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Brainy Redhead: Liz Shaw has one of the most stylish introductions of any companions, chauffeur driven into UNIT headquarters and drafted by Lethbridge Stewart into aiding their fight against alien menaces. With her introduction the show suddenly feels as though it has grown up, introducing a strong, intelligent foil for the Doctor in a very sophisticated way. Her interaction with the Brigadier is spiky, almost flirtatiously so at the beginning (at points during their many spats in this adventure I could have sworn they were one more insult away from grabbing each other and snogging) and it is a shame that when the Pertwee gains control of the series that we lose this thorny chemistry in favour of the Doctor/Brigadier fights. She deals with facts and not science fiction ideas and she sounds ever so much like Scully early in The X-Files run. In this story certainly Liz Shaw feels like a prototype for Gillian Anderson’s character, cold, calculating, resourceful and ever so slightly aloof but played by an actress who imbues the part with enough warmth to make her likable. Caroline John’s little eyebrow raise when the Brigadier mentions that Liz is not just a pretty face is perfect. By the end of the story Pertwee has asserted himself and Liz is left holding the equipment whilst he tackles with the monster but their chemistry is instant and very enjoyable.
Chap With Wings: The scenes between the Brigadier and Liz in episode one are phenomenal – I love it when they take UNIT this seriously and Nicholas Courtney sells this format changing material brilliantly. Despite a moustache that doesn’t quite want to hold in place he is instantly charismatic and exceptional in his field and you can see how he will be an invaluable asset to the series. It’s a shame he became something of a parody of his own character in later years because there is absolutely nothing wrong with how he is characterised here. The Brig knows how to deal with the press and their incessant questions; he asserts his authority over them with a firm ticking off. I love the way the Brigadier treats the Doctor like a naughty child after he tries to abandon them, he makes him promise not to run off again just as a parent would with a wayward child. UNITs co-operation with the army is discussed here and it is clear it is a tentative relationship. It takes a long time for the Brigadier to be convinced that this is the Doctor and his little runaway attempt doesn't help matters but by the story's conclusion it is clear that his new scientific advisor is a massive benefit to his cause and he is trying to make his transition to exile on Earth as comfortable as possible.
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‘What you don’t understand is that there might, there is a remote possibility that outside your cosy little world other things could exist!’ ‘No need to get tetchy!’ ‘Well sometimes you can be very aggravating!’ ‘Me? What about you? You really believe in a man who’s helped to save the world twice with the power to change his physical appearance? An alien being who travels through time and space…in a police box?’ – hurrah for Robert Holmes for managing to sum up the first six years of Doctor Who in one witty line!
‘Camouflage General, its not really a police box…it’s a spaceship!’
‘Where are they going?’ ‘To take their places…’ – all those dummies of civil servants are heading of on a killing spree to take over the country!
‘We are the Nestenes. We have been colonising other worlds for 100,000,000 years and now we have come to colonise the Earth.’
The Good Stuff: Its only when you watch this story in hindsight of the new series that you realise just how much Russell T Davies nabbed to reboot the series in 2005. A contemporary Earth setting, a new Doctor and assistant, a Nestene invasion – both stories even start with the same shot of a pan in on the Earth! Clearly everybody looks to Spearhead from Space for inspiration since the TV Movie features a Doctor who is rushed to hosptial and the x-ray sequence is repeated practically to the letter. I'm not surprised, this is stirring material and deserves to be repeated.What it points out is just how contemporary Robert Holmes' writing could be, this material works in 1970, 1996 and 2005. The music leaves you with no doubt that the throbbing sphere that Seeley is pulling from the ground has not come to the Earth for any beneficial reason to the planet. Armed soldiers guarding the TARDIS in the woods – there has been nothing like this in Doctor Who before and it genuinely feels like a whole new, grittier lease of life for the show. There are a number of beautifully executed tracking shots in this story – one taking place in the corridors of the hospital and another as the Brigadier is taken to one of the meteorite fragments outside. The slick camerawork feels glossy and contemporary, a real jolt after the creaky black and white years, a quantum leap in quality as much as the leap from third to the fourth season of the Avengers was. Hugh Burden’s Channing is a creepy background presence; he doesn’t need to say anything to put the wind up me, just stare with those cold eyes. Make no mistake, no matter how many attempts there have been to copy the success of this original Auton story this is the definite article and they have never been scarier then decked out in their boiler suits, eyes gouged out and faces slick with plastic. They are a terrifying menace, all the more disturbing because they resemble something that we all see on a daily basis. If this were being made today the glorious Meg Seeley would have her own spin off (‘You watch your tongue and don’t think I’ll have that dirty old box in my house!’). What a marvelous old dragon. Proof that the show was trying to push the horror content as far as it would go, we have never seen anything quite as grisly as the scene where the Auton steps out in the road and forces the UNIT soldier to collide his jeep with a tree. We see its blank staring eyes surveying the wreckage through the cracked windscreen, the poor soldiers bloody face smacked into it. Astonishingly nasty for Doctor Who and quite terrifying for the kids watching. The end of episode two is enough to give you nightmares, a row of mannequins that our victim passes and one slowly twitching and coming to life. Ransome spitting out his tea and shaking with fear is scarier than a hundred monsters, a very human reaction of terror to an inexplicably terrifying situation. This the first time that Doctor Who has ever had a monster stepping into a normal person house and terrorising somebody, it wouldn't be the last but I don't think it is ever quite as effective as it is handled here. The awful gluey face of the Auton who menaces Meg Seeley is pretty horrific and the way he slowly advances on her as she pumps his chest full of lead must have given the kids around the country nightmares. The scares keep coming when it is revealed that characters aren't even safe under UNIT protection, the Auton tears through the fabric of the tent and disposes of Ransome in a tightly edited sequence. I remember when this was first released on video I was petrified by this sequence, it is so quick and unrelenting and Ransome barely has time to react before he is blown away. It really establishes the Autons as an unstoppable force. There is a sequence in The X-Files episode Two Fathers that mirrors almost exactly the end of episode three where Scobie answers the door and is greeted by an alien facsimile of himself. Love the Nestene plan to replace all the top civil servants and replace them with facsimiles to take over the country, very clever, and they are all such emotionless automatons I doubt anybody would even notice! The Nestenes in their natural form feature a disgusting gunky eye that pulsates and shudders nastily, thanks goodness they took human form for this story because this is nauseating. Save the best set piece for last and the one that everybody wants to see – shop window dummies smashing through windows and terrorising the high street. About a million times more effective than a similar scene in Rose because it doesn't feel as though it has been edited down for a CBBC audience. Whilst we never get to see the glass smashing what we do get is genuine looking dummies storming the streets, cutting down policemen and people running for their lives, genuinely terrified. What the kids would have made of this beyond me...this is enough to get adults twitchy walking down the high street! There is something so horribly mundane about executing a bunch of people waiting in a bus queue, the Autons punishing us Brits for what we do best! What an awful way to go though, waiting for a bus. Although it is shot in the same place as The Invasion concluding action set piece it feels entirely different in colour but equally as spectacular, UNIT soldiers are disposed in flashes of smoke, gunfire is exchanged and explosions rip through the scene. It looks gorgeous and provides an exciting story with a memorably action packed climax. Channing’s smoky Auton corpse covered in green snot is the last gross out shot of the story. ‘Will these Nestenes try again?’ – yep when the ratings are down at the end of the season!
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The Shallow Bit: I cannot believe that they filmed Pertwee washing his lily-white butt in episode two! I cannot imagine any other actor being able to pull of a velvet jacket and frilly shirt and not look ridiculous but during his time Pertwee pulls off all manner of ensembles without batting an eyelid or even thinking about feeling embarrassed. Nameless soldier (lets call him ‘Bemused Man’) who looks around in astonishment as the Auton’s fall is pretty cute.
Result: Spearhead from Space is so slick and assured it could have been the pilot story for the series and nobody would known otherwise. A mysterious man who falls to Earth at a time when he is most needed, having been exiled from an unknown planet and aiding a military organisation against a terrifying menace. That is a premise strong enough to hold up a feature film. Holmes affords himself the entire opening episode to the mystery the Doctor's new face before kick starting the plot in episode two. Forcing this story on location is the best thing they could have done because this reboot couldn't have looked any more expensive and different from what had come before. It feels as though the BBC is throwing everything they have at this story to make the switch to colour a success when in reality it was industrial action that forced the show on film. Jon Pertwee, Caroline John and Nicholas Courtney make for an impressive set of new regulars and all three characters are intelligently written and have memorable interaction. Some of this material is astonishingly adult and frightening and episode three in particular features one scary set piece after another. At four episodes long it feels quick paced and with touches of Avengers eccentricity and Quatermass frights but bundled into a story that is as mad and as engaging as only Doctor Who knows how to be the result is an alluring introduction to the shows Earthbound formula. If they are all going to be like this then the show is in very safe hands. What do you get when you combine a polished production, a charismatic new Doctor, a bold new format for the show and a proper scary adventure? A ratings smash hit: 9/10
4 comments:
That fabulous "spiky chemistry" between the Brig and Liz never went away (till she did). Hence the number of fanfics that pair them up (totally disproportionate to the number of episodes Liz appeared in)!
I can't say I have ever read that many fanfics but I really found that after Spearhead that their chemistry was far more amicable and less abrasive.
what a delight to see your incisive and exhaustive analysis applied to a classic episode such as this one. This was indeed one of the greatest departures in style for the show and it was a risky experiment. Seasons 7 and 8 are packed with marvelous episodes and I think Pertwee was underappreciated by many modern fans
Stands up today as a classic. Tremendously atmospheric, frightening, funny, original, inventive.
Pertwee in Spearhead compared to Season 11 is more alien, more mischievous, initially in denial of his fate stranded on Earth.
The Shoes scene still makes me laugh.
The window scene is everything that made Who frightening in s7, classic mass public murder. A point often missed about the next story.
Really brings it home. The people waiting at the bus stop. Terrifying.
Shame about the octopus. Cliffhangers miss the musical sting.
Amazing all in film. Looks like a film.
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