Spearhead from Space (TV story)

Spearhead From Space was the first story of Season 7 of Doctor Who, and was the first story to feature Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor. The story also introduced new companion Liz Shaw (Caroline John), and launched a multi-year story arc that saw the Doctor exiled on Earth and working for UNIT as its scientific advisor. Nicholas Courtney, as The Brigadier, becomes a regular -- the first time the series had introduced a character who was not (immediately, at least) considered a companion (although he would come to be considered thus in the future).

Spearhead from Space was the first Doctor Who story of the 1970s (although it was produced in 1969), was the first Doctor Who story to be produced in colour, and was the only story of the 1963-89 original series to be completely shot on film.

Synopsis
Newly exiled by the Time Lords, the regenerated Doctor arrives on Earth and swiftly discovers a plot by the Nestene Consciousness to invade the Earth through their ability to control plastic. After the defeat of the alien invasion, he reluctantly decides to stay on with UNIT.

Plot
The TARDIS arrives on Earth in Oxley Woods during the middle of a meteorite shower. Meanwhile, the Brigadier recruits a scientific advisor, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw. The unconscious Doctor is found by UNIT troops and taken to Ashbridge Cottage Hospital. Sam Seeley, a local poacher, has found what looks like a meteorite. The Doctor, meanwhile, recovers in hospital. Because the Doctor has changed form, he no longer resembles the Doctor the Brigadier knew.

The press, hearing about a "man from space" at the hospital, make matters even more difficult and John Ransome, an ex-employee of Auto Plastics who claims he has seen a walking mannequin. The meteorites turn out to be hollow globes containing the Nestene Consciousness, a disembodied alien intelligence which can inhabit and animate plastic and create robot-like plastic slaves which can appear either as mannequins or replica Humans. Channing has taken over Auto Plastics to facilitate the invasion. The Doctor must convince the Brigadier that they know each other.

Aided by Elizabeth Shaw, the Doctor breaks into Auto Plastics where he finds that the Consciousness has created a monstrous tentacled body for itself inside a tank. He repels the Nestene consciousness into space. Without the motive power of the Consciousness, the Autons will have no more power. Channing, revealed to be no more than a sophisticated Auton, is likewise deactivated. The Brigadier floats the offer to the Doctor to let him work on a means to escape Earth while meanwhile helping UNIT stop future alien invasions. The Doctor, with misgivings, agrees.


 * To expand

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

Uncredited

 * UNIT Commisionaire - Derrick Sherwin
 * Auto Plastics Secretary - Constance Carling
 * Extras - Joy Burnett, Wally Goodman

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.
 * Due to a scene-shifters' strike, this story is completely shot on film and almost completely on location.
 * The actor playing the Doctor is credited for the first time as 'Doctor Who' in the closing credits as opposed to 'Dr. Who' which had been the norm since 1963. This form of credit would continue until the end of the Tom Baker era in 1981, after which the credit became the correct form, 'The Doctor'.

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.
 * In the cliffhanger of part 1, why would the UNIT soldiers open fire on someone they don't know? Even if it is a secure area wouldn't shooting someone be a bit unprofessional for UNIT? With white clothes and erattic movements, the doctor could have been mistaken for another alien by an inexperienced soldier.
 * 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? Perhaps Channing was a Scout Auton and fell to Earth with the first Energy Unit
 * 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.
 * ''Why don't the Nestenes kill the general, once duplicated, instead of leaving him comatose in a wax museum?

The Doctor is gurning as he's attacked by tentacles.

At the start of episode two the Doctor clutches his head before being shot.''
 * 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 Most likely there is an undocumented adventure that pits UNIT and the Doctor against an threat
 * The simplest explanation (and undoubtedly the real world one) is that the Brigadier was including DW:The Web of Fear. Even though it was not technically a UNIT operation, it did lay the groundwork for the forming of the operation. Another possibility is that UNIT was formed before the events of The Web of Fear, but the British branch was only established after the events of that story.

Continuity

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

Timeline

 * Spearhead from Space occurs after: TVC: The Night Walkers
 * Spearhead from Space occurs before: TVC: The Arkwood Experiments

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.
 * Editing for DVD release completed by Doctor Who Restoration Team.

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.

Unofficial prequel
In the mid-1990s, production began on a fan film entitled Devious, which takes place prior to Spearhead from Space and featured Jon Pertwee as the Doctor. Pertwee died soon after filming his scenes and as of 2009 the film remains a work in progress. Although not authorised by the BBC, a 12-minute excerpt from the film was included on the BBC Video DVD release of DW: The War Games in 2009.