Days 579 to 582 - Earthshock

The Cybermen are back! Excellent!

Usually with the return of such iconic monsters as the Cybermen or the Daleks the surprise is given away by the simple fact that the name of that creature appears in the title, eg. Revenge Of The Cybermen. As such it's cool here that they decided against doing this and simply called the story Earthshock. Why it's called this specifically I'm a little unsure. Maybe it's something to do with the brilliant shock reveal of the Cybermen at the end of the first episode.

The first episode begins in some caves where the Doctor investigates some dinosaur bones whilst explaining to his companions how the dinosaurs were destroyed when Earth collided with an object from space. If you were told that an old monster was about to make a surprise come back then this could lead you into thinking it would be something like the Silurians. Well that's what it would make me think anyway!

The Cybermen have had another redesign as the tradition whenever the Cybermen show up. This is the design that will be used right up to the shows cancellation in 1989. Additionally the Cybermen appear to be much more emotional than in previous stories. Some people don't like this but I don't mind it too much. It can get boring listening to emotionless speaking so it makes the scenes come alive more when you can sense the menace behind the Cybermen's voice.

We are also treated to a rare flashback scene and the Cybermen review all their previous encounters with the Doctor. It's just a shame that they never met the third Doctor as it means he is missed out of the flashback scene.

Now to the second big shock of Earthshock. The death of a companion. Poor poor Adric. He stays behind on the space freighter that is spiralling toward the Earth, convinced that he has the mathematical capabilities to crack the coding the Cybermen have placed on the navigational controls. Unfortunately a Cyberman appears at just the wrong moment and destroys the computer Adric is using making his task impossible to complete and he ends up smashing into planet and the true reason for the death of the dinosaurs is revealed as Adric's body parts rain down upon them.

R.I.P Adric