Doctor Who - Spearhead From Space

Starring: Carole Ann Ford, Jon Pertwee Director: Chris Clough, David Maloney, Fiona Cumming, Michael E Briant, Pennant Roberts Original UK Premiere: 1970 Dvd Release: 29th January, 2001 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: PAL, Region 2 Encoding Subtitled In: English

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Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series produced by the BBC about a mysterious time-travelling adventurer known only as The Doctor. It is also the title of a 1996 television movie featuring the same character. The programme is a significant part of British popular culture, widely recognised for its creative storytelling, use of innovative music & low-budget special effects. The show has become a cult television favourite on par with Star Trek. It has influenced generations of British genre television writers, many of whom grew up watching the series. Doctor Who ranked third in a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century. The list was produced by the British Film Institute in 2000 & voted on by industry professionals. A new series of Doctor Who television episodes is being produced by the BBC. It is scheduled to broadcast on BBC One in Spring 2005. History of Doctor Who Doctor Who debuted on BBC television on November 23, 1963. The programme was born out of discussions & plans that had been ongoing for a year.

Spearhead from Space is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in four weekly parts from January 3 to January 24, 1970. The serial opened Season 7 of the show & was the first to feature Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor. It also introduces Caroline John as Liz Shaw. The Doctor, having had his regeneration forced by the Time Lords, has been exiled to Earth. A swarm of meteorites falls on the English countryside & a poacher discovers a mysterious plastic polyhedron at the crash site. In the meantime, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart of UNIT is trying to recruit Dr Elizabeth Liz Shaw as his scientific advisor & investigate the unusual meteorite falls. The plastic polyhedron is actually a power unit for a non-physical alien intelligence known as the Nestene Consciousness. Normally disembodied, it has an affinity for plastic & is able to animate humanoid facsimiles made from that material, known as Autons. The Nestene have taken over a toy factory in London & plan to replace key government & public figures with Auton duplicates.

DVD Extras: The remastered picture & sound are exceptional for a 1970 TV show. Obviously in 4:3 & mono, this DVD offers technical quality easily as good as many feature films. There is a very friendly, if not especially informative, commentary from Nicholas Courtney & Caroline John, & subtitles that offer background facts & figures. With an amusing five-minute recruiting film for UNIT, repeat trailers & a gallery including previously unpublished photos, this excellent DVD is a Doctor Who fan's dream come true.

Spearhead from Space launched Doctor Who into the 1970s with not only a new Doctor, Jon Pertwee, but a new assistant, the scientist Liz Shaw & a regular place in the show for UNIT & Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart . It also marked the debut of the programme in colour & saw the Doctor stranded on Earth after Patrick Troughtons last adventure, The War Games . Not only that, but it proved the only serial in the shows history to be entirely shot both on film & location, giving it a uniquely cinematic feel. Regenerating in a country hospital, the Doctor finds himself helping the Brigadier investigate an unusual meteorite & its links with a sinister doll factory. The Autons are cybernetic killers, anticipating The Terminator by some 15 years, & the sequence in which they break through high-street shop windows to slaughter pedestrians remains a chilling highpoint of Doctor Whos entire history. Things do turn silly with a subplot involving a waxworks museum, while the ultimate battle with the Nestine consciousness is more likely to induce laughter than fear, but as vintage television nostalgia this is fast-moving splendidly characterised entertainment.

John Devon Roland Pertwee, better known as Jon Pertwee, was a British actor. He is best known for his roles in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, where he played the third incarnation of the Doctor & as the title character in the series Worzel Gummidge. He was also a talented comedian, his most famous comedy role being the conniving Officer Pertwee in The Navy Lark on BBC Radio & in another radio comedy series Waterlogged Spa. He also appeared in Carry on Cleo, Carry On Screaming!, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum & Carry On Cowboy. He made a guest appearance in the Lords & Ladies episode of the BBC Radio 4 comedy series Harry Hills Fruit Corner – playing a Time Lord of course. He was married twice, first to Jean Marsh, whom he divorced & then to Ingebourg Rhoesa, by whom he had two children, Sean & Dariel. Pertwee would continue to act in films & television as well as make appearances worldwide in support of Doctor Who until his death from a heart attack whilst on holiday in the American state of Connecticut on May 20, 1996. Posters Of Inferno

Editors Choice: Carry On Columbus, Worzel Gummidge, The Five Doctors, Christmas Special, Doctor Who, The Claws Of Axos, Inferno, Spearhead From Space, View DVDology

David Maloney is a British television director & producer. He is best known for his work on various science-fiction series, directing several instalments of the hugely popular Doctor Who between 1969 & 1976. He also worked as a producer, overseeing the first three seasons of another popular BBC science-fiction series, Blakes 7, during the late 1970s & early 80s. He also produced the BBCs famous 1981 adaptation of John Wyndham s novel Day of the Triffids.

Editors Choice: Ghost Light, Doctor Who, Blakes 7, Resurrection Of The Daleks, Carnival Of Monsters, The Green Death, Spearhead From Space, Tomb Of The Cybermen, View DVDology

Micheal E Briant is best known as a British television director, but he is also a producer & actor. When Michael was 21 he joined the BBC as an assistant floor manager in the drama department & a year later became a Production Assistant. In 1966 he took a Directors Course & whilst doing so he directed series such as Z-Cars & Doctor Who. During his time on Doctor Who, he had directed episodes such as Revenge of the Cybermen, The Robots of Death & The Sea Devils. He also appeared in both Revenge of the Cybermen & The Sea Devils, though it was only his voice that was heard. In the 1980s he went onto working directing episodes of the soap opera EastEnders, working with Julia Smith & Tony Holland, whom he had worked with on Z-Cars. Micheal E. Briant at the Internet Movie Database.

Editors Choice: Ghost Light, Doctor Who, Resurrection Of The Daleks, The Five Doctors, Secret Army, Blakes 7, Carnival Of Monsters, The Green Death, View DVDology

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