The 3rd Doctor – Season 11, Serial 5 – “Planet of the Spiders” – Bad Action and Writing Only Elevated by Performances

In the lead up to the 13th Doctor’s regeneration episode we continue the exploration of past Doctor regeneration stories to get there. Jon Pertwee is one of my favorite Doctors so it is a shame he get such a terrible sendoff in “Planet of the Spiders.” This serial has great lead performances but that is the only positive I can give this story. It isn’t the worst but almost nothing about this story works so I can’t recommend it. Jon Pertwee deserved so much better.

The serial was directed by Barry Letts who wrote the serial with Robert Sloman.

The Eight-Legs of Metebelis Three attempt to conquer Earth after the Doctor receives a power crystal from his past.

SPOILERS ahead

The Pros:

The Brigadier – Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier continues to be one of the Doctor’s best companions. Honestly he needed to be in this serial more. He always has great rapport with any of the Doctors and that continues here where he once again is witness to the Doctor becoming a new version. His dry wit is always appreciated especially in the bad scrip of this serial.

Sarah Jane Smith – Elisabeth Sladen’s Sarah Jane Smith is iconic and here she is actively trying to shape the story. She is the one Mike Yates seeks out to investigate Lupton’s plans and she is with the Doctor through it. The Doctor’s constant ally and her performance helped elevate this bad script.

The Doctor – Jon Pertwee is amazing, even with terrible material. In this his mortality and regeneration is explored as we see him call himself out for his constant desire for knowledge. It is a great moment of self-awareness before he accepts his death and regeneration after defeating the Eight-Legs and their plan for conquest. God, he deserved such a better story. he is one of the best Doctors and this is his last serial.

The Cons:

Representation – You have white British actors in “yellow face” playing Tibetans and it is awful. There was no reason for studio racism to inform casting just cast Tibetan actors to play Tibetans, not clearly white British actors.

Pacing and Beginning – We have the Doctor investigating ESP and the ESP dying and it takes 2 episodes to get to the plot. 2 episodes of a 6 episode story. This story is pointless action in the beginning to pad a bad script.

Most Human Characters – Lupton is greedy and not smart and the humans of Metebelis Three are barely characters. I could see why the Eight-Legs managed to control them given how badly they are written. They are only reactive and have no depth or nuance.

Metebelis Three – Metebelis Three sucks as a location. The humans are underdeveloped and boring and the Eight-Legs are too. It is also a very bad green screen for when we are there when we aren’t on the village set.

The Eight-Legs, The Great One and Lupton – The Great One is destroyed by the thing she wants “Indiana Jones” style, the Eight-Legs have no depth beyond their cult like devotion to the giant Eight-Leg Great One and Lupton is greed and that is it. These are terrible villains and it is only due to how badly their opposition is that they get any wins. These were some of the worst antagonists to come out of “Doctor Who.”

This serial was bad and I wish Pertwee had got a better sendoff. Learning he had a Buddhist mentor was interesting but not how that ended up using representation and the Eight-Legs were such a non-threat. They never felt scary and same goes for Lupton. This serial is so much empty action and bad writing and only the performances of the leads keep me from rating it lower. You can skip this one.

Final Score: 4 / 10