Doctor Who/Planet of the Spiders

Planet of the Spiders
Season 11, Serial 5
Airdate	May 4, 1974
Production Number	ZZZ
Written by	Robert Sloman
Directed by	Barry Letts
← 11x04 The Monster of Peladon	12x01 → Robot
Doctor Who — Season Eleven

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Planet of the Spiders is the fifth serial of the eleventh season of Doctor Who, and the seventy-fourth serial overall.

Part One: Jon Pertwee (Doctor Who), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart), Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), John Levene (Sergeant Benton), Cyril Shaps (Professor Clegg), John Dearth (Lupton), Christopher Burgess (Barnes), Terence Lodge (Moss), Carl Forgione (Land), Andrew Staines (Keaver), Kevin Lindsay (Cho-je), John Kane (Tommy)

Part Two: Jon Pertwee (Doctor Who), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart), Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), John Levene (Sergeant Benton), John Dearth (Lupton), Christopher Burgess (Barnes), Terence Lodge (Moss), Carl Forgione (Land), Andrew Staines (Keaver), Kevin Lindsay (Cho-je), John Kane (Tommy), Chubby Oates (Policeman), Pat Gorman (Soldier), Terry Walsh (Man with boat), Michael Pinder (Hopkins), Stuart Fell (Tramp), Ysanne Churchman, Kismet Delgado (Spider voices)

Part Three: Jon Pertwee (Doctor Who), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), John Dearth (Lupton), Kevin Lindsay (Cho-je), John Kane (Tommy), Christopher Burgess (Barnes), Terence Lodge (Moss), Gareth Hunt (Arak), Geoffrey Morris (Sabor), Jenny Laird (Neska), Joanna Monro (Rega), Ralph Arliss (Tuar), Walter Randall (Guard Captain), Ysanne Churchman, Kismet Delgado, Maureen Morris (Spider Voices)

Part Four: Jon Pertwee (Doctor Who), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), John Dearth (Lupton), Christopher Burgess (Barnes), John Kane (Tommy), Terence Lodge (Moss), Carl Forgione (Land), Andrew Staines (Keaver), Gareth Hunt (Arak), Geoffrey Morris (Sabor), Jenny Laird (Neska), Joanna Monro (Rega), Ralph Arliss (Tuar), Walter Randall (Guard Captain), Ysanne Churchman, Kismet Delgado, Maureen Morris (Spider Voices)

Part Five: Jon Pertwee (Doctor Who), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), John Dearth (Lupton), Kevin Lindsay (Cho-je), John Kane (Tommy), Gareth Hunt (Arak), Geoffrey Morris (Sabor), Jenny Laird (Neska), Joanna Monro (Rega), Ralph Arliss (Tuar), Walter Randall, Max Faulkner (Guard Captains), Christopher Burgess (Barnes), Terence Lodge (Moss), Carl Forgione (Land), Andrew Staines (Keaver), Ysanne Churchman, Kismet Delgado, Maureen Morris (Spider Voices)

Part Six: Jon Pertwee (Doctor Who), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart), Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), John Dearth (Lupton), George Cormack (K'anpo), Kevin Lindsay (Cho-je), John Kane (Tommy), Christopher Burgess (Barnes), Terence Lodge (Moss), Carl Forgione (Land), Andrew Staines (Keaver), Gareth Hunt (Arak), Ralph Arliss (Tuar), Ysanne Churchman, Kismet Delgado, Maureen Morris (Spider Voices)

Uncredited: Tom Baker (Doctor Who)

Arc Advancement

Referbacks

• The blue crystal the Eight Legs are seeking that Jo Grant sends the Doctor is the one he took in The Green Death.

Trivia

The Show

• First time the term "regeneration" is used.

• First time we see someone other than the Doctor regenerate.

Behind the Scenes

• Barry Letts wrote this story with Robert Sloman, but isn't credited. He also isn't credited as producer because the BBC would only allow him to be credited as director or producer.

• Parts of this serial were recorded at the same time as parts of Robot. This meant that Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker were literally playing the Doctor at the same time. This also meant that Elizabeth Sladen, Nicholas Courtney, and John Levene were having to rush back and forth between both productions.

• Elisabeth Sladen was arachnophobic, so she felt uncomfortable having the giant rubber spider prop attached to her back. Jon Pertwee helped ease her fear by getting her to stroke one of them. Writer Robert Sloman was also arachnophobic.

• The Doctor's regeneration was filmed with Pertwee and Tom Baker on the floor on opposite sides of the studio with both shots mixed in later.

Quotes

• The Doctor: (third incarnation's final words) A tear, Sarah Jane? No... No, don't cry. While there's life, there's...

• Brigadier: Won't you introduce me to your friend, Miss Smith?

Sarah Jane: Oh, uh, yes. This is the abbot of... No, it's Cho-je. I mean, it looks like Cho-je, but it is really K'anpo Rinpoche. I think.

Brigadier: Thank you. That makes everything quite clear.

• Brigadier: (as the Doctor regenerates) Well... here we go again.