Review by Guy Clapperton
Stars Jon Pertwee, Caroline John, Katy Manning,
Nicholas Courtney, Roger Delgado | Written by Robert Holmes
UK cert 12 | UK RRP £29.99 | Runtime 100 minutes | Directed by Derek Martinius & Barry Letts
Look, just go and buy this – it’s perfect. OK, many cultured types will have bought the first story on this already. Called Spearhead From Space, it’s Pertwee’s first Doctor Who story. A studio strike meant it was the only story at the time to be all on film, and it benefits accordingly. The new Doctor, the atmospheric film, it all works perfectly – and the new monsters, called the Autons (revived in the new series but curiously not named) are superb. Let’s just say it’s “the one with the shop window dummies”. Fortysomethings will know exactly what I mean. Everyone else is in for a treat.
It’s a bit quaint. Everyone’s very posh, it’s a bit like Midsomer Murders in space, and yes when he’s being strangled Pertwee pulls a funny face. The BBC has re-digitised it and reinstated a bit of guitar music from Pink Floyd – seconds long – but if you’d already bought it before it’s probably not worth buying again. If you haven’t, go get it. Simples.
In fact, if you haven’t you might still want to go get it because this little set has Terror of the Autons on it as well. We’re back on video for the most part and the production has dated a little more than the first story as a result –people act against stills rather than sets rather too often. But forget that – this is the episode that introduced Manning as Jo Grant, the definitive companion of the Pertwee era. Ditzy, blonde, a hangover from the 60s to be sure, she fits in very well and is a perfect foil to Pertwee’s rather patronising characterisation.
We also meet Captain Mike Yates for the first time, completing the so-called UNIT family that stayed together for most of Pertwee’s tenure in the role. Oh, and there’s this little bloke called the Master. Played majestically by Delgado, the Doctor’s Moriarty at one stage became as popular as the Doctor himself – they finished an episode with a cliffhanger in which the Master was under threat rather than the Doctor. This didn’t go down well with Pertwee, apparently...
The story ramps up the horror content a bit more than the original, but looks a bit more needy as a result – I love Delgado and Manning, but prefer Spearhead as a story. It’s remiss of the BBC not to release this by itself for people who didn’t want to buy Spearhead twice.
Overall these are great stories – creepy, well written beautiFully directed on an all too evident budget sometimes, but they work. For me Pertwee’s Doctor was never better than this. What Matt Smith educated kids’ll make of it I don’t know, but these stories are the best of one of the best runs of the original series.
EXTRAS ★★★★★ Loads of lovely extras are included. Archive interviews with Jon Pertwee, commentaries with Nicholas Courtney for Spearhead from Space, documentaries on how they created the character of the Master and how they cast Katy Manning (and how impressive she was in spite of not being able to see anything), interviews with Manning herself. If you already had one of the disks wait until this comes up in a sale; if you don’t, go and buy it straight away. End of.