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Amazon.co.uk Review
Doctor Who: Earthshock finds Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor nicely settling into the role, initially displaying some crotchety short temper that harks back to William Hartnell's incarnation of the Doctor, effectively setting up the most emotionally powerful finale in the show's 26-year run.
In this, the penultimate adventure of Doctor Who's 19th season, a scientific expedition in a cave system on 25th-century Earth is wiped out. An army rescue unit led by Lieutenant Scott (James Warwick) and including the one woman, Professor Kyle (Claire Clifford) who survived the original massacre, goes in to recover the bodies. The scenario deliberately evokes Ridley Scott's Alien (1979), and uncannily foreshadows James Cameron's Aliens (1986), developing into a tense actioner on a space freighter bound for Earth carrying a very deadly cargo of Cybermen.
Tightly paced, refreshingly free of the camp humour that sometimes blighted the show in the 1980s, and with a notable guest turn from Beryl Reid as the ship's captain, Earthshock is one of the Doctor's finest adventures. Overlook a few gaping plot holes and by the end they simply won't matter; when the final credits roll in silence the effect is as powerful now as it was shocking to audiences back in 1981. If only Star Trek: The Next Generation had done the same to Wesley Crusher!
On the DVD: Doctor Who: Earthshock is presented in the original broadcast 4:3 with a near flawless picture, though the source videotape does show just the occasional sign of damage. The mono sound is excellent. The extras begin with a strong 32-minute documentary, more retrospective than making-of. Then comes the commentary, with Peter Davison, Janet Fielding (Tegan), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) and Matthew Waterhouse (Adric), which like so many Who commentaries is both informative and wonderful fun. Both commentary and the episodes have optional subtitles. Other options include detailed on-screen information titles, an isolated musical score, and the ability to watch with selected effects shots replaced with new computer graphics. There's a scored, five-minute photo gallery that even includes a shot from the recording of the commentary, a pointless assemblage of the seven minutes of footage shot on film, and a three-minute clip montage set to a dreadful techno reworking of the title theme to celebrate the show's 40th anniversary. Much more interesting is a 10-minute section from arts review Did You See? looking back on the show's aliens, and including clips from Earthshock, while the very brief Episode 5 is a hilarious new animation. --Gary S Dalkin
DVD Description
The TARDIS arrives in the 26th Century in a cave system containing numerous dinosaur fossils. The Doctor's Party comes under suspicion from a military force, led by Lieutenant Scott, who are investigating the disappearance of a group of palaeontologists and geologists. They are all then attacked by androids - the true culprits - under the control of the Cybermen. The Doctor manages to deactivate a bomb intended by the Cybermen to destroy an imminent peace conference. He then follows the bomb's activating signal to an approaching space freighter, commanded by captain Briggs, on board which it transpires that an army of Cybermen are concealed. An attempt by Adric to thwart the Cybermen's plans result in the freighter being inadvertently sent millions of years into the past, where it explodes and causes the extinction of the dinosaurs - and also the death of Adric. The Doctor destroys the Cyber Leader be forcing into its chest unit some gold fragments from a badge previously worn by Adric.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Cybermen return with a crash,
By
This review is from: Doctor Who - Earthshock [DVD] (DVD)
Story: 4/5 - Extras: 5/5
As I understand it, some people love writer Eric Saward's "Earthshock" and some hate it. Just to be awkward, I'm going to say that I like it, but it's not perfect. Earthshock carries with it a bleak atmosphere not uncommon in the Peter Davison era alongside such stories as Resurrection of the Daleks and The Caves of Androzani, particularly in the death-heavy first episode, with which its sequences of caves and androids is actually a massive diversion from the real enemies - the Cybermen - who only appear at the episode's climax. I imagine that if I was watching Doctor Who in the early 1980s I'd have been pretty impressed with the revelation. I've never found 1980s Cybermen particularly menacing, but there's no doubt that in Earthshock they do have a certain edge that they would subsequently lack in stories such as The Five Doctors. In Earthshock they really are a powerful force, breaking out of their hibernation silos in droves, murdering anybody who stands in their way and getting up to a fair amount of scheming, too. The voices may not be as chilling as they were in the late 1960s, but they're more intelligible, and it does allow the Cyber Leader to have better lines. Other aspects are less successful. The numerous supporting characters introduced in episode one, such as Lt. Scott and his troops, become somewhat redundant once the story switches location to a space freighter in episode two (and picks up its new supporting characters in the form of the freighter's crew), none more so than Professor Kyle, the leader of the archaeological expedition, who spends the rest of the story hanging around with Nyssa in the TARDIS until she eventually gets shot. Like many stories of this era, there are too many companions - but that, of course, is all about to change. Weaknesses notwithstanding, the plot of the story is well constructed and there's a dramatic send-off for Adric as the TARDIS crew is reduced in number by one. Earthshock comes with a strong package of extras, including a chaotic commentary with the full TARDIS crew, a thirty minute documentary on the making of the story with numerous leading contributors, the usual on-screen production notes, a few film trimmings and bits and bobs from the TV archives, and informative on-screen production notes. Excellent.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another great Who DVD,
By
This review is from: Doctor Who - Earthshock [DVD] (DVD)
Peter Davison is turning out to be the best represented Doctor on DVD with yet another classic story, this time from the beginning of his tenure. Yes, this is the infamous tale that not only brings the Cybermen back better than they ever were before, but also kills off a companion, whilst also finding time to account for the extinction of the dinosaurs.This story starts off in the gravel pits and then leads us into the papier mache caves. So far, so ordinary. However, then the Cybermen show up, the action suddenly shifts to a deep space freighter on a course for Earth, and most of the characters die (which, as Peter Davison notes in the commentary, happens a lot in his stories). This is a dark and exciting story, tautly written and directed. Compared to preceding Tom Baker stories, it injects a new lease of life into the stale old formula, but on its own, it works even better. I'd never seen an episode with the companion Adric in before, I just knew he was widely despised. You don't need to have seen any Doctor Who to understand the relationships going on here. The Doctor is very clearly a frustrated father figure dealing with a frustrated teenage son. The pair of them share this character arc across the four episodes that just adds to the poignant finale (though I'm not too sure about the Coronation Street-style silent credits at the end). The extras on the DVD aren't particularly notable. There's the par-for-the-course CGI effects, which I would seriously recommend watching instead of the dire original effects in the last episode particularly. Also worth a look is the brief claymation fifth episode, which works as an alternative ending aimed clearly at Adric haters. The documentary about this particular story is quite good, featuring the writer, the actors, and numerous science fiction commentators (most funny of which is the Tory MP blaming the Labour Government for the direness of the 1970s Cybermen stories). All in all, though, it's a great package.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Buy it for the commentary!,
By Oymaprat (Nowhere In Particular) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Doctor Who - Earthshock [DVD] (DVD)
Now, I may be missing the point of buying the DVD of Earthsock, however it is well worth buying it for the commentary. Peter Davison and Co are in a silly mood, making laugh-out-loud comments in a cheery atmosphere. Yes, yes, it is one of the better stories of the eighties, and yes we do finally get to see the immensly annoying Adric snuff (sorry Mr Waterhouse. But that also makes the DVD worth getting), but it is the commentary that steals the show.On a more formal note, like B sharp (joke-sorry), it is a good story, with very eighties acting and production. It is a good return for the Cybermen, and the acting is pretty much flawless all round. Except a moment when Mr Waterhouse is messing around with some controls when they are about to explode, obviously trying to keep his distance! Which reminds me, another great extra when a clay version of Adric survives the crash on Dino Earth and gets eaten-a classic! This a good story for those of you who saw it first time round, especially at a young age, great nostaga! It is definatly worth adding to your undoubtibly huge Doctor Who collection. It will feel right at home among the other classics. Still, that commentary, ha ha ha... etc!
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