Spearhead From Space

Dear Gary—

“That’s not me at all,”and yet, “oh, I don’t know, I think it’s rather distinctive actually.”And so the Doctor stumbles out of the TARDIS not as Patrick Troughton but as Jon Pertwee.

And he stumbles out not in black and white but in color. Doctor Who is truly shaking off the old and putting on the new, including a new format of an Earth bound, TARDISless Doctor.

The show does this quite well, though. It doesn’t overwhelm us with the changes. It starts with the familiar sight of the TARDIS landing in a well-frequented location (Earth); and before even revealing the face of the new Doctor we are met with an old friend in the Brigadier. This is still Doctor Who, despite the radical departures from the past.

“We deal with the odd; the unexplained; anything on earth—or even beyond.” Leave it to the Brigadier to sum up not only UNIT but Doctor Who. And leave it to the unflappable Brigadier to sum up the new Doctor: “Extraordinary business.”

The Brigadier is all business, extraordinary or otherwise, and he’s not going to let a little thing like a completely altered appearance keep him from enlisting the Doctor’s help, whether he is or isn’t the Doctor. And it is no surprise that he introduces an equally unflappable scientist as the new female companion to the Doctor (Liz Shaw).

“I deal with facts not science fiction ideas,” Liz tells the Brigadier.

“I’m not a fool; I don’t chase shadows,” the Brigadier responds, and he goes on to explain that there is “a remote possibility” that “outside your cozy little world other things could exist.”

This presence of three adult, strong minded individuals takes us all the way back to the beginning. It hasn’t been since William Hartnell’s Doctor with Ian and Barbara along for the ride that we have seen such a powerful combination.

Miss Shaw and the Brigadier both deal with facts, and the Doctor is a fact. He exists; he may well have a new face, but he exists. He may well be extraordinary, but he is a reality. Liz Shaw and the Brigadier in essence see eye to eye; but they don’t see it that way. They are at odds from the start; two strong personalities butting heads. It takes the Doctor to intercede. What she won’t accept coming from the Brigadier Liz takes at face value from the Doctor.

But let me back up a moment, Gary. Because we do have a new Doctor. And not only does he have a new face, but we get some new details about him as well. To begin with, for the first time we learn that the Doctor has two hearts. The concept of a race with more than one heart was first floated back in The Dominators, but this is the first that this has been attributed to the Doctor. We also discover that his blood is not the same as human blood, and that his heartbeat (beats?) can go as low as 10 per minute. Additionally, he is capable of putting himself into a self-induced coma.

We learn all of this before he ever wakes up.

When he does wake up we are allowed several minutes of introduction. With Patrick Troughton we were off and running immediately and hardly had time to digest the new personality. With Jon Pertwee we get some moments of self discovery as he critiques his new face in the mirror; next we are treated to some silent and surreptitious scrambling to evade hospital personnel as he endeavors to escape; and finally we are witness to his wardrobe selection. This is not some quick ten second run in the cupboard and grab something out. No, we have a leisurely paced foray into a lounge (Doctors only) where he takes a relaxed shower (and we get just the merest glimpse of Doctor butt) complete with song and in a fabulously antique tub, and then he thoughtfully chooses his new outfit from the clothes left hanging in the room. A wordlessly wonderful overture.

Of course the action does eventually take over, but how delightful that we are able to first get to know this new Doctor in this brief but intimate portrait.

William Hartnell was a grandfather who usually left the manual work to Ian; Patrick Troughton was a ball of unfocused energy who did lots of running; from our first encounter with Jon Pertwee we get the idea that he is a man of studied action, physical and athletic. Even the cobra tattoo on his arm states: this is not your father’s Doctor.

The story also introduces a new alien monster for the Doctor to fight—the Nestene Consciousness. (It hadn’t struck me until watching this again, Gary; this, too, is the alien chosen for the introductory Eccleston story to usher in the modern era of Doctor Who.) And as I have come to expect, Spearhead From Space has both an excellent script and an excellent supporting cast.

Some have lamented the fact that the show loses something by going to color, and there is a lot to be said for the shadows and subtleties of black and white. However this new era of Doctor Who being ushered in with a new Doctor lends itself well to color. True, the cheap sets look even cheaper and the cheesy monsters look even cheesier, but the color clearly tells us that this is a Doctor Who for the modern world.

My only complaint with this excellent story is the ending. It was sufficiently tense, creepy, and gripping up until the end.  The store mannequins crashing through windows, the wax museum at night with dummies coming to life, the farm wife loading a shotgun to face off against an Auton, all deliver. Then we get a giant fake octopus in a tank and the Doctor mugging for the camera as he wraps the octopi arms about himself and we are in for a letdown of a denouement.

The end notwithstanding, Spearhead From Space is a strong entry in the Doctor Who canon and bodes well for the Pertwee era. The Doctor is stranded on Earth—the Time Lords have changed the dematerialization code of the TARDIS and he has a limited memory loss—but he is stranded in good company between the Brigadier, Liz Shaw, and UNIT.

He dismisses the Brigadier’s offer of money, but the Doctor will stay on as UNIT’s scientific advisor as long as he is provided with a lab, equipment, facilities to help him repair the TARDIS, and the assistance of Liz Shaw. And he resurrects the pseudonym of John Smith for this earthly sojourn.

Yes, Gary, I am looking forward to this freshly re-invented Doctor Who era. I know I ranked Jon Pertwee in the middle of the pack initially. Judging from this first entry, I’m open to moving him up a notch or two.  He isn’t the Doctor at all . . . and yet, he is rather distinctive actually. Perhaps he is the Doctor after all; a new Doctor; a Doctor for a new age. Yes, Jon Pertwee is the Doctor.

And I will leave you with that, Gary. Jon Pertwee is the Doctor .