Planet of the Spiders - Episode 5

After the rather disappointing cliffhanger, it didn’t take long for the episode to get back going and considering that this is the penultimate episode it’s has to move the plot along to just the right point to have an epic final episode. The thing that is noticeable about this episode is that there isn’t a particular trait that would show an aspect of the Pertwee era. There is no Bond chase sequence and no fight sequence. The Doctor manages to be put (somehow) into a cocoon and escape within the first couple of minutes. I do find the way that the Doctor escapes to be quite fun. I don’t quite know why he does free the bloke that he’s trapped with.

The scene where Sarah Jane is talking to the spider is a creepy. This is the episode where the spider jumps on Sarah’s back and also on other peoples back and its still a good effect and also a creepy idea that could be these eight legged disciples of evil on people’s back. I like how the spider that’s on Sarah Jane’s back affects her in the way that it does. It’s the first time that Sarah Jane has been affected in the way that she has been.

The episode trundles along well enough until the ten minute mark when the Doctor comes across the great one. The way that the Doctor comes across this is quite clever with the Great One using Sarah Jane’s voice. The ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’ line is quite chilling and like the Doctor, we don’t get to see what the Great One looks like though we learn that the cave is killing the Doctor slowly and this will lead to his regeneration. The first encounter between these two is brilliant because the Doctor is shown to have fear of the Great One and at times didn’t have full control of his body.

I was surprised at the death of Cho-Je in this episode as he has been one of the nicest characters in the serial. Though the involvement of this character isn’t ended here but I thought that as death scenes go in this serial, it’s the second best/most shocking death.

The appearance of all the spiders during the death of Cho-Je was rather good as there was at one point a mixture of CSO and live model. I admit that the CSO in this story isn’t quite as good especially with the scene where the Doctor encounters the Great One. It is suppose to be one of the most important sets and yet it’s let down with by the CSO.

The cliffhanger is another rather disappointing cliffhanger. I know from the information text that this was due to timing reasons but surely they could have come up with something more dramatic. As much as I like the idea that Tommy has become more intelligent and seems to be stronger and able to withstand a lot of pain, I think that the cliffhanger should have featured either the Doctor and/or Sarah. This seemed like a bit of a wasted opportunity to get us ready for the final episode.