Master of Spiders (comic story)

Master of Spiders
Doctor:	Second Doctor
Companion(s):	John and Gillian
Main enemy:	Master of Spiders
Main setting:	An unnamed planet
Key crew
Writer:	Roger Noel Cook
Artist:	John Canning
Release details
Number of parts:	4
Printed in:	TV Comic 799-802
Release date:	8 - 29 April 1967
Reprinted in:	DWCC 18
Format:	Comic
TVC comic stories
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Master of Spiders was a TV Comic story featuring the Second Doctor, John and Gillian.

Summary

The Doctor, John and Gillian arrive on a swampy planet where the Doctor hopes to test a ray gun he's invented, and the heroes seem to be being chased by giant spiders…

Plot

The TARDIS lands on an planet where surface appears to be a giant swamp. The Doctor states that this is the perfect place to test the ray gun he invented - he shoots at the nearest huge tree, completely destroying it, after which he comments on the weapon as "remarkably powerful".

The Doctor, John and Gillian decide to continue their walk around the planet, wanting to find more targets for the Doctor's practice, but they don't notice that a giant mechanical creature is swimming behind them. When it emerges from the swamp, it turns out to be a mechanism in the form of a huge spider, inside of which sits a villain who calls himself the Master of Spiders. He wants to get rid of the intruders who have invaded his "empire".

The travellers manage to escape from the Master, and he enters his lair, releasing giant spiders to hunt the Doctor and his grandchildren. The Doctor uses his weapon against one spider, killing it instantly, after which he decides to hide in a nearby cave, and it turns out to be the lair of the Master, who slams the mechanical door shut, locking travellers inside with spiders under his control. The Doctor guesses exactly how he controls them - with the help of special sound frequencies. He manages to fend off the spiders by using the sound of his recorder, which confuses the Master's signal.

The Master enters the lair on his mechanical spider and captures the Doctor, John, and Gillian with a large sticky net. The Doctor continues to use his recorder, setting the spiders on their Master. He hides inside the mechanism, and the Doctor manages to get out of the net, after which he frees John and Gillian with a well-aimed shot from ray gun.

The travellers flee from the mechanical spider, and the Doctor uses his ray gun, shooting one of the mechanism's legs, and with the next shot, completely destroying it - a large explosion occurs due to fuel. The Doctor locks the remaining spiders inside the cave and the heroes return to the TARDIS. The Doctor and John watch in surprise as Gillian begins cleaning up - she has decided to get rid of all the cobwebs, "because we don't need any spiders in the TARDIS".

Characters

• Second Doctor
• John Who
• Gillian Who
• Master of Spiders

References

• The Doctor uses his recorder.

Notes

• The Doctor builds a ray gun which he tests and uses to destroy the mechanical spider with the Master of Spiders inside it, presumably killing him. This conflicts with the Doctor's pacifism seen in other stories. Whilst the Doctor engaging in physical violence is far from unheard of, and on the surface of it nothing he does in this story is too far removed from some of the stuff that this same incarnation has been seen doing on television, such as his construction of a solar energy weapon and use of it to kill a number of Ice Warriors in The Seeds of Death, the harder aspect to reconcile with the Doctor's usual characterisation is his attitude towards his own killings in this story, which range from indifference ("incredible! I've destroyed it!") to outright gleeful sadism ("die, hideous creature, die!"). A possible retroactive expiation is provided for this by the later comic story The Land of Happy Endings, which suggests that all the Doctor's adventures with John and Gillian may have been dreams. If we take this view, then this story can be seen merely as the Doctor engaging in fantasy violence as a stress reliever, rather than this behaviour being something he would ever entertain the idea of actually acting upon.
• This story was ridiculed in the Wotcha! column of DWM 453 for its inaccurate portrayal of the Second Doctor, especially the line, "Die, hideous creature. Die!"

Original print details

(Publication with page count and closing captions)

1. TVC 799 (3 pages)
2. TVC 800 (3 pages)
3. TVC 801 (3 pages)
4. TVC 802 (3 pages) In an action-packed new story starting next week, Dr. Who faces the DALEKS!

Publication and reprints

Reprints

1. DWCC 18 Reprinted as originally.

Continuity

• The line "Die, hideous creature, die!" is used again (but not by the Doctor) in COMIC: The Immortal Emperor.