So here we are, the end of an era that I have enjoyed immensely. But the annoying thing is that I’m faced with a story that I have found always drags a bit.
Episode 1 is very mysterious with some lovely Buddhists soon revealed as being up to no good. They appear to be in league with a giant spider. That comes from a planet full of other spiders. So imaginative minds at work in the title department again…
Sadly, episode 2 is mainly just one protracted chase scene. It is utter filling. We all know that Pertwee loved his chase scenes and mucking about in vehicles and it’s almost like the producers gave him this whole episode as a going away present but it really does go on and on. It tries to have some light hearted moments with some poor confused copper joining in the chase but the humour falls flat as the scene continues to drag.
The story does take an interesting turn when it goes off at a bit of an angle towards Metebelis III, the eponymous spidery abode, but it does then get very chase-escape-chase-escape for a bit.
The secondary characters are quite dull. The Buddhists are very uninteresting and even the appearance of a Time Lord hiding out in the monastery isn’t as special as it should be. The only interesting character is Tommy, the monastery assistant with learning difficulties. He’s an instantly loveable character and his story is one of the high points.
And then it turns out the chaotic mess of spiders trying to invade Earth is all the Doctor’s fault for nicking a gemstone from their planet well before they got there. I think the story is trying to do a bit of moralising about nicking other people’s resources but in reality all the poor bugger did was pop to a planet and pick up a shiny rock well before the spiders actually arrived there.
Anyway, the Doctor has to face his “greatest fear” in order to return the crystal. I’m not sure the story really makes it very clear what this fear is, though. Spiders? Being controlled or out-powered? Or just letting earth get squished by spiders and it all being his fault for nicking a gemstone? Or is it just generic fear brought on by facing the big-ass spider? Maybe I wasn’t paying attention at this point because there is a lot of padding.
The reality is that of this story had come mid-season and been this long and padded it’s be lucky to get 4/10. However the regeneration scene is superb and it does do it’s vest to have a bit of an “and of an era” feel to it, drawing themes from other stories in Pertwee’s time.
This isn’t the best he could have gone out on but the regeneration scene is emotional and it’s wonderful seeing Sarah-Jane and the Brigadier together for that. So, not a great story and not a worthy last story for a Doctor I adore but it gets 7/10.
Episode 1 is very mysterious with some lovely Buddhists soon revealed as being up to no good. They appear to be in league with a giant spider. That comes from a planet full of other spiders. So imaginative minds at work in the title department again…
Sadly, episode 2 is mainly just one protracted chase scene. It is utter filling. We all know that Pertwee loved his chase scenes and mucking about in vehicles and it’s almost like the producers gave him this whole episode as a going away present but it really does go on and on. It tries to have some light hearted moments with some poor confused copper joining in the chase but the humour falls flat as the scene continues to drag.
The story does take an interesting turn when it goes off at a bit of an angle towards Metebelis III, the eponymous spidery abode, but it does then get very chase-escape-chase-escape for a bit.
The secondary characters are quite dull. The Buddhists are very uninteresting and even the appearance of a Time Lord hiding out in the monastery isn’t as special as it should be. The only interesting character is Tommy, the monastery assistant with learning difficulties. He’s an instantly loveable character and his story is one of the high points.
And then it turns out the chaotic mess of spiders trying to invade Earth is all the Doctor’s fault for nicking a gemstone from their planet well before they got there. I think the story is trying to do a bit of moralising about nicking other people’s resources but in reality all the poor bugger did was pop to a planet and pick up a shiny rock well before the spiders actually arrived there.
Anyway, the Doctor has to face his “greatest fear” in order to return the crystal. I’m not sure the story really makes it very clear what this fear is, though. Spiders? Being controlled or out-powered? Or just letting earth get squished by spiders and it all being his fault for nicking a gemstone? Or is it just generic fear brought on by facing the big-ass spider? Maybe I wasn’t paying attention at this point because there is a lot of padding.
The reality is that of this story had come mid-season and been this long and padded it’s be lucky to get 4/10. However the regeneration scene is superb and it does do it’s vest to have a bit of an “and of an era” feel to it, drawing themes from other stories in Pertwee’s time.
This isn’t the best he could have gone out on but the regeneration scene is emotional and it’s wonderful seeing Sarah-Jane and the Brigadier together for that. So, not a great story and not a worthy last story for a Doctor I adore but it gets 7/10.