Doctor Who: Mannequin Mania Box Set – Spearhead from Space / Terror of the Autons [DVD]
Doctor Who: Mannequin Mania Box Set – Spearhead from Space / Terror of the Autons [DVD]
When Doctor Who was revived for its modern day adventures back in 2005, its interesting choice of first monsters to bring back was the Autons. These mannequin-like beasts have since returned again, yet their pedigree goes right back to the 1970s, when they first did battle with Jon Pertwee’s incarnation of the Doctor. And it’s those encounters that the Mannequin Mania box set brings together. You get two stories for your money, here. Terror Of The Autons also throws The Master into the mix,
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Great stories – but only in a box?,
These are two great stories and very well restored. No complaints – the reason I gave just three stars is that Spearhead from Space has already been released; I own it. So, having to pay for two DVDs, just to get the Terror of the Autons, is annoying. Yes, Spearhead is improved, but only marginally so. If you don’t have either of these, it’s great value.
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|“You precious little planet is finished!”,
Doctor Who was in a perilous state at the end of Patrick Troughton’s tenure. Ratings had been in decline – so much so that few of Troughton’s stories even survive intact – and there was a strong possibility that if a new series didn’t improve matters, there wouldn’t be another.
Spearhead from Space is in many ways quite a unique story in the original series history, not only introducing the Third Doctor but also tweaking the format of the show remarkably successfully, with producer Derrick Sherwin using the more Earthbound Quatermass as his model while adding more action to turn it into more of an adventure series. It also has a unique look, and not just because the show made the leap from black and white to colour for the first time. While TV shows were traditionally shot largely on tape for studio interiors and 16mm film for exteriors, a BBC strike meant that Spearhead was shot entirely on film and on location. As well as giving the film a much more cinematic and adventurous look, this also ensured that after proper restoration this probably looks the best of any story from that era, with pin-sharp definition and superb colour on the remastered DVD that is a visible improvement on the previous release.
The Quatermass influence is particularly noticeable in the first half of the story. Like Quatermass II, it begins with meteorites being guided to a specific part of the English countryside where they are collected for a sinister purpose in a secret establishment, although it largely drops the government conspiracy angle that saw Nigel Kneale’s invaders taking over the halls of power and using the Official Secrets Act to keep prying human eyes away. There is a half-hearted attempt to gain access to the corridors of power, but here the military is in a more heroic light as the story introduces UNIT and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (previously seen in The Invasion) as series regulars for the now exiled on Earth Doctor. UNIT almost take centre-stage for much of the early running: after a brief appearance in long shot falling out of the TARDIS we don’t actually meet Jon Pertwee’s new Doctor until halfway through the first episode. Introducing the troubled regeneration theme that the series would consistently return to and which allowed each new Doctor to gradually find his unique character, it set the template for each new Doctor’s introduction. Indeed, elements of it would turn up in Paul McGann and Matt Smith’s introductions while the Autons would be used as the villains in for Christopher Eccleston’s first story in the revamped NuWho. And the Autons prove to be particularly memorable villains, the sequence where shop window dummies come to life and embarking on a killing spree on Ealing high street one of the series seminal images.
Documentary Down to Earth offers a concise and surprisingly frank account of the reinvention of the show, which had only been given a new series because the BBC couldn’t come up with a replacement. UNIT’s introduction was as much a practical as an aesthetic decision, designed to take some of the narrative strain and limit the amount of lengthy speeches Pertwee had to deal with, since the crippling 44-episode a year schedule and dialogue-heavy scripts had played a big part in an increasingly overworked and cantankerous Patrick Troughton’s decision to leave (the length of the run was also drastically reduced to keep the workload manageable). The accompanying featurette on the BBC’s conversion from black and white to colour is more technical, especially when detailing the creation of the new title sequence.
The Nestine and their Autons returned the following year in Terror of the Autons, which also saw the introduction of Roger Delgado’s the Master, then the diabolical Moriarty to the Doctor’s Holmes rather than a tiresome Joker wannabe. The script makes much of their similarities: both trapped on Earth, each thinks the other is almost as brilliant as they are, and each enjoys the other’s escapes because it prolongs their duel and sweetens the anticipation of their ultimate victory. The Master wasn’t the only new arrival, with Katy Manning making her debut as one of the Doctor’s most popular and long-serving assistants. Her job description may boil down to handing the Doctor his test tubes and telling him how brilliant he is, but her enthusiastic personality works wonderfully well in tandem with Pertwee’s Doctor and the pair have genuine screen chemistry without ever a hint of the romantic complications of the NuWho seasons.
Offering one of the more surreal images of the series in the form of a Time Lord, dressed as a civil servant complete will bowler and brolly, suspended mid-air outside a radio telescope, it downplays the Autons in favour of the menacing possibilities of a potential enemy to be found all over every home in the country: plastic. The influence is early horror films like Devil Doll and Dr…
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|Two Superb Stories!!,
Firstly the Restoration Team have done a fantastic job on restoring ‘Spearhead from space’, it’s much sharper and vibrant in colours where texture and detail are visible than the original release many years ago. And ‘Terror of the Autons’ is far superior in picture sharpness and colour, restored similarly to ‘Dr Who and the Silurians’ DVD. Obviously technology has come a long way since the VHS release. This is good as it will get considering the source material.
The extras on both discs are great, particularly ‘Down to Earth’ where Derrick Sherwin explains how creative the team had to be when ‘Spearhead from Space’ had to be shot entirely on film. The stunt work/explosions in ‘Terror of the Autons’ are brilliant.
The extensive photo galleries on both discs are superb, particulary on Terror of the Autons.
The pdf files include the a high resolution cover of the Radio Times cover for ‘Terror Of The Autons’ as well as Nestle sweets and story cards that came with it. The sugar smacks cereal boxes takes me back to childhood breakfast.
Just brilliant.
What would be nice is for 2Entertaintment to include the rest of the Jon Pertwee Annuals in PDF file and others like 10th Anniversary Radio Times Special. It seems the past few years they only include Radio Times listings.
The next Jon Pertwee DVD release won’t be until September 2011 with the Special Edition of ‘Day Of The Daleks’. This will include the original broadcast version on Disc 1 plus a second disc which will include a totally revamp CGI/Audio version that includes extra scenes, more Daleks/Ogrons. Daleks will fire lasers, more explosions etc. 2Entertainment have already given a brief preview trailer of a taste of what to expect which can be located on youtube.
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