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Serial 6B: Earthshock
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| Plot |
| Production |
Producer John Nathan-Turner had always felt that three companions were too many, from the start intending the situation to be only temporary, to help viewers adjust to Peter Davison's new Doctor. Originally, Nathan-Turner had planned to write Nyssa out of the series at the end of Four To Doomsday, the second serial of Season Nineteen, but abandoned the idea over Davison's objections. Instead, he determined that Adric should be the companion to go -- especially given that the character was viewed as somewhat unlikeable, and actor Matthew Waterhouse himself was finding the role less than rewarding. Given the nature of Adric, however, Nathan-Turner decided that a conventional departure would be unrealistic, and believed that killing off a companion would add to the sense of vulnerability he and Saward were trying to bring to Doctor Who. This would be the first time a regular had died since Sara Kingdom perished at the end of The Daleks' Master Plan in 1966. Waterhouse himself was angry at his character's fate, refusing to speak with Nathan-Turner for two weeks after learning of the plans. Waterhouse was particularly concerned because he felt Adric's death would make it impossible for him to ever return to Doctor Who; Nathan-Turner ultimately placated Waterhouse by pointing out that the Doctor could always encounter Adric at a time prior to his demise.
Priest made the appropriate modifications to The Enemy Within, but neither Saward nor Nathan-Turner were satisfied with the scripts Priest delivered. The producer and writer found working together particularly onerous, and when Nathan-Turner asked for additional rewrites on June 11th, 1981, Priest refused unless he was paid an extra fee. At this point, Nathan-Turner and Saward opted to abandon The Enemy Within completely. Priest's dispute would ultimately be settled by the BBC, but not until the writer had become thoroughly disgusted by what he perceived as insulting treatment; there would be no further communication between Priest and the Doctor Who production office.
Saward, meanwhile, quickly set to work preparing a replacement story. Both Saward and Davison were fans of the Cybermen, a monster featured in the series only once since 1968, in 1975's Revenge Of The Cybermen. Given the flagging viewing figures of Season Eighteen and Nathan-Turner's belief that the Daleks were no longer a potent ratings force, it was decided that the time was ripe for the Cybermen to return. Nathan-Turner, however, was determined to keep their comeback a secret, even turning down a Radio Times front cover to preserve it. On July 24th, Saward was commissioned to write Sentinel. His initial three-month stint on Doctor Who ended around this time, making the deal legitimate under BBC regulations, even though it had already been determined that Antony Root (who, it was thought for a time, might return to Doctor Who after Saward's tenure) was going to remain on Juliet Bravo, with Saward's positon becoming permanent. To maintain appearances, though, Root was credited as the serial's script editor, despite the fact that he apparently did little more than read through Saward's story and offer scattered comments, and perhaps not even that.
Costume designer Dinah Collin was assigned the task of bringing the Cybermen into the Eighties. Collin worked with Richard Gregory of effects firm Imagineering in creating the updated Cybermen, abandoning the old rubber diving suits in favour of more high-tech army G-suits. At Nathan-Turner's suggestion, the new Cybermen's jaws were left clear so that the actors' mouths could be seen -- the producer felt that this would reinforce the notion that the Cybermen had once been human. Another idea to leave the Cybermen's hands bare, as in their first appearance in 1966's The Tenth Planet, was abandoned. Collin wanted to do away with the "handlebars" on the sides of the Cyberman helmets, but this was vetoed by Nathan-Turner and Saward, who believed they were integral to viewer recognition of the monsters.
A flashback sequence of past companions and monsters which aired at the end of Logopolis part four the previous season had proved very popular with fans. Consequently, Nathan-Turner asked unofficial fan adviser Ian Levine to prepare another such montage for Sentinel. Levine selected one clip for each Doctor who had previously fought the Cybermen: The Tenth Planet part two for the First Doctor, The Wheel In Space part six for the Second Doctor, and Revenge Of The Cybermen part three for the Fourth Doctor. This latter segment aired in monochrome to preserve continuity with the first two extracts.
The director assigned to Serial 6B was Peter Grimwade, who had just finished work on Kinda. Between them, Grimwade, Saward and Nathan-Turner decided that the serial -- by this time retitled Earthshock -- should try to capture the fast-paced feel of a feature film. As a result, the final camera scripts were extremely lengthy, most notably that for part four whose one hundred pages counted eighty-nine scenes.
Work on Earthshock began with a single day of location filming at Sprinwell Lock Quarry in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire. Two three-day studio sessions were scheduled, the first beginning on Tuesday, November 10th and the second a fortnight later on the 24th. Before taping for Earthshock could begin on the 10th, however, extra scenes for Kinda were recorded to compensate for an underrunning episode four. Amongst the cast joining the serial at this point was David Banks, playing the Cyber Leader; Banks' limited resume included work on series such as The Professionals.
Meanwhile, Grimwade had become very unhappy with the incidental music composed by Malcolm Clarke, which largely relied on natural metallic sounds such as hammers hitting against girders. Grimwade complained to Nathan-Turner about the score, but because no time remained to craft a replacement, it was decided to retain Clarke's composition all the same.
Waterhouse recorded his final scenes on November 26th, although he was not yet finished with Doctor Who -- because his contract had not expired, he would be used birefly in the following story, Time-Flight. News of Adric's impending demise was revealed to the press on December 3rd, and the event itself was transmitted at the end of part four on March 16th, 1982. Borrowing an idea from an episode of the ITV soap opera Coronation Street, Nathan-Turner opted to air the closing credits without accompanying music. Instead of the usual starfield, a static shot of Adric's shattered gold badge for mathematical excellence, highlighted against a black background, was used.
| Details |
| Episode | Date | Time | Duration | Viewers | Audience App. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8th March 1982 | 6.56pm | 24'22" | 9.1m (45th) | |
| 2 | 9th March 1982 | 7.06pm | 24'23" | 8.8m (50th) | |
| 3 | 15th March 1982 | 6.58pm | 24'24" | 9.8m (32nd) | |
| 4 | 16th March 1982 | 7.03pm | 24'28" | 9.6m (40th) |
| Producer | John Nathan-Turner |
| Script Editor | Antony Root |
| Writer | Eric Saward |
| Director | Peter Grimwade |
| Designer | Bernard Lloyd-Jones |
| Costume | Dinah Collin |
| Incidental Music | Malcolm Clarke |
Principal Guest Cast: David Banks (Cyber Leader), June Bland (Berger), Claire Clifford (Kyle), Mark Hardy (Cyber Lieutenant), Beryl Reid (Briggs), Alex Sabin (Ringway), James Warwick (Scott).
Novelisation: Earthshock by Ian Marter (book 78), May 1983; photomontage cover; rerelease cover by Alister Pearson (1992).
Video Release: Earthshock, episodic format, September 1992; PAL (BBC Video cat.# 4840) and NTSC (Warners cat.# E1102) formats available; cover by Andrew Skilleter.
DVD Release: Earthshock, episodic format, August 2003; two discs; Region 2/4 (BBCDVD cat.# 1153) format available; photomontage cover. Extras include commentary by Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and Matthew Waterhouse, Putting The Shock Into Earthshock (a thirty-minute featurette featuring interviews with the story's creators and fans), location film footage, alternative CGI special effects, Did You See? (a 1982 programme about Doctor Who monsters), an isolated music score, a photo gallery, production information subtitles, and easter eggs.
Rankings: 14th (76.65%, Doctor Who Dynamic Rankings website, 22nd June 1999); 17th (80.26%, DWM 1997 Annual Survey).
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