Doctor Who: EVERY Regeneration Story Ranked Worst To Best

Originally, Jon Pertwee’s era was going to end with a climactic Sherlock/Moriarty-style showdown between the Doctor and the Master, titled The Final Game.

Sadly, these plans were quashed by the untimely death of original Master Roger Delgado in June 1973.

With the best will in the world, the story we got instead was never going to be quite as satisfying. And giant spiders are a somewhat puzzling choice for the Third Doctor’s final foe, even if they did send viewers hiding behind the sofa.

That said, Planet of the Spiders does feature some neat callbacks and pay-offs. There’s a letter from Jo, and a happy ending for Mike Yates! There’s also a brilliant (if slightly indulgent) action sequence in Episode 2, with the Doctor traversing land, air and sea via Bessie, a gyrocopter and the Whomobile.

Most significantly of all, there’s a tragic arc for the Doctor, whose decision to take the Metebelis crystal earlier in his run sets the story in motion and leads to his eventual self-sacrifice.

It might not have been the regeneration story they planned. But thematically, it absolutely works.