Planet of the Spiders (TV story)

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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 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.

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 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.

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 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 Spider Queen. The Doctor recovers thanks to a machine which Sarah has retrieved for him from the TARDIS. In doing so however, she was captured by the spiders. The Doctor finds a type of stone which nullifies the effects of the spider energy rays, which the humans will use in their rebellion. The Doctor attempts to rescue Sarah Jane, but is captured again by the spiders as well.

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 previously-mentioned Time Lord hermit who advised him in his youth, 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. As Sarah weeps, K'Anpo appears and informs them that the Doctor will regenerate. With a little 'push' from K'Anpo, the Doctor regenerates for the third time.

Cast

Crew

References

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 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. Since no regeneration was shown at the end of The War Games (although we do see the apparent beginning of it), 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. End-of-episode changeovers would become the norm for the next few regenerations until the regeneration from the Sixth to Seventh Doctors at the beginning of Time and the Rani (and both played by the same actor) broke the pattern.
  • 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.

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 had 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. Thus, he asked writer Robert Sloman to help him write a story which would at last define the relationship between 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 halted the complete suspension on 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. One of the impetuses for Pertwee's decision to resign was Delgado's death. Had Delgado not died, but merely relinquished his role, it is unlikely Pertwee would have looked on Delgado's absence a motivation to quit. More to the point, though, Sloman had delivered scripts to Letts two weeks prior to Delgado's death on 18th June 1973. Pertwee didn't announce his retirement until after his request for a raise was denied in December 1973. 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

Continuity

Timeline

DVD and Video Releases

An audio commentary for Planet of the Spiders was recorded in 2007 with Actors Elisabeth Sladen, Nicholas Courtney and Richard Franklin, Producer/Director Barry Letts and Script Editor Terrance Dicks for a future release date. It is rumored that The Planet of the Spiders will be released on DVD in late 2009.

Novelisation

Planet of the Spiders novel.jpg
Main article: Doctor Who and the Planet of the Spiders

See also

Stories with chase sequences

External Links

Template:Season 11

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