Planet of The Spiders is particularly significant for me as it is the earliest memory I have of a watching a classic series Doctor Who story on its original transmission and as a child I remember back then being deeply disturbed by the concept of Sarah plus the Doctor and local elder Sabor confined in webbing cocoons in the spiders larder ready for the next meal time. Yes indeed it is best known for the extensive chase sequence which considerably pads out the overall length but I think this was a good celebration of the action man nature of the third Doctor era. I like the perplexed nature of the Police Constable whom failing to keep up with the Whomobile and a toy helicopter and the yellow Bessie car attempts to explain the bizarre sequence of events to his superior on the car radio. I think there is worthy praise due for Elizabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane particularly when possessed in the last episode and John Kane whom turns in a convincing performance as the first retarded and then adept and competent crusading good guy Tommy. I was satisfied with John Dearth as the unscrupulous power hungry Lupton whilst I also welcome the guest appearance of a moustached Gareth Hunt as Metabelis villager Arak when the story later moves off planet Earth. There is some worthy interplay early on between the Pertwee Doctor and the Brigadier both before and after attending the theatre show and there is I think true sadness for what befalls the genuine mystic Professor Clegg when he examines the great crystal. Although primarily buying it for its original two and a half hour original transmission I can see the appeal of a shortened additional version to be also included in this new DVD title as a second disc extra. I think there is a lot of ground to cover in a making of the story item and hearing that THE FINAL CURTAIN weighs in at 38 mins I believe they will have done satisfactory justice to what a pivotal moment in the classic series Planet of The Spiders is. I think it is fantastic that there is a separate approx 13 min extra where actor John Kane remembers working on the story however I am more delighted to see a 7 min NOW AND THEN item concentrating on the locations used as this is a regular feature that I always look forward to. Although not one of the greatest Pertwee tales there is much to enjoy and with such a outstanding amount of extras on offer this certainly makes for an essential title acquisition of a pivotally important moment in the classic series. In my opinion it is definitely worth nabbing a copy.
This is the 3rd Doctor final story and I think it's a good one. A sort of sequel to The Green Death, this story see alien spider's trying to get back a blue crystal that the 3rd Doctor took from them the last time he came to their Planet.
This story is the first time the term Regeneration is used in Doctor Who, the last apperence of the Who Mobile and the first apperence of the 4th Doctor played by Tom Baker.
The late great Jon Pertwee's final story. It's more of a whimper than a bang for his exit.
The story itself isn't bad but the fact that one car chase lasts over an entire episode does make a little hard going in places.
Saying that, the team are great, Pertwee, Liz Sladen, Nick Courtney et al put in some fine performances.
I'm looking forward to the 90 minute edit, should make the story much more exciting.