#nestene

Doctor Who: Revenge of the Nestene

Spearhead from Space review

The Third Doctor kick-started the 1970s with Spearhead from Space and the BBC archive page linked is well worth a proper read and gives a decent view of just how many firsts this story represents. I don’t think it’s perfect, but it has a lot going for it despite certain scenes aiming too closely to the children’s market. It’s certainly a great example of Robert Holmes’s work. Let’s compare notes…

Synopsis: A UNIT scientist named Dr. Sally Arnold is working at a storage facility. She has found a strange artifact in a storage container, resembling a spherical hunk of meat, and has decided to investigate it. When nothing else works, she decides to hook it up to UNIT's most powerful satellite so she can analyze it. This, however, allows the artifact to somehow use the satellite to communicate with something out in space. Before she can shut off the uplink, the artifact explodes and knocks her unconscious.

The facility is evacuated and a UNIT containment team is called in to deal with the possible fallout of the explosion. Left behind are Dr. Arnold, who was unconscious, and her associate Graham Winslet, an archivist who had been deep in the storage rooms and couldn't get out in time. The two are picked up by the containment team, lead by a man named Lockwood.

At first, Lockwood grills them quite mercilessly as he tries to figure out what happened. Arnold and Winslet both simply state the fact that they were doing their job. Winslet, in particular, had been tasked by Arnold to search the facility for any other boxes carrying the same serial number as the one she'd found the artifact in.

However, when members of the containment team are later found dead, everyone realizes that this is much more serious. The artifact didn't explode, but rather dissipated and is now sneaking around the facility, very much alive. As the team continues to investigate, they find more boxes with the same serial number.

These boxes are all labelled "Auton". Lockwood reveals that the boxes contain remnants from an invasion in 1970 by plastic creatures called Autons controlled by the Nestene consciousness. Now, it seems Arnold has accidentally reawakened one of the Autons, and now it's on the loose.

The team finds a sectioned off area behind a door hidden behind stacked containers. It is locked by a retina scan, however. Lockwood sees this, closes his eyes in thought for a moment, and then walks over and uses his eyes to open the lock. Inside, they find another artifact like the first one and many more Auton-related objects, including something that resembles a weapon.

Autons begin to attack, forcing Lockwood to pick up the device and flee along with Arnold. His team is forced into a firefight, and no-one can escape because the Autons have blocked the exits. Instead, Lockwood and Arnold rush back and barricade themselves in her lab. They then try to figure out how to repair the device Lockwood picked up.

As Arnold works, Lockwood closes his eyes in thought again and seems to dose off. Soon after, there is a knock on the door and Arnold hears the panicked voice of Winslet. She quickly takes down the barricade to let him in, only to find on the other side an Auton that is disguised as Winslet. It takes the two of them prisoner.

Escorted back to the locked door, the Autons try to force Lockwood to open the lock again. They speak strange words to him, calling him "UNIT's creature" and claiming that he is like them. Arnold manages to escape, but Lockwood is knocked out and forced to open the lock. The Autons all pile inside.

Arnold, meanwhile, has quickly regrouped with the containment team's leaders. After a bit of work, she successfully manages to repair the device. It is indeed a weapon, constructed by a Dr. "John Smith" during the initial Auton invasion. She uses it on the Autons, causing them to collapse immediately.

With it, she is able to rush over and uses the device to defeat the fake Winslet, rescuing Lockwood. The upside is that everyone is safe now and there's no sign of the Autons anywhere near. The bad news, though, is that the Autons had managed to pick up whatever it was they had been looking for in the locked room. As the situation winds down, Lockwood reveals that he pulled some strings at UNIT and has reassigned Arnold to be a part of his team.

Thoughts: It's another of the ultimately futile attempts to revive the Doctor Who TV show. This is the first in a series of movies featuring the Autons from way back in the Third Doctor era.

This movie was okay. It wasn't really good, but it wasn't bad either and was certainly watchable. The biggest problem was that it was too slow and quiet. This hour-long story could have easily been told in about 20 minutes. Combined with the fact that there is really only one set for the whole thing makes the film a tad dull.

The characters were great, though. Lockwood is a very strange man but he has a certain charisma about him that makes us like watching him. He has this sort of no nonsense personality, somewhat similar to the First Doctor. Dr. Arnold was a good star, being on par with many of the previous female companions.