INTRODUCTION

We only got a DVD player in January 2003, so have only just began to buy our favourite films and TV programmes on DVD. As my husband and I love Doctor Who, as do our four children, it was inevitable that an early DVD purchase would include a Doctor Who release and here it is – Spearhead From Space.

This story is special to fans of the series as it is the first story shot in colour and the first adventure for Jon Pertwee - the third face of the loveable time traveller. It is special for me because it was being filmed when I was born (October 1969) and it is the story I was asked to write the detailed synopsis of, for inclusion in the Doctor Who Chronicles. Despite having therefore seen the whole story countless times, it remains one of my favourite stories.

STORY

Pertwee’s first story sees him facing the Autons in one of the scariest Doctor Who stories ever made. This one still stands up well to modern audiences and its horrific images are just as capable of dragging out gasps of shock from anyone watching it for the first time.

Spearhead From Space contains one of the most long-lasting images from Doctor Who, as a quiet London street (complete with red bus) is suddenly disturbed by shop window dummies coming to life and bursting through department store windows. (This was recently paid homage to by Sophie Ellis Bextor in her music video.)

The entire story is set on Earth and features UNIT and the wonderful Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney). The Doctor’s new companion is introduced too – the scientist Liz Shaw (Caroline John) who only lasted for one season, but plays an admirably strong female role.

The story is a thrilling adventure of murder, mystery and intrigue with the final pieces of the jigsaw only coming together in the final episode. With the chilling backdrops of a doll factory and Madame Tussaud’s, the tension builds right from the start and it really is edge-of-the-seat excitement.

PRESENTATION

The cover is standard, nothing exciting – a rather grainy close-up of an Auton with the cover following the usual pattern of the TARDIS roundels in silver.

Inside there is a leaflet detailing the contents of the DVD, the list of chapter points and some biographical details about Nicholas Courtney and Caroline John who provide the commentary.

QUALITY

After many months of studying the video of Spearhead From Space for the book, watching it on DVD was a revelation. The picture was so much clearer and the sound so much improved, I couldn’t fail to be impressed. The four episodes have been digitally remastered to eradicate the scratches and marks that were there and the soundtrack has been restored too. Even when it is being paused, the picture quality remains excellent.

EXTRAS

The extras on the DVD are reviewed in detail below, but they include a photo gallery, subtitles, trailers and a commentary.

UNIT RECRUITMENT FILM

This five-minute feature was made in 1993 and includes snippets of the seven incarnations of the Doctor, alongside various assorted foes – with the military presence of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce there to help and hinder the Doctor’s work.

This is edited nicely and with humour. It is also good to see a few clips of lesser seen stories, such as the Invasion, with its memorable scene of Cybermen marching in London. How often you would actually watch this is debatable, but I would definitely recommend you see it at least once.

TRAILERS

The trailers for the repeat of this story (during the brief season of re-runs in 1999) are included on the DVD and while not required viewing, they are certainly worth a couple of minutes of your time to watch them once or twice. There is also the trailer for the Doctor Who Night on TV, featuring various toys and making the most of the ‘behind the sofa’ cliché.

PHOTO GALLERY

I was impressed with the amount of photos here and how many of them were ones I have never seen before. There were some lovely behind-the-scenes candid shots of Jon Pertwee with the monsters and some very glamorous shots of Caroline John. If I am being picky though, I would have liked the photos to be shown larger, as there seemed to be a lot of wasted space around them. But overall, nicely done and worth a few flicks through.

SUBTITLES

This feature would have been so helpful for my book! You would be surprised how often I had to watch the same bit over and over again to pick up certain words and here are the subtitles, making everything as clear as you could wish for. Of course, these are optional, but a feature I use quite often and they are particularly useful while listening to the commentary as you can follow the story at the same time.

COMMENTARY

This is one of my favourite features – the commentary by Nicholas Courtney (the Brigadier) and Caroline John (Liz Shaw). This continues for the entire length of the four episodes and I found it very interesting, it certainly enhanced the story for me.

Nick and Carrie are good friends and their rapport is aptly demonstrated throughout the commentary. It is also obvious that Nick is extremely knowledgeable about the Brigadier and Doctor Who in general, while Carrie admits to having watched very little of the series. Then again, that is only to be expected as Carrie was only in the programme for a year, while Nick’s association with the programme began in the 1960s.

Spearhead From Space was Nick’s fourth Doctor Who story and Carrie’s first, so it is interesting to hear their memories of this – from a newcomer and from a more experienced member of the team. They both explain how they got the parts, how they related to Pertwee and other cast members and they share some lovely anecdotes too.

They chat about the locations where each scene was filmed and add their own reminiscences of the places – Caroline’s usually being about how cold it was and lamenting the lack of toilet facilities! Carrie explains how it took two hours to do her hair and make-up for the part, while Nick debates the pros and cons of false and real moustaches.

This is lovely to listen to, especially as their comments are a nice mixture of ones related to the scene being shown and completely irrelevant chatty asides. Charming.

ON-SCREEN PRODUCTION NOTES

The on-screen production notes are very interesting, although admittedly only the first time. They are a good combination of information that may already be known to some fans (such as other acting roles Pertwee had) and information that will be new to almost everyone.

The sort of details given here include locations used in filming, how some special effects were achieved and changes to the title sequences. I was interested to find out that this was the only time in the whole of Doctor Who when an entire story was shot solely on location and on film (due to a strike).

Other useful bits of trivia I picked up included discovering that the opening shot was a real photo of the Earth, Vaseline was used to give the waxy sheen to the actor’s faces and that the famous shower scene was Pertwee’s idea. Why the third Doctor has a tattoo is also explained.

DETAILS

Originally broadcast on BBC1, January 1970.

Starring Jon Pertwee, Caroline John and Nicholas Courtney.

Subtitles in English only.
Mono.
Regions 2 and 4.
4:3

97 minutes.

PRICE

We bought our copy from Amazon for £13.61 (plus VAT) and it is usually sent within 24 hours.

OVERALL

This is definitely a must have for any Doctor Who fan, but for those who enjoyed it on TV, but wouldn’t class yourself as a ‘fan’ as such, I would certainly recommend this one to you. It contains all the elements of a GREAT Doctor Who story, without any shaky sets, dodgy acting and only one embarrassing monster.

Buy this DVD, watch it through and see how the magic of Doctor Who is still present, over thirty years later. My children enjoy this story too, but despite its ‘U’ rating, I suggest you sit and watch it with them first, as it has some truly chilling moments. Of course whether you watch it behind the sofa is entirely your decision.