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| Sarah Jane Smith encounters a giant spider. |
6 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 147 minutes. Written by: Robert Sloman. Directed by: Barry Letts.
THE PLOT:
Mike Yates, now a civilian, is trying to find peace in meditation at a retreat run by Buddhist monks K'anpo (George Cormack) and Cho-Je (Kevin Lindsay). Even though he's no longer with UNIT, though, his investigative instincts remain. When he notices Lupton (John Dearth) and other students going to the cellar in secret, he follows and watches as they use the techniques they have learned to make contact with an otherworldly power.
Doubting that he'd be believed by his former colleagues at UNIT, he turns to Sarah Jane Smith. She interviews Cho-Je, ostensibly for a puff piece on the retreat, but she lingers with Mike to investigate Lupton's group. She watches as they repeat the ceremony from the previous day, this time summoning a giant spider that fuses with Lupton.
Meanwhile, the Doctor has received a gift from his former assistant, Jo: the crystal he had taken from Metebelis III. The crystal is the goal of the spider, which has come from that world to recover it for "The Great One." Metebelis is now under the total control of intelligent spiders, with the human population reduced to slave labor... and if they succeed in regaining the crystal, the next planet they conquer will be Earth!
CHARACTERS:
The Doctor: The first four episodes see the Third Doctor presenting his usual, indomitable front, whether investigating the retreat, pursuing Lupton, or searching for a way for the villagers on Metebelis to defend themselves from the spiders. The final two episodes introduce something new: fear. The Great One's psychic powers are such that it's able to easily pierce the Doctor's defenses, forcing him to turn in place, all the while assuring him that he is wise to fear her. Pertwee plays his final scenes particularly well, showing the Doctor's weakness as he stumbles out of the TARDIS at the end, an echo of how he arrived in Spearhead from Space. After years of railing against his exile on Earth, his words to Sarah are telling: "The TARDIS brought me home."
Sarah Jane Smith: Is paired with Mike in the early episodes, and Elisabeth Sladen and Richard Franklin play quite well off each other - so much so that I regret this being the only story in which they share any significant screen time. There's a bit of weak character writing in which Sarah, an experienced investigative journalist, somehow misses multiple cues by Mike to stop talking and leave. Outside of that, she gets a solid role. She's compassionate toward Tommy, the retreat's mentally challenged handyman. On Metebelis, with the Doctor injured and in need of medical supplies in the TARDIS, she doesn't hesitate to break the planet's curfew and go for them, putting herself in danger.
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: There's an amusing bit in which a psychic (Cyril Shaps) describes the watch the Brigadier received as a gift from a woman in a hotel room, a story that the military man quickly cuts off. At the end, Sarah is certain that the Doctor is dead, but the Brigadier thinks otherwise: "One time I didn't see him for months... When he did turn up, he had a new face." Having met two Doctors already, he takes the regeneration in stride, remarking, "Here we go again."
Mike Yates: Given the circumstances of his departure from UNIT, he doesn't trust that the Brigadier or even the Doctor would necessarily believe him. I'm not sure why he'd expect Sarah to have a different reaction, given that her only interaction with him was at his worst while the others at least had seen him at his best. Still, while his reasoning seems odd, it at least allows for some entertaining scenes between him and Sarah. It's clear enough that while he's now a civilian, his investigative instincts remain intact... though his need to take action leads him to do something reckless near the end.
Lupton: Writer Robert Sloman realizes that the story needs a human villain, and John Dearth's Lupton works nicely in that role. We learn that he's a former salesman, and he's used his experience at persuasion to enlist others to help him in his pursuit of power. In a speech in Part Three, he recalls working his way up over a 25-year career, only to be made redundant: "Merger, takeover, golden handshake." His resentment is understandable, and it was likely shared by a fair number of parents in the viewing audience who had found themselves in or at least known people in similar situations. It doesn't change the insanity of his desire to take his anger out on the entire world, but it adds texture to an otherwise one-note baddie.
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| The Doctor confronts The Great One, the ruler of the spiders. |
THOUGHTS:
Planet of the Spiders ends the Third Doctor's era, and it makes several nods at the entirety of his run.
The letter from Jo kick-starts the plot with the return of the crystal from Metebelis III, allowing this Doctor's primary assistant to have a presence (albeit offscreen) in his final story. The main conflict is crafted as consequences for the Doctor's trip to Metebelis III. The teacher that he has so frequently mentioned is invoked again, this time not for someone else's benefit but so that the Doctor may learn one final lesson. Finally, the Third Doctor's arc is brought to a true close in his final scene, as he refers to Earth - once a bitterly resented prison - as "home."
This is not to say that Planet of the Spiders is a story that's strictly about the Third Doctor's end. For its first four episodes, it plays almost entirely like a standard adventure. The first real sense that this Doctor may actually die comes in his first conversation with The Great One, midway through Part Five. But even in the early episodes, there are enough deliberate callbacks to give the sense of a narrative "summing up" of the era.
The first episode is the serial's best, establishing questions and raising a level of intrigue as Sarah and Mike investigate the retreat while the Doctor receives the crystal during an interview with a psychic. The two threads initially seem separate, but they merge as the psychic touches the crystal and sees a vision of spiders even as Lupton's group succeeds in summoning a spider. At this point, no answers are forthcoming, with only the questions and atmospherere being established.
The first half of the story focuses on investigations of the retreat, first by Sarah and then by the Doctor. This is the story's stronger half, with a setting and characters who feel convincing. The main action moves to Metebelis III for the second half, and the human village that the Doctor and Sarah push to rebellion seems like stock sci-fi stuff, with the villagers made up of familiar character types. The Metebelis scenes aren't bad, but they don't have the same sharpness... at least, not until the Doctor encounters The Great One and responds with fear, as the script begins building toward his exit.
THE REGENERATION:
The regeneration itself is arguably Doctor Who's plainest, a simple dissolve from Jon Pertwee to Tom Baker with no other effects overlaid. Of more interest is the scene building up to it. Sarah Jane knows that facing The Great One would end in the Doctor's death, so she is already in mourning when she arrives at the lab. The Brigadier, who has known him longer, has faith in his friend's survival, recalling that the last time he was absent for a while he came back with a new face.
This is a smart bit of dialogue to include, not least because Jon Pertwee was very popular and his five year run was the longest yet for an incumbent Doctor. The groundwork starts being laid in Parts Five and Six, but this moment, just before the Doctor comes home to die, is a direct reminder that the Doctor has changed before. This story provides the process with the name "regeneration" and identifies it as a natural part of a Time Lord's existence, which also sets the stage for future changes. Working to further reduce audience resistance is the presence of the Brigadier and Sarah, popular characters who would provide direct continuity with the next story.
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| The Doctor pursues Lupton in Classic Who's most elaborate chase. |
PLANES, BOATS, AND AUTOMOBILES:
As a farewell gift to Jon Pertwee, the series' production team crafted an elaborate chase scene. In Part Two, Lupton invades the Doctor's territory - UNIT - to steal the Meteblis crystal. The Doctor and UNIT pursue. The resulting set piece begins as a car chase. Then Lupton switches from automobile to helicopter, with the Doctor continuing the chase in the air. Finally, Lupton steals a speedboat and the Doctor a hovercraft as the chase moves to the water.
The sequence is long, but fan myth has exaggerated it. Before I ever saw the story, I recall reading on forums about a dreadful "episode long" chase scene. It actually takes up a little over ten minutes, just under half the episode's running time; and while I agree that it's overlong, it's far from an ordeal. It's kept fresh for some time with moments of humor, including a bewildered police officer who joins the chase and some picnickers who get startled by the Doctor's hovercraft. There's also a brief dialogue/exposition break before the chase moves from land to air.
I can only speak for myself, but it was only in the final shift, when the chase was extended yet again into the water, that I felt my attention begin to drift - and at this point, the scene was almost at its end.
It could have been cut shorter, but I don't find this chase to be a trial to get through. In fact, I mostly enjoy it. Car chases were a mainstay in 1970s and '80s detective shows - and I can frankly think of several of those that, even when occupying less screen time, still tested my patience more than this one does.
OVERALL:
Planet of the Spiders is a good story that manages to sustain tension while at the same time paying tribute to outgoing star Jon Pertwee's popular Third Doctor. It has its faults, notably sagging during the "slave village" scenes in the middle, but it makes up for it with several fine moments, notably Lupton's resentment-laden monologue and the Doctor's two encounters with The Great One. For the most part, it fills its six episodes comfortably.
A good story overall, in my opinion, and a solid exit for Jon Pertwee, whose Doctor I will miss.
Overall Rating: 8/10.
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