If this story had fallen at any other point during the Jon Pertwee Era, I probably would be stating exactly as I have done over the last few weeks about another 6-parter which is overlong and contains numerous amounts of padding.

However, the fact this is the Third Doctor’s swansong gives it an extra dimension and as with Logopolis some years later, I have a soft spot for this story despite any faults it may have. I rate it as the best 6-Parter during Pertwee’s Era and is actually one of my faves from his era overall.

There is so much to enjoy for me. The first episode where Sarah and a reformed Yates go to the monastery and discover the sinister Lupton and the Spiders contrasted nicely with those of The Doctor in his lab. (I really enjoyed Mike Yates journey in Season 11 and it was good to see him back on the good side in his last story in the show.) The Doctor’s experiments in ESP and the clips from previous episodes and the Jo letter as he ran his experiments on Professor Clegg were quite an unusual intro of The Doctor into a story. The only downside to this is The Brigadier reverting back to his ‘buffoon’ status again but the Doris reveal is quite an amusing one.

Loved the second episode and the big car chase which brought all the elements of the Pertwee Era together along with Bessie and the Whomobile. You can see Pertwee enjoying it for all it’s worth, knowing it would be his last scenes like this in the role. The unbelieving Policeman was quite a funny addition to the mix.

The middle two episodes are where it falls down a bit. The third episode is a dramatic change in pace and The Doctor doesn’t really have a lot to do in this one. Part Four, everything shifts to Metebelis Three. The inhabitants seem a useless bunch. Gareth Hunt just about succeeds in his role as Arak. However, Tuar always gives me earache with his constant shouting and as for Neska……Oscar winning performance it wasn’t!

The Spiders themselves, okay, not exactly believable and realistic but neither were the Adipose and we still accepted that…..

I also like the development of Tommy as a character and it was a perfect example of the Great Crystal’s power that it cured him and he was able to read. Thought it was superb acting by the actor concerned.

The last two episodes pick up the pace. Sarah is possessed by the Queen. The Doctor meets the Great One for the first time and that scene where his fears are revealed as he is made to spin around in a circle is just awesome. The end of episode five and the beginning of the last episode seem a complete mess as the cliffhanger was brought forward without the intervening scenes due to an underrun. But once it gets back on track, I love this episode. Sarah’s release from her possession is brilliant. Cho-Je suddenly becomes K’anpo once he’s made The Doctor realise his fears(plus the first explanation of regeneration). Then it’s back to Metebelis Three where The Doctor faces his fear and confronts the Great One for the final time. This scene always gives me goosebumps. I mentioned yesterday how much I loved Dudley Simpson’s scores and the music for this scene gave it serious dramatic impact. I love it to bits as the Great One refuses to heed The Doctor’s warning and destroys herself. It’s followed by a bit of mayhem and then suddenly it all dips as we hit the final regeneration scene.

As I’ve said many times before, this particular regeneration is a complete contrast to the Tennant-Smith one. No major special effects, no blaring music, but just a beautiful serenity surrounding the Third Doctor’s imminent death. For me, it works just as well as any of the other, more dramatic final Doctor scenes. It is a sad goodbye from Mr Pertwee and the end of another era as the great Tom Baker makes a fleeting appearance at the end of the episode.

Sorry for the long intro but as you maybe aware, I simply love this story!

It's fitting that he meets his destruction on Metebelis Three, since he never would stop talking about that planet.

Death to the eight-legs! Fun story with, as you say, a thrilling confrontation and a touching end. Pertwee had had the longest tenure as the Doctor so far (if not the most episodes) and he went out with class and style.

And next up ... Tom mani padme hum.

Yes, I liked the whole Metebelis Three Theme that ran through the last two Pertwee Seasons. It's an early version I feel of the New series story arc, even lasting for more than one year, which is a similar, but scaled down aspect of the last two Series.

Well of all the 6 parters in the Pertwee era in terms of padding this one is so bad that even the padding has padding. Nothing highlights this more than the chase between The Doctor and Lupton which covers almost an entire episode and at the end of it you're thinking what an adsolute pointless waste of time that was. I mean ithe whole chase really made no sense at all if the spider has the power to teleport Lupton back to the house then why didn't it do that while Lupton was still in UNIT HQ.

As for the over all story I certainly would not rate it very highly compared to the other regeneration stories but it's still enjoyable enough . Tommy was a wonderfull character plus it'sthe first timewe get to see another Time Lord regenerate. The final 2 episodes with Tommy standing firm by the door despite the onslaught of the spiders attack and The Doctor talking to the abbott and realising who he is and Sarah being poccessed are the best moments of series 11. The regeneration sene is also a deight to watch.

I disagree. As I've already said, the whole point of that episode was to bring all aspects of the Pertwee Era together. They used all the stuntmen, machines and whatever else there was they could squeeze in to highlight the action-orientated nature of Pertwee's Doctor. I think it was a good thing they did that and I find the whole episode most enjoyable.

I do agree with you that maybe the Spider should have realised sooner that there was a way to teleport out of the situation, but that was just a necessary plot device to end the chase.

If spiders were very clever they would have invented better furniture.

That's not fair! I'd love to see the spiders back, at least they don't talk like manic depressives like cybermen do, or copy pepper pots for camoflage like daleks. Bring back Metibilis, let's see what SM can make of that. LOVE YOUR SPID!!!!!!

By all means bring them back, but let them consult here first.

Brilliant!

To be honest - I haven't seen this since it was first broadcast back in the 70's! I was about 15 at the time. Must get it out on DVD......I've had a brief look on You Tube anyway to jolt my memory.
Hmmm - I think it was a bit too drawn-out as a six-parter to be honest. (INFERNO was my fav 6-parter). It was yet another earthbound story involving UNIT, which I suppose had to be to finalise the Pertwee era.
I remember being creeped out when Sarah-Jane had that spider on her back! The spiders were quite laughable otherwise. Loved the fact that they were all female spiders, and that queen spider was a bit like a female Davros wasn't she?
Quite a low-key ending to the era. Just the Brigadier saying "Oh well, here we go again!". Quite nice actually!

You really ought to watch part 7 sometime.

Yes, I agree. You look at Cassandra's Spidery-type pets in the New series and it shows with some good CGI that they could come back. Who's to say they were all destroyed after all or that there is another breed of them out there somewhere?! It would also fit in with Moffat liking stories that appeal to people's worst nightmares(Such as Night Terrors etc). There's a story to be told there somewhere I'm sure!



Maybe it seems low-key because it lacks the all the drama of other regeneration scenes? I'm sure at the time it was transmitted it didn't seem that way to the viewing audience.

Whoops - never was good at maths!

Another not very good one. Jon's last series is so lacklustre I sometimes wonder who I got into the show at all. The Time Warrior is really the only good story of the series (well, maybe Invasion of the Dinosaurs if you ignore the dinosaurs)

Those giant static model helium-voiced spiders were curiously effective-especially the queen spider- despite the idea seeming a little laughable. I found some of the scenes in this one rather powerful, like the scenes in the monastery, the scene with the Doctor being made to walk in a circle by mind control by the queen, the scene with the queen freaking out and going mad, and the Doctor being fatally ill with radiation poisoning.

Dreary Pertwee six parter, brightened by the appearance of Ralph Arliss: one of the sexiest DW guest-stars of all time.

I can't edit the above post, but here's a pic of Ralph in his glory to brigten things up:

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=ral...dyPzCBA&zoom=1

"I also like the development of Tommy as a character and it was a perfect example of the Great Crystal’s power that it cured him and he was able to read. Thought it was superb acting by the actor concerned".

I thought this was one of the best parts of this story.

Hello

Resurrecting another old thread but saw this story for the first time last night and the story highlights a lot of the good stuff in the classic series which I loved.

I think the 1st, 2nd and last episodes are the best. The first episode is a fantastic mystery and I love seeing Mike Yates looking for a way of redeeming himself.The pace is not too slow and the almost crash with the tractor is a thrill.There's a very natural relationship between Sarah Jane ( I get a little lump in my throat watching Lis nowadays) and Mike and I love it how comfortable it feels as they talk like fully grown adults and Doctor Who here feels like the true adventure series I love as they race around in a sporty car.

A real contrast to the heightened soap elements I've seen sometimes in Nu Who. (I'm thinking of the scene of Mels with the sporty car when she meets the Doctor and her quippy one liners which ultimately give little depth to her character. But this is off subject ....)

I love the idea of the Doctor and the Brig at some seedy theatre show and the mind boggles at what the Brigadier could find to adapt there for the troops . The letter from Jo and the sequence with the clairvoyant is good fun.

The last episode obviously has the regeneration but for me it is as interesting to meet K’anpo Rimpoche, another Time Lord. There aren't any histrionics or high farce such as with the Master but we meet the 'guru' of the Doctor. Maybe its my own curiosity in Buddhism but I like the exploration that K’anpo brings to the Doctors personality that he is subject to the same temporary desires as humans and that his arrogance and a craving for knowledge which has caused this whole situation. He has to suffer to solve it.

I do feel pityto some degree for Lupton as he devoted his life to a work role but his disenchantment with how he got treated led him down the wrong path.
The character of Tommy is sympathetic and actually is given quite a bit of depth by John Kane. I did feel a bit uncomfortable when the crystal helped him and Sarah said to him ' But you are now normal' as if he wasn't before but maybe that's my own sensitivities coming out ( I work in education and learning).

In between episodes 1,2 & 6 it feels a bit plodding at times. The extended chase sequence was fun for 5 minutes but then just seemed to go on and on. I've read that it was meant as a swansong to the whole era so I guess if David Tennant can get an extended goodbye to his companions I can forgive a bit of indulgence here but I felt like pressing fast forward as this bit is really for the boys.
You can really see that times have moved on when the Third Doctor doesn't check that the humans are okay ( the boat guy and the guy he rolls over with the hovercraft ) but maybe tjis is highlighting how in his thirst for knowledge there is collateral damage

I was listening very carefully for the third Doctors pronunciation of Metebelis 3 given the thread devoted to Matt Smiths pronunciation of it in Hide but the planet is a bit of a disappointment. I was expecting a bit more visually than what we got which was mainly CSO and studio based but I guess we are spoiled a bit now in Nu Who.
Gareth Hunt plays the only memorable human character as the others are dull, dull, dull, Who was the woman who played the wife of the man taken away to be eaten. She was dreadful!

The spiders look okay ( and I like the power -play between Lupton and his spider) but the Great One is a bit too deranged for me at the end.

I've always been curious about this story because of the storyline which has to be special to end the Pertwees era.
It isn't what I would have expected necessarily but it is definitely above average. 4episodes would have zipped it along. I have to watch the regeneration again but it was quiet and dignified I thought.and Pertwee is as charming as usual and I still love his quiet fatherly reassurance.

I quite enjoy it but it is a bit too long.

Perhaps it would've worked better as a four episode serial.

They definitively could have trimmed an episode & it wouldn't have hurt the flow

The Eight Legs do return in the two-part Eighth Doctor audio storie, "The Eight Truths"/"Word Wide Web". It's a very good story.

I've also heard that there was a plan to have them return in The Sarah Jane Adventures.

This has to be one of my favourite Pertwee stories. It was a very fitting swan song for the Third Doctor

Have to agree about the regeneration and 3's death. Very simple, sweet and effective compared to the nonsense "blow up the TARDIS" regenertion we got from 10 to 11. And none of the shouty "I hate regenerating, a whole new man walks away" whinging. Planet of the Spiders makes the end and new beginning seem perfectly natural, something to be accepted and embraced, unlike what RTD put us through at the end of Tennant's era.

And of course Lis Sladen helped make 3's end poignant. "No you're wrong...he's dead." No one could quiver her lips quite like Lis Sladen.

The mysterious K'anpo/Cho-je is the kind of Time Lord the series could still use...neither boring, mustache-twirling nor shouty and spittle-flecked. He's kind of the antitheses of RTD's Rassilon...shadowy, powerful, mysterious. The Doctor isn't terrified of him, quite the opposite...K'anpo "ran" from Time Lord society too, seeking something greater. And this mirrors and perhaps helped inspire the Doctor's original flight as well.

Just wanted to comment on what you said about the chase sequence in Episode 2.

This was very much a celebration of the action sequences from the Pertwee Era and summed up everything the Third Doctor, Pertwee himself and the Era as a whole was all about. So I think it was right some time was given over to it.

Much as I dislike the Earthbound Nature of his Era, for me, I'd rather it be a happy summing up of a Doctor's time in the show than the out of character, whimpering Tenth Doctor Swansong we got with Tennant.

IMO this is the sort of story Tennant should have had and getting back to the chase sequence, I enjoy watching it. It's a neat distraction from the story and if it hadn't been for the fact it was Pertwee's swansong than I think it would have felt more like padding but as it is, it gives the whole sequence that extra special something.