Spearhead From Space

I think it is only appropriate for me to start my first review of a DVD on the show that really gave my first taste of British Television and really lead to my love of a lot of other British TV shows. The show I am speaking of is Doctor Who. It has been a little over 10 years since I seen my first serial of Doctor Who which was The Ribos Operation now it was not the greatest of Doctor Who serials, but it was decent enough for me to give the next serial in the series a shot The Pirate Planet written by the late Douglas Adams best remembered to the world for his creation of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The moment I put the tape in the VCR my eyes were glued to the screen with a wonderful performance from Tom Baker and Bruce Purchase as the Captain not to mention a great script and story written by Douglas Adams. The rest was history and I was addicted to the show. Now the real question is which DVD release should I start with and why? To answer that question it really comes down to a few factors. 1. Which serial would be a good place to introduce somebody to the original Doctor Who series? 2. Is that serial good enough to get that person to want to watch more? 3. Did that serial stand the test of the time? With all that factored in I believe the only place to start is with the Region 2 release of Spearhead From Space
. Spearhead From Space is the first serial to be in color as well as Jon Pertwee's first serial as the 3rd Doctor. This serial was first broadcast in four weekly parts from January 3 to January 24, 1970. It also introduces Caroline John as the Doctor's new assistant, Liz Shaw one of my favorite companions. Nicholas Courtney reprises his role as Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart and becomes a regular cast member beginning with this serial. In alot of ways it is a restart for the series almost like being the very first serial made for the show. From the back cover of the Region 2 release brief description Spearhead From Space by Robert Holmes Exiled to Earth in the late 20th century by his own people - the Time Lords - the newly regenerated Doctor arrives in Oxley Woods alongside a shower of mysterious meteorites. Investigating these unusual occurrences is the newly formed United Nations Intelligence Taskforce - UNIT for short. Lead by Brigadier Alistar Leftbridge Stewart, UNIT are soon called into action when people and meteorites start going missing. Most puzzling of allis the attempted kidnap of a strange hospital patient - a man with two hearts, who insists that he recogizes the brigadier... The New Doctor soon joins forces with his old friend, UNIT, and the recently recruited Dr Liz Shaw, but time is running out... Irregular things are happening at a nearby plastics factory, while he faceless creatures lurk in the woods. The Nestenes have arrived, and want to conquer Earth. This is also the first serial with the Autons a reoccuring alien inside the series. Special Features include an Easter Egg if you press left at the Play All of the creditless opening, BBC 2 Trailer Episodes 1 & 2 (1999) combined, BBC 2 Trailer Episode 3 (1999), BBC 2 Trailer Doctor Who Night (1999), Information Text which is basically like a subtitle track that pops up random information about the serial and certain places when they pop up nice addition, Commentary with Caroline John and Nic Courtney a standard thing on all Doctor Who DVD releases, a Photo Gallery, and a Unit Recruiting Film. As far as special features goes this a pretty barebone release when it comes out to stuff included on the newer Who releases and definately deserves antother release for this factor alone. With this release it was the first time living in the U.S. to where I was able to see this serial in full episodic format instead of being cutdown in a movie format like it was on VHS for the U.S. release . With that said today's material will be reviewed using a 47LH90 1080p LCD/LED TV with an OppoBDP83 BluRay player. What this setup allows me to do is watch the PAL release upconverted to a 1080p so I don't lose any video quality for the release. Story itself gets an A it is one the best from the original series, definately one that has stand up to the test of time, and my pick if someone is interested in being introduced to the original series this is one that will leave a person wanting more and answering alot of the questions the person may have of who and what is Doctor Who. Video quality - With being one of the first releases of the Region 2 line it suffers from what a lot of the first releases do which is noticable artifacting from compression and with it being the only serial all in film it shows more. It gets a C not the worst video quality and not the best I have came across either. However this is still a vast improvement over the original VHS release. Now I don't think most Who releases would benefit much by a release onto BluRay because majority of the scenes were shot in Video, but this serial has my vote as the one and only must for a BluRay release to get the best possible out of the video quality. I am going to stay away from sound for now on my reviews because I don't have a good enough stereo system hooked up to review it. Special Features - D I don't thik I have to say much as to why it gets a D it is pretty barebones compared to other releases especially the recent ones like the last serial to be released Creature From the Pit . Taking away the standard stuff on all Who DVD'd like the photo gallery, Information Text, and Commentary it does not leave much for extras except four trailers comparing that to Creature From the Pit
which includes a documentary on Christopher Barry a longtime director of Doctor Who, Team Erato - a look at the special effects used in Creature From the Pit, Animal Magic - Tom Baker tals on creatures he has met in his travels. Extended Scenes, and Radio Time Billings a standard extra feature on newer Region 2 releases it is easy to see why Spearhead gets a rating this low in this category from a line known for its special features. Overall this release gets a C mainly from the story itself saving it from a lower rating. Spearhead desparately needs and deserves another release to improve on the special features and video quality in which a new DVD release will do some justice, but in the case of this story and considering it was all shot on film it really deserves to be released onto the Blu Ray format instead to give this serial what it truly deserves.
Gene Hunt signing out.
Up Next Edge of Darkness The Complete Series a review of the DVD and the comparison of the series to the movie remake featuring Mel Gibson.