First Doctor Who adventure in color, and Jon Pertwee's debut

Spearhead from Space was a Doctor Who first in more ways than one. In addition to being Jon Pertwee's debut as the Third Doctor, Spearhead was also the first DW story in color, opening Season Seven after six years in black and white only. Also, this was the first story to feature the Nestenes and their creepy, plastic killers the Autons. Finally, Spearhead marked the beginning of the newly-regenerated Doctor's exile on Earth, which would last until the end of The Three Doctors during the show's tenth season. Jon Pertwee gets his Doctor off to a strong start in this story. Nicholas Courtney and John Levene are great to watch as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Sergeant Benton, respectively. Hugh Burden gives us a delightfully cold, calm villain in Channing. And Caroline John starts her season-long run as companion Liz Shaw. On this DVD, she joins with Nicholas Courtney for the commentary track. This was also the first Doctor Who DVD to feature the information text, or "Pop-Up Production Notes"--an extra which has gone over so well, it has been included on every Doctor Who DVD released ever since. Spearhead from Space was a strong start for the Jon Pertwee era, and for a period running through the Pertwee era into the mid-Tom Baker era which many fans of the classic series recall as the Golden Age of Doctor Who

Excellent story, good DVD

This was the first Doctor Who DVD I've purchased. The story is excellent and is very watchable multiple times. I also feel this is a good story to show my wife and friends (who have never seen Doctor Who before).

The DVD is well done considering that it was one of the first Dotor Who DVDs to come out. It only has one "featurette," a UNIT recruitment video, which is kind of silly but fun. The production notes are very sparse and mirror a lot of what Nicholas Courtney and Caroline John say in the commentary. Speaking of which, the commentary is of the anecdotal kind. I actually liked it though and I'm AMAZED at Nicholas Courtney's memory. He not only remembers what happened during filming, but he remembers Doctor Who continuity as well. The trailers are fun to watch (there are three of them).

There aren't a whole lot of features on the DVD (the weakest of which is the infrequent production notes) but they are fun. The production notes deduct .25 of a star, but since they don't award a 4.75 stars, I give the DVD a 5 (again, the story is excellent).

Brilliant!

This is naturally one of the all time greats, the start of
season seven, one of Who's finest, along with seasons fourteen and twenty, it is an atypically dark, atmospheric, sophisticated and adult season, and this is the kick off!
I notice one reviewer decided to stick the boots into this story and say "go watch Sylvester MacCoy, the intellectual pinnacle of the series". Well, if some dimwit hanging from his brolly trying to be funny is your idea of an intellectual pinnacle, then you should take this "fan" person's advice.
In my personal opinion, the "intellectual pinnacle" of Dr.Who was the period in which Christopher H Bidmead was either script editing or contributing scripts, alomng with the other writers he personally enocuraged to contribute to the series, such as the brilliant Christopher Bailey, SF author Steve Gallagher and writer/director Peter Grimwade. I refer to seasons 18, 19, 20, and 21. Stories like Warrior's Gate, Logopolis/Castrovalva, Kinda/Snakedance, and the trilogy Mawdryn Undead, Terminus and Enlightenment. Bidmead's idea that Dr.Who could be double layered, with a story which follows the conventions of a TV adventure serial on the first level and a serious examination of themes, issues and ideas about other people, cultures, societies and ways of life, was truly inspired and led to some stunning tales, which were as much Sapphire and Steel and Twilight Zone as they were classic Dr.Who. But MacCoy? His era was like a silly pardody aimed at kids. But Spearhead from space is great, not aimed at the "intellectual" end of the market perhaps, but still a slick, witty, clever blend of thriller, horror and SF, that is exciting and pleasing and ushers in an era that is mature and thought-provoking. The first of a few great eras, in fact. For my money, Pertwee and Davison, along with early Tom Baker, leave the rest largely in the shade, especially MacCoy! And this tale is one of Pertwee's finest! Now, where's Inferno?