Planet of the Spiders

A tear, Sarah Jane? No, don’t cry. Whilst there’s life, there’s…

The Third Doctor

Synopsis

The crystal that the Doctor retrieved from Metebelis III is now sought by the Eight Legs as the last part of their plan to conquer the universe.

Review

Planet of the Spiders brings the Third Doctor’s era to an end with a story of Buddhism and giant spiders. The Third Doctor is one of my favourite Doctors, but I’m not going to argue that this is one of the best regeneration stories. It is flawed but mostly enjoyable story which includes multiple characters and tropes from the Pertwee era.

Ironically, the next story Robot also feels as though it is a send-off for this era too, featuring an earthbound story and UNIT, written by the script editor, Terrance Dicks, and directed by its producer, Barry Letts. Planet of the Spiders does send off the era quite well, with Yates brought back after his traitorous turn in Invasion of the Dinosaurs and Benton back too, and a letter from Jo from the Amazon. It feels surprising to not even have a reference to Liz, which definitely would have been included if this story was made now. The story shows the influence of Letts and Buddhist beliefs, which does show through the meditation element of the plot, although this does lead to some unfortunate yellow face casting with Kevin Lindsay playing Cho-je.

It does have a fairly odd start, with the Buddhist retreat and the Doctor and the Brigadier watching a rather bizarre talent show. It’s a rather slow start, which isn’t helped by Part Two’s elongated chase, which sees the Doctor and the Eight Legs’ chief lackey Lupton swap vehicles until Lupton teleports out of a speedboat. This all feels rather indulgent of Jon Pertwee’s love of vehicles rather than progressing the overall plot. It’s hard not to see it as filler watching the Doctor go from helicopter to Whomobile to watercraft.

The strengths of Planet of the Spiders lie in the performances of the regulars. Pertwee is in fine fettle, especially in his confrontations with the Great One. Elisabeth Sladen has really grown through her debut series and is particularly great in the regeneration scene, but also in the scenes with Tommy. Then you have the dependable Nicholas Courtney, John Levene and Richard Franklin as the Brigadier,  Benton and Yates. Some of the guest cast are good too, especially John Dearth as the villainous Lupton and John Kane as Tommy. I was pleasantly surprised at how delicately the story handled Tommy’s subplot and how Kane played the part, with a really delicate touch.

The same cannot be said for the population of Metebelis III, some of whom can be best described as wooden. I did struggle through the latter parts due to a combination of poor CSO and questionable acting, especially on behalf of Jenny Laird. The performances of Sladen and Pertwee carried me through the latter half of the stories, as well as uncertainty about what the Eight Legs’ Queen has planned for Sarah Jane Smith. I have stated in other reviews featuring Spiders that I am arachnophobic and so even these puppet Spiders (no, sorry, Eight Legs) do make me afraid, and the vocal work behind them makes them really unsettling. The image of Sarah Jane with the spider on her back is rightly iconic and sent shivers up my spine.

Verdict: I will not pretend that Planet of the Spiders is the perfect regeneration story. Due to my fondness for the era generally and strong performances from some key players, this perhaps scored higher than expected. Your mileage may vary. 6/10

Cast: Jon Pertwee (The Doctor), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), John Levene (Sergeant Benton), Cyril Shaps (Professor Clegg), John Dearth (Lupton), Christopher Burgess (Barnes), Terence Lodge (Moss), Carl Forgione (Land), Andrew Staines (Keaver), Kevin Lindsay (Cho-Je), John Kane (Tommy), Chubby Oates (Policeman), Pat Gorman (Soldier), Terry Walsh (Man with boat), Michael Pinder (Hopkins), Stuart Fell (Tramp), Ysanne Churchman, Kismet Delgado and Maureen Morris (Spider Voices), Gareth Hunt (Arak), Geoffrey Morris (Sabor), Jenny Laird (Neska), Joanna Monro (Rega), Ralph Arliss (Tuar), Walter Randall and Max Faulkner (Guard Captains) & George Cormack (K’anpo).

Writer: Robert Sloman

Director: Barry Letts

Producer: Barry Letts

Composer: Dudley Simpson

Parts: 6

Original Broadcast Dates: 4th May – 8th June 1974

Behind the Scenes

• The story marks the first use of regeneration to refer to the Doctor and other Time Lords changing their appearances. With the regeneration of K’anpo Rimpoche, this story is one of two regeneration stories to feature two regenerations and the only story where more than one Time Lord regenerates.
• Parts of this story were filmed at the same time as Robot, meaning that Elisabeth Sladen, Nicholas Courtney and John Levene were having to rush between the two productions.
• Along with The Night of the Doctor, this regeneration story features no scenes set inside the TARDIS.
• Jon Pertwee spent a lot of time during production of this story reading and responding to fan mail and not mingling with the cast and crew.

Cast Notes

• Cyril Shaps had previously appeared in Tomb of the Cybermen and The Ambassadors of Death. He would go on to appear in The Androids of Tara, coincidentally the only story in which the character he is playing does not die.
• John Dearth provided the voice of BOSS in The Green Death.
• Christopher Burgess had previously appeared in The Enemy of the World and Terror of the Autons. All of his appearances in Doctor Who were directed by Barry Letts.
• Terence Lodge had previously played Medok in The Macra Terror and Orum in Carnival of Monsters.
• Carl Forgione would go on to play Nimrod in Ghost Light.
• Andrew Staines appeared in The Enemy of the World, Terror of the Autons and Carnival of Monsters.
• Kevin Lindsay played the Sontarans Linx (The Time Warrior) and Styre and the Marshal (The Sontaran Experiment)
• Stuart Fell played numerous monsters, including the body of Alpha Centauri in The Curse of Peladon and The Monster of Peladon, and a Sontaran in The Invasion of Time.
• Ysanne Churchman voiced Alpha Centauri in The Curse of Peladon, The Monster of Peladon and Empress of Mars.
• Joanna Monro would go on to appear in the Big Finish productions The Entropy Composition and Special Features.
• Walter Randall played Tonila in The Aztecs, El Akir in The Crusade, Hyksos in The Daleks’ Master Plan, a Patrol man in The Invasion and Harry Slocum in Inferno.
• Max Faulkner played a UNIT soldier in The Ambassadors of Death, a miner in The Monster of Peladon, a Thal Guard in Genesis of the Daleks, Corporal Adams in The Android Invasion and Nesbin in The Invasion of Time.
• George Cormack previously played Dalios in The Time Monster.

Best Moment

The regeneration scene is really rather lovely.

Best Quote

I had to face my fear…that was more important than just going on living…

Please…don’t die!

A tear, Sarah Jane? No, don’t cry. Where there’s life, there’s…

The Third Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith

Previous Third Doctor review: The Monster of Peladon

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