Doctor Who Classic Review - Planet of the Spiders

[@superraegun2649]

7:33 “there was no reason this had to be six parts” Pretty much summarises the Jon Pertwee era. So many of his stories are six parts, and it will seem as if the story is about to be resolved by part four or five, and then something will happen to create a new dilemma, and by part six it can feel quite boring and that it should just finish by now. Don’t get me wrong I love Pertwee as a doctor, and some of his stories are great, some are justified for being six parts, but he has far too many six part stories.

[@CrystalblueMage]

"A tear, Sarah Jane?"

[@lizzie8561]

The earliest reference I'm aware of concerning the TARDIS being alive and sentient is the third story "The Edge of Destruction" with William Hartnell in 1964. It is also stated that the TARDIS is intelligent and shares a bond with those who travel in it.

[@DPS31762]

Even in An Unearthly Child, Ian says that the Tardis is alive, but I don't think anything was said about it being sentient. As for Planet of the Spiders, I almost certainly saw it at some point 40-some years ago, but I don't remember a darn thing about it.

[@paulking9476]

I quite like planet of the spiders sure it can be a little ridiculous and places but overall it's pretty good

[@alunrundle162]

Elizabeth Sladen was, apparently, exhausted by the end of this. The filming schedule of the time recorded the first story of the next season in with the previous story block. And they decided to record 'Robot' at the same time as 'Planet of the Spiders'. So it may be that her sub par performance here was because she was the only actor required for BOTH series at the SAME time!

[@jaquesravalec242]

Sub par? Whether expressing joy as in "now you're talking!" Or fear as in "Doctor, I'm frightened!" Her acting is great.

[@jeffgalus8454]

FYI: That Roger Delgado's wife Kismet was one of the voices spiders

[@stephenkay4008]

I have such strong memories of this watching with my Brother in 1974 - the spiders gave him nightmares for one thing. Watching it again when much older I was struck by how cruel and icy the spider voices were - they suited the on screen characters perfectly, but you had to watch body movements or leg twitches, as well as recognition of the voices used when a spider had spoken previously during the spider council scenes to work out which one is speaking at any given time - and even then it’s easy to get confused, so a fair point well made. Regarding your comments concerning The Great One’s plan being self-defeating; surely the point was that the plan was flawed, but in her arrogance and megalomania, she couldn’t see it and/or refused to acknowledge the fact and the whole object lesson at the heart of the story was to have humility - even The Doctor since it was his thirst, nay greed for knowledge and his desire to get one of the fabled jewels from the famous Blue Planet that brought about this particular chain of events. However, I will fully acknowledge that this only makes sense if you’ve seen The Carnival of Monsters and The Green Death. A lot of your other constructive criticisms are spot on - the whole of episode 2 is one long, indulgent and largely unnecessary chase simply because Jon Pertwee loved tech and vehicles of all kinds and they crammed as much in as they could for his swan-song. There are lots of brilliant moments - I remember so many children in the school playground on the Monday following the transmission of episode 1 sitting crossed-legged in circles and chanting “Ohm; Ohm”, etc. and I think the series was very aware that the on-screen shenanigans were exciting for children most of all, sometimes to the detriment of narrative - or even logic and sense because they wanted that ‘playground buzz’ after the episode had gone out. That’s something the production team had been chasing ever since the first Dalek story and if you want a particularly egregious example of this, look no further than The Chase from 1965. Don’t get me wrong, I can absolutely wallow in the total silliness of it when I’m in the right mood and I guess I like Planet of The Spiders for a lot of the same reasons. I can still watch this story with great fondness, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a clumsy, lumbering beast - no two ways about it. I’ve only recently become a paying follower of yours, but your reactions and reviews are always perceptive and entertaining!

[@theunknowntimelord8494]

The chase scene was a gift to pertwee for his love of gadgets. Better 3rd doctor stories are three doctors, planet of daleks, inferno, green death. A great story to watch is 4th doctor story seeds of doom.

[@frankbrody239]

Just rewatched Seeds of Doom literally yesterday, yeah, that is some good ol' fashioned sci-fi right there! Also, talk about the Doctor not giving two shits about people dying "in the line of duty" I think 4 actually beats someone half to death and leaves him to die, just so different from Who nowadays...

[@Prowl1701]

Inferno is one of my favortie stories.

[@gergi29]

Personally I liked this one, androzani, war games etc are way better and there's some things about it that are quite cheesy and ordinary for the pertwee era but it's a fun entertaining piece of sci fi and pertwee really gives his all for his final stand as the doctor

[@NoverMaC]

I personally found caves boring

[@nathanyou1899]

I actually prefer the regeneration stories as just the adventures the doctor doesn't make it out the other side

[@Prowl1701]

me too

[@allenstewart8535]

Definetly. In new who theres so many stories that feel like the doctors not gonna make it out of but he always does. It makes him feel even more immortal than he already is

[@jacobhogan3208]

I feel they had this and the regeneration as two seperate stories that were forced to be put together after Delgado's death.

[@pious83]

I always thought the "time beetle" in Turn Left was going to be an actual callback to these Spiders. Which I think would have been more interesting than just a visual influence.

[@MrPaulMorris]

The stretching of stories beyond their optimum length was almost entirely down to budget. There was a fixed (very low) budget per episode and the only way to make it work for what was an intrinsically expensive show was to write off the costs of sets and costumes over a number of episodes. The car chases and martial arts were a bit of fun for Pertwee in his exit story as he was a big fan of gadgets and was definitely the most physical of the Doctors. The hover car ('Whomobile') was actually commissioned and owned by Jon Petwee and was road legal in the UK. Earlier scripts were rewritten specifically to fit in Pertwee's pet project and I guess it seemed appropriate to give it a last outing here in his final story.

[@Companion92]

More action for Jon Pertwee. Fitting send of for Three. I love how weird this story is. I remember that I was really happy that the Hermit Three talked so foundly about really showed up and that Mike got an redemption ark. I also like that this story and Three having to regenerate was kind of a aftermatch for him stealing this blue stone, which shows up again in later stories.

[@candoentertainment9118]

Not to nitpick, but it was Mike Yates The Doctor had conversationwith about TARDIS being alive, not Lethbridge-Stewart.

[@paulking9476]

Fun facts about this episode when it was first aired it sparked a lot of controversy as people complained it was too scary funny how times have changed

[@danpearman270]

I'm late to this one, but wanted to offer you a simple explanation for the 'why' of the use of bad green screen. (First, as someone else has noted, it was actually the far inferior Blue Screen technology, but that's largely by the by.) I think what you are failing to remember is that this was pretty much cutting-edge effects technology for TV of the time (movies being much higher budget in those days were years ahead on technology) and people literally didn't realise how bad it was. For a more modern comparison - when Babylon 5 really got going, people raved about the CGI, because it looked amazing, it was completely new and so different from the model footage traditional used for sci-fi up to that point (no, I'm not saying it was unique, but it was praised for its CGI). Yet if you go back and watch it now, it simply doesn't hold up - the CGI looks relatively crude and people wonder now why it was praised at the time. And this is the same effect with Spiders (and other stuff from this era) - people were blown away by the new possibilities that this technology represented for their shows, and audiences just naturally suspended disbelief for the chance to see things that couldn't really be achieved otherwise, at least not on the same scale (see what I did there ;) ). Essentially, yes it looked kinda lousy, but that is in hindsight, at the time it simply didn't look so bad to people using it or watching it. (And in a decade or two people will be looking back at the effects in Lord of the Rings and pointing out how terrible they look, because of things that we probably can't even see yet...)

[@radic888]

I started watching DW during the Pertwee era and I had no idea about the aspect of regeneration, so you could imagine how engrossed I was by the regeneration scene. Then, Tom Baker comes along and I was hooked forever. As a teenage boy, I absolutely loved Planet of the Spiders.

[@kreehomel]

I like this one personally. In terms of popular ones to check out, all of Season 7 is basically praised through the roof by a lot of people, though Inferno is generally seen as the best. The Sea Devils, The Daemons, The Curse of Peladon, and The Three Doctors are all well-liked too. If you want something a bit more underrated, The Mind of Evil is fantastic and my personal favorite Pertwee story. Frontier in Space and Planet of the Daleks are also very overlooked.

[@ilovecatweazle]

The one thing you don't mention is that Doctor Who, more so then, was for children. As a child watching it when it aired, things like the chase was great fun. As for general aesthetics of the show, we never knew the next time or if we were ever going to see each episode again (let alone being able to watch a complete story in one sitting). This was one reason why we didn't dwell on many of the problems. Re-watching the old shows I too see many of the shortcomings.However, with five seasons of the late, great Jon Pertwee there are much better stories of his out there.

[@epiendless1128]

It is certainly true that many years ago, I was painfully aware that Doctor Who was very seldom repeated by the BBC. Frustratingly, I got the impression that folks overseas were getting plenty of reruns, while in Britain, you saw each episode at most _once_ , and if you missed it, or wanted to see it again, tough.

[@highvoltage7797]

ilovecatweazle Doctor Who was a family show not a kids show. It tried and did things you wouldn’t see in a kids. Much of the staff fought hard to make sure that it would get the same recognition as any other adult show. It was also made in the Drama department of the BBC not any other. Robert Holmes or Verity Lambert would never just call it just for kids.

[@codyw1]

Absolutely baffling (and kinda hilarious) that anyone seriously thinks the classic show was more of a kid's show than the modern crapola...

[@karkatvantas9557]

My favourite Third Doctor story is The Curse of Peladon. It's absolutely fantastic and deserves a spot on your shortlist for the patrons.

[@nancyjay790]

Is that the one where Pertwee is singing to a beast thing?

[@karkatvantas9557]

@@nancyjay790 Yes

[@nancyjay790]

@@karkatvantas9557 Thanks for the reply! There's two stories with Pertwee on Peladon as I recall, separated in the planet's timeline by several years, but I did recall the singing.

[@karkatvantas9557]

@@nancyjay790 Indeed. I don’t think The Monster of Peladon is nearly as good as Curse.

[@jerry2357]

This is one of those stories that embedded itself in my mind when it was first broadcast and I was a schoolboy, along with the two Autons stories, the Daemons, the Sea Devils, the Three Doctors, the Green Death and the Time Warrior. I still think it’s a good story. Jon Pertwee was the James Bond Doctor, and the chase sequence in this story really emphasises this. The autogyro is very similar to “Little Nellie” from “You Only Live Twice”. You have to see classic Doctor Who in context: it was family entertainment, not serious science fiction. Also, these stories didn’t really drag when they were seen one episode per week (you had to be very rich to be able to afford a video recording machine in 1974). The idea of watching a whole story at one sitting never occurred to anyone at the time. I remember the anticipation of waiting for the next week’s episode.

[@geektranzl8r]

I had nightmares as a kid about there being a giant spider on my back. I remember it fondly from a kid’s perspective

[@VeEmCe]

When you complain about things such as the uses of green screen, you really have to keep in mind the budgetary limits of the show, the costs of shooting outdoors let alone back then, the narrow schedule windows available and the fickleness of the English weather. Your narrative criticisms are much more fair. Planet of the Spiders isn't the best story in many ways, but it is held together by an extremely strong swansong performance by Jon Pertwee, particularly in the final episode. Another benefit it has, which is lost in these kind of reviews, is a link to story arcs in previous episodes, in many ways a culmination of what had gone before, which was something Doctor Who had been lacking, and would build upon in the oncoming series.

[@rog2224]

Much of the outside material was down to there being a set makers strike for much of his run. Hence, when you're in the studio, they're reusing sets for other shows, or stuff cobbled together before the pay and conditions talks collapsed again.

[@yogisie]

Love your stuff! The First Doctor finds out about the TARDIS being sentient all the way back to the very third story, The Edge of Destruction. In my opinion, that story is very underrated. But regarding y his particular story, it's generally considered as a "best of" story. I thought it was fine enough.

[@pertweestan5968]

It's a mixed one for me. The regeneration scene is emotional and moving. Pertwee plays the role brilliantly and has a decent send off. However, I find the people chanting the rituals slightly annoying and the length of the story is probably too long.

[@sirjedisentinel]

That seems to be the consensus. Based on what I've heard about the Pertwee era (I haven't gotten that far yet), his earthbound stories are good, but his space bound stories are bad. Also, I've only heard one thing about Planet of the Spiders; sort of as a tribute to him, one of the spider's (the queen I believe) is voiced by Roger Delgado's widow

[@stevencassidy6982]

"Death to the two-legs!" Adore this one. Pertwee looks scared

[@Reprodestruxion]

“A tear, subscribers?”

[@ksaunders4362]

I highly recommend the following Third Doctor stories: The Silurians, The Mind of Evil, The Curse of Peladon, The Sea Devils, The Mutants, The Three Doctors, Carnival Of Monsters and Invasion of the Dinosaurs. When I first got back into Doctor who (I watched it on the ABC every evening at 6pm as a child, but it ended in 1989) I made it a point to watch every Doctor's first and last stories. I watched a reconstruction of the last episode of The Tenth Planet and the full reconstruction of Power of the Daleks. You're right about the spiders and not being able to tell them apart, either visually or vocally, and poor Sarah Jane didn't fare well in this episode, but it was made clear that the crystal from Metebelis 3 is able to enhance mental capacity and i think Tommy was basically there to make that point. It's interesting that you point out the whitewashing of the Tibetan characters - especially since the U.S. is no better for this and is, in fact, still doing it with fairly alarming regularity. All in all, I liked Planet of the Spiders and, even though it wasn't quite the fitting send-off that Jon Pertwee deserved, it was still a worthy end.

[@kylejones8289]

The first time that there was an implied sentience to the TARDIS was in the third ever serial of the show, "The Edge of Destruction." It isn't very good, but it has its moments and is definitely an interesting episode.

[@mariakalotichou5813]

Hello Council liked your review. I do agree with quite a few points. but this story still highlights a lot of the good stuff in the classic series which I love. 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. 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. 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 :D. 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. In between episodes 1,2 & 6 it feels a bit plodding at times I agree . 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 Capaldi can get an extended goodbye 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 The planet is I agree 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 nowadays 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. It isn't what I would have expected necessarily as a swansong but it is definitely above average. The regeneration was quiet and dignified and Pertwee is as charming as usual. He was a debonair, sophisticated, cultured Doctor and the whole era has a James Bond vibe which I love

[@Reprodestruxion]

Chroma key abuse was pretty standard for the 70’s

[@nightowl8477]

sounds like the spiders from rick and morty

[@stevenedwardmaylott6078]

That's probably where the idea came from.

[@samuelbarber4154]

The Master was also meant to turn to good before Delgado's death. So the Master causes the Doctor's death and turns good, sound familiar?

[@theshadowdirector]

The Green Death has similar moments of bad effects and green screen but the rest of story is done so well that it doesn't drag things down too badly.

[@anthonynoel3100]

I always come to your channel expecting maybe something positive, and every time I get a big fat raspberry. I'm going to start dubbing your channel "cinema sins for fanboy sic-fi". But in your defense, this is what makes your channel work and props to you for that. For my response to this vid in particular. I humbly agree to disagree with you assessment of this story. Planet of the Spiders I think was an excellent send off to Jon Pertwee, and a great introduction to the stories that were to come for Doctor Who. By the way Tommy's character was there to help demonstrate the power of the crystals. The crystal "healed" his mind, showing it's power to heal, while the spiders themselves represent the crystals' power to destroy. Anywho's here's to hoping that one day you'll actually shock the shit out me and actually make a constructive, well informed, (and my God, positive) review. Lol!

[@CouncilofGeeks]

I like to think that the difference between me and something like Cinema Sins (which I really loath, for the record) is that I don't go into anything LOOKING for things that don't work. I truly and honestly go into everything I watch looking for reasons to enjoy it, even the times that I'm pretty positive ahead of time that something will suck. I want to enjoy everything. Unfortunately I also have a bit of an overly critical disposition by nature, which means that when something takes me out of the moment, that stands out. I don't sit down with a notepad ticking off mistakes. I actually don't take notes at all. I just watch. And if something stuck in my head after watching (good or bad) I figure I should probably touch on it.

[@jrbaskind]

I saw the episode and I liked it well enough, but I did think it was a bit padded out and could have done with quite a bit of "pruning".

[@psyslo]

Ark in Space w/Tom Baker is one of my favorites. It's also the first Doctor Who story I saw back in the 80's...

[@samuelbarber4154]

Well, the living, sentient TARDIS idea has expounded upon in the Impossible Planet where the Doctor says how they were grown on Gallifrey, and the implication that there was some being at the heart of the TARDIS, if not the Time Vortex itself.

[@julieeverett7442]

the tardis being alive was first hinted at in the THIRD ever story, edge of destruction!

[@BenS-dy9eq]

"The great one's not bad at all, mainly because they put in a terrific setting, so PROPS to that." No pun intended

[@jarjared3522]

We should take a moment to admire the irony of the Third Doctor dying facing his fears resulting in the Fourth Doctor being born fearless.

[@Prowl1701]

I actully really enjoy this one, of course I grew up with classic who reruns. The story is a good one to me. Plus John got to be very physically active in it, which he loved.

[@michaelinlofi]

I really loved Planet of the Spiders. You do bring up a series of valid points, but I found it quite exciting. Part 2 is very silly, but I loved it because the chase is basically just a load of fun. I thought the whole serial was really fun, and a good send off to Pertwee. The spiders creep me out, but that's my arachnophobia talking. I also really liked Tommy's character, and in some way I feel he's more metaphorically connected to the plot.

[@joekettle3159]

Planet of the spiders is in my opinion the best episode of Doctor who ever

[@GLBizzie]

I’ll give it a 7/10… I think the plot itself wasn’t bad and the acting was top notch. I even enjoyed the long chase coz u could really see Pertwee enjoying it. I always love seeing actors enjoying their stuff. With Pertwee u know he hated his Daleks storys and it was shown in his acting but here he came to life. I was glad we got Mike Yates back for a little redemption arc. Sarah Jane and the 3rd Doctor spent just 1 season together but we’re much closer and a better team than him and Liz Shaw tbh. But the negative part for me was the pacing of the storyline. It was dragging so hard at times. The village people were just forced into it to have some side characters but actually they didn’t matter like usually and did nothing really for the plot but help to stall it for two episodes. The greedy guys were annoying too. But the whole regeneration arc and explanation really made up for it. It was heartbroken to see Sarah Jane so shattered about the Doctor. I even loved that they gave the Brigadier the honor to be there too for Pertwee‘s ending. I just wish Benton was there. But overall an OK ending for a 5 season long Doctor. But I do think that this should’ve been a normal serial without the regeneration and the Peladon story the end for this era

[@willgillies5670]

Planet of the Spiders is perfect Sunday afternoon WHO. It's a last hurrah for all the Pertwee elements, more or less. Its like a farewell to the Third Doctors era, the best thing to do is go along with a slower pace. All the elements that made the Pertwee era are going to go between this story and the next one. Robot is a Pertwee UNIT story but without Pertwee's Doctor ....and the new guy cant WAIT to get back out in deep space

[@stevenedwardmaylott6078]

The original design for the spider's where scrapt was they were deemed to terrifing for children.

[@epiendless1128]

I've not seen anyone mention that at the end of the chase scene, the cornered villain escapes by teleporting. If he could teleport, what was the point of the chase?

[@nathaiellaughton7569]

As far as I know, this was not meant to be a regeneration story, Robot was meant to be Pertwee's bow out but it was given to Backer hence why Backer seems a lot like Pertwee. As for green screen, you should watch 'the green death, that's terrible green screen

[@Yan_Alkovic]

Yeah, I totally agree with you. This felt exceedingly disappointing. The visuals were all good and I do enjoy the scenes, but the plot and the execution are all so... bland. Not much else to say other then the fact that this is the first time that a major continuity point from the previous season finale (The Green Death, one of the best episodes of Doctor Who ever) actually carried over to this one and directly caused these events. You have seen The Green Death, right? If not you should totally put it own as one of the episodes for your Patrons to choose from.

[@frankbrody239]

I may have said this before, but this was the first regeneration story for me, I knew what regeneration was, but I did not know that THIS episode was 3's regeneration story. So this has always stood out for me in my mind as a Who fan. Looking back, I can take the piss out of some of it, the chase scene actually was completely redundant, as he could've just teleported back to the house because he was linked to the spider. Also the ending was kinda rushed, as per many 3rd Doctor stories. But overall, I liked the story, and it was good old fashioned sci-fi fun, so Planet of the Spiders always will have a place in my hearts..: )

[@somthingbrutal]

i missed this one by one year oops so i had to wait until the 80's/90's to watch it on video TBH i don't remember much about it. one i would like to see you review is the talons of weng chiang. it also has white man playing a Chinese villain i do think that it does have every Chinese member of equity at the time in it just not in a lead role and that time if you were not a member of equity you couldn't act in a professional production which is one reason for it probably not the only reason but times change, in this case for the better.

[@highvoltage7797]

Going to sound like a die hard fan but you don’t seem to like much of classic Doctor Who?

[@CouncilofGeeks]

More a case of I’m focusing on seeing the stuff I haven’t before and I’ve taken in many of what are considered to be the best stories.

[@highvoltage7797]

Council of Geeks Ok still nice to see a KZbinr consistently review classic Doctor Who.

[@archive9796]

High Voltage meh he gets points for watching classic who unlike many Doctor who KZbinrs

[@highvoltage7797]

Borgin & Burkes Antiques Shop Is there a bigger KZbin channel that talks about classic Doctor Who anyway? Only a handful of smaller channels talk about it.

[@neilmcdonald9164]

There's a bug chase also in Invasion of the Dinosaurs 🎩🙄

[@Terry.W]

As I recall as this was Jon Pertwee last adventure they allowed him to have as many gadgets as possible in the show.....but I disagree this is a classic ...and the ending was a real tear jerker..

[@dove4206]

What's the polarity of the neutron flow I thought he reversed the polarity of the jelly baby flow

[@samuelbarber4154]

If only Arachnids in the UK was actually the return of these monsters, if only.

[@ilailaquer8182]

This serial has a lot of problems but the over-the-top chase scene was actually one of my favorite parts of it XD

[@brnhd1991]

It's as you said a 'meh' episode. Episode 6 is probs best (imo) how much of Sylvester McCoy have you seen? Reminds me a little of Smith and a lot of Capaldi Fenric and Remembrance are always worth a watch (If your patreons agree)

[@CouncilofGeeks]

Of what I’ve seen of McCoy so far, I like him but the 80s is tough to get into for me sometimes.

[@TheMagicDragonHD]

You should watch Season 26, one of the best.

[@allengarner3922]

I agree with a bunch of things that he said, except for the complaints about the voices. Personally I like them. One of the things I like about doctor is not only the aliens and monsters but the voices as well. They actually try (not always successfully) to make them sound non human, which is something not many sci-fi shows do. I thought this episode was okay, but a little overlong, like most six-part episodes. Maybe the most forgettable of the original regeneration stories.

[@jerobriggs6861]

I actually love Planet of the Spiders. It's my favorite regeneration story.

[@jeffgalus8454]

Try Inferno

[@Prowl1701]

I agree, Inferno is great.

[@dcsignal5241]

1st watched this as a kid, scared the shit out of me. My 1st regeneration story, so was upsetting to lose THE Doctor. Only 2 Doctors convinced me that they were the Doctor subsequently.

[@paulwalker3758]

I've done a quick read and I've not seen anyone else mention this: This story was reworked and writted quickly. This was originally meant to be the final appearance of Roger Delgado's Master. He was meant to actually save the Doctor at the end, concluding their Holmes/Moriarty relationship. However, he sadly died in a car crash, so we didn't get this story. It doesn't help the flaws in this story, but it might be a reason as to why some areas didn't have as much thought as others. I like the actual regeneration. In fact I think it's one of the better ones in Old Who. Sorry of someone did say this already. Thanks for the video - hopefully it doesn't give you pause over other Pertwee episodes. This is amongst the weakest of his run.

[@paulwalker3758]

ah, never mind, just got to that point in the video.

[@jamiexavier1546]

Actually if you remove Indy from the Plot of Raiders, it stays exactly the same. with or without Indy they still find the ark and all die.

[@CouncilofGeeks]

I know. But it’s basically the only story where that happens and it doesn’t bother me.

[@jimmyjambhere]

The original Master was awesome. My only issue with the 3rd Doctor's stories when it comes to The Master is he is in too many of them. In the one season The Master is in like every story. Also, i always wondered why Jon Pertwee never got a Cybermen story???

[@AidanDrotzur-uz5sz]

I'm on part two but i really like this episode so far it's pretty good

[@smartgenes1]

Too much griping really. There was a lot to like about this episode. 1. the joke filler about Metebelis 3 in the previous episode turning out to be important, linking previous stories. 2. not too bothered about the 'sameness' of the spiders, part of the storyline emphasises the hive mind mentality (parallel with the meditation group) 3. Completing the arc of Yates so he is not just a good guy conveniently turned bad but someone with complexity 4. The reference to Jo makes it feel more comprehensive in the conclusion of the 3rd Doctor and Yates 5. Counterbalancing the portrayal of the Doctor's power as scientific with esotericism - during the episode it is gratifying to see the switch of the Buddhism being thought of as fluffy thinking to being a key component of the Doctor's development 6. The death of the Doctor is in a grand enough circumstance but typical enough, which makes it more believable 7. Rather than it being a simple case of villain failure, we have something more psychological: the Doctor's greed is what has brought a dangerous artefact out into the open, and he needs to overcome his fear and self-sacrifice to vanquish the enemy.

[@IanBeaumont128]

Spearhead From Space was a great story.

[@iankmcnab]

I'd love to see your take on Blake's 7.. given half of it was shot in a quarry :)

[@glenmcculla6843]

I'd love to see that, genuinely - i've never seen a US reactor's take on B7 before.

[@CouncilofGeeks]

I’m not saying never. But I don’t currently have plans.

[@joelakat]

I'm a U.S. fan and I love the hell out of Blake's 7. I think I enjoy it even more than the Doctor Who from the same era (and that was a pretty decent Doctor Who era). The premise, story arc, character dynamics and performances elevate it above the budget (which was basically Doctor Who's table scraps). It has some bad episodes, and those get more-frequent in series 3 and 4... but it's a hell of a ride. I challenge anyone to watch the first two stories (The Way Back, and Spacefall) and not come away hooked. Nathaniel, I genuinely think you'd love it. :)

[@DavRossTheWhovian]

Great video i reviewed this on my Doctor Who First & Last review on the Third Doctor you should check it out i will be putting up the Tenth Doctor's shortly.

[@Reprodestruxion]

Tibetan lama backdoor for Timelords

[@jeremysealing4796]

Once upon a time, the Doctor regenerating was not a spectacle event the way it has become in the new series. I mean the Twelfth Doctor had regeneration used how many times as either a plot device or a plot twist? In Classic Who, regeneration was obviously planned out. I agree this is not the best story. As far as regeneration goes, I like that Sarah Jane Smith and the Brigadier are present for the regeneration. The whole thing with the chases and gadgets felt more like a classic Adam West Batman episode. A better Third Doctor story is his first story, "Spearhead from Space." It is such a vast contrast from the Second Doctor with more action and feels more cinematic.As far as a better regeneration story from Classic Who I think you should check out next would be "Logopolis" as this story introduces The Watcher. However, to understand who and what the Watcher is you must listen to the Big Finish Fifth Doctor audio drama "Circular Time." You do not even have to listen to all four parts. The last part, "Winter," the Fifth Doctor is trapped in his mind in an alternate state where he never became a Timelord. The Watcher comes back. You discover all of this is taking place right before the Fifth Doctor gives Peri the antidote at the end of "The Caves of Androzani." I haven’t given away too much of the plot to the audio drama. It very much explains why along with all of his companions that you see The Master during the Fifth Doctor's regeneration.

[@CouncilofGeeks]

I’ve already seen Logopolis and... am not as fond of it as many. That said I’m due I revisit it before I do any kind of review.

[@julieeverett7442]

in classic who the regenerations were gentle, because he didnt fight it and most often was not alone. 1st had ben and polly 2nd had the time lord council, 3rd had the brig and Sarah Jane, 4th had tegan nyssa and adric 5th had Peri 6 th Mel 7th was alone 8 had the sister hood 8.5 was alone 9 had rose 10 had jack donna and rose 10 part 2 was alone 11 had clara and 12 was alone. see a patern?

[@M-E_123]

Green screen didn't exist back then - it was Blue screen (which I think was considered cutting edge at the time). Blue screen was notably worse than Green screen which was a massive step forward for special effects. I think they played around with Blue screen for a few years before moving away from it because they finally accepted it looked crap (probably they bought the equipment because it was the new thing in special effects at the time but when it looked bad they still had to use it to justify the sunk costs).

[@ftumschk]

Although blue-screen was certainly used, 1970s Who perhaps made more extensive use of yellow-screen. Yellow-screen was used in "The Time Monster", "Day of the Daleks", "The Three Doctors", "Carnival of Monsters" and "Death to the Daleks". In fact "Planet of the Spiders" used yellow-screen as well, as did the next story "Robot". I may be mistaken, but I'm sure I once heard Barry Letts say that they tried green-screen when the need arose.

[@D-Cameron]

The character of Tommy is good, and the actor who plays him gives a good performance - and it's nice to have Mike Yates back for a bit of redemption. But there are much better Pertwee stories, particularly from his first season.

[@nathanyou1899]

The invasion or tomb of the cybermen

[@patricksinger1029]

How do you watch classic.? I can't find any way that doesn't involve spending a n absurd amount of money.

[@CouncilofGeeks]

Britbox. Which as I understand is only available in the US but it’s very affordable.

[@TheMagicDragonHD]

You call 5-10 pounds per story + bonus material and audio commentary an absurd amount of money? o.O

[@jimmyjambhere]

This was one of my favorite stories when i was younger. I just do not care that much for the new series. The special effects are awesome looking but i just don't like it that much. The 3rd & 4th doctors have always been my favorite.

[@rebeccamccreary8530]

I haven't seen this episode, so sorry if this is a ridiculous question, but do these spiders have anything to do with the Racnoss from Runaway Bride? Just wondering.

[@CouncilofGeeks]

Nope. Not a bad question though.

[@ferusgratia]

Yup, it was an unfortunately weak send off for the Third Doctor, and contains the most un-Doctor moment in the entire series, when he accidentally kills a willing test subject in an experiment gone wrong. No one EVER talks about that and I think it's really weird.

[@frankbrody239]

You shouldn't watch Seeds of Doom, then. People die all around the Fourth Doctor, and he doesn't give two shits in the end, no regrets, just "get on with it" back in those days, I guess...

[@scl1332]

I actually really liked this story. I can definitely see why people would hate this. I thought parts 1-3 were a great unfolding mystery but 4 and 5 derailed the story a bit and made a bit of slog. If your use to very terrible effects it’s easy to just let em slide if u don’t then this will be probably the worst Doctor Who story for u. A solid 6 from me it’s not great but its not terrible.

[@Fitzroyfallz]

I personally loved the chase scenes. I heard that Jon Pertwee was the one who wanted them in there, and actually paid for the whomobile to be made himself. I agree that Sarah Jane screamed too much. I personally find her to be overrated and I think that the main reasons people like her are because she was the companion at one of doctor's who's peak in popularity, and she came back to do her own series (which I think she is much better in).

[@DaveTravelsthroughTime]

Nathaniel how would you rate it out of 10?

[@CouncilofGeeks]

I don’t do that.

[@DaveTravelsthroughTime]

Ok I didn't know sorry!

[@DaveTravelsthroughTime]

Everyone has their different way of reviewing things I understand so cool!

[@CouncilofGeeks]

No worries! I’ll rank things relative to each other sometimes but I’m not into the raw ratings by number (or grade or whatever) thing.

[@Whovian9971]

CSO was new and also they didn’t have enough time to reshoot it, oh and budget reasons, they couldn’t always go on location to reshoot the scenes they had to

[@Whovian9971]

Or it was scripted as a green screen scene

[@Ben-vf5gk]

I've only watched this once ages ago so some of the problems you had with it may become apparent with a second viewing. That being said the only thing that really grated on me were the spider's voices, the Great One's especially. It reminded me of the Wire from the idiot's lantern. Every time they said something like "ALL PRAISE TO THE GREAT ONE!" it just made me roll my eyes and want to yell shut up at my screen.

[@callisto8413]

I liked Planet Of The Spiders but felt it was trying to do TWO stories at once. The Yoga line and the Spider Planet line needed both their own stories.

[@k2montgomery419]

We had a rollicking good time watching Planet of the Spiders. I’m sorry you didn’t appreciate it as much as we did.

[@TK_Brainslug]

just one question were all episodes in classic who only half an hour or less long?

[@CouncilofGeeks]

Up until the 6th Doctor, yes.

[@TK_Brainslug]

Council of Geeks thx Boss

[@highvoltage7797]

Tobias Kuhn They would make up for it by having 4,6,8 or on one occasion 10 parters. The maximum is either 12 or 14 depending on who you talk to. Most of the time it allowed for further exploration of both side and main characters but also meant that some stories are longer then they should be. I think it would help new Who if most stories where two parts. It went back to 24/25 minutes each for the sixth Doctor’s second season and for the 7th Doctor.

[@borjankosarac3645]

The one 5th Doctor story, "Resurrection of the Daleks" was for some reason produced as a two-parter with double-length episodes (although I think you can get a version with 4 half-hour episodes), but the 6th Doctor was the first time it was a regular thing for them to be twice as long as before. Of course, it wasn't until the 21st Century with the revived series era that it became a permanent fixture to have longer episodes.

[@matwells3222]

A lot of Third Doctor serials don't come up very often, which is a real shame as they are often much better than some classic and modern Who serials.

[@tardisnet9487]

The main problem with this story is that it's trying to be a big and epic goodbye for the Third Doctor but not only does it not have the production for it but the villain isn't nearly menacing or satisfying enough for the Third Doctors last story. Jon Pertwee brings a great performance and I enjoy the use of Knapo Rimonche as the Doctors old mentor and it is a great idea that the Doctor has to face his fears in his last story which works for a regeneration for Jon Pertwee as he was such a strong figure but the villain isn't nearly satisfying enough for that. So overall it's a disapointment. I enjoyed this when I first watched it but I did a regeneration stories ranking on my channel recently and it came pretty low so it's not a story that I've ever seen as paticularly great.

[@Reprodestruxion]

Tardis Net understandably because the last huzzah involved the Roger Delado Master dying to save the Doctor after revealing that they’re brothers. Now it’s hinted that they used to be married. >.>

[@tardisnet9487]

René Moncayo it would be difficult to come up with a satisfying ending that didn't involve the Master so it is understandable why it feels like a disapointment. The brother revelation would have been interesting and makes a lot of sense and would probably have worked if you consider the perspective of the Master of the time even though it wouldn't work now.

[@Reprodestruxion]

Tardis Net robot would have been a great last episode

[@tardisnet9487]

René Moncayo I love it as Tom Bakers first story but wheather it would work as Jon Pertwees last story I'm not sure.

[@Reprodestruxion]

Tardis Net mid episode switch

[@craigtownson7058]

Remember this was a show more for kids.

[@nancyjay790]

The Doctor doesn't seem to do well with arachnids.

[@rocklobsterjwt]

Yeah, as far as regenerations go, this is kind of weak. And you're right in your suspicions that the six parts were alloted. They knew how many parts they were going to give each serial.

[@tomdriver9968]

I totally share your dislike of villains' plans that end up defeating the villains themselves. It almost always leads to a really weak pay off.

[@owenwildish331]

it might be nice to see the Spiders again in Doctor Who, not necessarily as villains, perhaps as one ending up as a non-human companion

[@fruitytangerine17]

If you haven't already heard of him, I'll call attention to Frobisher, the 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦-𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 companion to Six and Seven in the comics and a couple of Big Finish audios as a non-human companion. I listened to The Holy Terror last year and Frobisher was brilliant, so maybe it could work with a spider too xD

[@owenwildish331]

don't forget k-9 too :)

[@fruitytangerine17]

I was thinking more like animal non-human companions (penguins, spiders, monkeys etc.), but then again, K9 is still a 'dog' so I guess he still works :D

[@gunlovingliberal1706]

Pertwee is my favorite original Who Doctor. This episode was such a disappointment. After he dies at the end, I was so disappointed. Tom Baker is great, but Jon deserved a better send off.

[@simeya99]

The first time I watched this episode, I was watching with a friend who's really afraid of spiders, so that made me like the episode. Because her face through the episode was really funny. But when I rewatched it, it was just meh. I kind of like it, but it wasn't good.

[@angrypacifist5782]

This episode is connected to Robot so you're going to have to review that too.

[@CouncilofGeeks]

It’s not next if that was your hope.

[@maxeyre2024]

Aside from Time and the Rani, I think it's my least favourite classic regeneration story.It had some god moments and I loved the regeneration scene itself, but Jon Pertwee deserved a better send-off than this.