Day 572: Earthshock Part 1

So this story begins with something that's rather interesting to see. Adric, as a character, has been dealt with curiously over the past couple of stories, as we've seen him constantly go over to the side of the enemy, or get frustrated with the fact that no-one seems to be listening to him. All of this comes to a head in this episode, as he and the Doctor have a stand-up row about whether Adric can return home or not. Adric says that he has the mathematical skills to do it, while the Doctor says that he doesn't and that it's too dangerous for the TARDIS to attempt. It culminates in the Doctor going off for a walk, leaving Adric to do some calculations on the TARDIS computer. But what this shows is a new area of conflict between the characters that we haven't seen for a while. We have almost never seen the Doctor get this angry at a regular character before (the last occurrences I can think of are the First Doctor getting angry at Ian and Barbara in The Chase, and the Third Doctor, regarding the Brigadier's actions with the Silurians), and it's interesting to see that this new production team isn't afraid to allow for the characters to fully engage and argue with one another, making their interactions less generic and for a more interesting story.