Spearhead from Space Episode 3

The one where the Auton smashes up Brook Cottage...

The Autons really are bloody terrifying, aren't they? They were never as viscerally effective again as they are in their debut, in their mundane boiler suits and silver boots. In the cliffhanger reprise we discover they have guns secreted inside their wrists, and when Ransome makes a dash for it, the Auton chases him - yes, it runs after him! No lumbering in lukewarm pursuit for these chaps!

By far the best sequence in episode 3 is the Auton attack on the Seeley home, Brook Cottage. Derek Martinus continues to direct like he's auditioning for a Hammer horror film, and it all makes for chilling footage. Betty Bowden is magnificent as the scared but brave Meg Seeley, whose initial discovery of the energy unit in the shed brings the Auton to her door. Martinus makes the connection between the Auton and the energy unit signal by giving us an establishing shot of Brook Cottage, then panning rapidly left to the woods, then crash-zooming in on the emerging Auton as it approaches the dwelling. This is edge-of-the-seat stuff!

Martinus does not shy away from showing how terrifying this would all be for your grandmother either. When Meg hears her dog barking indoors ("Barney, what you at?"), she wonders if Sam's come home, but you can tell she isn't sure. Then we hear poor Barney whimper, and Bowden's face is a picture of uncertainty and rising fear. When she hears violence inside the cottage, her concerns are vindicated. She creeps inside, and the viewer is watching with bated breath as she happens upon the scariest home invasion imaginable. She finds the Auton standing stock still, facing away from her, until it turns on her and the camera once again crashes in on the creature's implacable face.

Meg flees to the shed and manages to load a shotgun and empty it into the approaching Auton's chest, but to no avail. It just keeps on coming, slowly, menacingly, until the scene cuts away, and when we return, we see poor Meg lying unconscious on the ground (she's not dead - thank you, Robert Holmes!). Martinus then keeps the camera outside, at a good distance, as we hear the Auton continue to ransack the cottage looking for the energy unit. This distancing of the viewer from what's happening inside makes it feel like we have discovered a burglary in progress, and the camera holding back represents that initial reticence to get involved.

Martinus then pans slowly, sorrowfully, over the trashed cottage as we hear the Brigadier knocking on the front door, before he bursts in and they find the Auton in the back yard, still searching for the energy unit. UNIT soldiers open fire at point blank range, but still it comes, unmoved, undamaged, until Channing recalls the Auton and it sprints away full-pelt. Again, that quick-change from blank-faced, lumbering, staggering automation, to high-energy escape mode is unsettling. What Derek Martinus achieves in this entire sequence is nothing short of terrifying, certainly masterful - and one of Doctor Who's scariest ever episodes.

Derek Smee continues to impress with his portrayal of poor John Ransome's descent into disturbia, and the creeping pan in on his gibbering face as he's offered a cup of tea, and it spills down his chin, is highly effective. This is a very disturbed man, someone deeply affected by what he saw at the Auto Plastics factory. I think I'd be pretty rattled too, if I was made redundant, found my old workshop was now a bizarre alien control room, and was then chased away by a moving shop window dummy with a gun for a hand!

Ransome's ultimate fate is tragic, as the Auton finally tracks him down, tearing through the back of the UNIT tent and killing him ("Total destruction!"), but the worst of it is that nobody ever finds out what happened to him. As far as the Brigadier and co are aware, the Auton took him away from the tent back to the factory, which is why they go there to look for him. Ransome is such an important character in events, ostensibly joining the dots between UNIT's investigations and the events at Auto Plastics, and his demise is truly heartbreaking.

The Doctor is on top form now, although his naughty attempt to scarper in the TARDIS is pretty unforgivable. I'm not sure his predecessor would have opted to leave the Brigadier in the lurch like that! "I couldn't bear the thought of being tied to one planet and one time," moans the Doctor after discovering that the Time Lords have "changed the dematerialisation code" (not, it seems, erased his memory of how to work it). The Brigadier has been mistrustful of this chap calling himself the Doctor so far, withholding the TARDIS key for safe keeping, but it seems his distrust is well-placed!

One other interesting thing: the Doctor explains to Liz that the TARDIS is "dimensionally transcendental", but doesn't actually explain what that means. At no point does he say that it's bigger on the inside, so if he's trying to establish what the TARDIS is for Liz (and any new viewers out there), he's doing a poor job. The fact the TARDIS is bigger on the inside won't be demonstrated on screen until The Claws of Axos, and Liz Shaw herself never gets to see this on TV, so it's an odd thing for Holmes to merely half-explain the nature of the Doctor's Ship.

There's some more startling direction when the Brigadier, the Doctor and Liz visit Auto Plastics and the Brig spots Channing lurking behind a corrugated glass window. It looks really weird, only adding to Channing's oddness, and I love how, as Hugh Burden backs away, his eyes multiply like a spider's, reflecting the octopoid/ arachnid nature of the Nestene (who we have yet to meet).

The cliffhanger sees General Scobie - who has so far hovered around the narrative like a leper at a school disco - answer his front door to an exact replica of himself! It's another classic WTF moment as the shiny-faced copy crosses the threshold and advances menacingly on its human template!

First broadcast: January 17th, 1970

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The Auton vs Meg Seeley. Terrifying!
The Bad: Would the Doctor we know from the past really up sticks and leave the Brigadier to it like that? This new Doctor certainly has an edge to be wary of!
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★★★

NEXT TIME: Episode 4...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode 1; Episode 2; Episode 4

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/04/spearhead-from-space.html

Spearhead from Space is available on BBC DVD as part of the Mannequin Mania box set. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Mannequin-Mania-Spearhead/dp/B004P9MROY/.