Doctor Who: Planet of the Spiders (1974) - Written Review

Planet of the Spiders marked the end for Jon Pertwee's era on Doctor Who, developing the show into its truly iconic status - which would kick-in with the next few seasons. After a having to drop the original Pertwee swan-song, the production team developed this story as a replacement - and a rather questionable one at that. Planet of the Spiders is a hugely enjoyable, constantly entertaining and is filled with memorable moments - but regrettably moments are no substitute for story. Planet of the Spiders is also far too long, badly padded-out and ultimately underwhelming, if it wasn't for the serial's exciting end.
All of Pertwee's key elements are here: a modern day-set story with UNIT, a key human villain in Lupton, plenty of gadgets and an alien threat made creepy through audience recognition. Surely this should be a fantastic farewell party to this fantastic Doctor's tenure? Yet, despite this, UNIT is barely present. Yates is a key character, but even he falls by the way-side, as do Benton and the Brigadier, mostly there as regulars to fill particular roles and ensure they're around for Robot next week. The villain Lupton is almost dropped towards the end and is given a rather unceremonious death, while his acquaintances at the house are possessed, do evil things and then just get left alone while the spiders conveniently die along with the Great One.
There's plenty of interesting Who lore in Planet of the Spiders, but it all feels like either exposition (The Doctor's hermit friend is introduced through exposition and becomes a key character for...well, exposition) or a bit nonsensical (the actual planet of the spiders we visit is in the future, yet the spiders in the past Earth die when the Great One dies in the future...is that really how it works?). The human tribe bring nothing to the story, other than padding for it to fill-up the running time, and the scary moments are nearly as scary as they should be, thanks to a lack of atmospheric lighting and some poor blue screen work. All the elements are here to make a true Doctor Who classic, but it all feels so cliched that even the writer appears to have given up turning in anything special. A rather unremarkable end to Pertwee's era, although the man himself certainly shines throughout. 7/10

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