BOOK OF LISTS: TOP SIX BEST EPISODES EVER - PART 5

Soooo close to Number One, now. Unlike some other countdowns that I've done, you can't guess what that episode is through sheer process of elimination (wonder if anyone would've bothered to read my ranking of all 851 episodes had I gone to the trouble of writing it?!). I will, however, give the slightest of clues: Number One is what you think it is! 

But let's focus on Number Two, for now. It's another episode from the Classic Series. 



NUMBER TWO:

The only episode that also ranks in my Top Ten Stories Countdown from all those many years ago (well, about 4 years ago: https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/12/book-of-lists-top-ten-who-stories-4.html). If you do bother to go click on the link, you'll see that I go on quite a bit about Episode One of Earthshock right in the review (I even give mention to Episode One of The Space Museum). I'll try not to re-tread too much.

No doubt, we're all sensing some patterns to the episodes of Classic Who that I have enjoyed so much. The most obvious being they're all the first part of a story. But there are some other similarities. Another major trait that they share is that they are all, more or less, self-contained stories that open up to a bigger adventure at the end. A very small plot that was created in the first episode gets, more or less, resolved and now we are going on to a greater tale that involves this primary plot. I'm not sure why this type of plotting entices me so much - but all three of my fave Classic Who episodes use this technique.

The cliffhanger at the end of each of each of these three much-loved episodes usually involves some amount of peril - but it's more about the implication of a greater adventure that the TARDIS crew now has to face. Time catches up with the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan at the end of Space Museum and they must now try to change events. A caveman watches the TARDIS materialize at the end of Unearthly Child and we know that will cause all sorts of new trouble. And, at the end of Part 1 of Earthshock, we get the reveal that the Cybermen are behind it all - which means they will soon be facing a much greater danger than androids.

I was still very new to Doctor Who when I saw this episode for the first time. I didn't even know what the Cybermen were, yet (it's great fun to see the documentary on the DVD bonuses - it shows how fans who knew their Cybermen went insane from this reveal). Even without prior knowledge of this monster, that cliffhanger impacted me quite strongly. I knew these robot-like things must be important and that they were going to really broaden the story in the next episodes.  And I needed to see what was going to happen next. That says something about the nature of that cliffhanger. Even without having the slightest idea what a Cybermen was, I was drawn in by it.

Being drawn in is, perhaps, what I love most about Part 1 of Earthshock. Within seconds of that opening shot of futuristic troopers running along to the cave entrance, it becomes impossible to stop watching this episode. Bits and pieces of information that explain why this team is assembling get dropped here and there. We get the impression something very bad has happened and we have to know what it is.

By the time we get into those caves - we've lost all resistance. We are trapped in this episode and have to see it to its end.

Ah, those caves. Those beautiful, dark atmospheric caves. In an age when lighting technicians believed everything had to be seen as clearly as possible, someone finally remembers that shadows are spooky. We never even get all that clear of a look at those androids because of this. Which makes them all the more terrifying  But obscuring them in darkness was a good choice for several reasons. Those android costumes are pretty simplistic and might have actually decreased their sense of menace had we seen them better. So God bless whoever thought to turn the lights down in those scenes!

Counterpointing those scenes is some nice drama aboard the TARDIS. Lots of folks complain about all the arguing that went on with the TARDIS crew in Season 19. I actually kinda  liked it. It seemed realistic. Three people thrown together in such a fashion might have a hard time getting along. But, whether you liked this dynamic or not, the argument between the Doctor and Adric is very well-staged. The dialogue doesn't seem forced and Matthew Waterhouse is doing a good job, here (which isn't always the case!). The Fifth Doctor's vulnerability is very nicely on display here, too. To all intents and purposes, he's losing the fight. Not something we would see with most other incarnations.

From this point onwards, the episode turns into a magnificent little horror story. The sinister unitard-wearing globeheads start to slowly but surely pick off the troopers. The soldier at the scanner must helplessly watch the whole thing. The tension of it all is gorgeous. That shot of Nyder's liquidated body still holding a comlink as she's being told to get out while an android stands over it all is, perhaps, one of the coolest shots in the history of the show. It's legitimately chilling, too. 80s Who really started to reveal how budget limitations were killing the effectivenes of the horror in the show.  Scenes that were meant terrify were, instead, cringeworthy or even laughable. But, suddenly, we want to hide behind the couch again.

The true success of this episode (and the whole story, for that matter) lies in this beautiful marriage that occurs between writing and direction. It seems the author and the director both agreed this wasn't going be the standard three-camera set-up that we normally get during this era of television. That the whole thing would be shot more filmicly (pretty sure that's a totally made-up word!). This whole cinematic feel is what truly makes the episode (and - again - the whole story, for that matter) such a delight to behold. Other directors would take this approach from time-to-time in the 80s (Lovett Bickford, Graeme Harper - to name a few) but I do think it's done best, here. Part One of Earthshock introduces us to this whole Movie House atmosphere that the rest of the adventure will continue to deliver. It tells a simple tale of murderous androids in a cave system that hooks us in solidly for the next three parts.

It's a work of art, really. As I've said in another review: the whole story is. But Part One is beautiful in its own right and deserves a special level of recognition.





Number One is soon to come....    

Here are the rest of parts: 

Part 6:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2018/11/book-of-lists-top-six-doctor-who.html

Part 5: 
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2018/12/book-of-lists-top-six-doctor-who.html

Part 4: 
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2018/12/book-of-lists-top-six-doctor-who_14.htm

Part 3: 
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2018/12/book-of-lists-top-6-doctor-who-episodes.html