Planet of the Spiders (TV story): Difference between revisions

The blue crystal that the Doctor took from [[Metebelis III]] in a [[The Green Death|previous adventure]] is desperately sought by the Eight Legs, a race of mutated spiders, as the final element in their plan for universal domination. With help from an old mentor, the Doctor realizes the only way to foil the plot is to make the ultimate sacrifice. The Doctor must risk death to return to the cave of [[the Great One]] and save the universe.

In the English countryside, [[Mike Yates]], discharged from [[UNIT]] and recuperating at a rural Buddhist meditation center, is concerned about a small group who meet secretly in the basement; he suspects they may be attempting to summon something evil through their meditation. Meanwhile, [[The Doctor]] is researching psychic energy and enlists the assistance of a clairvoyant, Professor [[Herbert Clegg]].

His experiments backfire when Clegg's fixation on the [[Metebelis crystal]] (which [[Jo Grant]] had recently returned to the Doctor) leads to his seeing giant spiders, and he dies of a fright-induced heart attack. Mike enlists the assistance of [[Sarah Jane]], whose initial skepticism is erased after they are nearly run off the road by a hallucinatory tractor. Sneaking into the basement they see the group, led by [[Lupton]], summon a giant spider (similar to the ones Clegg saw) into existence...

Lupton re-appears at the meditation center, secretly observed by the simple-minded handyman [[Tommy]], who later steals the crystal to add to his collection of 'pretties'. The Doctor and Sarah Jane investigate the meditation center. Exploring the basement Sarah steps on Lupton's mandala and is transported to [[Metebelis III]], where a small group of humans are held in bondage by the giant spiders, who refer to themselves as the [[Eight Legs]]. The Doctor follows in [[the Doctor's TARDIS|his TARDIS]] to rescue Sarah Jane, but is incapacitated by the Eight Legs' human guards...

The Doctor escapes from his cocoon, and reaches the mouth of the cave of the Great One, who warns him not to enter due to the lethal radiation within. She orders him to return the blue crystal that he stole, and humiliates him by forcing him to march in a circle like a tin soldier via her psychic power. The Doctor is too overcome by fear to face her, and escapes with Sarah Jane back to Earth in the TARDIS. They meet the leader of the meditation center, the Abbott [[K'anpo Rimpoche]]. Meanwhile Lupton's followers, possessed by the Eight Legs, fire [[telekinetic]] force at Tommy, the only person standing in the way of their taking the crystal...

The Doctor realizes his greed for knowledge and his theft of the crystal has set all these events into motion, and that he must face his fear and probable death by returning it. He pilots the TARDIS to Metebelis III and enters the cave to confront the Great One, an enormous spider, who desires the blue crystal to complete a crystalline web that will amplify her psychic power to infinity.