What a perfect way to give the audience shock after heart wrenching shock

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Iterations of I

I can imagine this story must have been absolutely shocking to a child watching it live. This is the first time a true, recurring companion has died on the show. It's fairly obvious from the start that he's going to die in this story. It's a nice moment between Adric and the Doctor where they make up but it's really only there as a last minute correction of the Doctor and Adric's relationship. Regardless, it worked on me and I'm sad to see Adric die so soon after reconciling with the Doctor.

The Cyberman plot is really clever and a drastic improvement over their one and only appearance in the 70s. Unfortunately the Cybermen feel very out of character for most of this story and I couldn't take the Cyber Leader seriously with how many times he said "excellent". It's only really until the last part where the Cybermen speak about logic and emotion that they really feel accurate, for the rest of the story they feel like Darth Vader and his stormtroopers.

This is, in general, a very tense story, it has you constantly on the edge of your seat with the betrayals and the cliffhangers. The supporting cast in this story a really good, especially so for a story set in the future, where I find the supporting cast are almost always annoyingly silly.

The end credits are a nice touch and make for a very moving image at the end.

R.I.P Adric

Next Story: Time-Flight

We haven’t had a story this grim since Graham Williams heralded in his child friendly era. Whilst the show benefits from a range of darker and lighter tones, I have to say it’s exciting seeing it dip back into this darker, action adventure style of storytelling that was so successful in the better Terry Nation scripts… though Nation only delivered Doctor Who stories as interesting as this on a handful of occasions.

There is a great sense of mystery and a foreboding atmosphere. This is partly because you have absolutely no idea what is going to happen but also because the initially unnamed robots stalking the depths of future Earth have an intimidating level of force that destroys their targets in a terrifying way - leaving them as no more than gooey remnants - an affecting visual. The dark and shadow throughout the story only ramp up this forbidding feeling.

The lights flicking out on the scanner as people die in the caves gives this story a high death tally. It feels very modern, very new for the show.

The cliffhanger at the end of part one works superbly. Nothing about the first 20 minutes makes you feel like this would be the first appearance of The Cybermen in 7 years. The sheer surprise alone makes it worth the wait. After a series of new threats it is a treat to see Davison finally come up against an iconic beast of the series. The cybermen are a little more human-like and a little less cyber than ideal, most notably in their voices but none of their overall effect is lost during the reveal and battle scenes. This design looks magnificent, especially as they march out of containers together.

Part one, in my opinion, is the first time Adric has actually been annoying in his whole run in the TARDIS. I’m glad he makes up with The Doctor in part two but as this is one of his more popular stories I think it cements this unfair idea on fandom that he is an annoying companion - when he has been a marvellous and distinct character. He, of course, gets a hero's death at the end of the story and it is hugely affecting. He dies saving Earth and his fellow time travellers, but it’s the bleakest the show has ever been. It’s an odd, numbing feeling seeing a show that is usually a comfort blanket, deliver such a brutal blow. One of the most iconic and memorable moments of the show so far. Tegan’s reaction in particular is tragic. A wonderful performance.

The most impressive thing I suppose is that the ending ties so neatly into the overall story and impacts the entire history of modern Earth (and the destruction of the dinosaurs!) This is the best story the show has delivered in a couple of seasons, and Davison’s peak so far.

This one I've seen before, and I absolutely love it. It's one of the all-time greatest companion departure stories; the plants it seeds in the narrative to pay-off in the climax is so cleverly done, such as the scene where the Doctor speaks of how an asteroid destroyed the dinosaurs, or him telling Adric he doesn't want him 'plotting a course to his own destruction'. This is such slick screenwriting from somebody who by this point was relatively new to writing Doctor Who.

Nyssa doesn't get much to do in this story  but that doesn't matter here. Because this is more about the Doctor and Adric, and their relationship, and in that department the story absolutely excels. We learn more about the dynamic of these two, and their almost familial squabbling.

Of course, you can't talk about Earthshock without discussing the Cybermen, and this is one of their best stories for sure. They have a great design in this story, and unlike the previous Cyberman serial to this one, Revenge of the Cybermen, they actually feel like Cybermen here. There's no weird emotional Cybermen here, and Peter Davison's Doctor gets an amazing speech that perfectly explains what separates the Cybermen from humanity: 'When did you last have the pleasure of smelling a flower, watching a sunset,eating a well-prepared meal? For some people small, beautiful events are what life is all about!"

This would be an amazing Cyberman story even without Adric's tragic exit. It's exactly how to do a Cyberman story.

This story also features a fantastic guest appearance from Beryl Reid, as the captain of the space freighter . She's probably one of the classic series' greatest guest turns, and has such a presence on-screen alongside the TARDIS crew of Season 19.

Just like the Visitation and Black Orchid, this another good story in this season. It's possibly my favourite but only just. I find it overrated by the fanbase. The sets and the cast are good and the death of Adric is done well. But, the 70s and 80s Cybermen are just mediocre. The voice of them is  definitely a major part of it, but also they're just underwhelming villains. It had been 7 years since Revenge of the Cybermen, but it wasn't exciting to see them again. When they look at past Doctors that they've met that was a good scene

What! The Cybermen are back! Adric dies! What a surprise, I didn't see this coming at all! ...Yeah, I think that this story is heralded as a classic purely for nostalgia.

There were quite a few moments where this felt like the New Series - Both the Doctor and Adric are fairly childish at times, so it makes sense for them to have an utterly futile and stroppy turn, but by the end they forgive each other and you can see that they do have an underlying respect for each other. Davison also gets the chance at last to be commanding, taking on some fantastic material such as that iconic speech about life, as well as reinforcing the severity of the situation. It's been an awful long time since he's seen the Cybermen (for me, not since Leela!) but he remembers how extremely dangerous they are. I forgot the Doctor says "Brave heart, Tegan." And of course, she needs to be brave, because her planet nearly gets destroyed! Her development over the course of this series has been fantastic - whilst she's started to enjoy her adventures, she's taken to being one of the team and passing companion school with flying colours, getting stuck in and helping fight the Cybermen, even getting into one of the military uniforms to help out! Oh, Nyssa's still here. Honestly, what's the point of having three companions if you're going to sideline one all the time? The same thing happened with Yaz, and honestly, I'm really rooting for her solo companion outings with Big Finish that are coming up. Oh, yeah. Adric's dead. The start of the episode where he and the Doctor talk about going home really reminded me of Full Circle, when Romana mentioned not wanting to spend the rest of her life on Gallifrey for feeling like an outsider and wanting to explore more, whereas here it's the opposite! Like I mentioned earlier, he's so childish he'll do very complicated calculations to go home just to prove a futile point. In this story, he's incredibly brave too, and will stop at nothing to help the Doctor out after letting him down earlier. For once he's not helping the other side! Shame that was short-lived... I love the little nod to Varsh at his death - something casual viewers wouldn't really pick up on, but a great reference for the long-term fans. The team have some fantastic chemistry in this story, spending a little time relaxing and talking about the history of Earth and the dinosaurs - without even knowing it was setting up the conclusion! Normally, they just ramble on, but everything tied together really well here, and the final scene is just heartbreaking.

The Cybermen are just unstoppable, aren't they? They easily mow their way through soldiers like a knife through butter. This is by far my favourite design of the Cybermen (Although I do like the new Cyber Warriors from Series 12.) There's some fantastic imagery concerning them, such as when they break out, attacking Tegan and the other soldiers before joining its leader on the bridge. Something I've always thought crucial to making an iconic villain is the way others react to it to really sell it - Tegan is honestly terrified by the Cybermen, and Janet Fielding's reactions do the job! I think that their plan is well-established, but kinda rubbishly stopped - "oh look we've gone back in time, story over!" Despite that ending, they're very creepy, and that reveal is brilliant, both with or without the knowledge that the Cybermen feature in this. It's such a great twist "Generic android story- WAIT WHAT?!" I think that these monsters are handled really well, for the first time in about 15 years (Yes, I'm including expanded media. The Blue Tooth was good, though) with them breaking into the TARDIS, and having the Doctor putty in their hands. They nearly won as well! I wish there could've been more body horror involved, but this was a story about the Cybermen at the height of their power, and didn't need to upgrade people to survive - They're in a war and just want the Resistance to their army eradicated.

The cinematography in this story is just phenomenal. It's grim and the lighting is so brilliantly dark that the Cybermen are so creepy throughout - this just makes them even more intimidating as they hide in the freighter. I could rave for hours about how fantastic Grimwade's direction in this story is, but you get the gist. It's ominous and matches the atmosphere for this action-packed and dark story perfectly. Of course the TARDIS lands in the caves, I'm surprised Tegan even wonders why that's happened. The freighter unfortunately looks a tad cheap, but the caves are so creepy and a brilliant setting for this story! Something I don't like on the broadcast version is how ambiguous it is with Adric's death. It looks like it just explodes rather than crashing into the Earth, and ends up feeling inconsistent with the story. Thankfully it's rectified on the special edition.

Most of the side characters are basic soldier fodder for the Cybermen to destroy at once - This can be seen as a good thing because another thing that really helps to make the monsters scary, especially with Daleks, is a large guest cast that the monsters can kill off.

I love the music. It's so unbelievably sci-fi, with the theme itself being a motif repeatedly in the story. The March of the Cybermen is a great suite for these monsters, it helps to portray them as relentless and fearless.

This is a fantastic story - Much like Genesis of the Daleks, though, I don't think it's a classic. I think it may have been one back in the 80s because no-one knew Adric would die or the Cybermen were returning, so it meant that it quickly became iconic. But watching it for the first time and knowing all the plot twists, it kinda dampens on the effect of the story. Despite that, it's still a brilliant episode and works for a great finale to Season 19! Wait, what? It's not the finale? Well, what story's next? TIME-FLIGHT?!?! Oh, no...

The 'shocking' Cybermen return!

After a bunch of consistently good stories, we get hit by this curveball of Earthshock. This story is extremely action-packed and that first episode really uses the androids well as a sort of horror way. The cliffhanger revealing the grand return of the Cybermen is super cool and when the story transitions from the caves to the cargo freighter is quite smooth, and doesn't feel as jarring as Castrovalva. The Doctor gets to be in another situation where he can't do that much, and it works so well with his character. It is a shame that Nyssa is again demoted to the TARDIS with Professor Kyle, as Tegan gets to go and kill Cybermen with the soldiers, but Nyssa gets her opportunity at the end of the story. Adric is so damn good in this story, and his death is the best companion departure the show has ever done. The highlight, besides Adric being really good, is the Cybermen, mainly the CyberLeader, played by the 'excellent' David Banks. Yes, they are too emotional, but at least they aren't boring. This is such a fun and sad story to watch, making it an instant highlight for not just Five's era, but the entire show, as the events of this story, permanently scar the Doctor.

Oh wow. This is really peak Doctor Who, classic or modern.

I've not seen many Adric stories and I've seen even less of the Peter Davison era; but watching this perfectly paced, smartly written, suspenseful and tragic story which serves as both a cracking showdown between the Doctor and one of their greatest enemies (with genuinely apocalyptic stakes), and a mini redemption and legitimately shocking and heartbreaking sendoff for a largely despised character... yeah, there's a whole other era of the show I want to fully rinse now.

Absolute must see - up there with City of Death, Inferno, Pyramids of Mars and Genesis of the Daleks for some of my favourite Classic Who serials.