History Recap / DoctorWhoS19E6Earthshock

* WeirdnessCensor: The only characters who recognise the Cybermen are The Doctor and their lackey Ringway, who is surprised that The Doctor knows who the Cybermen are. This is despite the fact that in almost every single previous Cybermen story, almost every human ''had'' heard of them and merely thought they were extinct, while here the Cyber-race is so powerful as to have entire armies ready for conquest and for Earth to be on high alert because it is hosting an interstellar conference ''to deal with the growing threat of the Cybermen''.

-->'''Cyberleader''': So, we meet again, Doctor!

One of the biggest {{Wham Episode}}s ''Doctor Who'' has ever had. While its plot twists are [[ItWasHisSled common knowledge among fans]] by this point, it's considered no less impactful even today.

JustForFun/{{The one w|ith}}here [[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E5RevengeOfTheCybermen the Soldiers of Steel return after a seven-year absence]]... and the rest is silence.

-->-- '''Adric's''' last words.

-> ''"Now I'll never know if I was right."''

The one where the Soldiers of Steel return after a seven-year absence... and the rest is silence.

* WhamEpisode: Companion death has always been very rare, and the ones that have died in the past (and future) were all one-story companions, with the exception of one who joined at the end of one story and died ''early'' in the next. This marks the first time in the show's history that a ''main cast member of the show'' has been completely and unambiguously killed off, something which still hasn't been repeated as of 2022. It's THAT rare. "Earthshock" intensified the effect by [[SilentCredits silently rolling the credits]] over a picture of Adric's badge, smashed beyond repair. While that's the biggest Wham part of this serial, it also has an earlier shocker: Back when it first aired, the Cybermen being the villains was a well kept secret. But both twists have suffered ItWasHisSled[[invoked]] at this point.

Fed up with the talking, the Cyber-Leader decides to kill the TARDIS crew, but Tegan jumps on him and the Doctor breaks up Adric's golden badge all over its chest unit, but not before it shoots and damages the TARDIS console. And then the Doctor grabs the gun and shoots the Leader, killing it. Adric, for his part, is nearly done screwing up history when a lone, near-death Cyberman prevents him from entering the calculations by blowing up the console. The Doctor knows he can't save Adric, not just because he physically couldn't but also because it's likely the extinction of the Dinosaurs is a fixed point, and we watch Adric's ship ram itself into the surface of the Earth, killing off all the Dinosaurs and making way for Man... with Adric along for the ride.

Fed up with the talking, the Cyber-Leader decides to kill the TARDIS crew, but Tegan jumps on him and the Doctor breaks up Adric's golden badge all over its chest unit, but not before it shoots and damages the TARDIS console. And then the Doctor grabs the gun and shoots the Leader, killing it. Adric, for his part, is nearly done screwing up history when a lone, near-death Cyberman prevents him from entering the calculations by blowing up the console. The Doctor knows he can't save Adric, and we watch Adric's ship ram itself into the surface of the Earth, killing off all the Dinosaurs and making way for Man... with Adric along for the ride.

* WhamEpisode: Companion death has always been very rare, and the ones that have died in the past (and future) were all one-story companions, with the exception of one who joined at the end of one story and died ''early'' in the next. A ''main cast member of the show'' has died precisely ''twice'' in its five decade plus history-- one is Adric, and the other, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E10FaceTheRaven Clara Oswald]], was '''33 years later''' (and even that arguably doesn't count since Clara is currently immortal, and can choose when she wants to die in the future). It's THAT rare. "Earthshock" intensified the effect by [[SilentCredits silently rolling the credits]] over a picture of Adric's badge, smashed beyond repair. While that's the biggest WHAM part of the episode it also has further value: Back when it first aired, the Cybermen being the villains was a well kept secret which also adds to the shock value. But both twists have suffered ItWasHisSled[[invoked]] at this point.

Lieutenant Scott and his squad of troops climb up a bleak hillside on Earth, escorting Professor Kyle, had been part of a scientific expedition investigating the caves for fossil remains, to a camp set up by Scott's team. They find that Kyle's fellow paleontologists have gone missing. They're also followed by two shadowy figures.

Back with the missing-palaeontologists plot: the troopers decide to [[LetsSplitUpGang split up into multiple groups]] and explore deeper into the cave system. They even pick up a few life signs -- one of them with two heartbeats. The leader of this group naturally assumes that the owners of these strange life signs are responsible for the palaeontologists who went missing, but they don't have much time to act on this before they are, sadly, turned into sludge. The survivors, led by Scott, stumble across the Doctor and the TARDIS and immediately relate their problems... until, that is, they notice that the Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa make great suspects. Before either group can make their case, however, those shadowy figures attack: Androids! Androids commanded elsewhere in a distant location by... the Cybermen!

The Cyber-Leader chooses ''now'' to take over the freighter, and activates a unit of Cybermen. They hatch from their tombs and begin to stomp all over the ship as the Doctor and Adric are taken to the Captain, a middle-aged woman named Briggs who has the rare talent of sounding eternally drunk. One of the Cybermen bumbles onto the bridge and is instantly killed, only for the security chief to conveniently declare he's a double-agent for them. The Doctor and Briggs barricade the bridge by shutting the doors and Captain Briggs at first seems confident that they can survive to Earth... until she realizes that there must be around 15,000 Cybermen on the ship, hiding in her ship's cargo.

Regardless, Tegan is captured and dragged to the bridge while Scott and a few other humans run around blowing up Cybermen... but spending most of their time hiding from them. The Doctor makes a show of bravado until Tegan is threatened, and the Cyber-Leader claims that this is the weakness of organics. The Doctor claims otherwise, wondering when the Cybermen enjoyed the laughter of a child or sat down to have a nice meal together. The Cyber-Leader also heads out to the TARDIS to make his escape with a few other Cybermen. At this time, Scott's Commandos break onto the Bridge and pretty much slaughter most of the Cybermen there. Unfortunately, Adric's attempt to bring the freighter out of hyperdrive goes spectacularly wrong and sends the freighter careening back in time, meaning that the Earth of the future may be safe but the Earth of the past (and thus, all future) is now in danger.

* LetsSplitUpGang: The troopers decide to split up into multiple groups and explore deeper into the cave system. Soon enough, some of them find a gruesome end at the hands of the Cybermen's androids.

Back with the missing-palaeontologists plot: the troopers decide to [[LetsSplitUpGang split up into multiple groups]] and explore deeper into the cave system. They even pick up a few life signs -- one of them with two heartbeats. The leader of this group naturally assumes that the owners of these strange life signs are responsible for the palaeontologists who went missing, but they don't have much time to act on this before they are, sadly, turned into sludge. The survivors, led by Scott, stumble across the Doctor and the TARDIS and immediately relate their problems... until, that is, they notice that the Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa make great suspects. Before either group can make their case, however, those shadowy figures attack: Androids! Androids commanded elsewhere in a distant location by... Cybermen!

[[quoteright:345:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/math_badge_8760.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:345:[[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} The rest...]] [[SilentCredits is silence.]]]]

* CostumeEvolution: The Cybermen are significantly redesigned, with loose metallic coveralls reminiscent of contemporary military combat gear instead of the skin-tight suits of earlier designs.

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: Averted to truly heroic levels. Showrunner Creator/JohnNathanTurner went to enormous lengths to keep the Cybermen's return secret, resulting in a famous OhCrap moment at the end of Episode 1. JNT actually turned down a cover shoot with the Cybermen for the ''Radio Times'' in order to keep the secret as secret as possible (despite the fact that a ''Radio Times'' cover was quite prestigious, and ''Who'' had not had one for nearly a decade), also insisted the cast listings in the same magazine referred to the Cyber Leader and Cyber Lieutenant as just "Leader" and "Lieutenant", etc. In addition, he put a scene for Adric in the next story so he would be present in the listings that came out the week the second half of the story aired... hiding his death in this one. It's only spoiled to modern viewers, as there's a Cyberman on the DVD cover.

* WhamShot: TheReveal of the masters of the killer androids at the end of the first episode- the Cybermen. While it may not seem like much of a twist to modern viewers, the Cybermen hadn't been seen by ''Doctor Who'' viewers for ''seven years,'' ever since 1975's [[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E5RevengeOfTheCybermen "Revenge of the Cybermen"]].

* {{Corpsing}}: Creator/JanetFielding and Creator/SarahSutton suffered an attack of the giggles while they were filming the final scene, in which their characters were supposed to be grieving for Adric. Fortunately, they eventually managed to regain their composure, enabling the scene to be filmed; the incident is recounted in the "making of" documentary on the DVD.

* SilentCredits: At the end of the last part.

* DarthVaderClone: The Cyberleader. David Banks leans ''hard'' into a Creator/JamesEarlJones impression and even gets Vader's body language down pretty well.

Written by Creator/EricSaward. This serial first aired March 8-16, 1982.

* {{Flashback}}: The Cyberleader gives his lieutenant a brief history of their encounters with the Doctor. Clips from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E2TheTenthPlanet The Tenth Planet]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E7TheWheelInSpace The Wheel in Space]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E5RevengeOfTheCybermen Revenge of the Cybermen]]" are shown, though the Cyberleader mentions the events depicted in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E1TheTombOfTheCybermen The Tomb of the Cybermen]]" rather than "The Wheel in Space" as "The Tomb of the Cybermen" was [[MissingEpisode missing at the time]] and would not be found for another ten years.

* WhamEpisode: Companion death has always been very rare, and the ones that have died in the past (and future) were all one-story companions, with the exception of one who joined at the end of one story and died ''early'' in the next. A ''main cast member of the show'' has died precisely ''twice'' in its five decade plus history-- one is Adric, and the other, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E10FaceTheRaven Clara Oswald]], was '''33 years later''' (and even that arguably doesn't count since Clara is currently immortal, and can choose when she wants to die in the future). It's THAT rare. "Earthshock" intensified the effect by [[SilentCredits silently rolling the credits]] over a picture of Adric's badge, smashed beyond repair. While that's the biggest WHAM part of the episode it also has further value: Back when it first aired, the Cybermen being the villains was a well kept secret which also adds to the shock value. But both twists have suffered ItWasHisSled at this point.

* AllThereInTheManual: Later expanded universe sources, ''Doctor Who: Cybermen'' and its audio adaptation ''AudioPlay/TheArcHiveTapes'', have InUniverse historians identify Cybermen seen here and in later classic stories as [=CyberNeomorphs=]. It specifies that they were the result of the [=CyberNomads=] from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E5RevengeOfTheCybermen Revenge of the Cybermen]]" and a group of [=CyberTelosians=] from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E1TheTombOfTheCybermen the tombs on Telos]] merging technology.

* AllThereInTheManual: Later expanded universe sources, ''Doctor Who: Cybermen'' and its audio adaptation ''AudioPlay/TheArcHiveTapes'', have InUniverse historians identify Cybermen seen here and in later classic stories as [=CyberNeomorphs=]. It specifies that they were the result of the [=CyberNomads=] from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E5RevengeOfTheCybermen Revenge of the Cybermen]]" and a group of [=CyberTelosians=] from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E1TheTombOfTheCybermen the tombs of Telos]]" merging technology.

* AllThereInTheManual: Later expanded universe sources, ''Doctor Who: Cybermen'' and its audio adaptation ''AudioPlay/TheArcHiveTapes'', have InUniverse historians identify Cybermen seen here and in later classic stories as [=CyberNeomorphs=].

* BoomerangBigot: The Cyber-leader mocks the doctor about emotion, but he seem to show traits of it himself.

* TheCorpseStopsHere: At the Doctor's and Adric's feet.

--->'''The Doctor:''' Compared to some, this one is positively flippant.

* CallBack: [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E3FullCircle In Adric's final moments, he's holding his brother's belt]].