Spiders were a type of arachnid commonly found on Earth. They were noted for using spinnerets for spinning webs which they used to catch prey, commonly flies. In late 2018, Jade McIntyre believed that there were a total of 21 quadrilion spiders on Earth. (TV: Arachnids in the UK [+]Loading...["Arachnids in the UK (TV story)"])
- You may wish to consult
Spider (disambiguation)for other, similarly-named pages.
On Earth[[edit] | [edit source]]
Earth spiders had no eyelids. (PROSE: The Stone House [+]Loading...["The Stone House (novel)"])
Flies were preyed upon by spiders. The Fifth Doctor quipped that the Racnoss Consort must have eaten a lot of flies to reach his size. (AUDIO: Empire of the Racnoss [+]Loading...["Empire of the Racnoss (audio story)"])
Originally, spiders were small, inoffensive creatures, none growing much larger than a rat, though some species had a venomous bite that could be deadly to humans. By the 26th century, though, radiation had caused mutations, allowing them to reach much larger sizes. (PROSE: Ship of Fools [+]Loading...["Ship of Fools (novel)"]) An example of this were the Eight Legs, spiders with great mental powers, who evolved on Metebelis III from spiders that survived the crash landing of a human ship. (TV: Planet of the Spiders [+]Loading...["Planet of the Spiders (TV story)"])
A money spider grown to enormous proportions by a Zygma beam was discovered by the Fourth Doctor in the basement of the Palace Theatre. (TV: The Talons of Weng-Chiang [+]Loading...["The Talons of Weng-Chiang (TV story)"])
Due to their connection with the Eight Legs, (PROSE: The Ancestor Cell [+]Loading...["The Ancestor Cell (novel)"], Interference - Book Two [+]Loading...["Interference - Book Two (novel)"]) the Enemy were often associated with spider imagery. (PROSE: The Map and the Spiders [+]Loading...["The Map and the Spiders (short story)"], Subjective Interlock [+]Loading...["Subjective Interlock (short story)"], et al.) A T. memeticus took the form of a regular-sized spider while on the Greenworld. (PROSE: T. memeticus: A Morphology [+]Loading...["T. memeticus: A Morphology (short story)"])
The First Doctor, Ian and Barbara encountered a giant spider when the TARDIS landed in its web. (COMIC: Dr. Who in the Spider's Web [+]Loading...["Dr. Who in the Spider's Web (comic story)"])
Gwen Cooper once told Jack Harkness that she "never even kills spiders in the bath" when he wanted to teach her how to use a gun. (TV: Ghost Machine [+]Loading...["Ghost Machine (TV story)"])
The spiders in Sheffield behaved erratically in the year 2018 due to the presence of many large, mutated spiders spreading pheromones throughout the area. (TV: Arachnids in the UK [+]Loading...["Arachnids in the UK (TV story)"])
On Earth, toy versions of spiders were used as Halloween decorations. The night after one Halloween, an alien possessed hundreds of toy spiders left behind in a warehouse to attack and frighten the Eleventh Doctor and Louie Rollins. (PROSE: The Night After Hallowe'en [+]Loading...["The Night After Hallowe'en (short story)"])
According to the Thirteenth Doctor, spiders disliked the smell of garlic and acetic acid. A spider repellent could also be concocted from peppermint and tea tree oil diluted with water. (TV: Arachnids in the UK [+]Loading...["Arachnids in the UK (TV story)"])
Elsewhere[[edit] | [edit source]]
K9 once encountered spiders on a planet in another dimension, partially inhabited by ex-Tellac miners. They lived alongside other Earth animals from widely varying periods of evolutionary history. Unlike most species of spider on 21st century Earth, however, these were as big as gorillas, and their webs spanned between trees. (PROSE: K9 and the Missing Planet [+]Loading...["K9 and the Missing Planet (novel)"])
Another planet was home to giant spiders which were controlled by the Master of Spiders. When he used them to attack the Second Doctor, John and Gillian, the Doctor used his ray gun to kill one spider (while shouting "Die, hideous creature... die!") and used his recorder to keep other spiders from attacking them. When the Master was defeated, the Doctor sealed the surviving spiders back in their cave. (COMIC: Master of Spiders [+]Loading...["Master of Spiders (comic story)"])
Another planet was home to large spider-like creatures. The sons of Grekk, who also lived there, viewed them and all the other intelligent life forms on the planet as vermin, and had vowed to exterminate them all. When the First Doctor was imprisoned, he and the other prisoners used the webbing produced by the spiders to set a trap for the sons. (PROSE: The Sons of Grekk [+]Loading...["The Sons of Grekk (short story)"])
Another planet was home to a species of flying spiders. Professor Gnat discovered one in his cell when he was imprisoned by Cybermen, and was still studying it when the Second Doctor, John and Gillian came to rescue him. (COMIC: Flower Power [+]Loading...["Flower Power (comic story)"])
The Eleventh Doctor saw a spider on a web upon arriving at the Silurian Ark. He noted that he didn't usually see "spiders in space". (TV: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship [+]Loading...["Dinosaurs on a Spaceship (TV story)"])
Bone spiders had the ability to materialise dreams and spin spiderweb rendering a person invisible and inaudible. (PROSE: The Stone House [+]Loading...["The Stone House (novel)"])
Metal spiders were robots used by Cassandra O'Brien.Δ17. (TV: The End of the World [+]Loading...["The End of the World (TV story)"], New Earth [+]Loading...["New Earth (TV story)"])
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
In non-valid sources[[edit] | [edit source]]
A spider was once present in Festive Road, with a boy greeting it by saying "Morning!". (TV: Future Generations)