Planet of the Spiders (TV story)

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Synopsis

The blue crystal that the Doctor took from Metebelis III in The Green Death is desperately sought by the Eight Legs, a race of mutated spiders, as the final element in their plan for universal domination. With the help of a being from his past, the Doctor must make the ultimate sacrifice. The Doctor must risk death to save the Universe from the spiders, and The Doctor regenerates into the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker.)

Plot

Part One

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 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.

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 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. The humans are descendants of survivors of a crashed spaceship, and the spiders onboard were mutated by radiation from the blue crystals and became the Eight Legs. The Doctor follows in the 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 the Spider Queen against their matriarch, The Great One. The Doctor recovers, but is captured again by the spiders while attempting to rescue Sarah Jane.

Part Five

The Doctor comes to 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 Abbot K'anpo Rimpoche. The Doctor is astounded to discover an old friend; K'anpo is his former mentor, the Time Lord hermit who advised helped him once, now enjoying peaceful exile on Earth. Sarah Jane is discovered 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. 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

The attack 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 conscience. 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. 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 in the TARDIS. He eventually arrives at UNIT (after being gone, from their perspective, for three weeks) and collapses on the floor. The Doctor dies on the floor. Sarah cries as she closes The Doctor's eyes. K'Ampo emerges, and tells them that the Doctor has died, but The Doctor will become a new man. He aids the Doctor, and the Doctor regenerates into his next incarnation (Tom Baker.)

Cast

Crew

References

  • The Doctor receives a package from Jo Grant containing his blue crystal, which he picked up during during his previous visit to Metebelis III.
  • Mike Yates refers to the last time he encountered Sarah "that business with the Dinosaurs".

Story Notes

  • This is the first time the term Regeneration is mentioned on screen.
  • This story features a large chase scene featuring: Bessie, the Doctor's car (known as 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.

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. (If Delgado had not died it is likely that he would have been written out in the final story of season eleven - the production team had it in mind that the Master would sacrifice his life in order to save the Doctor's and thus achieve a kind of redemption - but this idea, provisionally entitled The Final Game and also intended to be written by Robert Sloman and an uncredited Barry Letts, was never developed further and Planet of the Spiders was a completely different story.)

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

Continuity

  • Jo Grant send the Doctor a package containing a blue crystal (DW: The Green Death), which makes Planet of the Spiders a sequel of sorts to The Green Death.

DVD and Video Releases

to be added

Target Novelisations

See also

Stories with chase sequences

External Links

Template:Season 11

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