Doctor Who: Spearhead from Space (1970)

[HDTV1080P]

Brief Doctor Who: Spearhead From Space comments

The classic Doctor Who TV series are family friendly science fiction that have hardly any violence, no blood, and in many ways are like a G rated classic Disney Blu-ray that can be seen by a 5 year old child. Also Doctor Who is popular among many adults (offically not rated but is like a G rated movie).

Perhaps there will be more classic Doctor Who Blu-ray titles released in the future. If the other episodes are film based then they can be released in 1080P HD quality. Even the SD videotape episodes of Doctor Who would still benefit from a Blu-ray release since a DTS-HD Master audio lossless soundtrack would give Doctor Who fans the exact same bit for bit sound quality as the studio master. Also if the MPEG-4/AVC codec is used, one 50GB Blu-ray disc would hold over 10 Doctor Who dual layer DVD images (or around 5 DVD images if the MPEG-2 codec is used). Having around 10 DVD images on one Blu-ray disc would save a lot of shelf space.

** Video comments **

I noticed that Doctor Who: Spearhead From Space on Blu-ray uses a total of 41.5GB of space on the 50GB dual layer disc. The 1080P MPEG-4/AVC bit rates peaked into the 39Mbps range for some scenes and very rarely dropped below 25Mbps for slow moving scenes. I have never seen Spearhead From Space look this good before. I was hoping for a 4K scan of the original negative instead of the 2K scan. However the original 16mm film elements were scanned at a resolution of 2150 x 1524 pixels, and the restoration looks beautiful with natural film grain, fine facial detail, and good color quality. All the extra features are in 1080P quality except for the coming soon trailer which is 480i quality.

** Audio comments **

The DTS-HD Master soundtrack was awesome with nice mono depth and detail in the dynamic range. The soundtrack is bit for bit the same as the studio master mono soundtrack. Also all the extra features except for the coming soon trailer is in DTS-HD Master audio. When BBC gave Doctor Who fans lossless audio soundtracks for the extra features, that was an awesome bonus .

** Extra Features **

As I already mentioned all the extra features are 1080P quality with DTS-HD Master audio except for the coming soon trailer which is 480i SD with 2.0 Dolby Digital. “A Dandy and a Clown” and “Carry On: The Life of Caroline John” are exclusive 1080P extras only found on this Blu-ray disc. There is no audio commentary track which is a disappointment.

In the past while listening to extra features from an old Doctor Who DVD I heard a brief comment that suggested that the series is popular among atheists. Of course, science fiction is popular among both atheists and some people of faith. What surprised me about the Life of Caroline John documentary is that she had a very strong personal relationship with Jesus Christ for most of her life. I am glad that the documentary briefly mentioned her Christian faith and her relationship with Jesus Christ.

Quote

“And she turned to talking to God, really, as her only kind of lifeline. So, she had a really personal relationship with Jesus, with God or whatever you like to say. So she talked to God, you know, when she was in trouble or whatever it was, for the rest of her life.”

** Conclusion **

This is a must own Blu-ray for fans of classic Doctor Who science fiction. Spearhead From Space has never looked or sounded this good before. The exclusive Blu-ray extras were also very enjoyable to watch. Hopefully more classic Doctor Who Blu-ray discs might be released in the future.

[bondfooll]

Review's up: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Docto.../63073/#Review I have to say, I'm somewhat baffled by the tone of the review. I think "Spearhead's" a fantastic story. It's well-paced for Classic Who, the film makes it look better than usual, and the Autons are marvelous villains. The infamous tentacles are the only count against it I can think of. In a 2009 poll, readers of Doctor Who Magazine ranked it the third best story featuring the Third Doctor (after only "Inferno" and "The Dæmons"). I often hear it recommended to get people into pre-2005 Who, and I agree. To each his own, I suppose.

[HDMe]

The only "negative" if you call it that... it feels very much like 1970s television. *I* don't have a problem with that, but I think sometimes people watching old TV shows will grade on a curve and dock points for "style".

IF you take this story for what it is... it is a very good 1970s Doctor Who story... and the Blu-ray did look very good.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by bondfooll

In a 2009 poll, readers of Doctor Who Magazine ranked it the third best story featuring the Third Doctor (after only "Inferno" and "The Dæmons"). I often hear it recommended to get people into pre-2005 Who, and I agree. To each his own, I suppose.

I always recommend starting with a Tom Baker episode, as Baker WAS the Doctor we all default-pictured for 30 years, and he did set the tone for all the Douglas Adams-wannabes on the New series.
Pertwee was more adventurous and swashbuckling, but could come off as a bit of a snob.
(Doesn't hurt to start with a good B/W Patrick Troughton either, but there're so few of them out there in the ether.)

Much of the PAL Pertwee seasons were transferred to film for exporting to other countries, but the video->film->video looked awful. Not sure whether video->film->digital would be any improvement.

[FruityOatyBar]

John Pertwee is a great Doctor and this is one of my all-time favorite original Who stories. SO looking forward to seeing it in HD!

I think overall, the Blu-ray.com review of the story itself is very fair. For the times it was made in, and the limited budget they had to work with, Doctor Who really turned it out for 26 years. I'll always love the show.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by HDMe

The only "negative" if you call it that... it feels very much like 1970s television. *I* don't have a problem with that, but I think sometimes people watching old TV shows will grade on a curve and dock points for "style".

The 60's-70's Doctor Who had something the "modern" SFX-enabled BBC doesn't, in that their budgets only allowed for actors on a set.
Yes, the costumes, penlights and optical-graphics may look a bit silly, but with most of the on-set stories, we're basically watching a Doctor Who play, played "live"--Which, for one thing, gave it more immediacy for kids to think they were along with the Doctor on his adventures, and for the second, emphasized that the writing and stories would have to be that much better to draw interest in where special effects couldn't.

(Even the show's own making-of featurettes complained that the slick, smug, backbiting-gay first few New seasons took away from the Doctor being a galactic Sherlock Holmes who used his brain to get out of a tight fix--
The vintage Doctors used logic and their knowledge of science to get out of the cliffhangers; the new series spent too much time trying to clone their Douglas Adams past, and would have the Tennant/Eccleston Doctor suddenly realizing, "I just realized, this element can only be found on the planet Gallithrumpian XVII!" )

[The Fallen Deity]

Originally Posted by bondfooll

Review's up: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Docto.../63073/#Review I have to say, I'm somewhat baffled by the tone of the review. I think "Spearhead's" a fantastic story. It's well-paced for Classic Who, the film makes it look better than usual, and the Autons are marvelous villains. The infamous tentacles are the only count against it I can think of. In a 2009 poll, readers of Doctor Who Magazine ranked it the third best story featuring the Third Doctor (after only "Inferno" and "The Dæmons"). I often hear it recommended to get people into pre-2005 Who, and I agree. To each his own, I suppose.

woah, that transfer Looks fantastic!

It'll probably never look better on home video. A huge improvement over the DVD transfer.



The reviewer forgot to mention though that the frame rate had to be slowed down to 23fps for the U.S. release as it was originally shot at 25fps.

The U.K. release of this Blu-Ray has it at the correct frame rate.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by The Fallen Deity

woah, that transfer Looks fantastic!

It'll probably never look better on home video. A huge improvement over the DVD transfer.



The reviewer forgot to mention though that the frame rate had to be slowed down to 23fps for the U.S. release as it was originally shot at 25fps.

The U.K. release of this Blu-Ray has it at the correct frame rate.

So which version sounds correct? Did they use pitch correction, or do the voices sound "off"?

[The Fallen Deity]

Originally Posted by mar3o

So which version sounds correct? Did they use pitch correction, or do the voices sound "off"?

Pitch correction was used on the U.S. disc so they should sound identical if it was done properly.

It was slowed down because U.S. TVs can display content at 25fps.

[Hypnosifl]

Originally Posted by EricJ

(Even the show's own making-of featurettes complained that the slick, smug, backbiting-gay first few New seasons

"backbiting-gay"? What's that supposed to mean? And I doubt the featurettes called the show "slick" and "smug" either.

Originally Posted by EricJ

took away from the Doctor being a galactic Sherlock Holmes who used his brain to get out of a tight fix--
The vintage Doctors used logic and their knowledge of science to get out of the cliffhangers; the new series spent too much time trying to clone their Douglas Adams past, and would have the Tennant/Eccleston Doctor suddenly realizing, "I just realized, this element can only be found on the planet Gallithrumpian XVII!" )

Have you watched any old episodes lately? They do feature the Doctor using his brain (as did the new series), but it almost always involves him drawing on knowledge of made-up alien or future history, not making any use of any real-life "science" or decoding clues that were laid out in a way that an intelligent audience member might have figured out the solution before the Doctor.

[rock, stone]

Honestly, the biggest change to the character of The Doctor that the New Series has brought is he is now overtly heterosexual, where the classic doctors (William Hartnel's chaste Aztec dalliance aside) were always above that sort of thing.

I have the UK disc of this, and to be honest I thought they "degrained" a bit too much for my taste. But none of the reviews seem to agree, so maybe I'm being over-sensitive.

I ended up being a little disappointed with the package as a whole, but that is to be expected nowadays with BBC releases, I guess.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by The Fallen Deity

Pitch correction was used on the U.S. disc so they should sound identical if it was done properly.

It was slowed down because U.S. TVs can display content at 25fps.

You mean US TVs can't display content at 25fps.

Glad to hear they used pitch correction.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by rock, stone

Honestly, the biggest change to the character of The Doctor that the New Series has brought is he is now overtly heterosexual,

Blame rather openly gay Russell T. Davies for that--Especially in the first season, where we had Rose Tyler ( ), implied that the Doctor-Companion relationship was a hot date he could go history-clubbing with, and gave her a cellphone where she could call her old boyfriend and say "Hey, guess where/when I am!...Oh, can we go to Victorian times and make the queen say 'We are not amused'?" To RTD, the Tardis was one big party-box.
(Not to mention that Big Brother episode--yep, they do love them their reality shows --the general petty nyah-nyah tone toward mainstream London society/TV, and the rather disturbing preoccupation of the first couple seasons to make the villains of the episodes into aging over-50 female Scary Poppins "hags".)

where the classic doctors (William Hartnel's chaste Aztec dalliance aside) were always above that sort of thing

In the vintage series, the relationship was clear: The Doctor was Sherlock Holmes, the companion was a baffled but ultimately loyal Watson, and was usually either A) an orphan the Doctor decided to "adopt" and educate along the way, like Jamie, Leela or Ace, or B) a cutely annoying/opinionated stowaway he kept trying to drop back off, but could never quite get the right location and was stuck with until then, like Tegan, Sarah Jane or Peri.
Needless to say, orphans don't need cellphones. And the Doc wasn't interested in dating. (But not for THAT reason.)

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by rock, stone

Honestly, the biggest change to the character of The Doctor that the New Series has brought is he is now overtly heterosexual, where the classic doctors (William Hartnel's chaste Aztec dalliance aside) were always above that sort of thing.

I have the UK disc of this, and to be honest I thought they "degrained" a bit too much for my taste. But none of the reviews seem to agree, so maybe I'm being over-sensitive.

I ended up being a little disappointed with the package as a whole, but that is to be expected nowadays with BBC releases, I guess.

I think the artwork for all the new Doctor Who blu-rays has been horrendous. Cut-n-paste Photoshop garbage. Compare that to all the beautiful artwork done for the vintage Doctor Who novels in the 80's and 90's.

[rock, stone]

Originally Posted by EricJ

Blame rather openly gay Russell T. Davies for that--Especially in the first season, where we had Rose Tyler ( ), implied that the Doctor-Companion relationship was a hot date he could go history-clubbing with, and gave her a cellphone where she could call her old boyfriend and say "Hey, guess where/when I am!...Oh, can we go to Victorian times and make the queen say 'We are not amused'?" To RTD, the Tardis was one big party-box.
(Not to mention that Big Brother episode--yep, they do love them their reality shows --the general petty nyah-nyah tone toward mainstream London society/TV, and the rather disturbing preoccupation of the first couple seasons to make the villains of the episodes into aging over-50 female Scary Poppins "hags".)



In the vintage series, the relationship was clear: The Doctor was Sherlock Holmes, the companion was a baffled but ultimately loyal Watson, and was usually either A) an orphan the Doctor decided to "adopt" and educate along the way, like Jamie, Leela or Ace, or B) a cutely annoying/opinionated stowaway he kept trying to drop back off, but could never quite get the right location and was stuck with until then, like Tegan, Sarah Jane or Peri.
Needless to say, orphans don't need cellphones. And the Doc wasn't interested in dating. (But not for THAT reason.)

Fixating on this Sherlock Holmes thing only actually applies to the Pertwee era, where it was a very conscious decision to model the Unit/Master family after Holmes and friends. Beyond that, it doesn't differ fundamentally from a generic Hero/Sidekick, at least once Ian & Barbara leave.

The Doctor/Companion relationship was often established with some high concept character traits, settled in with the chemistry of the actors and eventually degenerated into the pretty girl getting kidnapped or hypnotised until the actress left and the cycle began again. More or less.

And I know you like to bang on your pot about the presence of gay people places, but it isn't like classic Doctor Who didn't have several deeply influential gay writers and producers who we tend to judge more by their merits for some reason.

[The Fallen Deity]

Originally Posted by mar3o

You mean US TVs can't display content at 25fps.

Glad to hear they used pitch correction.

Oops, yeah I was meant to to say can't lol, thanks for pointing that out.

Originally Posted by EricJ

Blame rather openly gay Russell T. Davies for that--Especially in the first season, where we had Rose Tyler ( ), implied that the Doctor-Companion relationship was a hot date he could go history-clubbing with, and gave her a cellphone where she could call her old boyfriend and say "Hey, guess where/when I am!...Oh, can we go to Victorian times and make the queen say 'We are not amused'?" To RTD, the Tardis was one big party-box.
(Not to mention that Big Brother episode--yep, they do love them their reality shows --the general petty nyah-nyah tone toward mainstream London society/TV, and the rather disturbing preoccupation of the first couple seasons to make the villains of the episodes into aging over-50 female Scary Poppins "hags".)



In the vintage series, the relationship was clear: The Doctor was Sherlock Holmes, the companion was a baffled but ultimately loyal Watson, and was usually either A) an orphan the Doctor decided to "adopt" and educate along the way, like Jamie, Leela or Ace, or B) a cutely annoying/opinionated stowaway he kept trying to drop back off, but could never quite get the right location and was stuck with until then, like Tegan, Sarah Jane or Peri.
Needless to say, orphans don't need cellphones. And the Doc wasn't interested in dating. (But not for THAT reason.)

The Doctor kissed a woman in the Paul McGann TV movie and that's classed as part of the Classic Series. What does Russell T Davies being gay have to do with all of it?

If you've watched the first season of the Modern Series properly you'll see that The Doctor was at first very reluctant to take Rose with him. It took the Auton attack to change his mind and even then he wasn't 100% sure if he made the right choice until a few episodes in.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by The Fallen Deity

The Doctor kissed a woman in the Paul McGann TV movie and that's classed as part of the Classic Series. What does Russell T Davies being gay have to do with all of it?

(I dunno, what does RTD have to do with the Classic series? )

Originally Posted by rock, stone

Fixating on this Sherlock Holmes thing only actually applies to the Pertwee era, where it was a very conscious decision to model the Unit/Master family after Holmes and friends. Beyond that, it doesn't differ fundamentally from a generic Hero/Sidekick, at least once Ian & Barbara leave.

Until, of course you bring in the constant comparisons of The Master to being "the Doctor's Moriarty"--
At which point the Brigadier in the Pertwee and Troughton seasons becomes a perfect Inspector Lestrade, always getting things wrong by doing things by the old-fashioned queen-and-country book, but willing to accept the Doctor's unusual methods now and again.

(And actually, Pertwee during the UNIT "Earth invasion" seasons was intentionally modeled more after Dr. Quatermass, of the British Rocket Science Agency--
It was Tom Baker in "Talons of Weng-Chiang", getting to solve a mystery in Victorian London, who just couldn't miss the chance to put on a deerstalker cap and cape. )

Apart from some sentimental feelings near the end (Colin Baker and Peri?), the only time the Doctor had a genuinely flirtatious relationship was during the Tom Baker years with fellow Time Lord Romana's second incarnation, as played by Lalla Ward. (Aka Mrs. Tom Baker.)

[rock, stone]

Originally Posted by EricJ

Until, of course you bring in the constant comparisons of The Master to being "the Doctor's Moriarty"--

Honestly not sure what you think you read in my post. Have another go, it has not been edited.

Terrance Dicks, the script editor for the Pertwee years has spoken extensively about Pertwee=Holmes, Master=Moriarty and (wait for it) Brigadier=Watson. These aren't suppositions or anything, these are just flat out what the creative team at the time has said. Quatermass, of course, has been a giant influence on DW since the very beginning, which the show has always worn on its sleeve.

Originally Posted by EricJ

[Show spoiler]At which point the Brigadier in the Pertwee and Troughton seasons becomes a perfect Inspector Lestrade, always getting things wrong by doing things by the old-fashioned queen-and-country book, but willing to accept the Doctor's unusual methods now and again.

(And actually, Pertwee during the UNIT seasons was intentionally modeled more after Dr. Quatermass, of the British Rocket Science Agency--
It was Tom Baker in "Talons of Weng-Chiang", getting to solve a mystery in Victorian London, who just couldn't miss the chance to put on a deerstalker cap and cape. )

Apart from some sentimental feelings near the end (Colin Baker and Peri?), the only time the Doctor had a genuinely flirtatious relationship was during the Tom Baker years with fellow Time Lord Romana's second incarnation, as played by Lalla Ward. (Aka Mrs. Tom Baker.)

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by MichaelB

Why? 2K is more than sufficient for 16mm material.

Going up to 4K would simply quadruple the amount of data passing through the system during the restoration process (increasing the budget substantially in the process), with no visible difference in terms of the end result - not least because the master still has to be compressed in order to fit it onto a Blu-ray.

And when it comes to the latter stage, all you can usefully do is push the bitrate as high as possible, which the BBC does indeed seem to have done.

Yes for budget reasons 2K scans are cheaper, however with a 4K scan the title could have been re-released onto a 4K QUAD HD optical disc several years in the future. Some 16mm film stocks can benefit from a 4K scan.

[The 4th Doctor]

Just curious, but did anyone here ever buy the recent Steelbook version of this?

I thought about it, but if all it is, is a cool new Steelbook cover, but with no actual new content included, then it would seem a waste of money after already buying the Blu-Ray of this.


I just wondered if anyone here had the Steelbook, and was it worth it for NEW content - features?

I had been trying to purchase the recent release of the 3-Disc Tom Baker / Doctor Who adventure - 'Shada' on Blu-Ray Steelbook, as it's apparently absolutely jammed full of extras, but I live in the U.S. and unfortunately none of the Amazon sellers I've seen will ship it here. Though I thought I saw a couple (maybe?) but they wouldn't ship - NOT unless it's for something like $20.00 in shipping! Also, they charge large fees for the item itself, as it's an import!

Add to that, all the many reviews I've read on Amazon of buyers here in the states, who were able to afford the ridiculous shipping costs, and import price tag, but then couldn't even get the item to play on their Blu-ray, and I wondered if it's worth it...

Which being a HUGE Doctor Who / Tom Baker fan, yes, I'm willing to take the chance it is worth it - to buy it, as I know it may not play, BUT I just can't afford the costs...over well over $60 American to buy it...the UK sellers are really taking advantage of the U.S. fans who want this.

So Amazon's not helping, and I'm unfortunately forced to buy it off of Ebay. Unfortunate, as there are NO bargains on Ebay. Everytime that Shada Steelbook comes up for auction - there's the usual bidding-frenzy. I was the high bidder late last night / early hours of this morning, on a 10-day auction, I'd patiently been waiting on, and then I went to bed...woke up to find I'd lost the auction by at least another $10 in bidding!!! I'd already bid well over $50 for it, and still lost, on something that's currently selling for almost half of that in the UK...

Oops! Sorry for the rant.

I digress, is Spearhead From Space Steelbook worth it? Any NEW features on the disc?

I see plenty of brand new affordable copies of it available here in the U.S. from American sellers...




DOC