken to meet Captain Briggs. The Cybermen, hiding in one of the freighter's containers, decide it is time to take control of the ship, and begin an assault towards the bridge. Though the freighter crew, along with Tegan, Kyle, Scott, and his men, try to set up barricades, their defences are foiled by Ringway, Briggs' security officer who has been working as a double agent for the Cybermen. Kyle is killed and Tegan is captured. The bridge is soon taken. The Cyber-Leader reveals that the Doctor had foiled their initial plan—to wipe out much of the planet while several visiting dignitaries are present for an interstellar alliance conference—but has a backup plan of crashing the freighter into the Earth, its anti-matter engines providing a similar devastating force. The Cybermen set the freighter on a high-speed collision course with Earth, and then affix a lock on the freighter's navigation controls to prevent the humans from tampering with it. The Cyber-Leader, holding Tegan hostage, forces the Doctor to take them to the TARDIS to escape the doomed ship, leaving Adric, Briggs, and other crewmen behind; learning the Cybermen are allergic to gold, Adric passes the Doctor his gold Badge for Mathematical Excellence.

Scott arrives to help Adric and Briggs defeat their guards, and Adric believes he will be able to decode the encryption to deactivate the lock. However, his attempt causes the freighter to jump in time, ending up approximately 65 million years ago. Aboard the TARDIS under the Cyber-Leader's gunpoint, the Doctor reflects that this was the time that a large object had struck Earth and caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. Adric is able to disengage another part of the lock, taking the freighter out of warp but still on course to strike Earth. Briggs, Scott, and the remaining crew use the opportunity to use the ship's escape pods, but Adric refuses to leave, intent on defeating the lock. When Scott tried to communicate to the TARDIS that they were able to escape but Adric is still aboard, the Cyber-Leader attempts to kill the TARDIS crew. The Doctor smashes Adric's gold-plated Badge into the Cyber-Leader's chest, momentarily stunning it, and the rest of the crew wrest control from the remaining Cybermen. The Doctor tries to pilot the TARDIS back to the bridge to rescue Adric, but the controls have been damaged during the fight. Adric is close to finishing the last lock seal when a damaged Cyberman attempts to fire on him. The shot misses Adric but strikes the keyboard, making it impossible to finish the task. The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan watch helplessly as the freighter smashes into Earth with a massive explosion.

The credits roll in silence, with a close up of Adric's badge, broken up on the floor.

Continuity

  • The Doctor advises Adric to read Black Orchid, a copy of which he obtained at the end of the previous adventure, of the same name. Their argument shortly afterwards makes a number of references to the previous season, including E-Space, the planets Alzarius and Terradon (Full Circle
    Full Circle (Doctor Who)
    Full Circle is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 25 October to 15 November 1980...

    ), the Monitor and the CVE (Logopolis
    Logopolis
    Logopolis is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 28 February to 21 March 1981. It was Tom Baker's last story as the Doctor and marks the first appearance of Peter Davison in the role...

    ), and Romana
    Romana
    Romana, short for Romanadvoratrelundar, is a fictional character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...

     staying in E-Space (Warriors' Gate
    Warriors' Gate
    Warriors' Gate is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was written by the English author Stephen Gallagher and first broadcast in four weekly parts from 3 January to 24 January 1981...

    ).
  • The clip from Revenge of the Cybermen
    Revenge of the Cybermen
    Revenge of the Cybermen is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 19 April to 10 May 1975.-Synopsis:...

    , which takes place on the Nerva Beacon at a period earlier than in The Ark in Space
    The Ark in Space
    The Ark in Space is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 25 January to 15 February 1975.-Plot:The TARDIS materialises in a darkened room on board the station...

    put at around 2496 in the reference guide Cybermen by David Banks.
  • The Hand of Fear
    The Hand of Fear
    The Hand of Fear is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 2 October to 23 October 1976...

    introduced the concept of the TARDIS
    TARDIS
    The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...

     being in a state of temporal grace, meaning that no weapons could be used inside it. In this story, however, this function appears not to work as the Doctor, Nyssa and the Cyber Leader are all able to fire weapons inside the console room. Nyssa briefly mentions this in Arc of Infinity
    Arc of Infinity
    Arc of Infinity is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 3 January to 12 January 1983...

    but the Doctor simply attempts to shrug it off without providing an explanation.
  • This was the last story to feature Matthew Waterhouse as Adric. Waterhouse would reprise his role twice: a brief cameo in the following serial Time-Flight
    Time-Flight
    Time-Flight is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 22 March to 30 March 1982...

    (1982) and an appearance during the Fifth Doctor's regeneration in The Caves of Androzani
    The Caves of Androzani
    The Caves of Androzani is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 8–16 March 1984. It was Peter Davison's last regular appearance as the Doctor, and marks the first appearance of Colin Baker in the role...

    (1984).
  • This is the first story to feature David Banks as the Cyber Leader and Mark Hardy as the Cyber Lieutenant. They would reprise their roles in The Five Doctors
    The Five Doctors
    The Five Doctors is a special feature-length episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, produced in celebration of the programme's twentieth anniversary. It had its world premiere in the United States, on the Chicago PBS station WTTW and various other PBS member stations...

    (1983), Attack of the Cybermen
    Attack of the Cybermen
    Attack of the Cybermen is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts from 5 January to 12 January 1985. It opened Season 22 of the series...

    (without Hardy) (1985) and Silver Nemesis
    Silver Nemesis
    Silver Nemesis was the 25th anniversary serial of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast in the UK in three weekly parts from 23 November 1988, to 7 December 1988....

    (1988). Banks would later play the Doctor
    Doctor (Doctor Who)
    The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....

     in the 1989 stage play Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure
    Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure
    Doctor Who – The Ultimate Adventure was a 1989 stage play, written by Terrance Dicks based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....

    . He would also later write a book about the history of the Cybermen (as mentioned above). Banks's rendition of "Excellent!" to indicate approval became a catchphrase associated with the Cybermen.
  • A brief alternate version of the events at the end of this story are produced in the Big Finish
    Big Finish Productions
    Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...

     audio story The Boy That Time Forgot
    The Boy That Time Forgot
    The Boy That Time Forgot is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. -Plot:...

    .

Production

  • The working title for this story was Sentinel.
  • This was the first Cyberman story since Revenge of the Cybermen
    Revenge of the Cybermen
    Revenge of the Cybermen is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 19 April to 10 May 1975.-Synopsis:...

    (1975), as producer John Nathan-Turner
    John Nathan-Turner
    John Nathan-Turner was the ninth producer of the long-running BBC science fiction series Doctor Who, from 1980 until it was effectively cancelled in 1989...

     wanted to bring back an old enemy, but resisted using the Daleks. Before the title was changed to Earthshock, Nathan-Turner was adamant about keeping the return of the Cybermen a secret. He instructed Eric Saward
    Eric Saward
    Eric Saward was born on 9 December 1944 and became a scriptwriter and script editor for the BBC, resigning from the latter post on the TV programme Doctor Who in 1986....

     not to have any reference to the Cybermen in the story's title. Nathan-Turner even had the studio observation galleries closed for the duration of recording and turned down an offer from Radio Times
    Radio Times
    Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...

    to provide advance publicity of the Cybermen on their cover (ultimately Radio Times would only give one cover to Doctor Who during Nathan-Turner's tenure, for the 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors
    The Five Doctors
    The Five Doctors is a special feature-length episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, produced in celebration of the programme's twentieth anniversary. It had its world premiere in the United States, on the Chicago PBS station WTTW and various other PBS member stations...

    ). The success of this convinced Nathan-Turner to continue to mine the series' past continuity for ideas and old enemies.
  • After the success of using archive footage for the flashback sequence in Logopolis
    Logopolis
    Logopolis is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 28 February to 21 March 1981. It was Tom Baker's last story as the Doctor and marks the first appearance of Peter Davison in the role...

    (1981), Producer John Nathan-Turner consulted with series continuity adviser Ian Levine
    Ian Levine
    Ian Levine is an English songwriter, producer, and DJ. He is also a well-known fan of the long-running television show Doctor Who.Levine attended Arnold School in Blackpool from 1963 to 1970...

     and asked him to prepare another such montage for this story. Levine selected one clip from all of previous Doctors, save for Jon Pertwee
    Jon Pertwee
    John Devon Roland Pertwee , was an English actor. Pertwee is best known for his role in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, in which he played the third incarnation of the Doctor from 1970 to 1974, and as the title character in the series Worzel Gummidge...

     who never had a Cyberman story (though they had been briefly glimpsed in two serials from his era). Levine's selected clips were: the First Doctor
    First Doctor
    The First Doctor is the initial incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor William Hartnell from 1963 to 1966. Hartnell reprised the role in the tenth anniversary story The Three Doctors in 1973 - albeit in a...

     from episode 2 of The Tenth Planet
    The Tenth Planet
    The Tenth Planet is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 8 October to 29 October 1966. It was William Hartnell's last regular appearance as the First Doctor, and the first story to feature the Cybermen...

    (1966), the Second Doctor
    Second Doctor
    The Second Doctor is the second incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by character actor Patrick Troughton....

     from episode 6 of The Wheel in Space
    The Wheel in Space
    The Wheel in Space is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in six weekly parts from 27 April to 1 June 1968...

    (1968) (with dialogue from the Earthshock Cyber-leader referring to The Tomb of the Cybermen
    The Tomb of the Cybermen
    The Tomb of the Cybermen is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that originally aired in four weekly parts from September 2 to September 23, 1967 and is the earliest serial starring Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor to exist in its entirety...

    (1967), at that time missing from the BBC archives) and the Fourth Doctor
    Fourth Doctor
    The Fourth Doctor is the fourth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC British television science-fiction series Doctor Who....

     from part 3 of Revenge Of The Cybermen (1975). All the clips were presented in monochrome to preserve continuity, as the first two extracts were originally recorded in black and white.
  • Although credited as script editor
    Script editor
    A script editor is a member of the production team of scripted television programmes, usually dramas and comedies. The script editor has many responsibilities including finding new script writers, developing storyline and series ideas with writers, ensuring that scripts are suitable for production...

    , Antony Root in fact did little or no work on Earthshock. He was credited to avoid Saward, who had by this time replaced him in the job, being credited as such on his own work, which contravened BBC regulations.
  • The exterior sequences seen in the first episode were shot on Thursday 29 October 1981 at Springwell Lock Quarry, near Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire.
  • The Cyberscope prop was built using parts the modelmaker had scavenged from the Nostromo set constructed for the movie Alien
    Alien (film)
    Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto. The film's title refers to its primary antagonist: a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature which...

    . Similarly, the digital readouts on the device flash up a random series of numbers, which were also seen on the monitors of the Nostromo set.

Outside references

  • The sudden extinction of the dinosaurs 65.5 million years ago is known as the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event
    Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event
    The Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, formerly named and still commonly referred to as the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, occurred approximately 65.5 million years ago at the end of the Maastrichtian age of the Cretaceous period. It was a large-scale mass extinction of animal and plant...

    . A similar massive reduction in Earth's biodiversity took place 251 million years ago; this is the Permian-Triassic extinction event
    Permian-Triassic extinction event
    The Permian–Triassic extinction event, informally known as the Great Dying, was an extinction event that occurred 252.28 Ma ago, forming the boundary between the Permian and Triassic geologic periods, as well as the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras...

    . One of the Big Finish Productions
    Big Finish Productions
    Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...

     audio plays, The Land of the Dead
    The Land of the Dead
    The Land of the Dead is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Plot:...

    (also featuring the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa), provides a possible (fictional) explanation for that event as well. As with all the spin-off media, the canonicity of the audio plays is unclear.

In print

A novelisation of this serial, written by Ian Marter
Ian Marter
Ian Don Marter was an English actor and writer, perhaps best known for his role as Harry Sullivan in the BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, from December 1974 to September 1975 as a regular, with a one story return in November and December 1975...

 (who played Harry Sullivan
Harry Sullivan
Harry Sullivan is a fictional character from the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who and is a companion of the Fourth Doctor...

 during the Fourth Doctor
Fourth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor is the fourth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC British television science-fiction series Doctor Who....

 era), was published by Target Books
Target Books
Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became well known for their highly successful range of...

 in May 1983.

Broadcast, VHS and DVD releases

  • The story was repeated on BBC One (Not BBC Wales) as 2 50min compilation episodes in 1982 on 9 August 1982 & 16 August 1982 at 7.20pm as part of "Doctor Who and the Monsters". The story came 17th in the 1997 Doctor Who Magazine
    Doctor Who Magazine
    Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...

    annual best serial survey.
  • This story was released on VHS
    VHS
    The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....

     in the UK in September 1992.
  • A DVD
    DVD
    A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

     was released on 18 August 2003 as part of the Doctor Who 40th Anniversary Celebration releases, representing the Peter Davison years. On 2 July 2007, this DVD was re-released with new outer packaging and lower retail price, as a way of enticing new series watchers to watch the classic series. At the same time, seven other stories were similarly reissued: The Five Doctors
    The Five Doctors
    The Five Doctors is a special feature-length episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, produced in celebration of the programme's twentieth anniversary. It had its world premiere in the United States, on the Chicago PBS station WTTW and various other PBS member stations...

    , Genesis of the Daleks
    Genesis of the Daleks
    Genesis of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that was originally broadcast in six weekly parts from 8 March to 12 April 1975. It marks the first appearance of Davros, the creator of the Daleks.-Plot:...

    , Spearhead from Space
    Spearhead from Space
    Spearhead from Space is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 3 January to 24 January 1970. The serial opened Series 7 of the show and was the first to be produced in colour. The serial introduced Jon Pertwee as the...

    , Remembrance of the Daleks
    Remembrance of the Daleks
    Remembrance of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 5 October to 26 October 1988....

    , The Movie, The Hand of Fear
    The Hand of Fear
    The Hand of Fear is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 2 October to 23 October 1976...

    and Revelation of the Daleks
    Revelation of the Daleks
    Revelation of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts on 23 March and 30 March 1985...

    .

Target novelisation

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