Doctor Who: 10 Moments Of Mind-Blowing Unexpected Cruelty From The Doctor

7. "Earthshock"

Many remember this serial as Adric's final. But it also raised a few questions about the Doctor's morality--namely, his stance on guns. Even at this point in the show's history, the Doctor had a supposedly well established and self-imposed rule keeping him from using guns to harm another. At one point in the serial, the Doctor manages access to a cyberman's gun, which he in turn uses to kill the enemy cyberman. But this is not the first time the Doctor has used a gun to hurt one of his enemies. We see the same Doctor use one against both Mawdryn and Omega. Previous and later incarnations had also implemented guns against their enemies. What makes the "Earthshock" gun sequence so cruel is the Doctor's technique. He shoves the gun into the chest of the cyberman who, dying, grabs the Doctor's arm for support (for those who don't know much about the classic series: the cybermen of old were far more life-like than the revived series' versions). He continues shooting well after the cyberman has died. It may not have been "cruel" necessarily, but it demonstrated how quickly the Doctor can abandon all sense of morality, taking a gun and a life. It shows the sheer viciousness of the Doctor in a raw and violent state.