Spearhead From Space | Doctor Who Marathon From The Beginning | EVERYTHING Changes! 

This is my absolute personal favourite era in Dr Who: Pertwee on Earth with UNIT, especially with the introduction of Roger Delgado's definitive Master. Wonderful stuff.

Spearhead is where Robert Holmes proved he really got Doctor Who. He was the perfect writer to transition to a new era. Also it has that sort of cinematic quality due to it all being on film. Great stuff!

This is went I started watching as a kid. At the time knowing only knowing Pert wee as the doctor.He is why I loved the show it as been years since I watched this .Afraid that it would not compare against Today's WHO. It was brilliant Pert wee is still my Doctor

It's hard to overstate just how big of a change all of this was. I mean they essentially wrote the TARDIS out of the show for goodness sake, the thing that was the original core premise. It was a big risk

I actually went to a halloween party dressed in a blue boiler suit and plastic mask with a badge saying “Joe”, I did have to explain the joke to s few people. Btw Jon Pertwee trained in Aikido for his part with the Late Technical Director of what is now the British Aikido Federation

This is my top classic Who story. Maybe because its all shot on film and its my first definte WHO memory of seeing pertwee in the wheelchair escaping from the auton ambulance crew. Also Ranson to me looks like ayoung Tony Blair

This is the only classic Doctor Who story that can be watched in True HD, and that is definitely noticeable. Visually this is the best looking Classic Doctor Who story ever in my opinion. The blu-ray release of this story is gorgeous looking!

That "tentacled squid" Nestene was the result of a comparatively late change. The original design had Pertwee wrestling with what looked like a giant condom.

I think this story is very much a statement of intent rather than a great story for me, but it lays all the ground work for the era going forward. I really love this era although I didn’t when I was younger.

Your marathon is starting to catch up to my personal marathon. I need to get cracking so I can stay ahead!

The factory here is the same one used for "The Invasion " two years earlier 🎩

the first episode star bit slow at first before story gets fast going by episode 2

I like Ransom's over the top acting. He's just seen walking mannequins so he's going to be freaking out somewhat!

I tend to agree with you on the 3rd doctor's era. And much like you, I find new things to appreciate on a rewatch

I've only gone through the classic era once so far, but my feelings on the Pertwee era mirror yours. I think it boasts some of the show's strongest and most consistent writing, fronted by a Doctor I like but don't love.

I have a pretty special relationship with this one. And it's not because of the amazing script, performances, chemistry, the super creepy Autons (who never look this good ever again), it's simply because this was my introduction to Jon Pertwee's Doctor. How is this you ask, when you consider I can't possibly be old enough to have seen it on first transmission...? (I assume you did think that, because I'm not!) Back in '88, when I was getting into Who proper, Spearhead came out on VHS (omnibus edition, mind, and yes I did buy the uncut version a couple of years later), and to this day whenever I see the cover, I go on pure nostalgia overload. As for 'unhand me, madam', I'll raise you 'shoes, must find my shoes'. Love, love, love. Also, is it just me, or is Liz at this point more or less a copy of Anne? A look at what might have been had Anne stuck around? (Liz's introduction to the Doctor and the Brig notwithstanding.) - AFA

Liz Shaw is SO underrated,but this maybe for her modest 4 story total🎩

The last minute change to filming this story on location (instead of videotape within the studio) probably resulted in a little of the awkwardness you sense in this story. But it’s a tantalizing peek at what could have been had this production approach been retained moving forward. Imagine having the entire Pertwee (and Baker) era on high definition film instead of standard definition videotape.

Spearhead is a weird one - as a statement of intent for a new era it's great, as an actual narrative the parts are better than the whole. Mind you Pertwee's first season is a weird one - very dark and apocalyptic in a way the rest of his era mostly wouldn't be - very Doctor Who Does Quatermass. Liz is a great character that the series doesn't seem to know what to do with. It's all very conspiracy thriller, X Files etc etc. I think there's some great stuff here, but you can see why they pivoted to a more comic book glam rock tone!

Going from black and white to colour must have been quite a treat Its remarkable how a colour can change a story. It reminds me of an interesting story i picked up many years ago. Apparently when in production of “the happiness patrol” it was intended to be a film noire style and was going to be intentionally black and white ( which is why the costumes and sets are somewhat bright colours to help give the grey contrasts). However they decided it maybe a risk. After hearing this I adjusted my T V so i could watch it in Black and White and I found it really changed my viewing.

Yes, I find the "unhand me, madam" hilarious aswell

Spearhead is one of those episodes I have reevaluated so many times over the years. My first PBS recorded tape of Who had The Five Doctors on it, so I was already familiar with Pertwee when our local PBS looped back from the then current airing of season 21 back to season 7. Spearhead always looked so odd and unsettling when we first recorded it, being on film rather than the video tape quality I was more familiar with, and the autons and Channing were very terrifying and effective. However, my child self would often skip over this story to jump to my personal favorite of The Silurians. But as I grew older, Pertwee kept climbing higher and higher in my favorites, and that brought me back around to Spearhead with a new appreciation.

Although I have very sketchy memories of The Mind Robber and The War Games, Spearhead was the story where I became a fan of the show. To the 8 year old me in 1970, Jon Pertwee was the perfect Doctor. Now I’m almost 62, and he still is. Serious, intense, authoritative, but not without a sense of humour, JP is everything I want in a Doctor.

I have a pretty special relationship with this one. And it's not because of the amazing script, performances, chemistry, the super creepy Autons (who never look this good ever again), it's simply because this was my introduction to Jon Pertwee's Doctor. How is this you ask, when you consider I can't possibly be old enough to have seen it on first transmission...? (I assume you did think that, because I'm not!) Back in '88, when I was getting into Who proper, Spearhead came out on VHS (omnibus edition, mind, and yes I did buy the uncut version a couple of years later), and to this day whenever I see the cover, I go on pure nostalgia overload. As for 'unhand me, madam', I'll raise you 'shoes, must find my shoes'. Love, love, love. Also, is it just me, or is Liz at this point more or less a copy of Anne? A look at what might have been had Anne stuck around? (Liz's introduction to the Doctor and the Brig notwithstanding.) - AFA

3 minutes in and I'm not listening to whatever you're saying - but wondering "Has Chris dislocated his shoulder?" Boy that looks an uncomfortable stance. The Autons coming to life and smashing through shop windows is actually one of the most mis-remembered things about the series, and doesn't actually happen until Rose. Clever footage and sound effects was all that was needed in late 69 when filmed. They may have created the moment in Thirty years in the TARDIS documentary though.

I rate this story just the same. But it's possibly because the first three episodes move at the pace of The War Games -- epic and lovely-- but then the last one does the opposite of every Troughton era episode except perhaps the Tomb of the Cybermen and part six of Enemy of the World-- it rockets! It's the last three episodes of a 60s Who six-parter in one. While some people love that, i find it both exciting and a bit messy. It's all big set pieces and several aren't great. Famously one feels really ridiculous-- a bit better than just a few years earlier with WOTAN and Sea People and Macra -- but it's so fast you don't have to notice that much. If you don't want to, that is. For stylish new eras of Who season opening stories, i rate it high, but Leisure Hive and Deep Breath I rate just a tad higher.

when you get to end of season 7 1970 ask which is most underrated and which will say overrated