Why Spearhead from Space is the Most Important Doctor Who Story (Classic review)

Midnight Chimes review of Classic Doctor Who Spearhead from Space, from season 7 starring Jon Pertwee as the 3rd Doctor, a serial mostly known for the scary Autons. But besides introducing the Nestenes, the historical significance of Spearhead from Space and how it changed the show is often overlooked.
#DoctorWho #SpearheadfromSpace #Review
4/5
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[@theevildalek5425]

Had it been any other story, I think it would have been cancelled like Shada. It’s not only the first story of Season 7, it’s not only the first story of colour, it’s not only the first story of a new era, it’s the first story for the 3rd Doctor. This was just could not be skipped so the BBC just had to bite the bullet and let the production team record the story on film and on location, much I bet to their annoyance

[@MidnightChimey]

It's a good thing that they did

[@DemetriusSorvo]

Strikes regularly affected Doctor Who. Shada is the only time it led to a story being cancelled. Generally the producers could navigate around it.

[@goannaj3243]

1st episode I ever saw, and if asked to pick a favourite, this is it.

[@MidnightChimey]

Good choice

[@blakesliberator3197]

Jon Pertwee was the Doctor I grew up with most of all, having only fleeting memories of Patrick Troughton.

[@MidnightChimey]

Great Doctor to have as your first

[@andyman8630]

i grew up as Jon regenerated into Tom

[@zacmumblethunder7466]

I'd say the first "I am the Doctor" moment was when the first Doctor threatened to cause the Sensorites more trouble than they bargained for.

[@MidnightChimey]

Don't think I've seen that I'll have to give it a look

[@RCassinello]

Good moment. There's also the War Machine stare down. That's *very* Modern Who. But Hartnell was first - every way. :)

[@TheWatcherOnWho]

An important story in many ways both in front and behind the camera. I find it simplistic in a positive way to usher in Jon Pertwee but also to draw the audience. Also at his 3rd attempt I feel this is the story were Robert Holmes found his niche in writing for Doctor Who and sets the tone for the rest of his writings.

[@MidnightChimey]

It's the first of the great Holmes scripts for sure

[@tortysoft]

Those Autons broke out of the window of John Saunders in Ealing Broadway - on my way to school... every day I checked that window for movement ! I knew all the shops, I even recognised cracks in the pavement. Spooky stuff. I was saved from mental breakdown by the fact my Dad worked on the show - and many years later, so did I.

[@tortysoft]

By the way, I thought Pertwee took far too long to wake up. I was deeply dissatisfied , and then that window moment !

[@MidnightChimey]

@@tortysoft I can imagine that must have been pretty scary if you actually recognise the location

[@seanryan3020]

I had an English friend with whom I shared an appreciation for Doctor Who. After the first season of New Who, we were comparing it to the classic eras. When he mentioned that he had actually seen the Patrick Troughton era during its first run, I asked him how the show managed to survive the PT era. His answer: "Because everything else on British TV at the time was even worse!" 😆

[@MidnightChimey]

Well that probably helped then haha

[@chucklemeister1529]

To me the Autons were scarier in this episode than in Terror of the Autons, the heads on the Autons in Terror were to abnormal looking. The mannequin heads used in Spearhead gave them a more normal yet terrifying look.

[@eddherring4972]

Agree completely, the Spearhead Autons are the best look including Nu Who

[@MidnightChimey]

The designs definitely hit that uncanny note in this story that makes them all the more scary

[@FordZaphod23]

Dr Who is one of my favourite TV series of all time. The heyday for me was the Pertwee & Baker era (I also enjoyed Tennant in the role too). This is the first one I remember watching, at the age of four - I didn't even get to watch in colour as we had B/W TV in those days, but it got me hooked. Funny thing was, I had several different nightmares about the autons afterwards, but it didn't stop me watching the series. I think the fact that the action took place in ordinary locations - made it all the more scary at the time.

[@johnlarro6872]

I was going to argue that Power of the Daleks was the most important... because if that story failed - no more WHO. Of course - this had just has much riding on its success. At least when Troughton took over, WHO was riding high. As you noted, the show was dwindling to some degree and could have easily had the plug pulled. Instead, we got 5 years of Bond. Doctor Bond.

[@MidnightChimey]

Yeah Power of the Daleks was really important too, but this was the first time we got a full on reinvention of the show, and with falling ratings it really needed to pay off

[@gerardmorvan2232]

Can't help thinking that that episode copied "Quatermass II" rather closely.

[@MidnightChimey]

I haven't seen that story but I know Quatermass was a big influence on the format of this era

[@MichaelJones-ni5pb]

The Doctor was able to find UNIT because they wore a tracking device that led them to the TARDIS because it was being held there.

[@MidnightChimey]

Yeah I remember that was the explanation but as I recall it's not made clear at first

[@RCassinello]

You're spot on about the ending being rubbish - when I first saw this at the age of 12, I had no idea it was only 4 episodes long (that was rare for the time!), so when everything started going wrong, the octopus flopped its ten tickles out, and the Doctor started gurning - all the while with half the plot still unresolved - I just figured "Oh, here we go for another cliff-hanger - they're about to spin this out for another episode!" ...And then it was all smiles at the secret UNIT car park and all done less than 2 minutes later. Plastic Scobie was dead, but all the other dummies were free to live their own lives in pollution rich earth! :)

[@MidnightChimey]

I think the intended implication was that when the Nestene died all of the Autons died with it, but it might have been good if we'd actually got to see that happen

[@TheTimeProphet]

Doctor Who ended in 1989. I am not sure what is on now, but it sure ain't Doctor Who.

[@MidnightChimey]

I got into Doctor Who through the revived series so I could never disown it myself, besides even with classic Who, it was many different things, it never stuck purely to one genre or tone. That said I can be a bit of classic series purist sometimes

[@bobdallas4860]

Great video, but I disagree with the first ever "I am the Doctor" moment. I still think that was, funnily enough, in The War Machines, the first alien invading story, where the 1st Doctor slowly moves towards the robot whilst the troops retreat behind him and even though no words were spoken then too it really gets 1st Doctor's arc to a climax, he became the Doctor then and there after starting off as an unpolished diamond in "An Unearthly Child".

[@MidnightChimey]

That is a pretty decent candidate to be honest! Definitely an iconic moment

[@ponchoman49]

Always loved Spearhead from Space. Season 7 had a unique feel to the Pertwee era and stands tall on its own merit. The very first story of series 7 was a great intro and so vastly different to what came right before. Gone was black and white, the second Doctor and his tramp like character along with companions Jamie and Joe and the space adventures. In was color, a new Doctor and a much more technical and scientific character in the form of Liz Shaw, earth bound stories and a more grown up feel overall. The show regenerated both its main character and itself in one fell swoop. Great stuff

[@MidnightChimey]

Not to the mention the TARDIS, previously central to show's premise, was effectively written out. It's hard to overstate how much of a change all of this was

[@andrewallen7962]

I would argue that 'The War Machines' might be the most pivotal. It's the first story whose format really feels like the 'Doctor Who' we know and recognize now. I vividly recall being kind-of bored by many of the meandering plotlines of the Hartnell era, but this one leapt off the screen for me, as it was the first time I felt I was watching something with some familiar story momentum. That one echoed all the way through to the end of the McCoy era.

[@MidnightChimey]

That's a fair call. It's weird to think that present day earth invasion stories are such a staple of Doctor Who and a core part of the show now, yet it was unprecedented back in 1966

[@professornuke7562]

And he shows up, gets nude in a shower, and shows us his tattoos in a beautifully over engineered shower. I remember seeing back when I was in the 70's and I loved it. I was already in the late 70's Tom Baker era (because that was brand new, but we got a lot of reruns of DW and The Goodies every night on ABC) when I saw it first in about 1981. "The Doctor has tatts!"

[@MidnightChimey]

Indeed it is officially canon that Time Lords can regenerate with tattoos

[@professornuke7562]

@@MidnightChimey I'm a '68 model myself, and I have a lot of ink in my skin. Being a Gen X type is supposed to mean Tom Baker is your Doctor by definition. And it is true, BUT I also LOVED Pertwee in the reruns. And.....here's the kicker........I saw some of Troughton on the first Oz Screening. My cousins were a little older, and I remember Mo from The Stooges with a recorder and a green feller called an Ice Warrior on Mars or somewhere. My Mum said I'd have nightmares, and she was right, but it was never anything from Dr Who. It was invisible poltergeists, and kids from school.

[@MidnightChimey]

@@professornuke7562 oh cool, it's always good to meet fans who've been around that long

[@bukster1]

Spearhead from Space was the first Doctor Who story where I was old enough and mentally organised enough to remember to watch the show. Before then I recall the odd episode but this is the first time I've seen the entire story. So I can remember episodes with Daleks etc in them but they are just fragments of stories.

[@MidnightChimey]

Great to see so many who were around back then and remember watching it

[@thaddeusr.3967]

The idea of something creepy and realistic intrigues me. Though execution is the key.

[@MidnightChimey]

Yeah the tone of season 7 is either to your taste or it isn't really

[@NauticaSea217]

What makes this episode so unique and important is the fact that not only is it the 1st time we see Doctor Who in 'actual' color film, the film itself is 35MM! They made the effort to film this episode with actual movie-quality film, which almost never happens in Doctor Who. Apparently they had an extra few pounds around and decided 'Let's film this episode with movie quality film!' So they notice it more! LOL

[@MidnightChimey]

Given the whole story is filmed on location it makes it even better

[@ShamrockParticle]

Great review, thanks! Pertwee's era is different, but it grew on me... That said, I always liked Spearhead. Saw it on PBS in the 80s. The tattoo always looked like a question mark, though HDTV has diluted that belief a bit with so much clarity. So it's a snake that, in long shots, is questionably a mark 😂 Modern Who isnt terrible, but even the writers of the 70s said there's only so much they can do with an Earth-baded formula and that stuck with me... Thankfully, the ratings improved, and I'll admit the Doctor loathing his exile helped almost as much as the Master in making more Earth invasions credible.

[@MidnightChimey]

I still kind of like the idea that the Doctor can just regenerate with a tattoo

[@mariareed5238]

This was the first dr who episode i ever watched. Were we lived they never showed the first two doctors.

[@MidnightChimey]

Was that later on or around when it first aired?

[@matthewbolitho-jones]

I like Spearhead from Space

[@JanetandGavin2024]

I watched this as a kid. For years after I was terrified of shop mannequins.

[@MidnightChimey]

I can imagine watching it as a kid would have that effect. Mannequins are pretty creepy anyway, which is probably what makes it so scary

[@JanetandGavin2024]

@Midnight Chimes I was 6 in 1970. I have a few disjointed memories of the Patrick Troughton episodes, but Dr Who really started for me with Jon Pertwee. I've been a Who fan ever since. I think this sums up the power of the writing that it's the first story line I can remember.

[@MidnightChimey]

That's really cool!

[@JanetandGavin2024]

@Midnight Chimes I grew up in Portsmouth. When I was about 7 my family went for a drive along the beach road. We got just in front of the Marine Barracks and the traffic slowed down. There were the old grey BBC film trucks sitting by the road. There was a Hovercraft sitting up on the beach, camera crew, extras in navy uniforms and Jon Pertwee walking around! They were filming the Sea Devils. I watched as they loaded up the hovercraft with the extras and it went out to sea before it landed further down the coast at Fraser Gunnery Range. That I will never forget.

[@MidnightChimey]

@@JanetandGavin2024 That's a pretty cool thing to be able to say you have witnessed

[@ronaldwhite1730]

thank - you . ( 2023 / July / 21 )

[@Joey15811]

Personally I think its over rated. Sure it's important but Its not a story I care to revisit outside of marthoms. Much prefer Terror of Autons amd the 7 parts this season.

[@MidnightChimey]

That's fair, I always feel like the Autons get overshadowed by the debut of the Master in that story

[@Joey15811]

@@MidnightChimey true. I just enjoy the story more. Personally most post regen stories are just average to me. Its only really Power of the Daleks, Xmas Invasion and Eleventh Hour I rate highly. I dont include Rose as 9 could have had adventures prior. And in terms of new Doctor I think Robot was the best but again the story was mid. Autons are probably the best era introduction villian. I don't think they'd work as anything other than a season opener.

[@briangressett902]

The cringy way Donna and Rose II spoke of male Time Lords was the way Time Ladies always talked to the Doctor in Doctor Who.

[@elliotttalksf1825]

I watched Spearhead a few weeks ago and loved it. It clearly inspired the comeback in 2005 in “Rose”.

[@MidnightChimey]

Glad that you enjoyed it!

[@unclenogbad1509]

Alien planets too expensive? But they all look like a sand quarry. You can film there pretty cheaply, even by BBC standards.

[@MidnightChimey]

That depends, someone in the industry would probably explain it better

[@STEVEBINNION1]

Try breathing

[@MidnightChimey]

I tend to edit out all my breaths when recording. It might just be a personal thing but I find them distracting and they disrupt the flow of my delivery

[@Kryojenix]

6:15 Rly? Changing the lead actor to someone dramatically different doesn't count as a re-invention??? I like the rest of your analysis.

[@MidnightChimey]

Thanks, it is a reinvention of the show, but not of the core premise. It's still ultimately about a bunch of travellers having adventures in space and time. Whereas by confining the Doctor to earth and turning Doctor Who essentially into a Quatermass style show it not only completely changes the premise but also the tone of the series

[@w33shy26]

Im wanna guess the background is in Crewe, just cause i can see some steam locomotive coaches in the background, but thats just me guessing, also great vid man

[@MidnightChimey]

Thanks, and yes it is Crewe!

[@ralphpeterson536]

Spaerhead from space. 3rd doctor the 9th doctor Rose story are the same theme so the 9th doctor is owed a new story because they promised all new stories

[@heathbaum]

What the gel is a AU-don??

[@MidnightChimey]

Huh?

[@Reprodestruxion]

Auton, some of us pronounce our t’s as d’s

[@ralphpeterson536]

Spaerhead from space. 3rd doctor the 9th doctor Rose story are the same theme so the 9th doctor is owed a new story because they promised all new stories