I seem to be accidentally picking season-openers for my current chronological wander through classic Doctor Who: having had season one's An Unearthly Child and season five's The Tomb of the Cybermen, we now move forward to Jon Pertwee's first story, the season seven opener Spearhead from Space.
Watching Spearhead is almost like coming to a new show, so numerous are the changes made. It's the first story of the 1970s (though only just, as episode one went out on January 3rd 1970); the first with Pertwee's new Doctor; the first in colour; it's shot entirely on location and on film (lending a glossier, higher-budget look that would disappear when the series permanently returned to video from the next serial); the first 'exiled to Earth' story (not a change immediately obvious as the Doctor has had adventures on present day Earth previously); and, by the same token. the first to feature the Brigadier and UNIT as an ongoing regulars (again, a change not necessarily obvious til later). Lump all these elements together -- especially the use of film and location, which give the direction and style a completely different air -- and it doesn't feel like quite the same programme as before.
The story itself gets off to a slow start, however. Episodes one and two almost repeat themselves, with the newly regenerated Doctor stuck unconscious in a hospital bed most of the time. Bits of this work -- viewers keen to know what the new Doctor will be like have such revelations held off for a long time -- but the actual story moves slowly, even for classic Who, and, one or two events aside, it doesn't really kick off until episode three. Personally, I think it would feel better if the events of the opening episodes had been combined, with the rushed part four spread out to fill the gap. As it is, the final episode is far and away the best. The Autons finally come to life en masse (including the (in)famous scenes of them breaking out of shop windows and slaughtering innocents) and there's a nice big battle at the factory. What with the Doctor and Liz heading to Madame Tussaud's to investigate a sideline of the company (an intriguing subplot that's all but ignored), then racing to construct a suitable weapon, before heading to defeat the newly-created body of the Nestene Consciousness, there's more than enough action to fill this single episode. It puts the repetitive first two in the shade.
Which may account for some of the fondness with which Spearhead is remembered -- it starts out with more than a touch of mediocrity, but ends on such a high that it's easy to go away thinking of it as one of the best ever.
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4 comments:
If this is the "watching each Doctor with someone new to the series" thing, then this was a poor choice in my opinion.
But then, as you probably know, I'm not a great lover of the Pertwee era. Pertwee himself was fine, very good even, but I felt the stories dragged on for much too long and were frequently quite dull and repetitive.
I would personally have opted to show either the Claws of Axos, or Carnival of Monsters. Though admittedly the latter is good because it's so different to other Pertwee stories, and not a good representation of the era as a whole if that's what you're going for.
In case you're interested, here's my selections:
1: Well, I'd like to say The Time Meddler, but I suppose you do really have to start with An Unearthly Child.
2: Tomb of the Cybermen
3: Carnival of Monsters
4: Depends on the feel you're going for. Either "The Ark In Space" or "City of Death". Then watch "Pyramids of Mars" as well.
5: Caves of Androzani
6: Mark of the Rani. Well, there's not exactly a lot of quality to pick from.
7: Probably Fenric. "Ghost Light" is atmospheric, but largely nonsense. Perhaps "Survival".
8: Hmm, let me think...
9: The Empty Child
10: Smith and Jones
Interesting choices. Spearhead I chose primarily cos I have very few Pertwees to choose from, and of those even fewer I've actually seen. It's also quite well respected on the whole. I certainly wouldn't've chosen one of his longer stories, as obviously those are notoriously repetitive. That said, I do quite like The Green Death, though I've not seen it for about 10 years.
I've already chosen the rest of the stories, so you can see how similar our choices are. We're only as far as the 8th Doctor, as my friend's seen all of the 9th and 10th. I agree with The Empty Child, and Smith and Jones is certainly a sensible 10th Doctor choice. I'll tell you now I don't own Ark in Space or Mark of the Rani. And I'd never show a newbie Ghost Light :p
You really need to buy Ark In Space.
And lacking Mark of the Rani, I suppose you'll have to go for Revelation of the Daleks.
Or Timelash. LOL.
Though actually I suspect you'll pick Vengeance on Varos, which I don't own and haven't seen in nearly 10 years.
I really do.
Incidentally... probably beginning to give too much away now... though, it's not like there's much Colin to choose from, even if it is nearly all released... but I don't own Vengeance either. As one of the earliest releases, I reckon it'll get the Special Edition treatment some day, so why spend money now? Though, with Trial out soon, it'll be yonks before that could happen, so I may cave if I see it for around £5.
Spearhead will unquestionably get re-released sometime -- not only to reinstate the Fleetwood Mac music, but it only has 7 minutes of extras! 5 of those are a crappy "UNIT recruitment" video and the rest are just trailers.
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