| PLANET OF THE SPIDERS by Robert Sloman |
| Story 74 Synopsis: In the basement of a retreat somewhere, Mike Yates is trying to find inner peace, but he fears a man named Lupton is up to no good. He brings in Sarah Jane, because he fears the Brigadier would think him mad. Meanwhile, the Doctor and the Brigadier meet Professor Clegg, whose stage act disguises his genuine psychokinetic abilities. When Jo returns the blue Metebelis crystal that the Doctor gave her, Clegg is given it in a test, but he dies of a heart attack. Back at the monastery, a giant spider materialises, and leaps onto Lupton's back. Sarah goes to break the news of this, whilst Mike stays. Tommy, the retreat's simple handyman, takes the crystal. Lupton travels to Metebelis 3, and Sarah accidentally goes too. The Doctor follows on in the TARDIS. There, they find humans enslaved by giant spiders. Sarah is kidnapped, but the Spider Queen uses her to get to Earth. The Doctor instigates revolution, then returns to Earth with Sarah. But the Spiders are after the blue crystal. The Doctor frees Sarah, then takes the crysal back to Metebelis 3, to the Cave of Crystal, where the Great One, an enormously mutated spider lives. The crystal destroys her, and her death destroys all the other giant spiders, but the radiation in the cave nearly kills the Doctor. With a little help from an old friend, he regenerates. |
| Review:- So, after 4-5 years, the third Doctor reached his on-screen demise in an adventure that celebrates some of the best aspects of his life, mixed with new elements. UNIT feature, but only peripherally. The Brigadier is not so important as Mike Yates, who returns to complete what may be seen as his trilogy (with The Green Death, and Invasion of the Dinosaurs). We even get a mention of Jo, with the return of the blue crystal which the Doctor stole from Metebelis 3. In a slightly amusing moral tone, this theft has dire consequences for the Doctor. The story comes in 2 halves: Earth, then Metebelis 3. Lupton is soon defined as our main human villain, in league with a dissenter from the Council of Spiders. There is some suggestion that like Mike, Lupton is slightly deranged. Sadly, he is swayed by dreams of power, and sharp enough to stand up to the Spiders, not realising when he is out of his depth. His eventual fate is grisly, and perhaps what he deserves. Sarah doesn't really shine here. Although it is her investigate journalism that brings her into the story, she is brusque to Tommy when he needs her, and then captured by Lupton, and possessed by the Queen Spider. Alas, she is just another character. Mike gets even less, although he does show some initiative and daring to try and infiltrate the cabal after Lupton vanishes, and to bring in Sarah in the first place. It is almost a shame that he never returns in the TV series (though he is in No Future). Tommy is a tricky one. As a mentally handicapped handyman, he is put upon by everyone, and yet the blue crystal does him good (arguably). Whereas it seems to bring misery to everyone else, it helps him, and it is a sad subsection of the series that characters have their lives changed by alien powers. The Spiders make for scary monsters, and are a believable bunch of squabblers, with a thirst for power, and upsetting the hierarchy. We see little of the Abbot, K'anpo Rinpoche, or Cho-Je, who seem present purely to prod the Doctor into making his ultimate decision. It is his choice to atone for the sin of stealing the crystal, that has caused much of the tragedy, despite the personal cost, and this marks out his true persona as someone who cares for all, whatever it costs him. An average story, raised by a decent plot and some moments of magic. |
| Disclaimer: I've read the book, and now seen the telly version. |