PLANET OF THE SPIDERS

[Tony]

Here we are discussing Terrance Dicks' novelization of PLANET OF THE SPIDERS! If you want to hear your review of or comments on this book read on the air, or you have a specific question about the book, please post it here by no later than 5pm CST on Saturday, August 1!

[Michael]

However much the marketing team for Metabillius Three is being paid, it's clearly not enough. The Doctor regales us with stories about how gorgeous the blue planet is, but both visits (on-screen and on-page) aren't exactly the paradise he describes. The first time, he's chased by huge, predatory animals and the next time, he finds that humans have been enslaved by a group of overzealous spiders.

Maybe there was a period of a few years when it was great to go to the famous blue planet. But clearly the times the Doctor visits aren't it.

[T.E.]

A fairly good adaption of a story that has some really great moments, some troubling moments and attitudes that haven't aged so well, and some long, bland, sequences, that could have been nipped and tucked into a sleeker story.
Perhaps the biggest dissapointment is that the stakes just never seem to raise as high as they have in other regeneration stories. It feels like the stakes are considerably lower than in the other stories of the season so far.

[Dave]

Often, the main difference between the televised version of a story and the novelisation is the special effects, the reader's mind having so much better resources. With this story, though the effects weren't always great, they weren't as embarrassing as those in, say, "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" and, for me, didn't spoil my viewing.
What did jar was some of the worst acting I've seen in Doctor Who. One of the denizens of Metebelis III in particular sounded as if she'd been dragged in from the street to read lines she'd never seen before from a cue card. In a second language. Thankfully, in the book we're spared that, and Metebelis III is much more convincing in prose.
Back on Earth, on television, we were treated to some of the best acting I've seen in Doctor Who, and it's a shame to lose John Kane's sensitive performance. Fortunately it was so strong, I envision him as Tommy, and "hear" his voice when reading. I'll be interested to hear what someone who hasn't seen the story on TV makes of this character, as it could easily have been patronising, especially in those long ago, politically incorrect days.

[James]

3.5/5

A difficult task to condense a 6 part serial into 120 ish pages but this feels like a better result for Dicks than some of the mid term Baker episodes he crushes into a lesser page count.

What seems to work is Sarah's retrospective tour of the monastery and the curtailed vehicle chase segment. This allows the plot to trot along a good pace; added to that is a little more colourful prose which certainly helps. I think Dick's showed a little more care with this one, maybe not as much as his earlier titles though.

I also like the character of Campo/Cho-Ji; this seemed to be a precursory aid to the Doctor's own regeneration; helping the audience/Sarah understand the process. Analogous to the 9th Doctor's regeneration perhaps?

[Damon]

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