Planet of the Spiders (TV story)

Planet of the Spiders was the fifth and final story of Season 11 of Doctor Who. It was the final regular appearance of Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor and the first (uncredited) of Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. Mike Yates also makes his final appearance outside of cameos.

Synopsis

The blue crystal that the Doctor took from Metebelis III in a 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 realises 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.

Plot

Part one

In the English countryside, Mike Yates, discharged from UNIT and recuperating at a rural Buddhist meditation centre, 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 scepticism 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...

Part two

The giant spider melds with Lupton, and together they infiltrate UNIT and steal the blue crystal, leading to a lengthy chase involving the Whomobile, a small helicopter, a hovercraft, and a speedboat. The Doctor finally catches up to Lupton's boat, but when he jumps on board, Lupton vanishes...

Part three

Lupton re-appears at the meditation centre, 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 centre. 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 his TARDIS to rescue Sarah Jane, but is incapacitated by the Eight Legs' human guards...

Part four

On Metebelis III, the Doctor lingers in a coma. Tommy's brain is healed when he looks deep into the crystal. Lupton becomes embroiled in a plot led by his spider host against the Eight Leg Queen. The Doctor recovers thanks to a machine Sarah retrieved for him from the TARDIS. In doing so, however, she is captured by the Eight Legs. Thrown into a cell with a man named Sabor, Sarah learns the history of Metebilis 3: the humans are descendants of survivors of a crashed spaceship, and the Eight Legs were common spiders onboard that became mutated by radiation from the blue crystals. The Doctor finds a type of stone which nullifies the effects of the Eight Legs' energy rays, which the humans will use in their rebellion. The Doctor attempts to rescue Sarah Jane, but is captured again by the Eight Legs as well...

Part five

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 centre, 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...

Part six

Sarah Jane is revealed to be under the control of the Queen, which explains how she and the Doctor escaped so easily. With the blue crystal, which Tommy had given to K'anpo, the Doctor is able to free her mind. The Doctor is astounded to discover an old friend; K'anpo is his former mentor, a fellow renegade Time Lord now enjoying peaceful exile on Earth. The attack of Lupton's followers is repulsed with the help of Tommy, but K'anpo is injured and forced to regenerate by merging with his assistant, Cho Je, who was a projection of K'anpo's self.

The Doctor regenerates into his fourth incarnation.

The Doctor realises 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.

However, once the crystal is in place, the web overloads and destroys both her and the Eight Legs. The Doctor receives a lethal dose of radiation from the cave, and barely manages to escape to the TARDIS. He eventually arrives at UNIT (after being gone, from their perspective, for three weeks), collapses on the floor, and dies. As Sarah closes his eyes and weeps, K'Anpo/Cho-Je appears and decides to give the Doctor a little "push". The Doctor starts breathing again and regenerates into his fourth incarnation — much to the surprise of Sarah Jane and the annoyance of the Brigadier. Sarah Jane exclaims, "Look, Brigadier, Look! I think it's starting!" The resigned Brigadier answers, "Well... Here we go again." The face of the Third Doctor fades away and reforms. A younger man, with long, curly brown hair, is born from the regeneration- the Fourth Doctor.

Cast

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

Crew

Assistant Floor Manager - Graeme Harper
Costumes - L. Rowland Warne
Designer - Rochelle Selwyn
Film Cameraman - Fred Hamilton
Film Editor - Bob Rymer
Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson
Make-Up - Deanne Turner
Producer - Barry Letts
Production Assistant - Marion McDougall
Production Unit Manager - George Gallaccio
Script Editor - Terrance Dicks
Special Sounds - Dick Mills
Studio Lighting - Ralph Walton
Studio Sound - John Holmes
Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
Title Music - Ron Grainer
Visual Effects - Bernard Wilkie

References

The Doctor

The Doctor is familiar with Tibetan language and customs.

Crystals

The Doctor receives a package from Jo Grant containing his Metebelis crystal, which he picked up during his previous visit to Metebelis III.

Foods and beverages

The Doctor likens Sergeant Benton's coffee-making skills to those of Mrs. Samuel Pepys.
Lupton offers Sarah tea.
The Two-Legs offer the Doctor a mutton broth.

Individuals

The Doctor mentions being taught in the ways of escapology by Harry Houdini.
Mike Yates refers to the last time he encountered Sarah as "that business with the dinosaurs".
The Brigadier's watch was given to him eleven years ago in Brighton by Doris.
The Brigadier phones Sullivan, the UNIT Medical Officer.
While on stage, Herbert Clegg jokes about Archimedes.

Media

Sarah has worked for Metropolitan magazine.

Psychic powers

The Doctor is studying ESP. According to the Doctor, mental powers are "dormant" in most humans, but they do exist; telekinesis is indeed rare in Homo sapiens.
Herbert Clegg shows the power of telekinesis and psycholotry.

References to real-world culture

Tommy reads aloud The Tyger, a poem by William Blake.

TARDIS

The Doctor hints that the TARDIS is alive.

Technology

The Doctor performs an electroencephalography to Herbert Clegg.
The Doctor uses an Image Reproduction Integrating System (IRIS).

Story notes

This is the first time the term "regeneration" is mentioned on screen.
This is the first time we see someone other than the Doctor regenerate (K'anpo Rimpoche).
This story features a large chase scene including Bessie, the Whomobile, a police car, a gyrocopter, a hovercraft and a boat.
Tom Baker is uncredited in the conclusion of Planet of the Spiders, when Jon Pertwee transforms into Tom Baker. Since no regeneration was shown at the end of The War Games, this marked the first time since William Hartnell changed into Patrick Troughton in 1966's The Tenth Planet that an on-screen hand-over of the role had occurred. Significantly, therefore, it was the first end-of-season regeneration to show the incoming actor.
Elisabeth Sladen is credited '"Sarah Jane" in Radio Times for parts two and three.
Nicholas Courtney is credited as "Brigadier" in Radio Times for parts one and two.
Cyril Shaps (Professor Clegg) is credited as "Professor Herbert Clegg" in Radio Times for part one.
Ysanne Churchman (Spider Voice) is credited as "Lupton's Spider" in Radio Times for parts four to six.
Kismet Delgado (Spider Voice) is credited as "Queen Spider" in Radio Times for parts four to six.
Radio Times credits Maureen Morris (Spider Voice) as "Other Spider Voices" for part four, and as "The Great One" for parts five and six.
Walter Randall (Guard Captain) is credited as "First Guard Captain" in Radio Times for parts four and five.
Max Faulkner (Guard Captain) is credited as "Second Guard Captain" in Radio Times for parts four and five. He is not credited on-screen for part four because these sequences were intended for part five only.
George Cormack (K'anpo) is credited in Radio Times for part five, but not on-screen because these sequences were intended for part six only.
Although Kevin Lindsay (Cho-Je) is credited on-screen for part two, he does not actually appear in the episode, as his scenes were edited out prior to transmission.
Parts of this story were recorded at the same time as parts of Robot. This not only meant that Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker were literally playing the Doctor at the same time, but also that Elisabeth Sladen — and to a lesser extent, Nicholas Courtney and John Levene — were having to rush back and forth between the two productions.
The Time Beetle featured in TV: Turn Left shares some similarities with the Eight Legs: it too is a giant-sized insectoid that can latch onto a victim's back, becoming invisible to disguise its presence at the same time.
Jo Grant sends the Doctor a package containing the blue Metebelis crystal which the spiders covet, making this serial a sequel of sorts to TV: The Green Death. This is also one of the first times - possibly the first - that a past companion has played a role in a later story, although Jo does not actually appear in the story (she does, however, appear in the novelisation).
In A History of the Universe and aHistory, the scenes set on Metebelis III are arbitrarily dated to 5433 (the crash was 433 years ago and the ship is capable of intergalactic travel).

Ratings

Part 1 - 10.1 million viewers
Part 2 - 8.9 million viewers
Part 3 - 8.8 million viewers
Part 4 - 8.2 million viewers
Part 5 - 9.2 million viewers
Part 6 - 8.9 million viewers

Myths

Roger Delgado's Master was originally to have been written out in Planet of the Spiders, and after the actor's death the story was revised to incorporate Lupton in place of the Master.

It is true that had Delgado not died, he would have been written out in the final story of season eleven. He had informed Barry Letts that he would only appear as the Master in one more story during the filming of Frontier in Space. Letts agreed to the request, seeing it as an opportunity to dramatically end Season 11. He asked writer Robert Sloman to help him write a story which would at last define the relationship of the Doctor and the Master, before having the Master sacrifice himself to save the Doctor. Sloman delivered at least an initial round of scripts, called The Final Game, before Delgado's death forced the complete suspension of the story line. Planet of the Spiders was a wholly different story, save perhaps for Barry Letts' desire to incorporate certain Buddhist philosophies.

A frequent corollary to the above is that The Final Game would have also incorporated the regeneration of the Third Doctor.

Sloman had delivered scripts to Letts two weeks prior to Delgado's death on 18 June 1973. Pertwee didn't announce his retirement until after his request for a raise was denied in December 1973. The first scripts of The Final Game could not logically have included any elements pertaining to the Doctor's regeneration, because writer Robert Sloman didn't know Pertwee was going to leave.

Filming locations

Tidmarsh Manor, Tidmarsh, Berkshire
Bloomfieldhatch Lane, Stratfield Mortimer, Berkshire
Membury Airfield, Membury, Wiltshire
River Severn, Westbury-on-Severn, Gloucestershire
Mortimer Station, Stratfield Mortimer, Berkshire
Mereoak Lane, Stratfield Mortimer, Berkshire
Le Marchant Barracks, London Road, Devizes, Wiltshire
BBC Television Centre (TC1, TC6, TC8), Shepherd's Bush, London

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

The Doctor's flying car is a different colour in the studio (gold rather than silver).

Continuity

Jo Grant sends the Doctor a package containing the blue Metebelis crystal. (TV: The Green Death)
Mike Yates refers to his last appearance, which was also when he met Sarah. (TV: Invasion of the Dinosaurs)
The Doctor previously mentioned the hermit who lived behind his house. (TV: The Time Monster)
PROSE: Interference - Book Two presents an alternate regeneration sequence.
The Eight Legs returned in PROSE: The Eight Doctors, PROSE: Return of the Spiders, AUDIO: The Eight Truths and AUDIO: Worldwide Web.
The Fifth Doctor in the PROSE: Light at the End of the Tunnel tries to fight off his phobia of spiders when he goes inside a large pipe, making this story as a reference.
The Eighth Doctor still has a phobia of spiders in PROSE: The Scarlet Empress.
Professor Clegg divines that the Brigadier's wristwatch was given to him eleven years earlier in a hotel room by a woman named Doris, prompting a somewhat embarrassed reaction from him. In TV: Battlefield, the retired Brigadier is married to a woman named Doris.
In this story, K'anpo Rimpoche regenerates from a Caucasian to an Asian (character, not actor). The next time a regeneration would change the individual's ethnicity (on screen) would be in TV: Let's Kill Hitler.
In PROSE: Love and War, it is revealed that the Doctor spent ten years alone wandering in the vortex dying of radiation before returning to UNIT.
This is the first story to refer to a Time Lord's changing appearance as "regeneration", a term used in all future references.
By the time that TV: Hide takes place, the Eleventh Doctor is in possession of another Metebelis crystal.

Home video and audio releases

Video release

This story was released on VHS as per follows:

Region 2: April 1991
Region 4: September 1991
Region 1: May 1994

UK VHS cover
US VHS cover
AUS VHS cover

DVD release

This story was released as Doctor Who: Planet of the Spiders.

Released: Region 2: 18th April 2011
Region 1: 10th May 2011
Region 4: 2nd June 2011 Special Features:

Commentary by Elisabeth Sladen, Nicholas Courtney, Richard Franklin, Barry Letts, and Terrance Dicks.
The Final Curtain documentary
John Kane Remembers featurette
Directing Who With Barry Letts documentary
Now and Then featurette
Planet of the Spiders 102 minute omnibus
Omnibus trailer
Photo Gallery
PDF: Radio Times Listings

Notes

This story was released in Region 2 on the same day the public was informed of Elisabeth Sladen's passing.

Region 2 cover
Region 1 cover
177924.jpg

Region 4 cover

External links

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