Mannequin Mania

Two classics from my favorite writer from the original series, Robert Holmes.

First up Spearhead from Space. Aside from being the first story to feature Jon Pertwee's Doctor, it's also the first story made in colour and on film no less; something that was a happy accident for the production (a strike having put paid to the original plan to record the studio scenes at Television Centre and per usual) and one that does wonders for it. Watching it again it reminded me of an episode of The Avengers instead of Doctor Who.

Of course, Spearhead also introduces us for the first time to the Autons, one of the most effective monsters ever made for the series simply because they can take the form of whatever they like. Who can forget the scene from episode 4 when they begin their invasion by marching down Ealing Broadway?

Again it's easy to see why Russell T. Davies' paid homage to this in 2005s Rose (also, as Derrick Sherwin and Terrance Dicks both point out in the commentary, everyone thinks the glass was smashed in the original. But it never was, only hinted because the BBC couldn't afford to replace the glass!). 

Terror of the Autons, the second story included in this set, also has a number of firsts to claim. The first story to feature The Master, Jo Grant and Captain Mike Yates. Also, while Spearhead takes a somewhat more adult approach to its storytelling, Terror really marks the beginning of the cosy UNIT family which would last for the rest of the Pertwee era. It also contains a lot of dodgy Chromakey (a.k.a. blue screen or Colour Separation Overlay at the BBC liked to call it) effects which would also be a hallmark of the Pertwee era (though as Phil Collinson, producer of the 2005 relaunch, points out in one of the documentaries on the DVD people in 40 years time will probably also say the same thing about some of the effects used in the new series).

Best thing about Terror is Roger Delgado's Master, who manages to outshine Jon Pertwee (something that I'm sure went down well with him!). He's very suvave, very dangerous and has a nice line in black humour (I love his line when discussing how McDermott gets killed by an Auton plastic chair: "He sat down in this chair and just slipped away.").

As I said in the beginning of this post, these are two classics by Robert Holmes and are in some ways a template of what was to come when he took over as script editor for Tom Baker's first three years as the Doctor. Out of the two, I think Spearhead is the strongest for its adult approach to Doctor Who. But both are great examples of classic Doctor Who.