On January 1st 1970, Jon Pertwee became the third actor to play the Doctor. He didn’t actually have a regeneration sequence as he hadn’t been cast when Patrick Troughton’s final story (The War Games) finished airing in June 1969. This was the first story to be filmed entirely outside and that is what gives Spearhead from Space its unique feel. It’s also the first Doctor Who on TV to be filmed in colour. All this was the most radical revamp the series had ever known at this point perhaps on par with the Steven Moffat/Matt Smith era. The story spends a long time building up our first proper glimpse of the third Doctor. For someone watching in 1970, this would have been a major build up but for me having watched other Pertwee stories before this its nothing special.
The story revolves around a recent spate of meteorite showers that have bombarded the Earth. But what seems like a natural (if slightly increased) occurrence. It turns out that it is in fact the Nestene’s arriving. However all we get to see for most of the story are shop dummies thus creating a generation of children terrified of dummies which appear in every clothes shop in the country. The scene where the Autons come crashing through the shop windows and killing everyone on the high street (which was used in the 2005 episode Rose) has become an favourite piece because it uses our fear of every day objects coming alive and killing us. It then a race to try and prevent the Autons from executing their plan.
There are problems with this story. The shot of the TARDIS landing and then the close up are so different in terms of quality that it’s painful to watch. The fact that they had to film entirely on location helps in terms of making the quality of the picture stay the same. The cliffhanger for episode 2 was a bit poor. Almost like it wasn’t expected and it felt abrupt. The Nestene Consciousness is also rather disappointing. Also when the Doctor wants the machine to come on and it doesn’t it takes an awful long time for Liz to realise it’s because a wire has come out. That was quite a weak reason for the delay in it not working. I know it was 1970 but they could have come up with a better reason.
These are minor quibbles with what is otherwise a good story. Its 21 minutes before we get the trademark of the Pertwee era. A chase sequence with the music helping to make this feel like a totally different Doctor Who. Jon Pertwee would become synonymous with this sort of sequence and that’s what makes his stand out from any other actor to play the role. Caroline John starts her four story stint in good form. She is the scientist who doesn’t believe anything about monsters and aliens but by the end she almost seems reformed. John and Pertwee’s relationship starts to blossom almost immediately and that is good to see. Nicholas Courtney puts in a good performance and shows why he has become such a fan favourite.
The final line is quite nice as it does that thing of saying ‘I’m the Doctor’ but gives it a human twist
Smith…Dr John Smith
The story revolves around a recent spate of meteorite showers that have bombarded the Earth. But what seems like a natural (if slightly increased) occurrence. It turns out that it is in fact the Nestene’s arriving. However all we get to see for most of the story are shop dummies thus creating a generation of children terrified of dummies which appear in every clothes shop in the country. The scene where the Autons come crashing through the shop windows and killing everyone on the high street (which was used in the 2005 episode Rose) has become an favourite piece because it uses our fear of every day objects coming alive and killing us. It then a race to try and prevent the Autons from executing their plan.
There are problems with this story. The shot of the TARDIS landing and then the close up are so different in terms of quality that it’s painful to watch. The fact that they had to film entirely on location helps in terms of making the quality of the picture stay the same. The cliffhanger for episode 2 was a bit poor. Almost like it wasn’t expected and it felt abrupt. The Nestene Consciousness is also rather disappointing. Also when the Doctor wants the machine to come on and it doesn’t it takes an awful long time for Liz to realise it’s because a wire has come out. That was quite a weak reason for the delay in it not working. I know it was 1970 but they could have come up with a better reason.
These are minor quibbles with what is otherwise a good story. Its 21 minutes before we get the trademark of the Pertwee era. A chase sequence with the music helping to make this feel like a totally different Doctor Who. Jon Pertwee would become synonymous with this sort of sequence and that’s what makes his stand out from any other actor to play the role. Caroline John starts her four story stint in good form. She is the scientist who doesn’t believe anything about monsters and aliens but by the end she almost seems reformed. John and Pertwee’s relationship starts to blossom almost immediately and that is good to see. Nicholas Courtney puts in a good performance and shows why he has become such a fan favourite.
The final line is quite nice as it does that thing of saying ‘I’m the Doctor’ but gives it a human twist
Smith…Dr John Smith
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