Spearhead from Space

The Third Doctor, Jon Pertwee, makes his debut in the classic Doctor Who story, Spearhead from Space. After being on trial before the Time Lords, the Doctor’s appearance is changed and sent to earth. His TARDIS lands in a field outside of London where he steps out and collapses. He is found by some soldiers from UNIT and transported to a local medical facility.

The Doctor’s TARDIS isn’t the only alien transportation device to land in the woods. The Autons plastic balls land about the time as the Doctor’s TARDIS. Of course, the Autons landing means trouble for the people of earth. The Autons came to earth to colonize it.

The story consists of four episodes which aired between January 3rd and January 24th of 1970.(1)  Since I have not watched many of the first stories from 1963 to 1969, I am not sure if this is the first appearance of the Autons. But the Autons are part of another story later in the reign of Jon Pertwee.

The Autons are new for the Doctor. Therefore, he must work out how to defeat them. That is the best part to me. When you watch the show, as viewers we get to watch the gears of the Doctors mind work. That to me is one of the most interesting parts of the show.

For an introduction of the Third Doctor, Spearhead from Space does a good job. Pertwee gives the viewers a good look at what to expect from him as the Doctor. This fan saw enough after his first viewing years ago to fall in love with Pertwee. Therefore, this fan starts to watch more of the Third Doctor.

The story was interesting and keep me watching. Even though this time is not my first time to watch this story, I still enjoyed it. Barry Letts and the production crew did a great job. The progression of the story is not too slow or not too fast. Each episode stops with a cliffhanger which makes the viewer want to come back the next week. Barry Letts did a great job on the story making it worth watching again.