With the new Doctor WhoChristmas special still two weeks away, you can take a trip back in time to the earlier days of the franchise – for free. Four classic Doctor Who serials – “Spearhead From Space,” “The Sea Devils,” “The Time Warrior,” and “The Happiness Patrol” – are all streaming for free on the Classic Doctor Who YouTube channel.
“Spearhead From Space,” “The Sea Devils,” and “The Time Warrior” are all from the 1970s, and star Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor; “Spearhead From Space” serves as Pertwee’s introduction to the series, and was also the first-ever Doctor Who episode to be filmed in color. The other two introduce classic aliens who would go on to menace the Doctor several times over the course of the series: the Sea Devils and the Sontarans. “The Happiness Patrol” came much later; first broadcast in 1988, it stars Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor, and features one of theDoctor’s strangest foes: the sweets-obsessed killer robot known as the Kandyman.
What Are the Free ‘Doctor Who’ Serials About?
“Spearhead From Space” pits the newly regenerated Doctor and his allies in the peacekeeping UNIT organization, including Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) and scientist Liz Shaw (Caroline John), against the disembodied Nestene Consciousness and its merciless plastic minions, the Autons. “The Sea Devils” features the Doctor’s first encounter with the titular creatures, an aquatic offshoot of the Silurians; they have allied themselves with the Master (Roger Delgado), the Doctor’s archnemesis. “The Time Warrior” was a landmark serial in a number of ways: it introduced both the warlike Sontaran race and longtime Who companion Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen), and also was the first time the Doctor’s home planet, Gallifrey, was mentioned on-screen. “The Happiness Patrol,” which was intended to satirize UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, sends the Doctor and companion Ace (Sophie Aldred) to a human colony whose citizens are forced to be upbeat and cheerful, or else face the robotic Kandyman.
While the reasons these episodes were chosen to stream for free on YouTube remain a mystery, two of the serials have elements that will be prominently featured in the new Doctor Who spinoff, The War Between the Land and the Sea. It will center around UNIT, now led by the Brigadier’s daughter Kate (Jemma Redgrave), facing off against the Sea Devils.
“Spearhead From Space,” “The Sea Devils,” “The Time Warrior,” and “The Happiness Patrol” are all now streaming for free on the Classic Doctor Who YouTube channel. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
