Cheap Doctor Who - Spearhead from Space (DVD) (Rex Tucker, Julia Smith, John Gorrie, Ron Jones (II), Alan Wareing, David Maloney, Richard Martin (IV), Peter Moffatt, Derek Martinus, Fiona Cumming) Price

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Customer Reviews of Doctor Who - Spearhead from Space

Exiled to Earth....
Jon Pertwee's first story is the best opening story of all of the Doctors, in my opinion.
The story has a very cinematic look, having been done entirely on film. The Doctor Who Restoration Team have done a fabulous job in restoring this story. It looks better than any PBS broadcast that I've ever seen.
The Autons are a nice departure from the usual Doctor Who enemy as they are a fairly convincing threat. Replacing public figures with replicas is kind of a scary thought!
The extras are good, especially the production subtitles, which you can turn on and learn many facts about the story. Caroline John (Liz Shaw) & Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart) provide an entertaining commentary, although the facts they share aren't anything that most fans didn't know already. Still, one can't expect them to remember every detail of a program they were in over 30 years ago!
The UNIT Recruitment film and trailers from a few years ago are nice. I wish that some interview footage of Pertwee from the 70s could have been included. It is possible that footage like this doesn't exist, as much of the BBC's archive holdings before 1975 are spotty.
A very enjoyable DVD and a worthy addition to any Doctor Who fan's collection.

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Welcome Doctor Who to DVD
With this release, fans everywhere can finally get what they want: Doctor Who on DVD. We've all been waiting for the show to arrive on disc, and although it's been a bit longer than we'd hoped, this disc (and the other two) are well worth it!

Spearhead from Space - Third Doctor Jon Pertwee's debut story, and the first shown in color - has been carefully restored and remastered for this DVD, and it shows. The DVD looks excellent, with sharp, vibrant colors and a vividness that US fans have never seen before. The disc far surpasses the murky compilation tape put out years ago, with a clear, bright picture, and many of the faults removed.

Besides finally being released episodically - as the story was both broadcast and meant to be seen - the extras are great too. They include a fun, funny commentary by Nicholas Courtney (The Brigadier) and Caroline John (Liz Shaw), some great Production Notes (listed as a subtitle track), a UNIT recruitment film, a "Who's Who" biography section, and even an Easter Egg.

It's nice to see that the BBC has picked such a good story for its first wave of DVDs. Not only is this a great Doctor Who tale full of action, it introduces us to the Third Doctor's era, the nasty Nestenes and their ability to control plastics, and the beginnings of the extended Doctor Who family the series would enjoy for the next five years. Let's hope all future releases are this nice!

All in all Spearhead From Space has been well-restored, has plenty of extras and entertains thoroughly. It's worthy of any Doctor Who fan's collection, and will easily replace any other version you've got. I highly recommend it.

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Brilliant!
This is naturally one of the all time greats, the start of
season seven, one of Who's finest, along with seasons fourteen and twenty, it is an atypically dark, atmospheric, sophisticated and adult season, and this is the kick off!
I notice one reviewer decided to stick the boots into this story and say "go watch Sylvester MacCoy, the intellectual pinnacle of the series". Well, if some dimwit hanging from his brolly trying to be funny is your idea of an intellectual pinnacle, then you should take this "fan" person's advice.
In my personal opinion, the "intellectual pinnacle" of Dr.Who was the period in which Christopher H Bidmead was either script editing or contributing scripts, alomng with the other writers he personally enocuraged to contribute to the series, such as the brilliant Christopher Bailey, SF author Steve Gallagher and writer/director Peter Grimwade. I refer to seasons 18, 19, 20, and 21. Stories like Warrior's Gate, Logopolis/Castrovalva, Kinda/Snakedance, and the trilogy Mawdryn Undead, Terminus and Enlightenment. Bidmead's idea that Dr.Who could be double layered, with a story which follows the conventions of a TV adventure serial on the first level and a serious examination of themes, issues and ideas about other people, cultures, societies and ways of life, was truly inspired and led to some stunning tales, which were as much Sapphire and Steel and Twilight Zone as they were classic Dr.Who. But MacCoy? His era was like a silly pardody aimed at kids. But Spearhead from space is great, not aimed at the "intellectual" end of the market perhaps, but still a slick, witty, clever blend of thriller, horror and SF, that is exciting and pleasing and ushers in an era that is mature and thought-provoking. The first of a few great eras, in fact. For my money, Pertwee and Davison, along with early Tom Baker, leave the rest largely in the shade, especially MacCoy! And this tale is one of Pertwee's finest! Now, where's Inferno?