Retro-View #6: That’s a Wrap

Planet of the Spiders (Story #74, 1974)
Viewed 26 Oct, 01 Nov 2012

Doctor/Companion: Three, Sarah Jane Smith, the Brigadier
Stars: Jon Pertwee, Elisabeth Sladen, Nicholas Courtney
Preceding Story: The Monster of Peladon (Three, Sarah Jane)
Succeeding Story: Robot (Four, Sarah Jane, the Brigadier)

Our first session started out a bit rough. G couldn’t commit to sit down straight through because she needed to pop home briefly to give her dog B some meds at a particular time, and I couldn’t go too late because I needed to vacate the premises at a later particular time. However, we started early enough that we figured a pause after Part 1 for dog-doping would still give us time to finish in one sitting.

How wrong we were.

Poor G got home and discovered B had eaten all the meds in the half hour since she’d left. Luckily, they were of the dietary supplement kind rather than the deadly overdose kind, but we spent the next hour watching Who with a kind of nervous concern at the backs of our minds as we waited for the vet to return her call. It was a weird day.

Things started out well for the Doctor, though. G recognized the om mani padme hum chant, and figured using it as the basis for “black magic” would not go over well with Buddhists. Can’t say that I disagree, but I suppose at the time it seemed as exotic as bubble wrap, so in that sense I can’t get too uptight about it.

She literally jumped and exclaimed at the near-accident Sarah Jane and Yates had. As she’s been in a few more accidents herself than she’d like, it seems a logical enough reaction, even if it was on a screen. Whatever the case, it’s a testament to the effectiveness of the editing that it got such a realistic reaction from her. (Similarly, she gave a bit of a shriek when the spider jumped onto Lupton’s back. Even as naff as some of the effects look nearly 40 years later, this is certainly not an adventure for arachnophobes.)

Early on, she was having fun with it and making amused comments, like asking if the Brigadier was married when Doris gave him the watch, based on his reactions to Professor Clegg’s revelations. And when Sarah Jane and Yates hid in the cellar, she noted that unlike the previous stories she’s seen, “at least they have a wall” behind which to hide.

By Part 2, though, concern over her fur-baby had crept in. The only comment of note for the next episode and a half was “you ass! … He’s not very good to women, is he?” when the Doctor insisted that Sarah Jane tell him “everything – right from the beginning!” as she’d been trying to do all along.

It wasn’t until the transition from Parts 3 to 4, when I asked if she wanted to try calling the vet again, that I realized her lack of comments were actually due to a slight case of unconsciousness. Yep. She fell asleep. I may like this story well enough, but I really don’t want to watch ~2/3 of an episode again right after I’ve seen it. So that was a bit of a chore.

But at least G was alert the second time. She thought Sarah Jane was “very pretty,” and wondered what kind of person Pertwee was off set (I answered as best as I could, from what little I know). She chuckled appreciatively when the Doctor admitted he did speak of the TARDIS “as if she were alive.” And she loves it when he shoves aside the guard’s stick on Metebelis III, telling him, “don’t do that!”

Somewhere in there we’d gotten the news that there was nothing B ate that would do her any long-term harm. The mood swung upward again, but we were running out of time on the back end. We decided to watch through Part 4 before calling it good for the first session, since “now that I know my dog’s not gonna die, I’m perfectly happy.”

The story, on the other hand, was a bit tense at this point. The Doctor’s not in a good way. I paused to mention that the audience would’ve known this was Pertwee’s last story and that a regeneration was in the works, so this was probably an extremely effective cliffhanger. I love watching with such things in mind.

G hadn’t really made any comments about Tommy to this point (his story gets me right in the feels every time), though she did give a sympathetic “oh…” at the “can’t you read?” bullying scene. Since the action had primarily moved to Metebelis III, though, I’d have to wait for another day for further insight into G’s thoughts on Tommy.

I got more on Three, though. After he managed to cure himself, G noted with glee that “I just love his doo-dah’s!” I did a bit of a mental double-take before realizing she was referring to the various gadgets the Doctor uses. ~whew!~ But she certainly still has a fondness for his dress and demeanor. She loves that when he goes to try to rescue Sabor and Sarah Jane that he simply “[walks] in like he’s going to a ball.” Of course, it doesn’t work out for him in the end, but we have to save the resolution for another day.

When that day came, she was back on form. Almost from the beginning, she’s ready to mock the dialog playfully: (as Arak) “This is manly work, and I’ve got a manly moustache!” Other bits, though, she really loves. Sarah Jane’s promise to “give them all indigestion” and the Doctor’s praise of Sabor’s “stoic acceptance of the inevitable” are both winners in her book.

As we move toward the story’s denouement, I finally get some insight into her perspective on Tommy’s story. Frequently, actually. She has cottoned on to the not-so-subtle parallels with Flowers for Algernon. Knowing how that story ends with the protagonist’s relapse to lower IQ, she frets for Tommy throughout the rest of the story, especially when he get zapped by the spiders’ special energy. When things work out well for him in the end, she’s pleased.

The spiders, though, totally squick her out. “Ew! Aren’t they grody? … You couldn’t make a monster as scary to me as a spider.” Her thoughts on the effectiveness of taking things people are already afraid of as the basis for an effective Who villain have been voiced elsewhere before, but it remains a valid point. (I very carefully avoided mentioning things like the Uncanny Valley, monsters in the shadows or cracks in walls. We’ll get there eventually.) And it was obviously extremely effective for her. She was utterly taken by surprise at Sarah Jane’s possession (I feel like the show should be quoting Tweety now: “she don’t know me very well, do she?”), and was literally squirming in her seat as it fell away from Sarah Jane’s back.

But the adventure’s Big Moment didn’t seem to faze her much. Sarah Jane and Kan’po have provided the casual audience with the relevant information on regeneration, so everything is in place for even the greenest viewer, and the emotional notes are all being hit for maximum effect. G’s only comment, though, is to note with a sort of detached interest that it’s done differently every time.

I think for G, the most important moment of the whole story was instead when Sarah Jane noticed the changes in Tommy.