From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated   
   From Address: jphalt@aol.com   
   Subject: Re: jphalt's Doctor Who reviews   
      
   EARTHSHOCK   
      
   4 episodes. Approx. 97 minutes. Written by: Eric Saward. Directed by:   
   Peter Grimwade. Produced by: John Nathan-Turner.   
      
      
   THE PLOT   
      
   The TARDIS materializes in a cave in the distant future. In the midst   
   of an argument with Adric, the Doctor decides to use this as a chance   
   to walk around and collect his temper. But the isolation is an   
   illusion... as he discovers when he walks right into a group of   
   soldiers, who have just lost several men to an unknown alien presence.   
   Making him the obvious target for blame.   
      
   He establishes himself as an ally by helping the soldiers defeat two   
   killer androids.  He then defuses a bomb the androids had been   
   guarding, one which would have left Earth completely devastated. He   
   traces the bomb's signal to a freigher in deep space, and takes the   
   TARDIS to investigate. There, he finds himself and his companions in   
   even greater danger. Both androids and bomb were the work of the   
   Doctor's old enemies, the Cybermen. And they were just the beginning   
   of the cybermen's plan to establish their dominance by wiping out all   
   life on Earth!   
      
      
   CHARACTERS   
      
   The Doctor: Though most of Eric Saward's later serials would place the   
   Doctor in a peripheral role, he is actually characterized quite   
   strongly here. The Cyberleader describes him as "formidable," a term   
   he lives up to consistently. He is almost entirely responsible for   
   thwarting the Cybermen's first plan, in the cave. On the freighter, he   
   constantly watches the proceedings, sizing up the situation and calmly   
   putting the pieces together. Davison continues to play a barely-   
   restrained weariness with other people's stupidity. Watch him in the   
   final episode when he's calmly baiting the Cyberleader. When Captain   
   Briggs (Beryl Reid) interrupts, he gets this lovely look of annoyance   
   on his face. The Fifth Doctor may not be as blatant about it as his   
   two immediate predecessors. But he still doesn't suffer fools gladly -   
   just a bit more quietly.   
      
   Adric: Adric is paired with the Doctor throughout the story, allowing   
   the script to emphasize the teacher/student relationship between the   
   two. This gives him a decent role - a necessity, for the ending to   
   work as well as it does. But the story doesn't tip its hand. Adric is   
   his usual self throughout. He spends the first two episodes in a snit,   
   essentially throwing an extended temper tantrum to get the Doctor to   
   pay more attention to him. This works, as the Doctor happily brings   
   him along to explore the freighter in the second half... which doesn't   
   turn out so well for the young Alzarian, though his fate is largely of   
   his own making.   
      
   Nyssa: She is reduced to a peripheral role, particularly in the second   
   half of the story. The obligatory TARDIS cutaways may as well come   
   with on-screen captions reading, "Nyssa's part for the week."  These   
   cutaways feature what is probably Sutton's all-time worst performance   
   in the role. Matthew Waterhouse's acting limitations are certainly on   
   display - but Sutton is much worse than he is this time.   
      
   Tegan: Janet Fielding, however, is on particularly good form. Tegan's   
   role isn't really much better than normal. She is as headstrong and   
   stubborn as ever. But Fielding tempers Tegan's stridency with a   
   compassionate side. I like the instinctive hug she gives to Nyssa at   
   the end, even before she turns to the Doctor. Tegan also seems to have   
   taken it on herself to be the one to reason with the Doctor when it   
   comes to dealing with his companions as a group. While Nyssa soothes   
   Adric, Tegan goes out into the cave to "talk some sense" into the   
   Doctor.   
      
   Cybermen: The Cybermen's first appearance since 1974's Revenge of the   
   Cybermen. This proved to be a much more successful comeback for them -   
   so much so that they rejoined the ranks of the series' regular   
   villains. This is almost certainly their best post-1960's use. They   
   are genuinely formidable, with some clever camera trickery allowing   
   them to be seen in force at the end of Part Three. David Banks'   
   Cyberleader does seem a bit prone to gloating for a supposedly   
   unemotional being, but this is a fairly minor fault in an otherwise   
   strong outing.   
      
      
   THOUGHTS   
      
   Earthshock is, in its way, as ambitious a story as Warrior's Gate or   
   Kinda. Not in the same way as those stories, with their multilayered   
   narratives and thematic depth. None of that here.  This is a straight-   
   ahead action piece with no real layers beneath its surface. The   
   ambition here is in how far it tries to push Doctor Who's limited   
   schedule and budget. Eric Saward is effectively trying to mount a   
   Hollywood-style sci-fi/action blockbuster within the constraints of a   
   Doctor Who 4-parter. It's fast, violent, full of gunfire and   
   explosions.   
      
   On a classic Who budget, it by all rights should fall flat on its   
   face. But a strong production comes together with a streamlined script   
   and a mostly outstanding incidental score. The result may not be   
   flawless.  But taken on the level of an action movie, this story works   
   very well indeed.   
      
   A lot of the credit has to go to director Peter Grimwade. He maintains   
   tight control of the narrative and atmosphere, using an effective mix   
   of quick cuts and occasional, lingering shots. Many camera shots are   
   framed very precisely, with characters in both foreground and   
   background. The Cyberleader announces his army while standing in front   
   of a monitor showing the army marching through the corridors. The   
   Doctor defuses a bomb while Adric looks over his shoulder in the   
   background.   
      
   Grimwade's occasional weakness at working with actors does show   
   itself. Sutton is unusually poor. James Warwick, a reliable actor,   
   isn't quite on form. Other guest actors are largely wooden, with one   
   exception: Beryl Reid. Fandom insists that Reid was badly miscast, an   
   early example of producer John Nathan-Turner's "stunt casting" going   
   wrong. I strongly disagree. Beryl Reid was a terrific actress with   
   range and a dynamic screen energy. In a role that is rather generic on   
   paper, she lights up the screen and turns someone who should be just a   
   plot device into a strong presence. There's no question in my mind   
   that this story would be far the poorer without her.   
      
   It's all very entertaining. It probably should have been left as the   
   only story of its type, rather than being closely replicated at least   
   two (arguably three) times over the next three seasons. But as a   
   change of pace (what it was, at this point), it's effective. Even   
   startling.   
      
   And within the larger story of the Fifth Doctor, it marks the point at   
   which he is first confronted by a universe that's become just a bit   
   meaner and harsher than he's necessarily prepared for.   
      
      
   Rating: 8/10.   
      
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