the serial characterised Adric, which set him up for his demise. Bahn praised the first episode for being "nicely tense and mysterious", but noted that it was separate from the rest of the story, which led to too many characters in the last three episodes. He also criticised the Cybermen, feeling that they did not hark back to their eerie emotionless roots and that when they got involved "the plot starts to bog down in its implausibilities". In 2012, Patrick Mulkern of Radio Times awarded it five stars out of five, praising the tension and describing it as "the most thrilling tale in years". He wrote "Saward's script and Grimwade's direction work in unison, delivering pace, momentum, atmosphere and the eponymous shock." He praised the new look of the Cybermen, guest star Beryl Reid, and the way the story "pulls off the previously unimaginable feat of making us care about Adric". He acknowledged that critics had pointed out "plot holes and logic leaps", but said he was willing to "gloss over them". In 2010, SFX named Adric's death the twenty-ninth best "tearjerker" in science fiction and fantasy, calling it a "tragedy" that managed to make the audience care about him. In 2012, the magazine also listed the scene as the third best companion departure, calling it "a beautifully constructed death scene" despite the fact that the character was "loathed by fandom". For Den of Geek in 2019, Andrew Blair wrote that Earthshock was "atypical Who with its short scenes, regular gunfights, and fast pace. Its success owed a lot to Peter Grimwade's direction, but also negatively influenced Doctor Who for the next four years with misplaced attempts to bottle lightning twice." Commercial releases In print The Target novelisation of this serial, written by Ian Marter, was published by WH Allen in 1983. A second edition was published in 1992. An unabridged audio reading of the novelisation, read by Peter Davison, was released by AudioGo on 1 February 2012. Home media Earthshock was released on VHS in the UK in 1992. A DVD was released on 18 August 2003 as part of the Doctor Who 40th Anniversary Celebration releases, representing the Peter Davison years. The DVD included a commentary with Davison, Fielding, Sutton & Waterhouse, and a documentary, Putting the Shock into Earthshock, which included interviews with Davison, Saward and David Banks, as well as various fan commentators including future Doctor