Spearhead from Space
(DVD)

 

Starring Jon Pertwee
4 Episodes
1970
100 minutes (color)
Single Disc




 

 

Production Notes
Doctor Who
Jon Pertwee

Liz Shaw
Caroline John

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Nicholas Courtney

Written by
Robert Holmes

Directed by
Derek Martinus
Produced by
Derrick Sherwin

Original Airdate
Jan 3, 1970 - Jan 24, 1970
US DVD Release Date
September 2001

Warner Home Video
#E1163

U.K. Cover

 

 



 

Cover Blurb
Exiled to Earth in the late 20th Century by his own people - the Time Lords - the newly regenerated Doctor arrives in Oxley Woods alongside a shower of mysterious meteorites. Investigating these unusual occurrences is the newly-formed United Nations Intelligence Taskforce - UNIT for short. Led by Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, UNIT are soon called into action when people and meteorites start going missing. Most puzzling of all is the attempted kidnapping of a strange hospital patient - a man with two hearts, who insists that he knows the Brigadier...

The new Doctor soon joins forces with his old friend, UNIT and the recently recruited Dr Liz Shaw, but time is running out...

Irregular things are happening at a nearby plastics factory, while faceless creatures lurk in the woods. The Nestenes have arrived, and want to conquer the Earth...

 

 



 

DVD Features

  • BBC 2 Repeat Trailers:

 There are 3 trailers included in this release.  The first two were made in 1999 for the BBC2 screening.  The intention was to screen the entire seventh season, but this plan was cancelled after 'Spearhead in Space' due to poor ratings.  The third trailer is also from 1999 promoting a special 'Doctor Who Night' on BBC2.
 

 
  • U.N.I.T.
    Recruiting Film:
 A tongue in cheek segment presented as a film to recruit possible new soldiers to defend our planet in U.N.I.T.  Nicolas Courtney narrates part of this 4 and a half minute segment that highlights the history of U.N.I.T. in Doctor Who.
 

 
  • Photo Gallery:
 A mixture of color and black and white stills showing many publicity stills from the production of this story as well as the casting of both Jon Pertwee and Caroline John.  Many of the pictures are rare or even never before seen.
 

 
  • Information Text:
 Another improvement to the DVD range was the addition of this feature.  Lots of trivia and tidbits of Whovian detail are provided.  The text appears intermittently along the bottom of the screen and is written by Richard Molesworth of the Doctor Who Restoration Team.
 

 
  • Who's Who:
 A feature unique to the North American DVD releases.  It lists short biographical information on many of the actors involved in the story.
 

 
  • Actor's Commentary:
 Commentary is provided by Nicolas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart) and Caroline John (Liz Shaw).  While both actors are enthusiastic and informative, this is one of the "drier" commentaries offered up in the range.
 

 
  • Easter Eggs:
 There is 1 egg included in this release.  Highlight the blank area below to find out more information.  For a full list of known Easter Eggs and screen grabs of them click HERE.

 

UNUSED/ALTERNATE OPENING TITLES

Click on the "Doctor Who" logo on the main screen
-or-
Press "6" on your DVD remote control

 

 

 

 

 

 

Additional Notes
  • The VHS version of this story was originally released in an edited "movie" (or Omnibus) format.  This means that individual episodes have been cut and pasted together into one viewing.  The BBC released Doctor Who videos like this until the early 90's.  Since then they have gone back and issued "re-releases" of virtually all of their omnibus versions.   In the U.S. they have only done two re-releases "The Brain of Morbius" back in 1997 and "Terror of the Zygons" in 2000.  The DVD release of "Spearhead from Space" marks the first time this story has been commercially available in its original episodic format.
  • Another major change to the program was the inclusion of the Doctor's exile on Earth.  For the next 3 seasons virtually all of the stories were to occur on present day Earth rather than some other planet.
  • Watch closely for the scene where the Doctor is hiding from the medical staff in the shower.  Apparently when he regenerated, he also got a free tattoo in with the deal.   :)
  • If the character of Hibbert looks at all familiar, that is because he is being played by none other than John Woodnutt.  Woodnutt has appeared frequently in Doctor Who.  His next appearance on the show would be that of the Draconian Emperor in "Frontier in Space."  He would later go on to play the double role of the Zygon commander Broton/the Duke of Forgil in the classic Tom Baker story "Terror of the Zygons."  His final appearance was as counselor Seron in Tom Baker's penultimate "The Keeper of Traken."
  • One alteration made to the DVD  is the removal of a Fleetwood Mac song overheard during an establishing shot of the plastics factory in episode 1.  When this story came up for release on DVD the royalties for the music rights were too high, and so the music was removed for the DVD version.
  • "Spearhead from Space" was given the usual expert cleanup treatment by the Doctor Who Restoration Team prior to DVD release for a repeat showing of Pertwee's first season as the Doctor on BBC2.  Unfortunately the lower than expected audience numbers meant that the repeat season was cancelled a short time later.  Because of all the restoration work done on this classic, it was an obvious choice for release on DVD.
     
  • Because this is an earlier DVD release, it is a bit thin when it comes to extras.  Most Doctor Who DVD's produced currently have considerably more bonus features than this disc.  Still a great release, though!

Top picture is from the VHS release while the bottom picture is from the DVD.  Screen capture courtesy of Doctor Who Image Archive.