"Planet of the Spiders" is painfully padded.
Classic Who day by day
- Thread starter OmahaStar
- Start date
"Planet of the Spiders" is painfully padded.
Padding, in Doctor Who? I've never heard such a thing! :P
Robot 3
At the last minute, Sarah enters and talks the robot out of killing the Doctor. It goes outside, where soldiers fire on it.
Sarah and the professor go to a secret society meeting run by the think tank's heads. When they get captured (cuz it's Doctor Who, and that sort of thing is to be expected), the Brig and his men come in, guns blazing.
They take off, with Sarah and Harry as their captives.
UNIT tracks them down. The Brig, the Doctor, and others head towards an underground bunker where the bad guys are hiding.
The robot goes out, ordered to fight them. It threatens to destroy them all.
* * *
There isn't much here in the way of visual effects. And it's funny, the one big fx shot, which has the robot walking towards the screen, looks like a cartoon. It shouldn't, since this isn't a shot of the robot growing (That has to happen tomorrow, since it's the one thing I remembered about this story, and there's only one episode to go.), but it does look cheesy. Classic Who!
The Brig and Doctor are still working very well together, and the Brig actually listens to the Doc and takes him at face value. About time! How many times in the past has the Doctor been right about something, and when the Brig asks him for assistance, just ignores the time lord?
Robot 3
At the last minute, Sarah enters and talks the robot out of killing the Doctor. It goes outside, where soldiers fire on it.
Sarah and the professor go to a secret society meeting run by the think tank's heads. When they get captured (cuz it's Doctor Who, and that sort of thing is to be expected), the Brig and his men come in, guns blazing.
They take off, with Sarah and Harry as their captives.
UNIT tracks them down. The Brig, the Doctor, and others head towards an underground bunker where the bad guys are hiding.
The robot goes out, ordered to fight them. It threatens to destroy them all.
* * *
There isn't much here in the way of visual effects. And it's funny, the one big fx shot, which has the robot walking towards the screen, looks like a cartoon. It shouldn't, since this isn't a shot of the robot growing (That has to happen tomorrow, since it's the one thing I remembered about this story, and there's only one episode to go.), but it does look cheesy. Classic Who!
The Brig and Doctor are still working very well together, and the Brig actually listens to the Doc and takes him at face value. About time! How many times in the past has the Doctor been right about something, and when the Brig asks him for assistance, just ignores the time lord?
To each their own, I thought Planet of the Spiders was a great story. But let me guess, you hate the "chase episode.""Planet of the Spiders" is painfully padded.
I have three words....
Action Man Tank!
Ahem. Going back to The Time Warrior, Omaha makes a good point about the Sontaran makeup getting worse after this story. I'd even go so far as to say the original Linx look is more impressive than the NuWho one! Don't get me wrong, the Sontarans in the Sontaran Strategy/The Poison Sky are great, but they're awfully clean and shiny. Linx looks like he's been in battle, a lot of battles in fact!
Action Man Tank!
Ahem. Going back to The Time Warrior, Omaha makes a good point about the Sontaran makeup getting worse after this story. I'd even go so far as to say the original Linx look is more impressive than the NuWho one! Don't get me wrong, the Sontarans in the Sontaran Strategy/The Poison Sky are great, but they're awfully clean and shiny. Linx looks like he's been in battle, a lot of battles in fact!
Unfortunately he looks like he's been in battle wearing a rubber Sontaran mask.
I agree. I was just making a little joke. Linx is one of the best-looking monster of that era, definitely.
Robot 4
Sarah and Harry escape and grab the professor. The robot accidentally kills his creator and goes a little bit insane.
The robot goes full Power Rangers megazord thingy and grows to giant size, then goes on a rampage, destroying buildings in an attempt to mimic Godzilla. The Doctor races (in Bessie!) to stop it.
He kills the robot, then takes off on a voyage with Sarah Jane and new companion Harry.
* * *
Best line of the story - "There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes!"
And my goodness, that poor professor ... he must be getting whiplash from how many times he changes sides. I'm good, I'm evil, I'm good, I'm evil. lol no wonder the robot killed him.
It was nice to see this new Doctor playing with Science! since that was such a huge part of the previous Doctor. And it's not something that happens very often with this incarnation. You know what else doesn't happen often? Bessie. I think there's maybe one more time we see her, and then she's mothballed until the reunion show.
Overall, a great introduction to the new Doctor, I think, and a nice intro to Harry.
Sarah and Harry escape and grab the professor. The robot accidentally kills his creator and goes a little bit insane.
The robot goes full Power Rangers megazord thingy and grows to giant size, then goes on a rampage, destroying buildings in an attempt to mimic Godzilla. The Doctor races (in Bessie!) to stop it.
He kills the robot, then takes off on a voyage with Sarah Jane and new companion Harry.
* * *
Best line of the story - "There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes!"
And my goodness, that poor professor ... he must be getting whiplash from how many times he changes sides. I'm good, I'm evil, I'm good, I'm evil. lol no wonder the robot killed him.
It was nice to see this new Doctor playing with Science! since that was such a huge part of the previous Doctor. And it's not something that happens very often with this incarnation. You know what else doesn't happen often? Bessie. I think there's maybe one more time we see her, and then she's mothballed until the reunion show.
Overall, a great introduction to the new Doctor, I think, and a nice intro to Harry.
The Ark in Space, episode 1
Written by Robert Holmes and John Lucarotti
Directed by Rodney Bennett
The Doctor and his companions land on a space station. Harry has done something to screw up the Tardis, and instead of landing on the Earth's moon, they've landed here. Exploring the station, they get separated.
Sarah winds up in a cryogenic freezer pod, while the Doctor and Harry try to find her. While they do, the Doctor spends his time mocking everything about Harry and his little brain, along with the whole of the human race.
They find her, but before they can revive her, something launches itself at them.
* * *
The Doctor here acts a lot like the Tenth Doctor towards his final years - preachy, bitchy, and with a contempt for those silly humans around him. And Harry just stands there and takes it, as though whatever the Doctor says is brilliant and he's a numskull.
This seems like a great excuse to write a character out for an episode or two, as they did with the Hartnell era. Have Sarah just sleep through an episode or two while the actress takes a holiday. I don't know if that's what happens, just saying it could.
Written by Robert Holmes and John Lucarotti
Directed by Rodney Bennett
The Doctor and his companions land on a space station. Harry has done something to screw up the Tardis, and instead of landing on the Earth's moon, they've landed here. Exploring the station, they get separated.
Sarah winds up in a cryogenic freezer pod, while the Doctor and Harry try to find her. While they do, the Doctor spends his time mocking everything about Harry and his little brain, along with the whole of the human race.
They find her, but before they can revive her, something launches itself at them.
* * *
The Doctor here acts a lot like the Tenth Doctor towards his final years - preachy, bitchy, and with a contempt for those silly humans around him. And Harry just stands there and takes it, as though whatever the Doctor says is brilliant and he's a numskull.
This seems like a great excuse to write a character out for an episode or two, as they did with the Hartnell era. Have Sarah just sleep through an episode or two while the actress takes a holiday. I don't know if that's what happens, just saying it could.
The Ark in Space 2
Ok, so it didn't actually launch itself anywhere. It's a dead husk that hell out of a closet when Harry opened the door.
They wake one woman up. She works to revive Sarah. They find out the Earth has suffered a boom boom, but it was thousands of years ago.
Sarah wakes up and she's all woozy.
There are creepy-crawlies all over the station, and the slowly-awakening crew believe the Doctor is sabotaging them.
And they are going bonkers. Something happened during their long sleep, and they are changing into something ... else.
* * *
Seriously creepy, and it doesn't let up. I read somewhere this was like Alien, before Alien was made. And it's true, it's got that same feel.
Nice to see I was wrong about Liz going on holiday, because her character Sarah wakes up about halfway through this episode. Good thing, too. They couldn't have done the spin-off without her.
All in all, for the 150th episode of this project, I'm VERY happy. It was pretty much 100% pure awesome.
Ok, so it didn't actually launch itself anywhere. It's a dead husk that hell out of a closet when Harry opened the door.
They wake one woman up. She works to revive Sarah. They find out the Earth has suffered a boom boom, but it was thousands of years ago.
Sarah wakes up and she's all woozy.
There are creepy-crawlies all over the station, and the slowly-awakening crew believe the Doctor is sabotaging them.
And they are going bonkers. Something happened during their long sleep, and they are changing into something ... else.
* * *
Seriously creepy, and it doesn't let up. I read somewhere this was like Alien, before Alien was made. And it's true, it's got that same feel.
Nice to see I was wrong about Liz going on holiday, because her character Sarah wakes up about halfway through this episode. Good thing, too. They couldn't have done the spin-off without her.
All in all, for the 150th episode of this project, I'm VERY happy. It was pretty much 100% pure awesome.
The Ark in Space 3
A recording plays through the station, a sort of pep talk from the leader of the sleep project, recorded thousands of years ago.
The commander - Noah - quits. He's going through a change into an alien thing, ad hides, so nobody will know. His second - Lila - becomes the new commander. She and the Doctor agree to work together and try to destroy the aliens.
One of the aliens attacks a tech named Lisit, killing him. The humans fire on another of the aliens.
Exploring, the Doctor finds Noah, hiding, almost completely transformed.
* * *
Not quite as creepy as the last episode, but full of adventure and intrigue. And the Fourth Doctor is acting much more like the Doc I think of when I think of Tom Baker. His personality is settling, and starting to show onscreen. He's humorous, not a care in the world, like he's from some other reality, and only visiting here.
A recording plays through the station, a sort of pep talk from the leader of the sleep project, recorded thousands of years ago.
The commander - Noah - quits. He's going through a change into an alien thing, ad hides, so nobody will know. His second - Lila - becomes the new commander. She and the Doctor agree to work together and try to destroy the aliens.
One of the aliens attacks a tech named Lisit, killing him. The humans fire on another of the aliens.
Exploring, the Doctor finds Noah, hiding, almost completely transformed.
* * *
Not quite as creepy as the last episode, but full of adventure and intrigue. And the Fourth Doctor is acting much more like the Doc I think of when I think of Tom Baker. His personality is settling, and starting to show onscreen. He's humorous, not a care in the world, like he's from some other reality, and only visiting here.
It's an underrated classic imo. The parralells with Ridley Scott's Alien are striking. The fact that the Who show still manages to be creepy with cardboard sets & bubble wrap is a testament to the talented people involved.
You are now into my favourite era of Doctor Who - the Hinchcliffe era. Some fans call it "The Golden Age". From here until Talons.. it's pretty much all fantastic (Revenge of the Cybermen not withstanding) and Tom (easily my favourite doctor) is at the top of his game right from the start.
You are now into my favourite era of Doctor Who - the Hinchcliffe era. Some fans call it "The Golden Age". From here until Talons.. it's pretty much all fantastic (Revenge of the Cybermen not withstanding) and Tom (easily my favourite doctor) is at the top of his game right from the start.
The Ark in Space 4
Alien-Noah lays out his whole evil plan.
Another plan is hatched - Sarah is going to crawl through a conduit and electrify the whole station. This will electrocute the aliens. She is helped by the Doctor who acts like a complete asshole to get her through. But it works.
An army of the aliens is outside the station, sliding ever closer.
The humans are told to evacuate in a small shuttle. The aliens follow them - but it's a trick. The aliens get inside, without knowing the humans aren't really inside. It launches and blows up.
The Doctor, Sarah, and Harry decide to transport down to the Earth. They are going to see if it's ready for life once again.
* * *
I'm mostly ok with this. What bothers me is how unconcerned the Doctor is for Earth. It's not terribly long after Susan was left there, maybe a thousand years or so. It's entirely possible she'd still be alive, if regenerated. He doesn't even take a second to consider the possibility.
And, he's sort of an asshole to Sarah Jane. Sure, he had good intentions, but man, what an ass.
With that said, I got a thrill when he used his most famous line for the first time here: "Would you like a Jelly Baby?"
Alien-Noah lays out his whole evil plan.
Another plan is hatched - Sarah is going to crawl through a conduit and electrify the whole station. This will electrocute the aliens. She is helped by the Doctor who acts like a complete asshole to get her through. But it works.
An army of the aliens is outside the station, sliding ever closer.
The humans are told to evacuate in a small shuttle. The aliens follow them - but it's a trick. The aliens get inside, without knowing the humans aren't really inside. It launches and blows up.
The Doctor, Sarah, and Harry decide to transport down to the Earth. They are going to see if it's ready for life once again.
* * *
I'm mostly ok with this. What bothers me is how unconcerned the Doctor is for Earth. It's not terribly long after Susan was left there, maybe a thousand years or so. It's entirely possible she'd still be alive, if regenerated. He doesn't even take a second to consider the possibility.
And, he's sort of an asshole to Sarah Jane. Sure, he had good intentions, but man, what an ass.
With that said, I got a thrill when he used his most famous line for the first time here: "Would you like a Jelly Baby?"
I'm happy we're getting four more Pertwee stories in the next couple months. Unfortunately, three of those have Jo. But one has Sarah!
And we're on hold now until Saturday. I'm on my way out of town, and will see y'all on the other side. In the meantime, I leave you with one hint/quote for what I'll be doing ... "I keeeel youuu!"
The Ark In Space is set thousands of years in the future after the earth had been hit by a solar flare, Susan if she remained on earth would've been long since dead. And in any event the fourth isn't all that interested in his past.
Now that I think about it, you're right. It's a character trait I'd forgotten about. It wasn't until the next incarnation that he was all about his past.
The Sontaran Experiment, episode 1
Written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin
Directed by Rodney Bennett
On a lonely hillside, the Doctor appears, surrounded by dozens of small globes. Harry appears then disappears over and over before stabilizing. This appears to take place directly after the end of Ark in Space part 4.
Harry and Sarah wonder off while the Doctor studies the globes (he calls them "refractors"). When Harry falls down, Sarah goes to get help. Unfortunately, the Doctor gets captured by surviving Humans. While waiting in the little cavern, Harry gets bored so he goes off hiding & exploring.
Much running about, more falling, reunions, getting lost, and then in a recycling of the Sontaran's introduction, the cliffhanger is a close-up of a Sontaran removing his helmet. Except this time, Sarah watches it happen.
* * *
Yeah, it's filler. There's no real content, and we don't learn anything about anybody, but we don't need to. It's all fun, and entertaining.
* * * * * *
The Sontaran Experiment 2
The Sontaran argues with Sarah. He's running some sort of experiment, and she's terrified of him, but desperately trying to look calm.
The jerk chains her up and does one experiment after another (and I'm guessing many teenage boys of the 70s did the same thing while watching this) on her.
Our heroes reunite. The Doctor has a plan. He fights the Sontaran in hand-to-hand combat while Harry sabotages his ship.
The Doctor wins, the alien runs away and tries to take off, but his ship goes boom with him inside it, and everybody else lives happily ever after.
* * *
There is one particular part that had me laughing hysterically. I had to rewind it over and over and over. The Doctor and the "evil" alien are fighting. Just as he's about to win, the Sontaran backs away, walks over towards his ship, and says "I should kill you all. But first..." and then starts rambling about checking his experiments and walks away.
Wow. Ok, the alien makeup is horrible. I said it during Time Warrior, and it's just reaffirming my opinion here. In Time Warrior, the Sontaran's looked their best. Each time they reappear, their makeup is shittier. By the time we see them in the Sixth Doctor era, they look like giant piles of fecal material. And it starts here. Horrible. Why not just reuse the makeup from the previous story? It was but a year earlier, and they save/recycle EVERYTHING. Why not that?
Ah well. It adds to the overall humor that saturates these two episodes.
When I need a laugh, and I'm pressed for time, this will do it every time.
Written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin
Directed by Rodney Bennett
On a lonely hillside, the Doctor appears, surrounded by dozens of small globes. Harry appears then disappears over and over before stabilizing. This appears to take place directly after the end of Ark in Space part 4.
Harry and Sarah wonder off while the Doctor studies the globes (he calls them "refractors"). When Harry falls down, Sarah goes to get help. Unfortunately, the Doctor gets captured by surviving Humans. While waiting in the little cavern, Harry gets bored so he goes off hiding & exploring.
Much running about, more falling, reunions, getting lost, and then in a recycling of the Sontaran's introduction, the cliffhanger is a close-up of a Sontaran removing his helmet. Except this time, Sarah watches it happen.
* * *
Yeah, it's filler. There's no real content, and we don't learn anything about anybody, but we don't need to. It's all fun, and entertaining.
* * * * * *
The Sontaran Experiment 2
The Sontaran argues with Sarah. He's running some sort of experiment, and she's terrified of him, but desperately trying to look calm.
The jerk chains her up and does one experiment after another (and I'm guessing many teenage boys of the 70s did the same thing while watching this) on her.
Our heroes reunite. The Doctor has a plan. He fights the Sontaran in hand-to-hand combat while Harry sabotages his ship.
The Doctor wins, the alien runs away and tries to take off, but his ship goes boom with him inside it, and everybody else lives happily ever after.
* * *
There is one particular part that had me laughing hysterically. I had to rewind it over and over and over. The Doctor and the "evil" alien are fighting. Just as he's about to win, the Sontaran backs away, walks over towards his ship, and says "I should kill you all. But first..." and then starts rambling about checking his experiments and walks away.
Wow. Ok, the alien makeup is horrible. I said it during Time Warrior, and it's just reaffirming my opinion here. In Time Warrior, the Sontaran's looked their best. Each time they reappear, their makeup is shittier. By the time we see them in the Sixth Doctor era, they look like giant piles of fecal material. And it starts here. Horrible. Why not just reuse the makeup from the previous story? It was but a year earlier, and they save/recycle EVERYTHING. Why not that?
Ah well. It adds to the overall humor that saturates these two episodes.
When I need a laugh, and I'm pressed for time, this will do it every time.
Just to backtrack for a moment Re: Jo Grant - Omaha, I recommend you watch Frontier In Space when it becomes available in your area. I re-watched this recently and I have to say that the character of Miss Grant comes off a lot better than in some of the other stories. She gets much more to do and isn't nearly as annoying, imo.
Similar threads
