"Like Swallows in Spring"

Welcome to the beginning of Doctor Who Stripped Down. We kick-off proceedings with part one of Spearhead from Space...

I was 3 months old when episode one of Spearhead from Space was originally broadcast. It's fair to say that I don't remember watching it. In fact, I didn't see it until it was released on video twenty years later (when, ironically, Paul Hayes was only three months old).

To be fair, Spearhead isn't your ordinary slice of Doctor Who. It's shot on film for starters - and in real, honest-to-God locations! This gives the show a gritty feel which is in direct contrast to the studio-bound cosiness that will eventually define the Pertwee era. Not that all of these real locations actually help. The walls might not fall over but the ambience is spoilt by echoing dialogue which makes makes the whole thing seem very cold and alien. Maybe that was the point?

But I'm getting ahead of myself. We have to treat Spearhead as a special case for all sorts of reasons:

1) it launched Dr Who in spangly colour
2) it introduced the 3rd Doctor to the masses
3) it initiated the cost-cutting "exiled-to Earth" formula.

In many ways this was a series reboot. It came at a time when the future of the show was in serious doubt. It regenerated a new Doctor (off-screen). It was made with higher production values than ever before. And it's got Autons in it. Sound familiar?

And that's why I choose this episode to kick off our Stripped Down Sessions. (there's another poor sod who's just arrived, extremely disappointed, from Google). It was a no-brainer, really.

And off we go:

I'm fairly sure that the opening of this episode will be ripped-off/homaged by 'Rose' in four weeks time - the slow zoom towards planet Earth looks remarkably like the teaser trailer ('teaser' being the operative word). I dunno, pandering to continuity in the first 15 seconds, I ask you!

We suddenly cut to a chap in front of a HUGE computer screen. He looks like he just stepped out of a sauna. What is he browsing to make him sweat like that? Turns out it isn't his bedroom but UNIT's answer to Jodrell Bank! We soon learn that strange objects have landed on Earth. From space. "I'm sure it had a shape." says the sweaty guy. Perhaps it was (s)pear-shaped? Either way the sweaty guy from UNIT is visibly cacking himself. How did he ever get a job in an organisation set-up to thwart alien invasions?

Cue the TARDIS. It sounds knackered (which it is) but at the time I'm sure fans tutted at the sloppy sound engineer who must have cued up the sound effect late. Jon Pertwee tumbles out, unconscious. Did the Time Lords prop him against the door or something?

Suddenly we're in a different show as slow jazzy porn music accompanies a no-holds barred expose of what it's like to be driven in a car.

The biggest difference between 70s Who and 00's Who is going to be speed. I expect to see two or three scenes crammed into the same time it took Liz Shaw to drive into UNIT HQ. If you remade this story with 21st century pacing it would last 42 minutes. Which is handy. It's like Esienstein had never been born...

Some of the direction is great though: the excellent tracking shot through the hospital corridor stands out as strangely sophisticated for this show.

It's also remarkably like the first episode of The X-Files with Caroline John as Scully and Nick Courtnay as mustachioed Mulder. If Liz thought the notion of alien invaders was ridiculous it's a bloody good job that the Brigadier didn't mention the fact that they were robotic Yetis - he would been laughed out of the room.

And then we get a scene with the chest X-Ray that is aped by the 1996 TV Movie (you begin to get the feeling that this episode is the first one new producers reach for when they get the green light). It's rather good actually and it builds up the tension nicely. I also love the way that Dr Henderson treats Mullins like shit which leads to him calling in the press.

The press conference itself is fantastic - almost documentary-esque - although I was half expecting one of them to announce that they were from Asian Babes. Yeah, it's very realistic and gritty.

Until somebody from UNIT opens their mouths, that is. The Brig's right-hand man, Monroe, is just so lyrical. "They just appeared like swallows in spring," he says at one point. He is obviously a struggling poet in between all the alien incursions.

And so - finally - to the new Doctor: a vain and deceitful shoe fetishist who tries to cop a feel from some nurse.

Okay, I'm being a bit harsh. At least he doesn't rub the back of his neck (probably because he is tied-up for most of the show). Actually, I think it's one of Pertwee's best performances; he's very vulnerable and unsure of himself here. There's only a smidgen of condescension on display and it's hard not to warm to him.

A brilliant twist occurs when we discover that one of the UNIT soldiers is related to the poacher who found the "meteorites"! This bit was very Ken Loach. Which is more than can be said for the comedy chase scene in the wheelchair. But to be fair, at least they start editing scenes for a change and the music was mildly exciting.

And then UNIT accidentally shoot the Doctor down in a hail of er... a bullet. This has to be the funniest cliffhanger ever - "Don't shoot, you stupid -" Tune in tomorrow when Corporal Smithers gets a right-old bollocking. And what is the next word? Idiot? Ponce?

OK, now it's your turn. If you only have a few opinions feel free to stick them in the comments section of this post. If you are an Author and have something more substantial to say please start a new post instead. Cheers - and happy viewing!

Comments

[Paul Hayes]

Hey, I was a little older than three months!

I was, in fact, six years old at the time. :-)

[Neil]

Six???? Well, that makes me feel a whole lot better!

[Paul Hayes]

I think I actually first saw Spearhead at around that time, actually. My brother was friends at school with a chap called Damien, who used to lend him the new videos and my brother and I would watch them together after he got home from school in the afternoons.