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Doctor Who - Spearhead from Space Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 13 Reviews)

Beware the Autons!!!!
The Introduction of the Autons is great! The Doctor, newly regenerated, is exiled to Earth just in the nick of time to save mankind from a....plastic????!?! Great Story for any "Who" fan!

SMITH... DOCTOR JOHN SMITH
"Spearhead form Space" milestones not only the 3rd Doctor's first episode (following the forced regeneration of PATRICK TROUGHTON at the end of WAR GAMES), But the series' new direction, using color film stock and anchoring the series with UNIT setting and characters. The 3rd Doctor is more like a super-spy with para-military backup, whether he wants it or not.

Stranded on EARTH by the TIMELORDS, the new Doctor, played by Jon Pertwee, along with his assistant/scientist Liz Shaw (Caroline John) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) investigate an unusual meteorite and its links with a sinister doll factory. This introduces the Autons and sets the pace for much of the decade yet to come. The Autons are cybernetic/alien killers a.k.a.-LIVING PLASTIC --and the sequence in which they break through shop windows to slaughter window shoppers remains a series first for truly crossing deeply into realm of the horror genre. Much of the first episode in the story has the Doctor in and out of consciousness, along with what appears to the hospital staff as an inexplicable, desire to find his "SHHHHOOES" followed by a brilliantly-hilarious wheelchair escape attempt.

In spite of new cinematic look of the series, the horror dwindles following the introduction of a subplot involving a wax museum, and the FINAL BATTLE with the Nestine consciousness is "just plain silly," but vintage sci-fi nostalgia. Of course, the AUTONs return in "The Terror of the Autions" which is creeper than "SPEARHEAD" and introduces THE MASTER. But, the AUTONs return yet again in the first episode of the new DR. WHO (2005), in the episode entitled; ROSE. The 2005 edition also contains a disturbing re-work of the shop front breakout.
Finally released in it's original episodic format, not in the awkward movie format from VHS or public TV - as the story was broadcast. The extras on this one are fun ones, like: a commentary by Nicholas Courtney and Caroline John, Production Notes (subtitle track), a UNIT recruitment film, a "Who's Who" biography section, and an Easter Egg.











First Doctor Who adventure in color, and Jon Pertwee's debut
Spearhead from Space was a Doctor Who first in more ways than one. In addition to being Jon Pertwee's debut as the Third Doctor, Spearhead was also the first DW story in color, opening Season Seven after six years in black and white only. Also, this was the first story to feature the Nestenes and their creepy, plastic killers the Autons. Finally, Spearhead marked the beginning of the newly-regenerated Doctor's exile on Earth, which would last until the end of The Three Doctors during the show's tenth season. Jon Pertwee gets his Doctor off to a strong start in this story. Nicholas Courtney and John Levene are great to watch as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Sergeant Benton, respectively. Hugh Burden gives us a delightfully cold, calm villain in Channing. And Caroline John starts her season-long run as companion Liz Shaw. On this DVD, she joins with Nicholas Courtney for the commentary track. This was also the first Doctor Who DVD to feature the information text, or "Pop-Up Production Notes"--an extra which has gone over so well, it has been included on every Doctor Who DVD released ever since. Spearhead from Space was a strong start for the Jon Pertwee era, and for a period running through the Pertwee era into the mid-Tom Baker era which many fans of the classic sereis recall as the Golden Age of Doctor Who

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