Spearhead from Space (TV story)

Spearhead from Space was the first story to be featured in colour. Jon Pertwee makes his first regular appearance as the Third Doctor and Caroline John also makes her debut as companion Elizabeth Shaw. This story also is the first to regularly feature U.N.I.T and Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.

Synopsis
The newly regenerated Doctor arrives on Earth and swiftly discovers a plot by the Nestene Consciousness to invade the Earth through their ability to control plastic.

Plot
episode 1

The TARDIS arrives on Earth in the middle of a meteorite shower and the Doctor stumbels out of the tardis and falls to the ground meanwhile a old man is taking a walk in oxely woods when the meteorites fall and is eager to explore meanehile the brigadier in his office is in the middle of a meeting with Dr Liz shaw explaning about UNIT and aliens they start talking about the mesterious meteorites falling until the brigadier gets acall saying unit troops have found a blue box the doctor is also found by UNIT troops and taken to a nearby hospital where he atracts the attention of a nurse the brigadier orders the police box to be gaurded the chief doctor thinks it is some kind of joke there pactient has two hearts the doctor awakes and askes for his shoes and he is reluctantly given them back in the woods the old man has uncovered the metiorite but is found by UNIT troops and ordered away the doctor meanwhile has hached an escape plan and it suprisingly works he flees into the woods but is found by UNIT and shot...

to be added

Cast

 * The Doctor - Jon Pertwee
 * Liz Shaw - Caroline John
 * Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - Nicholas Courtney
 * Channing - Hugh Burden
 * Sam Seeley - Neil Wilson
 * Mullins - Talfryn Thomas
 * Captain Munro - John Breslin
 * Dr. Henderson - Antony Webb
 * Nurse - Helen Dorward
 * Corporal Forbes - George Lee
 * UNIT Officer - Tessa Shaw
 * Technician - Ellis Jones
 * Michael Wagstaffe - Allan Mitchell
 * 2nd Reporter - Prentis Hancock
 * Major General Scobie - Hamilton Dyce
 * Dr. Beavis - Henry McCarthy
 * George Hibbert - John Woodnutt
 * John Ransome - Derek Smee
 * Meg Seeley - Betty Bowden
 * Sergeant - Clifford Cox
 * Attendant - Edmund Bailey

Crew

 * Assistant Floor Manager - Liam Foster
 * Costumes - Christine Rawlins
 * Designer - Paul Allen
 * Film Cameraman - Stan Speel, Robert McDonnell
 * Film Editor - William Symon, Adam Dawson
 * Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson
 * Make-Up - Cynthia Goodwin
 * Producer - Derrick Sherwin
 * Production Assistant - Peter Grimwade
 * Script Editor - Terrance Dicks
 * Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
 * Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer
 * Visual Effects - John Horton

Story Notes

 * This is the first story featuring Jon Pertwee as the Doctor, as well as the first appearance of companion Liz Shaw and villains the Nestene Consciousness and its servants the Autons.
 * There is a new title sequence designed by Bernard Lodge (who designed the previous title sequence).
 * There are scenes featuring real waxworks shot at Madame Tussaud's in London.
 * This story had the working title of; Facsimile.
 * This story is completely shot on film.
 * The Doctor is credited for the first time as 'Doctor Who' in the closing credits as opposed to 'Dr. Who'.
 * This is the first time that we find out about the Doctor's two hearts

Ratings

 * Episode 1 - 8.4 million viewers
 * Episode 2 - 8.1 million viewers
 * Episode 3 - 8.3 million viewers
 * Episode 4 - 8.1 million viewers

Myths
to be added

Filming Locations

 * Location filming took pace at the BBC facility of Wood Norton near Evesham and in the nearby pub in Radford.
 * Madame Tussaud's in London

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * If UNIT is a top secret organisation, how does the media know about it? (Perhaps UNIT is an "open secret" as MI5 and MI6 used to be i.e. people knew about the intelligence organisations but the government did not officially acknowledge their existence. Or perhaps it is a secret organisation in the vein of the CIA, in which the existence of the group is not secret, but its activities.)
 * If the Nestenes needed to take control of a plastics factory to create Autons, and they gained control of said factory through Channing, an advanced Auton, then who created Channing?
 * The freshly regenerated Doctor sports a visible tattoo on one arm (which can be seen during the shower sequence), even though he hasn't been "alive" long enough to get one. NA: Christmas on a Rational Planet suggests that this tattoo was applied to the Doctor by the Time Lords to mark him as an exile or criminal.
 * At the beginning of the story, the Brigadier says that since UNIT was formed there have been two attempts to invade the Earth and that the Doctor helped on both occasions. The only invasion attempt between the time UNIT was formed and the beginning of this story was during The Invasion.

Continuity

 * The Autons (and the Nestene) reappear in: Terror of the Autons, Rose, PDA: Synthespians™ and Business Unusual.
 * UNIT last appeared in The Invasion.
 * The Doctor's exile lasts until The Three Doctors.

DVD, Video and Other Releases
DVD Releases

Released as Doctor Who: Spearhead from Space, this release was slipped into the DVD schedule by BBC Worldwide so that a second DVD could be released in 2000. In the event, the DVD was delayed till the following year.

Released:
 * Region 2 29th January 2001
 * PAL - BBC DVD BBCDVD1012


 * Region 4 15th April 2002
 * Region 1 11th September 2001
 * NTSC - Warner Video E1120

Contents:
 * UNIT Recruitment Film
 * Trailer
 * Photo Gallery
 * Production Subtitles
 * Easter Egg (Test Footage for the titles sequence.)
 * Commentary: Nicholas Courtney and Caroline John

Rear Credits:
 * Starring Jon Pertwee
 * By Robert Holmes
 * Produced by Derrick Sherwin
 * Directed by Derek Martinus
 * Incidental Music composed by Dudley Simpson

Notes: The Fleetwood Mac song Oh Well - Part One has been removed from the DVD.

Video Releases

Released as Doctor Who: Spearhead from Space.

Released:
 * First Release:
 * UK February 1988
 * PAL - BBC Video BBCV4107
 * Australia/NZ April 1990
 * US April 1991
 * NTSC - Warner Video E1163

Notes: Released in an edited movie-format, with the Fleetwood Mac song Oh Well - Part One removed.


 * Second Release:
 * UK February 1995
 * PAL - BBC Video BBCV5509

Notes: Released unedited.

Novelisation

 * Main article: Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion


 * Novelised as Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion in 1974 by Terrance Dicks. This was the first original release in the Target Books novelisation line (the first three books were reprints of earlier publications). The Target novelisations line would continue into the 1990s.