A review by nwhyte
Doctor Who: Earthshock by Ian Marter

http://nhw.livejournal.com/763482.html[return][return]Reading the early chapters of this book, I decided that the descriptions of people being melted into puddles of liquid by the androids must be yet another gruesome addition of detail by Marter, and was rather surprised when I checked on-line sources to find that, for once, he has stuck pretty closely to the original story - I think more so than for any of his other novelisations. Unfortunately this does also emphasise the flaws in the plot of "Earthshock" which are numerous - not, of course, Marter's fault but among many crimes which must be laid at Eric Saward's door. Apart from the shock ending, it's not a story that can stand up to much analysis - Why are the Cybermen hiding on the spaceship? Why aren't their weapons as good as their androids'? How did they get the bomb onto Earth in the first place? Faced with this material, Marter did a barely adequate job of the novelisation.