Doctor Who - Spearhead from Space (review)
"Spearhead from Space" was a four-part serial, first broadcast on BBC TV between 3 January 1970 - 24 January 1970. It was written by Robert Holmes, and directed by Derek Martinus. It starred Jon Pertwee as the Doctor, Caroline John as Liz Shaw and Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.
After a seven month gap Doctor Who returned in a blaze of color, with a new actor in the lead role, companion, title sequence and exiled-to-Earth format. Things were so jarringly different to what came before, in fact, that any viewers thinking that they might have tuned into the wrong program could easily be forgiven! As the first story of this brave new era for the show, "Spearhead from Space" really needed to be good. Happily, for the most part it is, getting the Third Doctor's reign off to an impressive and stylish start, and featuring some of the most famous and chilling moments in the series' history.
Derek Martinus' direction is superb, and he brings a very real feeling of terror to such scenes as the car crash caused by the Auton - complete with a soldier's head smashed against a bloody windscreen - and the iconic moment when the store window mannequins come to life and start gunning down innocent pedestrians on the streets of London. The special effects are also good, particularly the Auton's vaporization of Ransome's corpse, and also the smoke that appears from their hand guns after shots are fired.
The Autons and the Nestene Consciousness are excellent villains; there is something very unnerving about the notion of dummies coming to life, of being duplicated by living plastic, and of course the whole idea of mind control is also quite disturbing, and pretty well used with the influence exerted by Channing over Hibbert. Hugh Burden excels as the marvelously creepy Channing, with his vacant staring eyes signifying both his evil intentions and alien nature; the shot Derek Martinus included of Channing's face behind the glass window in the factory, while the Brigadier looks at him, really emphasizes his otherworldliness and creepiness. The rest of the guest cast also turn in good performances, notably Derek Smee as the convincingly terrified Ransome.
Succeeding on almost every level is the introduction of the Third Doctor, who is either unconscious or unstable for most of the first two episodes. It helps to keep the viewer guessing about what he might be like. When he does finally escape from his hospital bed, we discover that he's much more of a dandy than Patrick Troughton's Doctor, that he likes fancy cars, that he can be bad-tempered, and that he has not lost either his intelligence or his mischievous streak, as demonstrated by his failed attempt to sneak away in the grounded TARDIS.
Jon Pertwee's debut performance is wonderful, showing a real enthusiasm for the role, with his skills as a comic actor coming to the fore - notably when he looks at himself in the mirror and pulls funny faces; from the beginning, he looks right at home in the part. Caroline John is also very good as Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, playing off both Pertwee and Nicholas Courtney very well, and does a great job of portraying Liz's growing acceptance of the existence of extraterrestrial life, after her initial haughty skepticism. By the end, she has formed an excellent rapport with the Doctor, and like Zoe before her, it is good to see a companion who is capable and intelligent, and not just a screamer. Nicholas Courtney is very impressive as the Brigadier, re-establishing his character with a real no-nonsense authority, while also making him capable and quick-witted. There is a pleasing tension in his relationship with the new Doctor, even when he has been convinced of his identity, and he also enjoys some good confrontations early on with Liz.
In a production that inspires much admiration, there are only a few nit-picking quibbles. This mainly concerns the anti-climactic ending, and the rather poor tentacled Nestene creature. Pertwee does an admirable job keeping a straight face during the Doctor's struggle with it. Also, after the elaborate build-up, the Doctor's solution for destroying the Nestene is a bit of a let-down. Apart from these minor flaws, however, "Spearhead from Space" is a high-quality Doctor Who adventure, and manages to promise much for the new Earth-bound and exiled Doctor.
5 / 5 stars
After a seven month gap Doctor Who returned in a blaze of color, with a new actor in the lead role, companion, title sequence and exiled-to-Earth format. Things were so jarringly different to what came before, in fact, that any viewers thinking that they might have tuned into the wrong program could easily be forgiven! As the first story of this brave new era for the show, "Spearhead from Space" really needed to be good. Happily, for the most part it is, getting the Third Doctor's reign off to an impressive and stylish start, and featuring some of the most famous and chilling moments in the series' history.
Derek Martinus' direction is superb, and he brings a very real feeling of terror to such scenes as the car crash caused by the Auton - complete with a soldier's head smashed against a bloody windscreen - and the iconic moment when the store window mannequins come to life and start gunning down innocent pedestrians on the streets of London. The special effects are also good, particularly the Auton's vaporization of Ransome's corpse, and also the smoke that appears from their hand guns after shots are fired.
The Autons and the Nestene Consciousness are excellent villains; there is something very unnerving about the notion of dummies coming to life, of being duplicated by living plastic, and of course the whole idea of mind control is also quite disturbing, and pretty well used with the influence exerted by Channing over Hibbert. Hugh Burden excels as the marvelously creepy Channing, with his vacant staring eyes signifying both his evil intentions and alien nature; the shot Derek Martinus included of Channing's face behind the glass window in the factory, while the Brigadier looks at him, really emphasizes his otherworldliness and creepiness. The rest of the guest cast also turn in good performances, notably Derek Smee as the convincingly terrified Ransome.
Succeeding on almost every level is the introduction of the Third Doctor, who is either unconscious or unstable for most of the first two episodes. It helps to keep the viewer guessing about what he might be like. When he does finally escape from his hospital bed, we discover that he's much more of a dandy than Patrick Troughton's Doctor, that he likes fancy cars, that he can be bad-tempered, and that he has not lost either his intelligence or his mischievous streak, as demonstrated by his failed attempt to sneak away in the grounded TARDIS.
Jon Pertwee's debut performance is wonderful, showing a real enthusiasm for the role, with his skills as a comic actor coming to the fore - notably when he looks at himself in the mirror and pulls funny faces; from the beginning, he looks right at home in the part. Caroline John is also very good as Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, playing off both Pertwee and Nicholas Courtney very well, and does a great job of portraying Liz's growing acceptance of the existence of extraterrestrial life, after her initial haughty skepticism. By the end, she has formed an excellent rapport with the Doctor, and like Zoe before her, it is good to see a companion who is capable and intelligent, and not just a screamer. Nicholas Courtney is very impressive as the Brigadier, re-establishing his character with a real no-nonsense authority, while also making him capable and quick-witted. There is a pleasing tension in his relationship with the new Doctor, even when he has been convinced of his identity, and he also enjoys some good confrontations early on with Liz.
In a production that inspires much admiration, there are only a few nit-picking quibbles. This mainly concerns the anti-climactic ending, and the rather poor tentacled Nestene creature. Pertwee does an admirable job keeping a straight face during the Doctor's struggle with it. Also, after the elaborate build-up, the Doctor's solution for destroying the Nestene is a bit of a let-down. Apart from these minor flaws, however, "Spearhead from Space" is a high-quality Doctor Who adventure, and manages to promise much for the new Earth-bound and exiled Doctor.
5 / 5 stars