10 Comments

She hasn’t left her children to starve to death, she’s locked them in a room to cannibalise each other and then the lucky survivors will starve to death.

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thinking more, this is only a problem because they try to get a sad face out of mummy spider dying. you could quite easily do "yeah spiders aren't people we don't care if they die"

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I would agree that this one is reasonably solidly entertaining until the absolutely cratering moral failure of the ending, the double bill of “so we’re just letting Robertson get away Scot free are we?” And letting all the spiders starve to death or devour each other being portrayed as more humane than the gunshot, yep.

Nice direction from Sallie Aprahamian for the most part.

Spiders dancing to Stormzy is particularly fun.

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I’ll go on proselytising my solution to this disaster of an ending until they recut the BluRay to make it canon: the “fam” assemble on board the TARDIS and do their one-note enthusiastic lines agreeing to travel with the Doctor. All as pat as on screen. Then there’s a thump from somewhere inside the Ship. “What was that?” “Oh,” beams the Doctor, “I’ve got all the baby giant spiders in the room next door, we’re dropping them off on a planet where they’ll thrive. Didn’t I mention?” And before the now very alarmed others can respond, she throws the dematerialisation lever, and we’re off.

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It’s been said before but I still can’t get past it - the title is, to me, the purest example of Chibnall Clunk.

Is it, as has been suggested a pun on “Anarchy In The UK” ? It really doesn’t scan if so, but as Chibnall has historically struggled with the “shape” and rhythm of jokes, I’m inclined to think it is. “Eat salad, Halloween!”.

But if it’s not, why not just go for the alliterative “Spiders Of Sheffield” instead?

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Should have been "Doctor Who and the Giant Spiders"

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The title was actually Vinay Patel’s suggestion! A rare lapse of judgement from one of the best guest writers of the era…

But yes I think that pun is the idea.

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Wow! I’m genuinely surprised at that given how good Patel’s instincts as a writer were in that era.

It doesn’t even set the scene well given how localised the threat is - the title implies a nationwide invasion!

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The cgi spiders were created by a friend of mine. Unfortunately I am massively arachnophobic, and thus completely unable to appreciate their work.

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