History YMMV / DoctorWhoS19E6Earthshock

* HeReallyCanAct: Creator/MatthewWaterhouse in the final scene where his character calmly accepts his death while holding his dead brother's belt is particularly powerful and moving. Despite his character being widely seen as TheScrappy, this final scene showcases Waterhouse's ability to deliver a poignant and memorable performance, without any dialogue.

* SpecialEffectsFailure:

* WTHCastingAgency: Creator/BerylReid as a hard-ass [[Franchise/{{Alien}} Ripley]]-esque space captain? Admittedly, she was a fine actress and did well with the role, but she didn't fit what was written in the script.

* SugarWiki/DevelopmentHeaven: Creator/JohnNathanTurner was adamant that the return of the Cybermen be a surprise. To keep the secret, he barred visitors from attending the studio recording and even declined the chance to be on the front cover of the ''Magazine/RadioTimes'' (this latter choice only looks bad in hindsight, since JNT had no way of knowing that his era of ''Doctor Who'' would only get ''one'' ''Radio Times'' cover ("The Five Doctors")).

* WTHCastingAgency: Beryl Reid as a hard-ass [[Franchise/{{Alien}} Ripley]]-esque space captain? Admittedly, she was a fine actress and did well with the role, but she didn't fit what was written in the script.

** The Doctor's line about how the Cybermen can't enjoy a "well-prepared meal" is one of Creator/EricSaward's most notoriously feeble attempts at a ShutUpHannibal moment.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: On its first broadcast-- and even today, in fact-- it was a hugely popular story thanks to its action, gritty and mature feel, the return of a classic villain and the brave decision to kill off an ongoing character for the first time since 1965 (and Katarina and Sara Kingdom had only been with the Doctor for a short time and died in the same mega-story that introduced them, but Adric had been with the Doctor for most of two seasons). However, attempts to recapture all of these elements in future stories would play a major part in driving the series into the ground in the mid-1980s, mainly in the Sixth Doctor era. The continuity aspects were emphasized to such an extent that it led to major ContinuityLockout. This is well-shown by the Cybermen's next major story, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E1AttackOfTheCybermen Attack of the Cybermen]]", which is incredibly violent and basically incomprehensible without a good knowledge of previous Cyberman stories (some of which were [[MissingEpisode missing!]]

* FranchiseOriginalSin: On its first broadcast-- and even today, in fact-- it was a hugely popular story thanks to its action, gritty and mature feel, the return of a classic villain and the brave decision to kill off an ongoing character for the first time ever (The only companions to die prior to this were Katarina and Sara Kingdom, who had only been with the Doctor for a short time; Adric had been with the Doctor for most of two seasons). However, attempts to recapture all of these elements in future stories would play a major part in driving the series into the ground in the mid-1980s, mainly in the Sixth Doctor era. The continuity aspects were emphasized to such an extent that it led to major ContinuityLockout. This is well-shown by the Cybermen's next major story, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E1AttackOfTheCybermen Attack of the Cybermen]]", which is basically incomprehensible without a good knowledge of Cyber-History and incredibly violent.

* SugarWiki/DevelopmentHeaven: Creator/JohnNathanTurner was adamant that the return of the Cybermen be a surprise. To keep the secret, he barred visitors from attending the studio recording and even declined the chance to be on the front cover of the ''Magazine/RadioTimes''.

** The Doctor's line about how the Cybermen can't enjoy a "well-prepared meal" is one of Eric Saward's most notoriously feeble attempts at a ShutUpHannibal moment.

* SugarWiki/DevelopmentHeaven: Creator/JohnNathanTurner was adamant that the return of the Cybermen be a surprise. To keep the secret, he barred visitors from attending the studio recording and even cancelled the chance to be on the front cover of the ''Magazine/RadioTimes''.

* In the third episode, the footage of the multiple columns of marching Cybermen was visibly created by copy-pasting one column side by side twice.