A lot of this feels like it was written for Pertwee, particularly the Doctor’s first encounter with the revived Commander Noah which includes the very third Doctor line, ‘My dear man, if you think for one moment we’re laying claim to Earth, you couldn’t be more mistaken.’ Obviously after half a decade it’s hard for even a writer as witty as Robert Holmes to immediately divorce the character from the actor, or to predict the cadence of Tom Baker’s speech. Equally, at this early stage Baker isn’t redlining chunks of the script or proprietorially declaring he knows the Doctor better than anyone (or being indulged in that). This is one of the interesting things about Baker’s first and final seasons, both coinciding with a new production team under the guidance of Barry Letts, they feel more transitionary than any others in the classic run.

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Along with The Time Warrior, this is the first Doctor Who story I ever owned on video. I’ve seen it more than any other Tom Baker serial. I’m still surprised by the cliffhangers (my VHS copy having been edited into a TV movie) It feels as comfortable to me as The Five Doctors, which seems bizarre given how uncomfortably strange this is in context.

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Objectively, the toy tank is far from the worst effect we’ve seen over the last few serials, but the problem is it hits you right at the top of the episode before you’re ready for it, and as it’s gently pushed into view by Clifford Culley’s hand it’s hard not to smirk. Which is a shame, because again Terrance Dicks has gone to great lengths to make sure this should be affordable and achievable (the much-vaunted Giant Robot is in it for less than five minutes of this episode), and Barry Letts has arranged for it to be all made on videotape to avoid a repeat of the floaty dinosaurs.

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I love Terrance Dicks. He’s one of my favourite writers. It’s a cliché, but I genuinely feel that his accessible, compulsive prose made me fall in love with reading, and played a big part in developing my literacy as a child. And I don’t think anyone involved in the classic series knew it as well as he did. He took the wild ideas of Bob Baker and Dave Martin and helped shape them into something that could be achieved on a BBC budget. He recognised Robert Holmes’ talent and brought him onto the show. His light but firm grip on characterisation is the backbone of the Pertwee years, the first time since the early 1960s that it felt like anyone was paying much attention to it from story to story. He knew his stuff, too, when it came to continuity: he didn’t need an Ian Levine to remind him. To a greater or lesser extent he invented the Time Lords, the third Doctor, the Master, Jo Grant, Mike Yates and Sarah Jane Smith, and, between The Three Doctors and The Five Doctors fixed generations of fans’ perception of the first and second Doctors as well. His legacy for Doctor Who fans is immeasurable.

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This belongs in that fairly limited selection of Doctor Who serials that aren’t historicals, but don’t feature aliens or prehistoric monsters. Previously we’ve had The War Machines and The Green Death; in future Arachnids in the UK. That’s about it. This doesn’t even have an evil computer – the robot is fairly sympathetic even in its first proper appearance threatening Sarah Jane (despite attempts to make it seem scary, like its whirr sounding like a roar). Instead, we’re provided with more backstory about Miss Winters, Jellicoe and their fringe associates in the Scientific Reform Society (have they met the European Research Group?) seeking to take over the world.

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The edge of a new face in the opening credits for the first time in five years is slightly offset by the fact that the time tunnel/diamond logo sequence is otherwise just a refinement of the Pertwee titles. It sets the scene for an episode that balances the shock of the new with plenty of efforts to reassure viewers that this is still the same show. In that respect it’s a contrast to Spearhead from Space, which went out of its way to look and feel different (and for obvious reasons couldn’t even include a recap of the second Doctor’s regeneration, whereas this opens with a reprise of the final moment of Planet of the Spiders).

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On one level this is a mess. Issues with running times in previous episodes means that the recap of Part Five goes on for ages. A lot of scenes look like they were running out of time – why else would Barry Letts have approved the unconvincing fight sequence with Yates and Tommy, or John Dearth’s careful “fall” to the floor as he dies? Although to be fair, it’s about as much effort as the script’s treatment of Lupton deserves: one of the most interesting villains has been reduced to a bystander for the second half of the story. Even things that you’d expect Letts to absolutely get right are fumbled: why is K’anpo’s regeneration done better than the Doctor’s?

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I like the way that petty power struggles on Earth and Metebelis 3 begin to pale with the introduction of two awesome, opposing forces: the as-yet-unseen Great One, and K’anpo, the wise Yoda figure back on Earth. The Great One’s minions plot against each other. Lupton, brought before the Parliament of Spiders, proves he’s a very slippery customer as he begins to turn the Eight Legs against Queen Huath. No wonder he was salesman of the year. In response, Huath has a woman-to-woman chat with Sarah Jane and brings her into a counter-plot to shore up the Queen’s own shaky position. That a power struggle between twitching spider puppets should be quite this fun is quite baffling.

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Very much a middle episode, this doesn’t quite work. Pertwee spends a lot of it on his back, in a slight return of the classic third Doctor coma trick, which isn’t really a great look for his final story (although Sarah’s loyal vigil is good foreshadowing for Part Six). Instead, we get Gareth Hunt and Ralph Arliss rehearsing the themes of hot-headed action vs measured courage that were tired when Terry Nation did them. We also get several scenes of Lupton’s businessmen associates having a conference at the meditation centre, and Sarah Jane learning the history of Metebelis 3.

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I’m quite sold on Lupton: he’s easily the pettiest and most human villain the show has had in years (probably since The Highlanders). He gives a potted history of his backstory and it’s like he’s a character in a soap: embittered ex-sales wunderkind, forced out in a merger and now driven entirely on a quest to make other people as humiliated as he feels. This leads to an astonishing sequence in which he turns his spider’s mental torture back on her, forcing her to beg him to stop. This is the kind of person he is: he’ll torment a spider to make himself feel like the big man.

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