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Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start...

Day 263: Spearhead From Space, Episode Three

Dear diary,

I've never particularly rated the look of the Autons in this story. They've always struck me as being just that little bit rubbish. Actually, though, they're scary! The first time we see one properly, in Episode Two, I genuinely found myself a little uncomfortable. I think it's partly down to the fact that the face isn't quite even - one eye sits lower than the other - it gives the creature something of a rough, unfinished look.

Scary enough when thrashing around in the woods, it's even more unnerving when one starts to move from a line up of them against the wall in the plastics factory. Suddenly, I can completely understand why people have always found them so effective. The way it moves when chasing after Mrs Seely, slow and lumbering, just adds to the illusion. At the factory, there's a point where one runs after Ransome, and it just looks a bit clumsy - they're much better when they don't need to hurry after you, because they'll catch you in the end.

The one thing that doesn't really work for me is the idea that they can use their guns to totally disintegrate Ransome in the UNIT tent. It's partly down to the story's setting - everything is very much embedded in the real world, even when you start to add in spheres falling from the skies and moving plastic dummies. The fact that it's all shot on film simply makes it look like any of the other action serials on TV at around this time, which only helps to enhance the idea that we're dealing with a real situation. So when the perfectly normal guns embedded in the plastic (another great idea, and one which is executed very effectively) turn out to be capable of such a complete disposal of their victim… it's the one thing that pushes my belief just that bit too far.

The Doctor is finally given a bit more to do today, and the time is spent brilliantly. I mused yesterday that I was finding myself surprisingly drawn to Pertwee's performance, and I'm pleased to say that it's continuing here. You really cheer for Liz when she takes it upon herself to steal the TARDIS key to let the Doctor into his ship, but then you do a full 180 degree turn and side with the Brigadier when it turns out that the Doctor has tricked her, and uses this as a chance to escape.

It's almost as though we're seeing a glimpse of the very early, selfish Doctor from the start of the programme when he decides that he simply cannot bear the thought of being trapped on Earth in one time period. The fact that he's willing to leave the Brigadier (a character he was so pleased to meet up with again during the vents of The Invasion) right when he's needed the most says an awful lot, but it only helps to make the character stinger.

While I'm on the subject - just how great is the sound effect of the TARDIS failing to take off? In some ways, it feels like they've simply thrown everything at it, but it really works. It's a shame we've not heard anything similar ever again when the TARDIS breaks down. We get plenty of new information about the ship here, too, which is perhaps ironic given that we're about to enter a phase where we'll not be using it all that much! It's the first mention of the ship being 'Dimensionally Transcendental' and talk of the 'Dematerialisation Code'. The Doctor also confirms that he's the only one who can open the lock, though this picks up on a suggestion made by Susan right back in The Sensorites.

I thought that the switchover to colour, and the introduction of a new team of regulars and a new format for the show was going to be a massive culture shock, and that I'd struggle to adapt to the new way. As it is, everything feels perfectly in keeping with what's gone before, while still managing to feel completely fresh and new. I've always thought of the UNIT era coming from nowhere and changing the show massively, but watching through in this 'one episode a day' format, you can see the ancestors of Spearhead From Space littered throughout the last few years of the programme. As much as I loved Troughton, and as much as I was dreading this point of the experiment, I'm really finding it to be just the right breath of fresh air…

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