eponymous_rose

So last night I watched the Third Doctor serial "Spearhead from Space" for the first time. It has since become one of my favourite Doctor Who episodes evar! :D

So much love! UNIT! Liz! The Brigadier! Robert Holmes script! Autons!

And Pertwee is excellent - I remember mentioning that I thought he'd be one of my favourites, and I was right! The whole thing had a very Avengers feel to it, which made me all kinds of happy. Lots of wonderfully silly moments (the shower scene, the Doctor hugging his shoes protectively) are there to take the edge off what is really a terrifying episode (it's the details that do it: the blood on the windshield in the car crash, the excellent acting even in bit parts, the rampant violence of the Auton attack that could've been taken straight out of "Rose"!).

Every time I go back to watching Classic Who, I get annoyed at the Time Lords all over again. Seriously, how can you not get angry at them, dumping the newly-regenerated Doctor in a field in Essex and stranding him there? (Especially after all he may have done for them in Season 6B.) But the Brigadier's downright thrilled over the whole situation! Hee.

Robert Holmes always writes such awesome secondary characters! Which is good, because the Doctor's still comatose/regenerating in the first episode, and then recovering from getting shot in the second. And I love the little bits of snark (particularly the fade-out after the first cliffhanger: "Who told you to fire, you stupid...!").

The Brigadier is amazing, of course, and not just because of the hyphenated last name (what? It made learning to sign my name as a kid that much harder!). I love some of his early conversations with Liz - they're right out of the X-Files! He's kind of a Mulder/Skinner hybrid in this episode. And Liz is fairly Scully.

(stolen from the transcript)
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BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE-STEWART: Ah, good. Miss Shaw, I’m Lethbridge-Stewart. Do come in and sit down, will you?

(She takes up his offer and heads for a chair at the front of the desk but LIZ SHAW is not in a good frame of mind...)

LIZ: Was all that nonsense out there really necessary? Identity passes? Guards?

(The BRIGADIER closes the door.)

LIZ: I was even searched.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE-STEWART: Security.

(He takes his own seat on the other side of the desk.)

BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE-STEWART: Rather amusing, don’t you think?

(LIZ looks very coldly at him.)

BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE-STEWART: No, you don’t.
LIZ: I have an important research programme going ahead at Cambridge.

(The BRIGADIER reaches for a file, opens it and reads its contents.)

BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE-STEWART: Yes, I know. An expert in meteorites, degrees in medicine, physics and a dozen other subjects. Just the sort of all-rounder I’ve been looking for.
LIZ: How I feel doesn’t matter?

(The BRIGADIER puts on his most charming smile.)

BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE-STEWART: We need your help, Miss Shaw.
LIZ: I’m just not interested in security work.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE-STEWART: Security?
LIZ: Producing invisible ink - that sort of thing.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE-STEWART: We’re not exactly spies here at UNIT.
LIZ: Then what do you do - exactly?
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE-STEWART: We deal with the odd, the unexplained, anything on Earth...or even beyond.

(LIZ’S eyes open wide and an amused yet condescending smile appears on her face.)

LIZ: Alien invaders? (Sarcastically.) Little blue men with three heads?
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE-STEWART: Ten tons of alien material drift through space and land on this planet every day.
LIZ: And do no harm to anyone.

(It is the BRIGADIER’S turn to look cold.)

BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE-STEWART: Early this morning a shower of about fifty meteorites landed in Essex.

(LIZ’S curiosity is aroused but the smile remains on her face.)

LIZ: Landed? Most meteorites don’t even reach the Earth’s surface. They usually burn up in the atmosphere.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE-STEWART: These didn’t.

(He leans forward.)

BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE-STEWART: These particular meteorites came down in a funnel of thin, super-heated air about twenty miles in diameter - for which no one has an explanation.
LIZ: There must be an explanation - a natural one.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE-STEWART: I hope so - we didn’t find one last time.
LIZ: Last time?

(The BRIGADIER allows himself a small smile as he sees that LIZ’S scientific curiosity has taken the bait...)

BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE-STEWART: Six months ago, a smaller shower of meteorites, about five or six, landed in the same area.
LIZ: (Laughs.) That’s impossible. The odds against two lots of meteorites landing in exactly the same place...must be incredible.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE-STEWART: (Quietly.) They are, Miss Shaw, they are.

___

And then the Doctor making his list of demands at the end of the episode:

___

BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE-STEWART: Very well. Anything you need - within reason, of course. Is that all?
DOCTOR: My goodness, no. Don’t you realise that when I was stranded on this little planet of yours, I had nothing but these clothes that…oh, my goodness!

(He stops and puts his hand to his head.)

LIZ: What is it, Doctor?

(He grabs his jacket.)

DOCTOR: Well, I’ve just realised - I don’t even own these. I’ve borrowed them from the hospital. (To the BRIGADIER.) And there’s that car, too. Yes, you know, I took to that car. It had character.

(He smiles.)

BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE-STEWART: No, Doctor. That car must be returned to its owner.
DOCTOR: Must it? Yes, yes, I suppose it must. Still, there’s no reason why you couldn’t find me something similar, is there?

(The BRIGADIER opens his mouth to reply.)

DOCTOR: I...I mean, it could persuade me to stay, you know.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE-STEWART: Oh, very well.
DOCTOR: Good. When can we go and choose it?

___

Heehee! I picture them at a car dealership, with the Doctor hopping around and the Brigadier and Liz pretending they don't know him.

Add to that the spectacular direction and pretty dang high production values, and you've got a real winner.

On to the Silurians!