Spearhead from Space

The other night I watched Jon Pertwee's debut story, Spearhead from Space, on DVD, for the first time in quite some years.

I first saw this story in 1988 when it was released on BBC Video. In fact, I was one of Doctor Who Magazine's competition winners. The thrill of not only winning the shiny new video tape, but getting my name printed on the sacred pages of DWM was all so exciting. I was so chuffed with myself, I even took the video to school and the teacher allowed the whole class to watch the story!

But this is one classic Doctor Who story that never fails to entertain me. I must have seen it a hundred times, but it still has that special classic Who quality to it.

Everything about it worked perfectly. OK, the Autons might look less convincing today, but they're still darned creepy. The smooth, shiny evil mastermind, Channing, makes a very charismatic and well-presented villain and a sadly short-lived one.

There are many memorable performances, from Pertwee's newly regenerated Doctor suffering from amnesia, to the dribbling trauma-induced Ransome, the ever-stubborn Brigadier and of course, not forgetting the big, brown rubber tentacles at the end. But the Oscar really ought to go to whoever was doing the barking dog impression at the Seeley's residence...

Spearhead was the first adventure for Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor, the first story to be shown in colour, and the first story to feature the deadly Autons, who would sadly only make one other appearance before waiting 35 years to appear in the show again, in Rose, the very first episode of the revived series. Just in case you forgot.