Spearhead From Space was perhaps the biggest change Doctor Who had ever faced. For the first time, not only was the show was going to be in colour but the Doctor was also going to be stranded on Earth. No adventures set in the past, future or space. Everything on present day Earth.

They even decided to give the Doctor a job. He became the scientific advisor at UNIT. His boss: Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. This was in some ways a great move by the production team. It helped to make the Doctor more relatable. More like us. In other ways, however, it limited the scope of the show. No longer was it anywhere or everywhere, it was just London. Nevertheless, it worked and proved to be a huge success from the show.

Looking at the introductory story, it's not hard to see why. Sam Seeley (Neil Wilson) sees a shower of meteors come down in Oxley Woods and decides to take one back home when he notices a UNIT officer's interest in them. Meanwhile, the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) is found collapsed outside a police box and taken to the local hospital. The Brigadier enlists the help of scientist Liz Shaw (Caroline John) and eventually the Doctor to help investigate the mysterious meteors and combat an Auton invasion. It's a rather simple story for the show and that's why it works so well as the beginning of a new era. It's also why the new series frequently uses it as a blueprint to easing viewers into a new take on the show; this is exactly how to introduce a new era. They couldn't have possibly got it more right.

The Autons make for very effective monsters too. There's something rather eery about how their body and facial features resemble that of shop window dummies and Doctor Who is always a show that works well when it turns an everyday inanimate object into a force to be reckoned with. Let's face it: if you haven't seen a shop window dummy at some point in your life, then you haven't been out much. The Autons work so well that despite only featuring in two serialsof the classic series (they were also in Terror of the Autons) they have become one of the most iconic Doctor Who monsters of all time appearing in three new series stories (Rose, Love & Monsters, The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang) and even in a LEGO game (LEGO Dimensions). It's one of those monster creations that will survive the test of time. I have no doubt that we'll see an Auton invasion story in the future: perhaps in the Chris Chibnall era.

The Nestene Consciousness unfortunately are not as successful. It looks a bit too rubbery and thanks to Jon Pertwee's bizarre facial expressions during his fight with it doesn't appear like much of a threat. Its new series look was stronger overall.

It's not entirely fair to compare the two considering that with Spearhead they were operating on a shoestring budget and the new series has much more money but I do wish the classic series had been able to provide a better Nestene Consciousness for Jon Pertwee to fight as it is the only thing that lets the story down. Something more like this from the Terror of the Autons target book would have been preferable:

The cast are on top form. Jon Pertwee is amazing in his first appearance as the Doctor, especially when demonstrating how to communicate with your eyebrows on the planet Delphon. Nicholas Courtney is as brilliant as he was in The Invasion as the Brigadier and continues to be a highlight throughout the 3rd Doctor era. Caroline John is extremely convincing as the sceptical scientist tiring of the Brigadier's talk of the extraterrestrial. It's a crime that she generally tends to be forgotten as a companion of the Doctor's.

Overall, Spearhead From Space is a brilliant introduction story to the Jon Pertwee era and features one of the series' most iconic monsters in the Autons. Unfortunately, the Nestene Consciousness are less successful due to budget constraints but the cast are all on top form and due to the decision to exile the Doctor on Earth the character is more relatable than he was prior to the change.