Doctor Who 7.01 Spearhead from Space
LIZ: "What are you a doctor of, by the way?"
DOCTOR: "Practically everything, my dear."
Overview
I have rather a mixed history with this one. When I first began to re-visit Classic Who after a gap of many years, this was one of the first stories I watched and I struggled with it, finding it slow and dry compared with what I'd become more accustomed to. But once I'd got properly into the swing of the classic show, I gave it another go - and absolutely loved it! With Classic Who you really do have to tune your brain into the right wavelength in order to appreciate it properly, and it does take patience and perseverance to get there, but it really is worth the effort.
This story marks the dawn of a completely new era for the show. Well, there's a brand new Doctor, for a start, and that's always the signal for a new era, but especially so in this case because the Doctor has been exiled to Earth by the Time Lords and thus is facing an indefinite future tied to a single place at a single time, which for such a habitual wanderer is a form of torture, however fond he is of that place and time. It is also a new era in that the Doctor's companions do not experience the regeneration with him, Jamie and Zoe having been returned to their homes by the Time Lords at the end of the previous adventure, War Games, which means that neither the Doctor nor viewers have the familiarity of existing companions to ease them through the transition but must start completely afresh. Cleverly, the show's producers eased past this issue by reintroducing a previously recurring character in the form of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, head of UNIT, as a new series regular, providing both a familiar face for the Doctor and viewers to latch on to and a base and premise for the Doctor's Earth-bound adventures. The story also introduces the concept of the Doctor having an assigned assistant to work with him, rather than a companion or group of companions who travel with him - for the Third Doctor's first series, that assistant is scientist Liz Shaw, who is fantastic. Between them, the Brigadier and Liz have to carry an awful lot of this story, with the Doctor largely out of commission for the first couple of episodes, and they carry it well. And last but not least, this is the first ever Doctor Who adventure to be filmed in colour - truly the sign of a new era for the show!
Observations
Random thoughts while watching:
I'm not so good with spotting technical details, but even I can see that this story is recorded on film rather than videotape and entirely on location, with no scenes at all taking place on set. It worked out that way because of industrial action that was taking place at the time, disrupting production, so that a lot of improvisation went into the making of this story, but I really like the end result. It looks great - would that they could have all been filmed on location rather than videotaped on wobbly sets!
Hey, the Brigadier finally made it into colour! He's very dashing still. I seem to recall the commentary for his last appearance, The Invasion, remarking on the fake moustache he was wearing. Is this one fake as well? Maybe I should listen to the commentary and find out.
I really love the first scene with the Brigadier and Liz Shaw. I love the concept of Liz - I love that UNIT want a top scientist to help with their investigation and that the most qualified candidate for the job is a woman, expert in a dozen or more subjects. I love her feisty, efficient character. I love how furious she is at having been requisitioned from her research programme at Cambridge and required to travel to UNIT on a top secret mission, like it or not. I love how coolly the Brigadier handles her and how calmly he talks about alien invasions as fact. And I love that you can see the exact moment he hooks her with his talk of impossible meteorites, even though she still isn't about to admit it, not yet.
Okay, so we weren't shown the Doctor's new appearance at the end of the last story, The War Games, since the Third Doctor hadn't been cast yet. The first episode of this story goes to great lengths to avoid showing us his new face for as long as possible - but I have no idea why, since it was right there in the title sequence! The mystery is already over!
I like that as soon as the Brigadier hears that an unconscious man has been found lying alongside a police box in the middle of the wood where a bunch of strange meteorites have fallen, he immediately suspects it may be the Doctor. It transpires that the arrival of the Doctor and the meteorites in much the same place at much the same time is a total coincidence, but it was still a good guess! The Brigadier already knows the Doctor very well.
The director did a really good job with this story. There are loads of really nifty, artistic shots. I especially like the one where the Auton Channing can be seen through a frosted glass window just behind the Brigadier's shoulder - it's very nicely done.
This story is where it is first established that the Doctor has two hearts. I'm pretty sure he has had medical examinations previously without anyone spotting that fact, but it certainly generates consternation in the little cottage hospital he's been taken to here! His alien blood only adds to the bewilderment, and as for his ability to slow his respiration and pulse to almost nothing while in a healing coma...
I like Doctor Henderson, who is the very confused medic assigned to look after the Doctor. He's very dedicated to his job and absolutely does not deserve to be clocked over the head so that his patient can be abducted. I'm glad he was only stunned and not killed.
The hospital porter who leaks information to the press about the non-human patient is a sub-plot that doesn't really go anywhere, but it does add a bit of interest and diversity to the story for as long as it lasts. It's so very human for the press to be all over a weird story about unexplained military interest in a meteorite shower and a possible non-human who may or may not be connected. Plus, the crowd of journalists not only gives us (and Liz) insight into another aspect of the Brigadier's job, it also provides cover for the very creepy Auton Channing to lurk around, gathering intel.
In one of the scenes in the hospital foyer, there's a woman in the background who is the spitting image of Susan Boyle. Seriously.
I haven't seen the immediate post-regeneration story for every Doctor, but Four and Five certainly spent a lot of time unconscious afterward, so Three is in good company with his prolonged pseudo-coma here.
Regional accents on Doctor Who! We didn't hear many of those in the '60s, but we've hit the '70s now, so things are starting to change slightly.
Okay, so the Doctor escaping from his would-be abductors in a wheelchair with his mouth taped up is a bit slapstick. It does drive home the point, though, that even in his weakened post-regenerative state, he is still a force to be reckoned with.
The Brigadier is disappointed when he first sees the Doctor and doesn't recognise him, having been so sure from the description that it was him. It doesn't take much to convince him that it is the same man with a different appearance, though. I suppose he's seen so many crazy things by now that he's learned to keep an open mind! His understanding of aliens as absolute fact and willingness to therefore believe that just about anything is possible makes an interesting contrast to Liz's scientific scepticism. There's a very X-Files dynamic between them, in fact - and more than a little sexual tension, too! The actors have great chemistry. I wonder if the Brigadier is already married by this point. He certainly is in later stories: Doris, I believe.
Last time the Brigadier met the Doctor, he had Jamie and Zoe with him - in fact, Jamie was with the Doctor for both of his previous encounters with the Brigadier. Yet the Brig doesn't ask where the Doctor's companions are now, just takes it for granted that they are no longer with him.
Oh, I like the transition from Munro telling the Brigadier that there was something odd about the faces of the men who tried to abduct the Doctor to a scene of plastic dolls being mass produced - it's a clue! Very well done.
I like Ransome. He's so enthusiastic about his work (designing dolls!) and pro-active enough to investigate when he suspects foul play, and his reaction upon being attacked by a bunch of Autons is absolutely how any sane and rational person would react (gibbering hysterically with shock) but he recovers quickly and manages to pass on useful information to UNIT. I'm sad that he dies.
I like that even though Liz has accepted her enforced role with UNIT and is intrigued enough as a scientist to give the investigation her full attention, she still isn't about to let the Brigadier off the hook for dragging her here without her consent in the first place. She resents being requisitioned, and rightly so!
Ha, I like that the consultant called in to take a look at the Doctor describes the UNIT men as 'toy soldiers'.
Jon Pertwee has a tattoo on his arm, which we get a good look at when he takes a shower. None of the other Doctors have this tattoo. I believe fans of the variety that require explanations internal to the storyline for such things have rationalised it as a Time Lord criminal brand!
When an Auton forces one of the UNIT soldiers off the road and he crashes his jeep into a tree, there is actual blood on the windscreen! Okay, so it is very obviously fake blood, but still - blood in Doctor Who! We don't see that often. Even when the Doctor got shot in the head earlier, there wasn't any blood. The show doesn't usually allow gore.
I love that Liz is so charmed by the Doctor almost the moment she meets him, especially since he almost immediately starts talking science with her, so that they bond on an intellectual level. Three is a very charming personality all round, really - he's very suave, very dapper, and he has a very soothing voice, in spite of the slight lisp.
Heh, I do enjoy the way the Doctor dismisses UNIT's top of the range laboratory as primitive - and how Liz instantly leaps to its defence!
Ooh, the Doctor is very sneaky, persuading Liz to get the Tardis key off the Brigadier for him under the guise of needing some equipment from the Tardis, when really he just wants to run away. It doesn't seem very in character for him to want to leave when there's a mystery afoot, but at this stage no one knows about the Autons, they are simply investigating unusual meteorites, and he is still struggling to come to terms with the terms of the exile the Time Lords have imposed upon him: imprisonment on this planet at this time, unable to roam. No wonder he is so desperate to at least try to get away, to put the effectiveness of his imprisonment to the test. But it doesn't work - the Time Lords have changed the dematerialisation codes so that the Tardis can't take off. He really is trapped on Earth in 1970. Just as well he's found a friendly face to latch on to and a place he can be useful, then!
The Doctor tells us that the Tardis lock has a metabolism detector, which is why it wouldn't open for the Brigadier even though he had the key. He's upgraded the security system since Susan told us about it back in The Daleks, then. In modern times, he hands out Tardis keys to companions left, right and centre, so presumably there's a different security system again by then!
Okay, so when Meg Seeley starts investigating the old trunk her poacher of a husband has hidden a meteorite in and an Auton instantly homes in on her and the dog starts barking frantically but she pays it no heed, I get very tense and nervous - and then when the dog yelps and goes quiet, it is very upsetting! I don't care if the Auton kills the old lady or not, she's a bit of a shrew, but I'm very upset about it killing a dog!
I like, though, that Meg's immediate reaction upon discovering an intruder in her house is to reach for a shotgun. Girl power! Shame guns don't work on Autons.
I do like the scenes of the Doctor and Liz working together in the laboratory. They've struck up such a good professional rapport already - it's such a different dynamic when the Doctor has a companion who can talk science with him and can keep up with his intellect. Liz makes up for losing Zoe, in that regard.
Why on earth would Madame Tussaud's have an exhibit dedicated to senior civil servants? What a bizarre plot contrivance!
I like the scene where the Doctor and Liz have been working in the lab all night and Liz can barely keep her eyes open, but the Doctor is still fresh as a daisy - another good little reminder that he isn't human. Plus it's interesting to hear Liz, who has sounded so very posh up till now, saying "I can hardly keep me eyes open," Me, instead of my - she's so tired, her grammar is slipping, and with it her veneer of poshness!
Ooooh, such an iconic moment when shop dummies suddenly start coming to life, smashing windows and shooting people! Awesome. I especially like that they are lurching around with price tags hanging off them, still - that's a nice touch. That scene was replicated for the first episode of the re-boot, but I think the original did it best.
Aww, what a tiny little military convoy our heroes take to storm the plastics factory and prevent the Autons taking over the world. It's probably just as well that backup arrives, even if it is led by an Auton - it's a good opportunity for the Doctor and Liz to demonstrate that their lashed-up anti-Auton machine actually does work. Plus it gives us that hilarious little cutaway scene of the real General Scobie suddenly coming out of his frozen state at Madame Tussauds and scaring the visitors half to death!
UNIT soldiers never learn. They just shoot at anything hostile, whether bullets have any effect or not, and they keep shooting even when it is proved entirely futile.
I'm not sure I can accept Channing's claim that the creature he's been growing is perfectly adapted for survival and conquest on Earth. It resembles nothing so much as a giant octopus and I'm fairly certain something like that would find planetary conquest rather hard to achieve. I mean, it doesn't even have opposable thumbs! And it looks absolutely ridiculous when it tries to throttle the Doctor. Definitely a dud. It's just as well Liz manages to put it out of its misery by fixing the anti-Auton device and zapping it.
Oh, nicely open-ended ending, setting up the possibility of future Auton attacks.
The Doctor has been driving around in a stolen car for much of this adventure. It amuses me that one of the conditions he lays down for his continued affiliation with UNIT is a car of his own just like it! He has been content to help out in the past just because it was the right thing to do, but now that he is stranded on Earth with nothing but the stolen clothes he stands up in, things are different - and so a mutually beneficial arrangement is struck. And I like that he makes Liz part of the deal - and that by now she has started to enjoy herself, so doesn't protest even a little. And when called on to give his name for the paperwork, the Doctor offers a pseudonym he has used before, John Smith. The new era of Doctor Who has begun!
Quotable Quotes
LIZ: "Was all that nonsense out there really necessary? Identity passes? Guards? I was even searched."
BRIGADIER: "Security. Rather amusing, don't you think...? No, you don't."
BRIGADIER: "We're not exactly spies here at UNIT."
LIZ: "Then what do you do, exactly?"
BRIGADIER: "We deal with the odd, the unexplained, anything on Earth, or even beyond."
BRIGADIER: "Since UNIT was formed, there've been two attempts to invade this planet."
LIZ: "Really?"
BRIGADIER: "We were lucky enough to be able to stop them. There was a policy decision not to inform the public."
LIZ: "Do you seriously expect me to believe that?"
BRIGADIER: "It's not my habit to tell lies, Miss Shaw."
LIZ: "Why is Earth any more likely to be attacked now than during the last fifty thousand years?"
BRIGADIER: "In the last decade, we've been sending probes deeper and deeper into space. We've drawn attention to ourselves, Miss Shaw."
HENDERSON: "Doctor Lomax, I took that blood sample from an adult male patient. Now you tell me it's not human blood. I don't know if that makes me a doctor or a vet, but it's still my job to look after him."
BRIGADIER: "Still sceptical?"
LIZ: "Of course. I deal with facts, not science fiction ideas."
BRIGADIER: "Miss Shaw, I'm not a fool. I don't chase shadows. What you don't understand is that there might...there is a remote possibility that outside your cosy little world other things could exist."
LIZ: "No need to get tetchy."
BRIGADIER: "Well, sometimes you can be very aggravating."
DOCTOR: "My dear Brigadier, it's no earthly good asking me a lot of questions. I've lost my memory, you see?"
BRIGADIER: "How do I know that you're not an imposter?"
DOCTOR: "Ah, but you don't, you don't. Only I know that. What do you think of my new face, by the way? I wasn't too sure about it myself to begin with. But it sort of grows on you. Very flexible, you know. Could be useful on the planet Delphon, where they communicate with their eyebrows. Well, that's strange. How on Earth did I remember that?"
LIZ: "Doctor, you tricked me."
DOCTOR: "Yes. The temptation was too strong, my dear. It's just that I couldn't bear the thought of being tied to one planet and one time. I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
DOCTOR: "Money? My dear chap, I don't want money. I've got no use for the stuff."
The Verdict
Overall, the Third Doctor's first outing is a really strong, entertaining adventure, with a coherent plot that rattles along at a good pace. The new Doctor is on sparkling form, the Brigadier is on form, and Liz Shaw is brilliant. Great stuff!
DOCTOR: "Practically everything, my dear."
Overview
I have rather a mixed history with this one. When I first began to re-visit Classic Who after a gap of many years, this was one of the first stories I watched and I struggled with it, finding it slow and dry compared with what I'd become more accustomed to. But once I'd got properly into the swing of the classic show, I gave it another go - and absolutely loved it! With Classic Who you really do have to tune your brain into the right wavelength in order to appreciate it properly, and it does take patience and perseverance to get there, but it really is worth the effort.
This story marks the dawn of a completely new era for the show. Well, there's a brand new Doctor, for a start, and that's always the signal for a new era, but especially so in this case because the Doctor has been exiled to Earth by the Time Lords and thus is facing an indefinite future tied to a single place at a single time, which for such a habitual wanderer is a form of torture, however fond he is of that place and time. It is also a new era in that the Doctor's companions do not experience the regeneration with him, Jamie and Zoe having been returned to their homes by the Time Lords at the end of the previous adventure, War Games, which means that neither the Doctor nor viewers have the familiarity of existing companions to ease them through the transition but must start completely afresh. Cleverly, the show's producers eased past this issue by reintroducing a previously recurring character in the form of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, head of UNIT, as a new series regular, providing both a familiar face for the Doctor and viewers to latch on to and a base and premise for the Doctor's Earth-bound adventures. The story also introduces the concept of the Doctor having an assigned assistant to work with him, rather than a companion or group of companions who travel with him - for the Third Doctor's first series, that assistant is scientist Liz Shaw, who is fantastic. Between them, the Brigadier and Liz have to carry an awful lot of this story, with the Doctor largely out of commission for the first couple of episodes, and they carry it well. And last but not least, this is the first ever Doctor Who adventure to be filmed in colour - truly the sign of a new era for the show!
Observations
Random thoughts while watching:
I'm not so good with spotting technical details, but even I can see that this story is recorded on film rather than videotape and entirely on location, with no scenes at all taking place on set. It worked out that way because of industrial action that was taking place at the time, disrupting production, so that a lot of improvisation went into the making of this story, but I really like the end result. It looks great - would that they could have all been filmed on location rather than videotaped on wobbly sets!
Hey, the Brigadier finally made it into colour! He's very dashing still. I seem to recall the commentary for his last appearance, The Invasion, remarking on the fake moustache he was wearing. Is this one fake as well? Maybe I should listen to the commentary and find out.
I really love the first scene with the Brigadier and Liz Shaw. I love the concept of Liz - I love that UNIT want a top scientist to help with their investigation and that the most qualified candidate for the job is a woman, expert in a dozen or more subjects. I love her feisty, efficient character. I love how furious she is at having been requisitioned from her research programme at Cambridge and required to travel to UNIT on a top secret mission, like it or not. I love how coolly the Brigadier handles her and how calmly he talks about alien invasions as fact. And I love that you can see the exact moment he hooks her with his talk of impossible meteorites, even though she still isn't about to admit it, not yet.
Okay, so we weren't shown the Doctor's new appearance at the end of the last story, The War Games, since the Third Doctor hadn't been cast yet. The first episode of this story goes to great lengths to avoid showing us his new face for as long as possible - but I have no idea why, since it was right there in the title sequence! The mystery is already over!
I like that as soon as the Brigadier hears that an unconscious man has been found lying alongside a police box in the middle of the wood where a bunch of strange meteorites have fallen, he immediately suspects it may be the Doctor. It transpires that the arrival of the Doctor and the meteorites in much the same place at much the same time is a total coincidence, but it was still a good guess! The Brigadier already knows the Doctor very well.
The director did a really good job with this story. There are loads of really nifty, artistic shots. I especially like the one where the Auton Channing can be seen through a frosted glass window just behind the Brigadier's shoulder - it's very nicely done.
This story is where it is first established that the Doctor has two hearts. I'm pretty sure he has had medical examinations previously without anyone spotting that fact, but it certainly generates consternation in the little cottage hospital he's been taken to here! His alien blood only adds to the bewilderment, and as for his ability to slow his respiration and pulse to almost nothing while in a healing coma...
I like Doctor Henderson, who is the very confused medic assigned to look after the Doctor. He's very dedicated to his job and absolutely does not deserve to be clocked over the head so that his patient can be abducted. I'm glad he was only stunned and not killed.
The hospital porter who leaks information to the press about the non-human patient is a sub-plot that doesn't really go anywhere, but it does add a bit of interest and diversity to the story for as long as it lasts. It's so very human for the press to be all over a weird story about unexplained military interest in a meteorite shower and a possible non-human who may or may not be connected. Plus, the crowd of journalists not only gives us (and Liz) insight into another aspect of the Brigadier's job, it also provides cover for the very creepy Auton Channing to lurk around, gathering intel.
In one of the scenes in the hospital foyer, there's a woman in the background who is the spitting image of Susan Boyle. Seriously.
I haven't seen the immediate post-regeneration story for every Doctor, but Four and Five certainly spent a lot of time unconscious afterward, so Three is in good company with his prolonged pseudo-coma here.
Regional accents on Doctor Who! We didn't hear many of those in the '60s, but we've hit the '70s now, so things are starting to change slightly.
Okay, so the Doctor escaping from his would-be abductors in a wheelchair with his mouth taped up is a bit slapstick. It does drive home the point, though, that even in his weakened post-regenerative state, he is still a force to be reckoned with.
The Brigadier is disappointed when he first sees the Doctor and doesn't recognise him, having been so sure from the description that it was him. It doesn't take much to convince him that it is the same man with a different appearance, though. I suppose he's seen so many crazy things by now that he's learned to keep an open mind! His understanding of aliens as absolute fact and willingness to therefore believe that just about anything is possible makes an interesting contrast to Liz's scientific scepticism. There's a very X-Files dynamic between them, in fact - and more than a little sexual tension, too! The actors have great chemistry. I wonder if the Brigadier is already married by this point. He certainly is in later stories: Doris, I believe.
Last time the Brigadier met the Doctor, he had Jamie and Zoe with him - in fact, Jamie was with the Doctor for both of his previous encounters with the Brigadier. Yet the Brig doesn't ask where the Doctor's companions are now, just takes it for granted that they are no longer with him.
Oh, I like the transition from Munro telling the Brigadier that there was something odd about the faces of the men who tried to abduct the Doctor to a scene of plastic dolls being mass produced - it's a clue! Very well done.
I like Ransome. He's so enthusiastic about his work (designing dolls!) and pro-active enough to investigate when he suspects foul play, and his reaction upon being attacked by a bunch of Autons is absolutely how any sane and rational person would react (gibbering hysterically with shock) but he recovers quickly and manages to pass on useful information to UNIT. I'm sad that he dies.
I like that even though Liz has accepted her enforced role with UNIT and is intrigued enough as a scientist to give the investigation her full attention, she still isn't about to let the Brigadier off the hook for dragging her here without her consent in the first place. She resents being requisitioned, and rightly so!
Ha, I like that the consultant called in to take a look at the Doctor describes the UNIT men as 'toy soldiers'.
Jon Pertwee has a tattoo on his arm, which we get a good look at when he takes a shower. None of the other Doctors have this tattoo. I believe fans of the variety that require explanations internal to the storyline for such things have rationalised it as a Time Lord criminal brand!
When an Auton forces one of the UNIT soldiers off the road and he crashes his jeep into a tree, there is actual blood on the windscreen! Okay, so it is very obviously fake blood, but still - blood in Doctor Who! We don't see that often. Even when the Doctor got shot in the head earlier, there wasn't any blood. The show doesn't usually allow gore.
I love that Liz is so charmed by the Doctor almost the moment she meets him, especially since he almost immediately starts talking science with her, so that they bond on an intellectual level. Three is a very charming personality all round, really - he's very suave, very dapper, and he has a very soothing voice, in spite of the slight lisp.
Heh, I do enjoy the way the Doctor dismisses UNIT's top of the range laboratory as primitive - and how Liz instantly leaps to its defence!
Ooh, the Doctor is very sneaky, persuading Liz to get the Tardis key off the Brigadier for him under the guise of needing some equipment from the Tardis, when really he just wants to run away. It doesn't seem very in character for him to want to leave when there's a mystery afoot, but at this stage no one knows about the Autons, they are simply investigating unusual meteorites, and he is still struggling to come to terms with the terms of the exile the Time Lords have imposed upon him: imprisonment on this planet at this time, unable to roam. No wonder he is so desperate to at least try to get away, to put the effectiveness of his imprisonment to the test. But it doesn't work - the Time Lords have changed the dematerialisation codes so that the Tardis can't take off. He really is trapped on Earth in 1970. Just as well he's found a friendly face to latch on to and a place he can be useful, then!
The Doctor tells us that the Tardis lock has a metabolism detector, which is why it wouldn't open for the Brigadier even though he had the key. He's upgraded the security system since Susan told us about it back in The Daleks, then. In modern times, he hands out Tardis keys to companions left, right and centre, so presumably there's a different security system again by then!
Okay, so when Meg Seeley starts investigating the old trunk her poacher of a husband has hidden a meteorite in and an Auton instantly homes in on her and the dog starts barking frantically but she pays it no heed, I get very tense and nervous - and then when the dog yelps and goes quiet, it is very upsetting! I don't care if the Auton kills the old lady or not, she's a bit of a shrew, but I'm very upset about it killing a dog!
I like, though, that Meg's immediate reaction upon discovering an intruder in her house is to reach for a shotgun. Girl power! Shame guns don't work on Autons.
I do like the scenes of the Doctor and Liz working together in the laboratory. They've struck up such a good professional rapport already - it's such a different dynamic when the Doctor has a companion who can talk science with him and can keep up with his intellect. Liz makes up for losing Zoe, in that regard.
Why on earth would Madame Tussaud's have an exhibit dedicated to senior civil servants? What a bizarre plot contrivance!
I like the scene where the Doctor and Liz have been working in the lab all night and Liz can barely keep her eyes open, but the Doctor is still fresh as a daisy - another good little reminder that he isn't human. Plus it's interesting to hear Liz, who has sounded so very posh up till now, saying "I can hardly keep me eyes open," Me, instead of my - she's so tired, her grammar is slipping, and with it her veneer of poshness!
Ooooh, such an iconic moment when shop dummies suddenly start coming to life, smashing windows and shooting people! Awesome. I especially like that they are lurching around with price tags hanging off them, still - that's a nice touch. That scene was replicated for the first episode of the re-boot, but I think the original did it best.
Aww, what a tiny little military convoy our heroes take to storm the plastics factory and prevent the Autons taking over the world. It's probably just as well that backup arrives, even if it is led by an Auton - it's a good opportunity for the Doctor and Liz to demonstrate that their lashed-up anti-Auton machine actually does work. Plus it gives us that hilarious little cutaway scene of the real General Scobie suddenly coming out of his frozen state at Madame Tussauds and scaring the visitors half to death!
UNIT soldiers never learn. They just shoot at anything hostile, whether bullets have any effect or not, and they keep shooting even when it is proved entirely futile.
I'm not sure I can accept Channing's claim that the creature he's been growing is perfectly adapted for survival and conquest on Earth. It resembles nothing so much as a giant octopus and I'm fairly certain something like that would find planetary conquest rather hard to achieve. I mean, it doesn't even have opposable thumbs! And it looks absolutely ridiculous when it tries to throttle the Doctor. Definitely a dud. It's just as well Liz manages to put it out of its misery by fixing the anti-Auton device and zapping it.
Oh, nicely open-ended ending, setting up the possibility of future Auton attacks.
The Doctor has been driving around in a stolen car for much of this adventure. It amuses me that one of the conditions he lays down for his continued affiliation with UNIT is a car of his own just like it! He has been content to help out in the past just because it was the right thing to do, but now that he is stranded on Earth with nothing but the stolen clothes he stands up in, things are different - and so a mutually beneficial arrangement is struck. And I like that he makes Liz part of the deal - and that by now she has started to enjoy herself, so doesn't protest even a little. And when called on to give his name for the paperwork, the Doctor offers a pseudonym he has used before, John Smith. The new era of Doctor Who has begun!
Quotable Quotes
LIZ: "Was all that nonsense out there really necessary? Identity passes? Guards? I was even searched."
BRIGADIER: "Security. Rather amusing, don't you think...? No, you don't."
BRIGADIER: "We're not exactly spies here at UNIT."
LIZ: "Then what do you do, exactly?"
BRIGADIER: "We deal with the odd, the unexplained, anything on Earth, or even beyond."
BRIGADIER: "Since UNIT was formed, there've been two attempts to invade this planet."
LIZ: "Really?"
BRIGADIER: "We were lucky enough to be able to stop them. There was a policy decision not to inform the public."
LIZ: "Do you seriously expect me to believe that?"
BRIGADIER: "It's not my habit to tell lies, Miss Shaw."
LIZ: "Why is Earth any more likely to be attacked now than during the last fifty thousand years?"
BRIGADIER: "In the last decade, we've been sending probes deeper and deeper into space. We've drawn attention to ourselves, Miss Shaw."
HENDERSON: "Doctor Lomax, I took that blood sample from an adult male patient. Now you tell me it's not human blood. I don't know if that makes me a doctor or a vet, but it's still my job to look after him."
BRIGADIER: "Still sceptical?"
LIZ: "Of course. I deal with facts, not science fiction ideas."
BRIGADIER: "Miss Shaw, I'm not a fool. I don't chase shadows. What you don't understand is that there might...there is a remote possibility that outside your cosy little world other things could exist."
LIZ: "No need to get tetchy."
BRIGADIER: "Well, sometimes you can be very aggravating."
DOCTOR: "My dear Brigadier, it's no earthly good asking me a lot of questions. I've lost my memory, you see?"
BRIGADIER: "How do I know that you're not an imposter?"
DOCTOR: "Ah, but you don't, you don't. Only I know that. What do you think of my new face, by the way? I wasn't too sure about it myself to begin with. But it sort of grows on you. Very flexible, you know. Could be useful on the planet Delphon, where they communicate with their eyebrows. Well, that's strange. How on Earth did I remember that?"
LIZ: "Doctor, you tricked me."
DOCTOR: "Yes. The temptation was too strong, my dear. It's just that I couldn't bear the thought of being tied to one planet and one time. I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
DOCTOR: "Money? My dear chap, I don't want money. I've got no use for the stuff."
The Verdict
Overall, the Third Doctor's first outing is a really strong, entertaining adventure, with a coherent plot that rattles along at a good pace. The new Doctor is on sparkling form, the Brigadier is on form, and Liz Shaw is brilliant. Great stuff!