Doctor Who: Spearhead from Space (Story 51)
Our Price: $39.99
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $39.98 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Jon PertweeBrand: Warner Brothers
Producer: Peter Bryant
Writer: Sydney Newman
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 97 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-09-11
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: BBC Video / Warner Bros.
Movie Reviews of Doctor Who: Spearhead from Space (Story 51)
Movie Review: Great start to a great era
Summary: 5 Stars
The Jon Pertwee/Third Doctor era gets off to a rip-roaring bang, sometimes quite literally, with Spearhead From Space. This story represents several first in Doctor Who history.
Besides the obvious first of being the premier Third Doctor story, Spearhead is the first color story, which also coincides with the first 70s story. Imagine the excitement of viewers in 1970, after six years of watching Doctor Who in monochrome, when suddenly they viewed their favorite program in marvelous technicolor. We take color tv very much for granted nowadays. However back in Britain 1970, color television was a state-of-the-art luxury not everyone could afford, like HDTV is today. The production team put its new technique to good use too, right down to the Doctor's new clothes. A bright red & black velvet smoking jacket.
Spearhead also treated viewers to the first sight of blood or a representation of blood, in the scene where the Auton causes the UNIT soldier to swerve his jeep off the road and into a tree. Poor fellow. As old woman Meg claims, "they say it snapped his neck in two". OUCH! Of course, this scene likely gathered steam for self-proclaimed tv watchdog Mary Whitehouse, who would go on to have a significant role in the content of Doctor Who later on in the decade. I wonder what Mrs. Whitehouse would say about the state of today's television if she were alive today.
Other firsts include UNIT's initial story as regulars, after a successful trial run the year before with The Invasion. The very first story to feature Liz Shaw, arguably the most underrated companion. I loved her short skirts! The dialogue in which the Brigadier tries to explain UNIT's mode of operation to a skeptical Liz Shaw is priceless and serves as some of the best dialogue in series history. "I'm no fool, Miss Shaw. I don't go around chasing shadows." In the end, the Brig and Doctor manage to convince Miss Shaw that the alien threat is very real indeed.
Yet another first in series history was actually forced upon the production crew. Due to a studio technician's strike (another one!), the crew took their camera's on location and shot Spearhead entirely on location on film. This acts to make the story agoraphobic rather than clausterphobic, as a small, enclosed studio would tend to do. They had all these location props at their disposal, and utilized them to the fullest, such as Pertwee deciding to take a shower in ep. 2, a scene supposedly not originally scripted. Incidentally, the production team takes a veiled shot at the strikers in the scene where Hibbard explains to General Scobie that the plastics factory has become fully automated. Scobie quips, "Great idea. Computers won't go on strike!" Marvelous dialogue. Sometimes I wonder if the unions went on strike as an excuse to take a few days off of work.
And lastly (not a first but still very noteworthy), the scene that gave young children (and possibly a few adults) the heebie jeebies every time they passed a department store window full of mannequins. Who can forget the chilling scene in which the mannequins come to life, picking off innocent bystanders one by one? Disturbing even by today's standards. All these facets spearhead Spearhead to unique status and typify Doctor Who in the early 70s.
Summary of Doctor Who: Spearhead from Space (Story 51)
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/06/2005 Run time: 97 minutes Rating: NrSimilar DVD Movies
Doctor Who: Doctor Who and The Silurians - Story 52WHV; Release date: 2008-06-03; DVD
Best price: $22.56
Price in other shops:
Doctor Who: The Mind Robber (Story 45)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2005-09-06; DVD
Best price: $8.13
Price in other shops:
Doctor Who: The Seeds of Death (Story 48)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2004-03-02; DVD
Best price: $21.70
Price in other shops:
Doctor Who: Day of the Daleks - Episode 60WHV; Release date: 2011-09-13; DVD
Best price: $20.99
Price in other shops:
Doctor Who: Colony in Space (Story 58)Warner; Release date: 2011-11-08; DVD
Best price: $15.25
Price in other shops:
Doctor Who: Robot (Story 75)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2007-08-14; DVD
Best price: $12.76
Price in other shops:
Doctor Who: The Claws of Axos (Story 57)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2005-11-08; DVD
Best price: $8.10
Price in other shops:
Doctor Who: Terror of the Autons (Story 55)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2011-05-10; DVD
Best price: $13.73
Price in other shops:
Doctor Who: Inferno (Story 54)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2006-09-05; DVD
Best price: $22.66
Price in other shops:
Doctor Who: The War Games (Story 50)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2009-11-03; DVD
Best price: $34.24
Price in other shops: