Who Review: Spearhead from Space

U.N.I.T. has been getting reports of meteors falling in the countryside. But, unlike regular meteors, these are not breaking up in Earth’s atmosphere, and they are falling in formation. Meanwhile, U.N.I.T. soldiers come across the body of a man lying in a field outside a blue police box. As the mystery of the meteors deepens, to the point that even his newly-hired Cambridge scientist, Liz Shaw, is baffled, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart longs for the Doctor’s help once again. Naturally, when the hospital staff examining the man from the field report an unusual cardiovascular system, and non-human blood, the Brigadier, filled with hope, rushes to see him. But while the man recognizes his old U.N.I.T. friend, Lethbridge-Stewart is disappointed to find he looks nothing like the Doctor. And time’s running out. Strange men in boiler suits have been seen around where the meteors fell. They seem impervious to bullets, and carry their own deadly weaponry. An alien plan is unfolding. But will the Doctor recover his senses in time to save the world from another invasion?

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen this serial. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

Doctor Who entered the Seventies with a bang. A brand new Doctor, a new companion, new monsters (the Autons and the Nestene Consciousness), and in color! Behind the scenes, Terrance Dicks had taken over fully as Script Editor, and the episode count for the season had been cut from 40-45 episodes a year to 25. The grueling schedule of the previous seasons had been one of the reasons Patrick Troughton wanted to leave. It no doubt took its toll on William Hartnell, too.

“Spearhead from Space” was written by Robert Holmes, who contributed “The Krotons” and “The Space Pirates” in the season before. Those first two efforts had merit (IMO, anyway), but they pale compared to the stories Holmes would write in the Seventies. Starting with “Spearhead,” it was this decade that would establish Holmes as one of, if not the, best Doctor Who writers the show has known. The story has good pacing, a solid, coherent plot, and believable characters, from the U.N.I.T. soldiers, to the poacher, Sam Seeley, to the sinister Channing.

The opening episode assumes the audience knows the Doctor has been forced to regenerate by the Time Lords, who also exiled him to Earth (see “The War Games”). The figure falling out of the TARDIS is wearing the Second Doctor’s clothes, but is clearly not the same person. (I find it amusing that the director takes great pains to conceal the Doctor’s face until the Brigadier arrives, as if it’s a big reveal. And yet the new opening titles features a large head-shot of Doctor number three!) There are some moments that suggest what’s happened. Liz Shaw gives the Doctor a mirror which he uses to examine his new face (rather like the way the Ninth Doctor checks out his reflection in a mirror in Rose’s flat). And later the Doctor tries to leave in the TARDIS, but can’t. He complains that they’ve changed the dematerialization codes, without mentioning the Time Lords explicitly. The Brigadier doesn’t ask what he means, so we are to assume the Doctor has filled him in on what happened. Is this too little information for someone new to the show? Or is this Holmes being clever, not bogging the plot down with backstory and names of unused characters (i.e., the Time Lords)? I’m not sure.

One plot point that gives me pause is where the Brig, the Doctor, Liz, and some U.N.I.T. soldiers first encounter an Auton. After a brief gun battle, the Auton is recalled with the excuse that they’re not ready for a full military encounter. In other words, they want to save an all-out battle until a later time, possibly when all the “meteors” have been collected. The fact is, that Auton could have taken out everyone there, including the Brig and the Doctor. Yes, that would have precipitated military action, but it would also have bought them time to finish their work and revive the Nestene Consciousness. With the Brig and the Doctor still alive, their plans are significantly hindered. So this feels to me a bit like an excuse not to kill off our main characters, but I suppose their reasoning is not without some plausibility.

This is another one of those stories that every Whovian should watch. Aside from the “firsts” I mentioned at the beginning of this review, “Spearhead” also establishes that the Doctor has two hearts. There’s even a mention of the sonic screwdriver, though we don’t actually see it. Arguably the most memorable moment of the whole show is when the Autons, posing as shop window dummies, come to life and walk the streets, shooting at people. The same scene was revisited in the first Ninth Doctor episode, “Rose,” where he encounters the Autons again. Excellent stuff! Definitely a must-see story.

A quick note on the DVD release. There are, in fact, three versions of “Spearhead from Space” floating around. There’s the original DVD release from 2002, which is pretty bare-bones. Then there’s the 2011 Special Edition, which has improved audio/video restoration, and a bunch of extras. And then there’s the Blu-Ray release. This is this only Classic Who story to receive a special Blu-Ray release, because, aside from the 1996 movie, it’s the only Who story shot entirely on 16mm film (a strike at the BBC prevented them using any studios, so it was all filmed on location). Unlike video, which has a limited quality range, film can be converted to modern High Definition digital standards. And the Blu-Ray of “Spearhead” does look spectacular. Worth the few extra $$.