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| Attack of the window shop dummies! |
4 episodes. Written by: Robert Holmes. Directed by: Derek Martinus. Produced by: Derrick Sherwin.
THE PLOT
Liz Shaw (Caroline John), a scientist with an extensive background across varied fields, has been conscripted by UNIT to act as a scientific adviser to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's London office. She is not happy about the new job, but she gets little time to complain. A series of meteorites have come to Earth - landing in the same spot, twice. This is odd, but Liz has no doubt that there is a rational explanation. Until UNIT recover part of one of the meteorites. Instead of rock, it is plastic - but not like any plastic Liz has seen before.
At the same time these mysteries are unfolding, a mysterious stranger (Jon Pertwee) stumbles out of a police box in the middle of a forest and collapses. When the Brigadier hears that a man was found outside a police box that was located where no police box should be, and that this man has a physiology that defies the local hospital's expertise, he is sure that this man is the Doctor, the time/space traveler who previously helped him fend off the Yeti and the Cybermen. But the face that greets him is that of a stranger, albeit one who seems to recognize him.
As the Brigadier wonders if this man can really be the Doctor, the mysteries surrounding the meteorites mount. If the Brigadier, Liz, and this new Doctor cannot find a way to work together soon, then the entire world may fall under the sinister influence of the Auton invasion...
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: I enjoy the way this serial plays with the introduction to the new Doctor. We see very little of him in Episode One, and don't even get a clear look at him until the Brigadier does. If Spearhead Episode One was the first Who episode a viewer had ever seen, then he or she could be forgiven for thinking that the Brigadier was the lead character. It isn't until around the story's midpoint that the Doctor steps properly to center-stage.
Once there, however, Pertwee doesn't relinquish the spotlight for a second. This is a very different take on the Doctor than the earlier incarnations. Hartnell's era was very much an ensemble show; though Troughton was somewhat more central, the companions still carried large tracts of most stories. With a reduced episode count eliminating the need for the Doctor to "take a holiday" every so often, the production team was freed up to make him the absolute focus, the one true "star" of the show. Pertwee is not the Doctor with the greatest acting range, but he may just have the most sheer screen presence of any actor to play the role.
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: There's a strong Holmes/Watson vibe to the Doctor/Brigadier relationship. The first two episodes gives us a chance to see the Brigadier in charge, investigating. He is refreshingly competent. He asks intelligent questions, takes logical steps to secure the meteorites and to secure the Doctor, and maintains an open - if appropriately suspicious - mind over the Doctor's identity. Once the Doctor is fully awake and in action, he slides into a supporting position, but he remains highly capable and authoritative. It's a shame this strong characterization would slide so far during the latter Pertwee years, but it's a very enjoyable character and performance here.
Liz Shaw: Caroline John makes her debut as Liz, a young Cambridge scientist conscripted into UNIT. John has a frosty demeanor, but her eyes are constantly lively, even mischievous. Liz doesn't believe in aliens and doesn't want to be involved with UNIT, and so she spends the first two episodes responding to Lethbridge-Stewart's assertions with heavy sarcasm. Despite her outfits (which are actually skimpier than those usually worn by her more superficially "bimbo-like" successor), John brings a sense of intelligence to the role that keeps her believable as a scientific professional. She plays well opposite both Pertwee and Courtney, and the three of them make for a promising set of regulars.
THOUGHTS
Troughton may be untouchably well-loved by fandom now, but it is a fact that his era never reached the heights of popular success that Hartnell's first two seasons had. The series was struggling in the ratings the end of Season Six, leaving Pertwee's first season very much a "make-or-break" one. Fortunately, it delivered.
Spearhead from Space is the start of the series' resurrection. One of the reasons it works so well is the now oft-criticized approach taken by producer Derrick Sherwin: the decision to base the series on Earth, and to ally the Doctor with a military organization. Original series producer Verity Lambert may not have approved, but it provides a much-needed break from the past. Spearhead is effectively the pilot of a new series, one which just happens to carry on the continuity of Doctor Who: 1963 - 1969. New concept, new location, new relationships between the Doctor and the other regulars... What had started to become stale by Troughton's final season has been transformed into something that feels fresh and new and - by early 1970s standards - modern.
Look at the first scene between the Brigadier and Liz. It starts with a wonderful introduction to Liz. We don't see her walk into the Brig's office. Instead, we watch as she is driven to the building. She gets out of the car, then walks through the garage... a fairly long series of shots that signify that she's our viewpoint character even before she reaches Lethbridge-Stewart.
The scene that follows is very much a "pilot scene," as the Brigadier lays out the concept of the series: UNIT's purpose, its background, reasons justifying the idea that Earth might be targeted by alien beings ("We've drawn attention to ourselves"). Liz responds skeptically, and when the Brigadier gets around to the plot - the meteorites - she asserts that there must be a rational explanation, while he clearly favors a "space alien" theory. One could draw a fairly close comparison between this initial Liz/Brig scene and the first meeting of Dana Scully and Fox Mulder in The X-Files pilot. In terms of basic set-up, in terms of what is being established, the two scenes are extremely similar.
After two less-than-entirely-successful scripts during Troughton's last season, Robert Holmes finally delivers a strong Who script here. Holmes uses the episodic structure effectively. Episode One introduces the new Doctor (while keeping him largely offstage), sets up the relationship between the Brigadier and Liz, and establishes the plot of the story: the mystery surrounding the meteorites. Episode Two introduces the plastics factory, the Autons themselves, and the major guest characters, while gradually bringing the new Doctor together with the Brigadier and Liz. Episode Three establishes the Doctor's relationship with UNIT while raising the stakes by showing just how much the Autons are capable of. Finally, Episode Four brings the narrative threads together and resolves the story.
Derek Martinus' direction is confident and precise, with a handful of striking visual moments. The Autons themselves are more effective here than in any of their later appearances, with their completely inexpressive faces and jerky movements eerily effective. They would reappear in two later stories (Terror of the Autons, Rose), but they would never again be as scary and genuinely alien as they are here.
The resolution stumbles a bit, with the green plastic Nestene failing to convey the same threat as the Autons and their leader, Channing (Hugh Burden). The climax is downright poor: Liz plugs wires in and out of a plastic tray while the Doctor wraps green tentacles around himself and thrashes around. This scene frankly wouldn't be out of place in an Ed Wood movie.
Still, if three-and-a-half episodes are generally very good, a weak finale isn't that hard to forgive. The story, which was essentially Doctor Who's "second pilot," sells the revamped series with confidence and energy, and it manages to tell a pretty good story in the process.
Rating: 7/10.
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