Doctor Who - Earthshock

I didn't watch much new television this week, just a bunch of Doctor Who series 2 for my rewatch endeavor and some Secret Diary. Treme has been impossible to find online, so I don't know what I'm going to do about that. I started Bored to Death, but I'm not impressed so far (though I love the cast and the awesome music choices. Schwartzman/Galafianakis interactions are worth watching for alone). Might drop those two for the time being.

However, I did watch Doctor Who's Earthshock. Out of the classic Who serials I've seen so far*, I think it's my favorite. I prefer the Doctor with an entourage, and the Fifth Doctor had quite a few companions. Adric, Nyssa, and Tegan accompanied him on this particular adventure.

Classic Who companions have been criticized of getting kidnapped and being generally helpless. Though there is some of that, it isn't to say they don't help the Doctor in their own ways. Some are braver than others, and some are better at math; some aren't there by choice but trek on with the crew good-naturedly anyway, some fall down more than others. Companions are like a box of chocolates. I like the strong-willed ones that aren't afraid to talk back to the Doctor, like Sarah Jane. I also like Leela and Adric. In Earthshock, Tegan ventured out to help look for the Doctor while Nyssa stayed behind to hold down the fort. Not helpless at all.

But the companion that proved himself as righteous and self-sacrificing as the Doctor was Adric. Part 1 of Earthshock set up the frustration Adric felt toward the Doctor's sometimes condescending manner. He wants to return to his home planet, but the Doctor isn't having it, seeing as they'd have to journey through E-space to get there. Adric and the Doctor quarrel, and before Nyssa and Tegan can adequately encourage repair, the two are cornered by Cybermen. What's interesting about Adric and the Doctor's argument is that the Doctor is extremely hotheaded, at first, and dismissive of the accusation. What it eventually boils down to is the core of the Doctor/companion relationship -- the question of what exactly the Doctor's role is in a companion's life. There is a balance between affection (which the Cybermen consider the Doctor's greatest weakness, as they use it against him when they threaten Tegan's life) and mentorship (Adric complains the Doctor never explains things to him). In the end, Adric, the mathematician prodigy, gives his life just as the Doctor would have done to save the Earth. Unfortunately, a Cyberman destroys the console before Adric can solve the code, and Adric laments that he will "never know if he was right" as his final words.

(In The Caves of Androzani, The Fifth Doctor's last word is "Adric"; he dies feeling overwhelming guilt, a sure theme in the Doctor's life.)

* I've watched Pyramids of Mars (4th Doctor), City of Death (4th), Robots of Death (4th), The Caves of Androzani (5th Doctor), Earthshock (5th), The Three Doctors, and The Five Doctors. The Doctor Who movie kind of sits in the void between classic and new Who, but I've seen that too. Talons of Weng-Chiang next, yay racism!