At last, we reach Number One...
The Best Cybermen Story ever... Could it be anything else?!
So much has been said about Earthshock in this blog already. It made it into my Top Ten Favorite Doctor Who Stories Ever (https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/12/book-of-lists-top-ten-who-stories-4.html). Part One is one of my All-Time Favorite Episodes of Doctor Who (https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2019/01/book-of-lists-top-six-best-episodes.html). I even go on in one entry about how much I love one of its Cliffhangers (https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2020/06/book-of-lists-ten-amazing-cliffhangers.htm)). So my biggest challenge with writing this will be to try not to repeat myself too much. Since there are still so many good things to say about this story, I think I can manage it!
One thing that I have brought up a bit in my other essays about this story (and needs to be re-stated because of its relevance) is that it is the first time I ever saw the Cybermen. For this reason, that Cliffhanger to Part One resonated quite oddly with me. I didn't know why seeing these strange robotic-looking beings in the final seconds of the episode was so important. But I had a feeling I would, ultimately, be impressed by the whole moment once I understood more.
How right I was!
Now, before I go on too much, I should address an important point: I did just admit this was the first Cybermen story I'd ever seen. So you might be thinking that nostalgia could be coloring my opinion. You might even be right! But I prefer to see this as experiencing all the things a Cybermen tale needs to truly excel. And that, any time since that first encounter, all other Cybermen stories just weren't quite able to meet the same standards. Some were like The Invasion and still came quite close. Others, like The Next Doctor, came nowhere near!
Having said all that, however, I'm still willing to admit that nostalgia could be clouding my judgement!
I'll let you decide for yourself...
THAT BIG 'OLE REVEAL
80s Who tended to love inserting a recurring foe into the plot in an interesting manner. Concealing the villain/monster from the audience until a well-placed moment was a particular speciality of the JNT Era. My first and second favorite Master Stories both hail from that period and do an excellent job of accomplishing this (many other Master stories from that time that didn't make it onto the list also do it quite well - Time Flight was really the only one that was a bit of a misfire). But no Reveal is as great as the one that happens in Earthshock!
Using androids to do all the violence a Cyberman could've committed was arranged to keep their identity a secret until the big Cliffhanger at the end of Part One. A clever move in and of itself. But here's what I really love about the idea: What could have been just 23 minutes of stalling for a Reveal (something the show has done on any number of other occasions) turns into some of the most eerie and suspenseful drama the show ever gave us. We were just fine without the Cybermen as we watched the dome-headed, unitard-wearing monsters shoot bullets from their palms and turn people into piles of smoldering goo. It was an absolutely gripping first episode.
The Reveal of the Cybermen's involvement at the end of the episode was, essentially, icing on the cake. As if the whole story was saying: "Yes, this was an awesome 23 minutes of entertainment - but things are about to get even better!". I got this sense from the moment even on my first viewing when I still had no idea who the Cybermen were. It was a great way to close out Part One that made me eager to see more. I can only imagine what it must have been like for fans who knew the show and had been missing these baddies since their last appearance in the mid-70s.
THE FLASHBACKS
Part Two has many great points to it. The android fight and bomb diffusion keeps that breakneck pace going for a bit longer. And everyone making their way onto the freighter gives us a really nice change in tone for a bit.
But the true highpoint of Episode Two is that gorgeous little scene where the Cyberleader and Cyberlieutenant enjoy the edited highlights of the Doctor's exploits against the Cyber-Race. I can't, for the life of me, pinpoint the exact reason why I enjoy this moment so much. But I just love it. If we return, once more, to my first viewing, it really helped to explain to me who the Cybermen were. That they had this extended history with the Doctor. It also gave me some nice glimpses into the past of a show I was only starting to discover. So it was tremendously helpful, in that sense.
But there really is something great with how the old clips are put on display. The whole thing is really well-written. The Cyberleader gives a quick, concise synopsis of a previous story. And then the perfect excerpt from that story seems to have been chosen to represent it. To me, the whole thing is ridiculously iconic. Every time I watch it, it's almost like I'm participating in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I'll speak in perfect synchronicity with what's being said onscreen. Doing imitations of the Cyberleader and the various previous incarnations of the Doctor that are appearing in the holograms. I absolutely adore this scene.
I remember reading an interview with RTD during the most early days of New Who. He cites this moment as "the beginning of the end" for the Classic Series. That he felt the show was now starting to rely too much on nostalgia by having scenes like these. In some ways, he may have had a point. But, in so many other ways, I just wanted to find RTD and give him a good piece of my mind! That flashback sequence is one of my favorite moments of the whole show. To me, it pays tribute to the show's past without wallowing in it for too long. It's also a bit ironic that RTD complains about this in Earthshock but creates a similar effect in The Next Doctor!
CYBERLEADER LOVE
I have gone on about my Cyberleader mancrush a bit, already, when I was reviewing The Haunting of Villa Diodati/Ascension of the Cybermen/The Timeless Children, but it deserves to be expanded upon, here. David Banks really kicks ass in his first portrayal of the character. He will be great every time he returns in the role, of course. But he's just extra-special in Earthshock.
Perhaps it is because this is his first time in the role so he really kills himself to get it right. This might be the case, but I also think it has a lot to do with how the character is written. Even though the author would get a chance to write the Cyberleader again, he gives a superior treatment in this particular script. It really does feel like both the actor and the writer are giving it their absolute best shot. Which, in turn, gives us one of the best villains the show ever created. We relish it every time the Cyberleader proclaims: "Excellent". It's another piece of dialogue that I tend to say at the same time that it's being spoken by the actor (while we're at it, "So, Doctor, we meet again." is also one of those lines!).
Of course, there's a huge debate that fans love to indulge in when they want to negate the effectiveness of this character (and I'm not sure why they would even want to do this). The very fact that the Cyberleader says things like: "Excellent" indicates that he has emotions. A true Cybermen might approve of a situation but would not choose such an emotive word. He would say something far more logical like: "The circumstances appear favorable towards the advancement of our plans." Or something equally bland. But he certainly shouldn't be saying something like "Excellent". That does sound vaguely like an expression of joy.
I find it odd that people don't tend to present this argument about the Cyberleader until Earthshock. Truthfully, this is a characterisation that we first saw at work in the Cyberleader from Revenge of the Cybermen. Earthshock Cyberleader is certainly an improvement upon Revenge - but it's still based upon something we already saw. Revenge Cyberleader shows arrogance, aggressiveness and even a bit of hubris. Earthshock Cyberleader displays those traits, too - but does it better. But it's still, very much, the same character. So it's weird that the debate doesn't really arise sooner.
If we really want to nitpick, the Cyber Controller in Tomb of the Cybermen has quite the domineering attitude at certain times. Even the Cybermen in The Moonbase occasionally hurl insults at the people manning the weather control station. These are even more human traits in a race of beings that are meant to be completely emotionless.
If we do want to come up with a better explanation than: "It looks pretty cool." for why Cybermen seem to display a certain amount of emotion, sometimes, then we can create a bit of headcannon. I suggest that the Cybermen evolved to a point where they understood that those that were in a position of authority would need certain instincts that humans possessed. So they were allowed to have access to them in order to make them more effective leaders. So that the Cybermen would not fall into the same sort of logic traps that other races like Daleks and Movellans could get entangled in.
But you don't really need to take this sort of thing to such great lengths. You could just acknowledge that the Cyberleader in Earthshock is just really friggin' awesome and not really question it much beyond that! I still love how, after one of the best speeches the Fifth Doctor ever delivers, the Cyberleader shows the Doctor how wrong he is to have emotions. That, in his eyes, they are an obvious weakness. The fact that he still seems to possess certain feelings makes the whole demonstration all-the-more ironic.
THE DEADLINESS OF THE CYBERMEN
As is often the case in a good Cybermen story, we get some decent action sequences. But what I really like about Earthshock is how good of a job it does to re-enforce the invulnerability of the race. Part Three contains a great moment where the humans onboard the freighter are trying to contain the Cybermen in the storage hold. While there have been scenes of this nature that were a bit better shot, this one still looks pretty damned good.
What I like more about this scene is how uselessly the lazers fired from the humans bounce off the armor of the Cybermen. Whereas lazerfire from the Cybermen is quite efficiently lethal. This is the sort of thing I like to see from the more dangerous races in the Whoniverse: They are not easy to kill. A few seasons later, we would get Attack of the Cybermen. It's a fairly decent story but sneezing too hard effectively kills, at least, three Cybermen!
Showing a natural immunity to whatever firepower the Good Guys have to offer always creates a far better sense of menace in a monster. Earthshock does a great job in achieving this. Yes, Lieutenant Scott and his troops have a bit more success in dealing with them. But that is mainly due to the helpful advice the Doctor gives them to concentrate their fire. Even then, the strategy only works so well. Using the Cybermen's own rifles against them works much better. Which Scott very quickly figures out and uses to his advantage.
There is, of course, the one Cyberman who attacks Adric while he's trying to solve the Logic Code. He does seem to die from just tripping badly. I don't really have an explanation for that one!
FINAL VERDICT
Ultimately, what makes Earthshock so successful is the incredible sense of tension that hangs over the entire story. It's a strange uncomfortable feeling that, somehow, keeps us riveted to the screen. We need to keep watching. Perhaps in hope that, eventually, the terrible suspense will end.
Beautifully enough, it never does. We're left at the end of the tale with a sense of being truly disturbed by it all. The Doctor does ruin the latest sinister plot of the Cybermen. But at a tremendous cost.
Certain naysayers may argue: "Okay, Rob. What you're describing does make a great Doctor Who Story. But is it also a great Cybermen Story?!"
Admittedly, up until halfway through Part Two - those Negative Nancies could be right. That gorgeous tension that I described is created more by those sinister androids. But then things shift to the Cybermen controlling everything that is menacing about the adventure. And, when they do take over as the central peril of the tale, the threat level increases exponentially.
The best example of this, oddly enough, is in a very simple throwaway scene. While roaming through the freighter, Tegan has been separated from the rest of the party she's with and is trying to elude capture from a recently re-awakened batch of Cybermen. The whole sequence is shot in such a horrific claustrophobic way that it would actually give me nightmares for years to come. That, my friends, is extremely effective use of a monster in Doctor Who!
Earthshock is a great story. But its success depends greatly upon the fact that it has Cybermen in it.
There we go. Countdown complete. It looks like I'm not going to quite get this all done in 2021 as I had initially planned. But I almost made it!
Forget the fact that I was also hoping to do a Top Five Dalek Story Countdown before the year was over!!!
The other Parts of the Countdown:
Part Five:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2021/12/book-of-lists-top-five-cybermen-stories.html
Part Four:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2021/12/book-of-lists-top-five-cybermen-stories_15.html
Part Three:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2021/12/book-of-lists-top-five-cybermen-stories_21.html
Part Two:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2021/12/book-of-lists-top-five-cybermen-stories_28.html
