Spearhead from Space: Episode 1

Obviously listings like this on here are for fans, so these are just personal thoughts.

I wasn't aware of this being shot on film, I just kept thinking how great it looked. Now I know of the technician strike. I'm sure they got their issues worked out, but certainly a wonderful side effect.

It appears the strike itself was referenced in the episode in this dialog:

"HIBBERT: We're turning over to automation, General. It means we can keep staff down to a minimum. SCOBIE: Splendid. Don't get machines going on strike, eh?"

I've watched a lot of Who, starting with PBS in the 80s, and rather liked Pertwee, but never saw this one. It's comical to me personally that my reaction to Tennant's intro was that he was knocked out most of his first episode. Well, there certainly was precedent-- this very serial, where Pertwee is in a coma for half of it!

Jon Pertwee's debut as the Third Doctor coincides with Robert Holmes introducing the Autons for one of only three television stories they would be prominently featured in (if I recall correctly, they are the only three they would be featured in, period). Ah, Robert Holmes. Always good to see that name at the start of a story, isn't it? In many ways this was the first story in which he really showed his knack for creating solid dialogue and characterization as well as keeping the science fiction, horror, or adventure plot fresh every episode of the story ('The Krotons' was average and 'The Space Pirates' is missing, but apparently not a hidden classic based on reconstructions). I don't want to give any of the plot away but it will suffice to say that the Autons are really bloody good villains, and so is the intelligence behind them, the Nestenes. There are some pretty violent scenes in this story and I remember being very scared upon watching this story for the first time when I was five or so, which is always good in a Doctor Who story.

It was ingenious to actually have Doctor Who villains who are ACTUALLY made of plastic within the confines of the story, and one of the reasons this doesn't seem particularly dated. The character of the Third Doctor is brilliantly introduced over the course of this four parter, as is Liz Shaw, and there is also some excellent character development for the Brigadier. The story was shot on film rather than video for some reason and does look fabulous and is directed well.

Episode 1: 7/10 Episode 2: 8/10 Episode 3: 8/10 Episode 4: 9/10

Overall: The average rating amounts to 8 out of 10 stars, but I will give it an 8.5 out of 10 overall.

"Spearhead from Space" marked several firsts in "Doctor Who" history. It was the first serial to be made in colour. It introduced the Doctor's new assistant, the scientist Liz Shaw, and marked Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart becoming a regular character. (He had previously appeared in two of the Second Doctor's adventures). It was the first serial to be shot entirely on location rather than in a studio (for reasons connected with a strike by BBC staff). Most importantly from my point of view, it also marked the debut of Jon Pertwee's Third Doctor, my own favourite incarnation. Objectively speaking, I have to admit that his successor Tom Baker was just as good, but I have a special affection for Pertwee because he was the incumbent when I first started to take a serious interest in the series.

All of the serials in the seventh season of "Doctor Who", and most of those in the eighth, are set on Earth, with the Doctor acting as scientific advisor to UNIT, the international taskforce set up to combat alien threats. (Lethbridge-Stewart is the commander of UNIT's British contingent). Apparently this was done by the BBC for financial reasons, but the in-series explanation is that the Doctor has been banished to Earth by the Time Lords as a punishment, for reasons set out in the final serial of the sixth season.

The Doctor's exile was eventually to come to an end. Again in-series reasons were found for this development, but the real reason was that the scriptwriters found his earthbound existence too limiting. One complained that with the Doctor on Earth he was restricted to two basic plot lines, "alien invasions and mad scientists". "Spearhead from Space", as the title suggest, is an example of the "alien invasion" type of plot.

On this occasion, however, the invasion is not carried out by an alien race like the Daleks, Cybermen or Ice Warriors. The villain is the Nestene Consciousness, an incorporeal intelligence. Now you might wonder why an incorporeal intelligence would want to conquer Earth; surely wealth, natural resources and all the normal spoils of conquest would mean nothing to such an entity. It is, however, a recurrent science fiction trope that extra-terrestrial intelligences, be they corporeal or incorporeal, are all possessed of a Nietzschean Wille zur Macht, or Will to Power, and therefore regard conquering the Earth as a matter of principle. It is another science fiction trope, at least in Britain, that any alien invasion of Earth will start with the English Home Counties; H G Wells's Martians landed near Woking, Surrey, and the Consciousness's first target is Epping, Essex.

An incorporeal entity, however, still needs foot-soldiers to do its conquering for it, and the Nestene Consciousness has the Autons, plastic human replicas which normally masquerade as shop-window mannequins but which become lethal killers when activated. A more advanced model of Auton can duplicate the appearance and voice of any individual, and the Consciousness plans to use these to impersonate key figures in the British political and military Establishment. The Autons, however, are not autonomous individuals in the same way as, say, individual Ice Warriors, but robots remotely controlled by the Consciousness- and it is this feature which is to prove their weakness.

The main weakness of the serial is that it takes too long setting the scene and introducing the Doctor's new personality. (Some of his character traits, such as a dandyish dress sense and a love of vintage cars, were established from the beginning). The first half is rather dull and slow-moving, with all the thrills coming towards the end. This would have been more obvious in 1970 than it is now. When we watch classic "Doctor Who" serials today, whether on video or on one of their rare television outings, we treat them effectively as feature films, although they were first broadcast in several weekly parts. Normally the scriptwriters tried to introduce a note of tension from the start so that each episode could end on a cliff-hanger, but this does not seem to have been done with "Spearhead from Space".

The Television Companion opined that "It is the terrifying and well-realised concept of killer shop dummies that makes "Spearhead from Space" one of the most horrific Doctor Who stories ever". I would probably have agreed in 1970, but then I was only a young child at the time. Today the idea of murderous shop dummies seems more surreal than scary. Pertwee was to star in some excellent serials, but this is not really one of them.

Review of the Complete Story:

SPEARHEAD FROM SPACE is a well-remembered and classic DOCTOR WHO story, and for good reason. It contains one of the entire series' most frightening pieces of imagery ever, in the form of shop mannequins coming to life and wreaking havoc on the high street.

Of course, the said dummies are part of a sinister alien plan to invade earth, but a newly-regenerated Jon Pertwee is on hand to thwart them. SPEARHEAD FROM SPACE isn't perfect - it is quite slow and it takes a while to get to the action, partly because a lot of it's about Pertwee "discovering" himself - but it has a timeless charm that makes it irresistible to this viewer.

The entire alien invasion plot is familiar but workable, and the story is enlivened by the dedicated performances from the supporting cast. Nicholas Courtney's Brigadier is on particular top form here, but here's merely a highlight of a generally well-made and inventive story overall. When it comes to DOCTOR WHO, SPEARHEAD FROM SPACE is one of the very best.

Honestly go watch all 4 parts you will fall in love with Pertwee's doctor. 9/10