Doctor Who (1963) 11.05.X

The Final Curtain (2011)

38 minutes

This is the making of documentary feature for Planet of the Spiders. 

There are clips from interviews with 

• Barry Letts, producer (1969-74)
• Terrance Dicks, script editor (1969-74)
• Richard Franklin, Mike Yates
• Mark Gatiss, actor and author
• Mat Irvine, visual effects assistant
• Rochelle Selwyn, designer
• Jon Pertwee, The Doctor

The Pertwee interview was from 1995

Doctor Who (1963) 11.05.06

Planet of the Spiders - Part Six

The men with spiders on their backs regroup and summon more energy from Metebelis III.

The Doctor talks to K'anpo and figures out that they have met before. K'anpo is also a Time Lord and was the Doctor's teacher when they were both much younger. The Doctor comes to the understanding that he has to return the blue crystal to Metebelis III. He disappears just as the men with spiders on their backs break into the room. They hit K'anpo with energy bolts although they were shooting at the Doctor. 

K'anpo heals Mike Yates who was struck down by the men with spiders on their backs. K'anpo collapses back into his chair once the process is complete. He regenerates and becomes Cho-je who was always an aspect of him, as explained earlier in this episode.

Doctor Who (1963) 11.05.05

Planet of the Spiders - Part Five

The Doctor is trussed up like Sarah Jane. The Doctor and Sarah talk for a little while but then she is taken away to see the giant spider that has been working with Lupton. The spider wants Sarah and the Doctor to retrieve the blue crystal from Earth.

The Doctor escapes from the stuff in which they have him tied up using a trick he learned from Harry Houdini. He goes looking for Sarah Jane but instead finds the Great One, whom he cannot see. She uses mental abilities to convince him that he needs to retrieve the blue crystal and bring it back to Metebelis III.

Mike convinces the guys who run the meditation center to let him help them to open the portal to Metebelis III. They do so in the hopes that they can get Lupton back. The ceremony they perform doesn't have the desired effect. Giant spiders come through the portal but not Lupton.

Doctor Who (1963) 11.05.04

Planet of the Spiders - Part Four

The Doctor is badly injured but he recovers thanks to Sarah Jane. She retrieves a device from the TARDIS that he asks her to get but she is captured by Lupton who takes her to the spiders. Arak brings the device that Sarah retrieved from the TARDIS. The Dotor uses it to help him recover.

Mike Yates, back on Earth, tries to reason with the employees of the meditation center but they knock him out and tie him up. The blue crystal starts while Tommy is looking at it. He falls down and when he wakes up he seems much more intelligent.

The Doctor goes to find Sarah Jane. Lupton tries to stop the Doctor but the guards arrest Lupton and take him to the queen. More guards take the Doctor to Sarah Jane who is bound with spider webs. She is happy to see him until she notices the guards.

Doctor Who (1963) 11.05.03

Planet of the Spiders - Part Three

Lupton and the spider teleport back to the meditation center. The Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, and Mike Yates come looking for Lupton. The blue crystal is stolen by Tommy who thinks it is very pretty. Tommy tries to show the blue crystal to Sarah Jane but she is too busy to listen. He also tries to show it to the Doctor, who similarly is too focused on finding Lupton and Sarah Jane to listen.

Lupton and the spider are mystically transported to Metebelis III. Sarah Jane steps on the mandala and is also transported to Metebelis III. Sarah is captured by Tuar, a human who thinks she is a spy. Tuar's family disagrees. They hide her when the queen of the spiders shows up.

The Doctor gets in the TARDIS and travels to Metebelis III. he arrives just as Sarah Jane is about to be taken prisoner by the spider queen's guards. The Doctor fights with the guards but is struck down by one of guards with an electrical blast of energy.

Doctor Who (1963) 11.05.02

Planet of the Spiders - Part Two

The giant spider leaps on the back of Lupton, the leader of the meditation center, and disappears. Sarah Jane and Mike are stunned by what they see but keep quiet and avoid detection. Mike sends Sarah back to find the Doctor. Mike tries to visit with Cho-Je, the monk, but first Tommy and then Lupton prevent that from happening.

The Doctor and the Brigadier wonder about what killed Professor Clegg. The Doctor rewinds the device that the professor was attached to and see that he was thinking of giant spiders. Sarah gets back and tells the Doctor about what she saw in the basement of the meditation center.

Lupton communicates with the giant spider that merged with him. It leads him to the same UNIT bulding where the Doctor is located. The spider senses the crystal. It wants the crystal. Lupton uses powers the spider gives him to zap guards, including Sergeant Benton, with bolts of electricity. Lupton steals the crystal and takes off in the Whomobile.

Doctor Who (1963) 11.05.01

Planet of the Spiders - Part One

The Doctor and the Brigadier meet with Professor Clegg, a psychic. The Doctor is curious about the professor's mental abilities. The professor moves things with his mind, sees images of the past while holding the sonic screwdriver, and is able to see the contents of an unopened package the Doctor received from Jo Grant.

Mike Yates and Sarah Jane Smith investigate a mediation center. The men who run the center have their suspicions about Mike who has his own suspicions about the center. Sarah and Mike talk to a monk who lives on the premises and meet Tommy, a mentally challenged adult who works at the center.

Professor Clegg dies while he and the Doctor are conducting an experiment. The professor was holding the large blue crystal, that the Doctor received from Jo Grant, when he died.

Sarah and Mike leave the meditation center but then sneak back in to see whatever it is that the men who run the place are hiding in the basement. They get there just in time to witness a meditation ceremony during which a giant spider materializes.