This is the latest in my stabs at reviewing the classic era of Doctor Who (1963-1989).
Because of how many episodes there are, I set some rules for how I chose which stories to review:
Rule One: Select stories with some level of regard by critics and fans. This felt like a good way to find entry points into the series.
Rule Two: Review stories with complete existing episodes. At least for this initial series of reviews, I wanted to get a sense of what these stories looked and sounded like.
With these reviews, I wanted to get a sense of their original flavour and aesthetics, which is why I decided not to review the animated version.
Rule Three: Review one story from each Doctor in a row - this would enable me to get a feel for each of the performers and their respective eras.
While I had no experience with the previous stories I reviewed, this was not the case with Spearhead from Space and Jon Pertwee’s incarnation.
While this is the third regeneration of the classic era, this one feels like a real break from the past.
Dr Who was brought back down to Earth, literally and figuratively.
One reason was budget - the show could not afford to reproduce the multiple alien costumes and environments of previous seasons.
Another was aesthetic. Due to industrial action, Spearhead had to be shot in a different location, and it would also be the only story of this era to be shot entirely on film.
Combined with the extensive use of location filming, this gives the episodes more of a documentary feel. It also feels of a piece with the low-budget genre movies of the decade.
The other difference is the new star.
Unlike the previous incarnation, the filmmakers betray a greater level of showmanship, delaying the reveal of the Doctor’s new face.
A well-known face to UK viewers for his comic performances in radio and TV, Pertwee’s portrayal feels designed to both play to and against his established persona.
We get some initial comic business as he gets used to his new face and finds his new wardrobe, but most of the story is built around the actor - and the character reasserting his credentials to his disbelieving friends.
These early episodes have a real sense of stakes as our hero fails to get back to the safety of the TARDIS (and by extension, the familiar formula of the show). This moment is magnified by the fact that the doctor is stopped by a bullet to the head from a nervous UNIT soldier.
Juxtaposed with the slow reveal of the serial’s villains, the Doctor’s dis-empowerment adds a different sense of tension to proceedings.
It also means when the Doctor finally succeeds in convincing the Brigadier of who he is, there is a sense of proper catharsis.
As a character, once he is set up at UNIT, the Third Doctor feels like more of a straightforward intellectual seeker hero ala Sherlock Holmes.
He also seems far more at ease in the contemporary surroundings by the end of the story than either of his predecessors. One cannot see Hartnell or Troughton showing such a willingness to stick around in one place.
This serial sees the show shift into becoming more overtly an action adventure show, and Pertwee seems more willing to physically engage his opponents.
In this respect, you can feel the influence of the Bond franchise in Pertwee. Despite the sci fi trappings, the juxtaposition of earth-based locations with high technology feels closer to the world of 007 and his supervillains than the previous stories.
Despite Pertwee’s past work, he plays toward the story’s stakes. He manages to give the character a twinkle, but it is not based in a self-defeating sense of irony. It is the glint of a veteran who has been through this all before - Pertwee finds a way to be earnest without cutting himself off from his own instincts.
While the focus of this serial is introducing the new doctor, the writers created a fantastic nemesis for his debut story: the Autons, a plastic-based hive entity that uses multiple automatons to carry out a slow-rolling coup.
They are another riff on the Bodysnatcher archetype - particularly when they start creating doppelgängers of real people. While under-explored, the idea of having a villain that can hide in plain sight adds an additional paranoia to the Doctor’s own attempts to prove his identity.
The documentary-style aesthetic also works to their benefit, adding a creepy verisimilitude - as their true nature is slowly revealed: The introduction of Channing’s factory, with a montage showing the production of a dolls, plays like a surreal take on an industrial film.
The Autons are instantly iconic - with their immobile plastic faces and boiler suits they resemble Michael Myers.
Their escape from the storefront is genuinely unsettling - combining the mundane and the uncanny, it takes the combination of ingredients from An Unearthly Child and shows it can work in colour.
The use of colour and handheld cameras also helps to make the show feel less stagebound, more contemporary and violent.
Caroline John’s Liz Shaw makes for an interesting change of companion - unlike the companions I am familiar with, she is a more active collaborator, who brings her own expertise and curiosity to her dynamic with the doctor.
Overall, a solid debut for Pertwee and the new format. It is not as exciting as I had hoped, but I chalk that up to my familiarity with the story. It is an entertaining watch, and once again is showing the format’s versatility.
I am a little less taken with the idea of the Doctor-as-action-hero, but I am curious to see where he goes next. Of course, you will have to wait a while for my thoughts on that particular adventure…
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