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TARDIS Guide

Overview

First aired

Saturday, January 3, 1970

Production Code

AAA

Written by

Robert Holmes

Directed by

Derek Martinus

Runtime

100 minutes

Time Travel

Present

Story Arc (Potential Spoilers!)

Exile on Earth, Working for UNIT

Inventory (Potential Spoilers!)

TARDIS magnet

Location (Potential Spoilers!)

Ashbridge Cottage Hospital, Earth, England, London, Oxley Woods, UNIT HQ

Synopsis

Forbidden to continue travelling the universe by his own people, the Time Lords, and exiled to Earth in the late 20th century, the newly regenerated Doctor arrives in Oxley Woods accompanied by a shower of mysterious meteorites. Investigating the occurrence is the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT for short), an organisation which had previously been associated with the Doctor during the Cybermen's invasion.

Led as before by Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, UNIT is soon in action when people and meteorites start going missing. Most puzzling is the attempted kidnapping of a strange hospital patient: a man with two hearts, who insists that he knows the Brigadier.

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4 Episodes

Episode 1

First aired

Saturday, January 3, 1970

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Robert Holmes

Directed by

Derek Martinus

UK Viewers

8.4 million

Appreciation Index

54

Synopsis

As the newly-regenerated Doctor arrives on Earth, so does the Nestene too.


Episode 2

First aired

Saturday, January 10, 1970

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Robert Holmes

Directed by

Derek Martinus

UK Viewers

8.1 million

Synopsis

UNIT's attempts to locate the meteorites are hampered by the mysterious plastic Autons, being constructed by Channing at a nearby factory, while the Doctor makes another attempt to escape from the hospital.


Episode 3

First aired

Saturday, January 17, 1970

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Robert Holmes

Directed by

Derek Martinus

UK Viewers

8.3 million

Synopsis

Ransome manages to escape from the plastics factory and alert UNIT, prompting the Doctor and the Brigadier to start an investigation.


Episode 4

First aired

Saturday, January 24, 1970

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Robert Holmes

Directed by

Derek Martinus

UK Viewers

8.1 million

Appreciation Index

57

Synopsis

With UNIT's investigation being blocked by the Replica of Scobie, the Doctor and Liz visit Madame Tussaud's to try and find out more as Channing prepares to activate the Autons.



Characters

How to watch Spearhead from Space:

Reviews

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13 reviews

A brilliant start to my favourite classic Doctor. Jon Pertwee suits the role immediately. Liz Shaw is good as the companion, more competent than most female companions. We get the familiar face of Brigadier, giving this a nice connection to the previous era.


Scottybguud

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INCREDIBLE start to the Third Doctor era. I LOOOOVE the whole vibe going on. I'm so excited for more of this.
Also just like... the fact that it's in color helps so much lmao
A+.

Azurillkirby

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  • Made on film, and looks stunning
  • Iconic introduction to this era and one of my favorite companions ever, Liz Shaw
  • The Autons are their best in this story, they are creepier and scarier when written like this
  • The story just rolls on beautifully
  • The ending might have needed a re-draft, but at least wasn't terrible

KieranCooper

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This review contains spoilers!

Spearhead from Space is an incredibly strong start to the Third Doctors era. It acts as a soft reboot,completely reformatting the show from adventures through time and space into, literally, a more grounded, earthbound era of the show. A bold move, and one that pays off. Pertwee is off to an immediately great start as the Doctor, Courtney returns as the Brigadier and John is strong as Liz Shaw. It is a great cast.

The script is strong, it runs at a good length and develops the Doctor well across the four episodes. The autons are a great threat and have a degree of creepiness to them, the threat builds well and manages to have both human and inhuman aspects to its threat.  Spearhead from Space boldly takes the show into a new direction and era in style and substance.


Shayleen

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This review contains spoilers!

As both the first colored story of Doctor Who Classic Era, The first episode of the Third Doctor, this was a delightful story to watch. Autons being introduced in this story was a good choice.

P.S: Autons were also the first evil protagonists of the very first episode of Doctor Who Revival Era.


utkusahna

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Statistics

AVG. Rating592 members
4.21 / 5

Trakt.tv

AVG. Rating648 votes
3.95 / 5

Member Statistics

Watched

1041

Favourited

176

Reviewed

13

Saved

5

Skipped

1

Quotes

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LIZ: Then what do you do, exactly?

BRIGADIER: We deal with the odd, the unexplained, anything on Earth, or even beyond.

LIZ: Alien invaders? Little blue men with three heads?

BRIGADIER: Ten tons of alien material drift through space and land on this planet every day.

LIZ: And do no harm to anyone.

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Transcript Needs checking

Episode One

[UNIT Tracking station]

(On Earth, a bored, sweaty, uniformed radar operative sees a line of dots appear on his screen. He grabs the internal telephone.)

TECHNICIAN: Duty Officer, please. Urgent.

(A woman in the same uniform enters.)


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