Day 63: The Web Planet - The Centre

The final episode of ‘The Web Planet’. Oh how I thought it would never end. The episode starts off with the great image of the Doctor and Vicki covered in the web. The most padded story in Doctor Who history continues to do what it has done for the previous episodes and that is to fill the running time with a lot of Zarbi and Menoptra nonsense.  Another thing that was a let down was the Animus. After several episodes of being a mysterious and at times creepy voice, it was a shame that it was a big light bulb with some tentacles. It looked like a massive mess.

Unfortunately despite my best efforts I didn’t actually understand what was going on. There was a lot of impressive visual scenes but sadly it seemed to just continue to confuse me. The one crumb of comfort in this story is that visually it works. There were some good moments when the Menoptra were flying through the air and the idea to have some new lense on the camera to give a different impression also helped make this story stand out even though at times its been a bit overpowering. The landscape of Vortis was also well realised and even though seeing it for six episodes might have got a bit repetitive there have been worst sets in the show.

As far as the human performances go, in this episode they were perfectly fine and whilst none of them shone in their usual way they did the best that they could with what was quite frankly a rubbish script.

I am so relieved to have got to the end of ‘The Web Planet’ by far the worst story in Doctor Who so far and even when you consider that it was a complicated story to produce and also very ambitious. Sadly if the budget had been bigger and the running time much shorter then it would have been a different result but sadly ‘The Web Planet’ is what it is. A elongated mess of a story.

Day 62: The Web Planet - Invasion

The penultimate episode of this serial is perhaps the most action packed that there has been so far. It’s a shame that its taken 100 minutes to get to this point. It’s been a real struggle to find positive things to say and write anything near my 500 word target about each episode. The story sees the Menoptra’s fight against the Zarbi step up a gear. There is a lot of action that has been going on with Barbara leading the fight from her side and Ian not exactly missing from the action.

The thing about six part adventures is that by the 2/3 point the story needs to shift to have any chance of being even an average story. Thankfully Bill Strutton realises that he needs to get a riggle on with the plot and so it feels from the very beginning that the plot is building towards something. I still find it frustrating that the Zarbi only communicate through that awful high pitched noise and wish that there was something else that they could do. The Menoptra are also rather disappointing but at least they have a voice and can communicate in a sensible way. Something else that is lacking from this story and most immediate this episode is that there is no incidental music. The music is there to make you feel something but if there is nothing there then your left with whats on the screen and in this case its not very much. I cant write a more detailed review because apart from the odd moment I cant recall what actually happened.

The cliffhanger is visually a stunning one. The Doctor and Vicki clutching each other whilst they get covered in the web stuff is a great image and one that ended the episode in fine style. Whilst the episode is the best so far it doesn’t change my opinion of the story as a whole. It’s too long and there is way too much padding for my liking.

Day 61: The Web Planet - Crater of Needles

It’s incredible to think that this episode got the second highest rating during this story of 13 million. 13 million! It’s mind bogging but this episode finally moves to the crater of needles which has been mentioned several times. After the almost stationery feel of the story it seems that this episode is where things start to pick up. There is a good moment when Barbara is told about the prison and there is a sense of the battle between the Zarbi and the Menoptra. After the Zarbi and the Menoptra being separated it was nice to see them interact and also another thing about the Zarbi was that we get to see them with a weapon. Quite how we were suppose to find them menacing when they just made a noise at people yet didn’t seem to have any way of stunning or killing people was one of many flaws with the creatures. There are a new set of creatures that are introduced to this episode and the are apparently simpler than either the Zarbi or the Menoptra. Frankly they look like a bit of a late addition and also look rather stupid.

The performances from the regulars is better and its nice that Jacqueline Hill made a return. I thought that William Hartnell had a good episode and he and Maureen O’Brien managed to appear to do quite a lot without really doing very much. Hartnell tinkers around with the map thing, talks to O’Brien and then goes for the hairdryer treatment. William Russell and Jacqueline Hill are on good form and do slightly more in this episode than Hartnell or O’Brien.

There are some good shots that have been achieved by Richard Martin. There are some more shots of the Menoptra flying around and its rather well done. The thing about the effect done to the screen was good in episode one but has started to get annoying because it seems to be getting out of hand. Instead of a light smudge in the first episode we get pretty much a full screen of smudge. It’s a better episode than the previous one but that’s not really saying much. So far the story is exactly as I remember this and I don’t think anything will ever change. If this had been a four part story then maybe this might have been a better story but at six it’s a big stretch.

Day 60: The Zarbi - Escape to Danger

The third installment of this serial is where we finally get some information about what is going on. I say some because all the information comes from the Menoptra. This wont the be the longest review ever because so little happens that it means a review is going to be short.

The Doctor says that somehow Vicki has corrected things in the TARDIS but due to the fact that Barbara isnt with them they cant just leave thus giving a valid reason why the story has to continue. This is another episode where Jacqueline Hill doesn’t appear (presumably she was on holiday). She doesn’t even get a credit which is unusual. The early part of this episode is quite good as the Doctor gets to interact with the voice that we hear but then after that the story reverts back to weird and not knowing what is going on. We get a bit of back story about what has happened to the Menoptra but to be honest the whole story is somewhat lacking in any excitement that its pretty hard to care.

There is a good moment where the Menoptra flies into the air. It’s a good piece of directing. There are a couple more sets in this episode which have to break the monotony that there has been so far. That’s about as good as I can do with listing the positives because whilst this episode was better than the previous one, it still lacks any coherance and just serves to show what Doctor Who can do even on a limited budget. The cliffhanger is quite good as it sees Ian in danger and there is no clear sign as to whether he is ok or who could help him.

I’m afraid that my opinion of this story has definelty not changed from what it use to be. There are moments which look good but generally it’s a question of what is going on and I have no idea because all we have are the noises that the Zarbi and the regulars guessing as to what they are saying or what they are doing.

Rating - 5.33/10

Day 59: The Web Planet - The Zarbi

The Zarbi is when any goodwill towards this story well and truly goes out of the window. After the idea that the TARDIS has disappeared it turns out in reality that its just being moved by the Zarbi. Vicki does suffer quite a lot in this episode and she seems to have been sidelined for most of the running time. Even Barbara seems to have suffered a bit but not to the extent of Vicki. Barbara is being possessed by giant bumble bees. They look quite good and are named as Menoptras but they seem a bit to weak in my opinion. It’s quite easy to see why and how the Zarbi are the superior creature in this story. The TARDIS has been moved and all Vicki does in the early part of the episode sees her just pretending to sway from side to side.

In terms of trying to explain what was going on in this episode is difficult to do because I just couldn’t follow what was going on and whilst I found the Doctor and Ian’s part in the story to be most interesting but that’s not really saying much because there is so little going on. Also another problem with the episode is that they seem to be using the same set trying to pretend that it’s a different part of the planet but its clearly the same.

The first time that it gets remotely interesting is at the quarter hour mark where Vicki is able to get out of the TARDIS and meets up with the Doctor and Ian. There is a funny moment where the Doctor is trying to communicate with the Zarbi by waving his arms around and pointing at every Zarbi in shot. William Hartnell seems to give the best performance and I like the final shot of the episode where the cylinder hangs over the Doctor’s head and a voice starts talking to him.

The cliffhanger was quite good but by this point I had completely lost track of what was actually going on. There are moments in this story which are quite good but its mixed in with a lot of nonsense which ruins the whole story. There is one thing that can be said in a positive way and that it is a brave thing for the show to do but sadly its not enough to save this story.

Day 58: The Web Planet - The Web Planet

The Web Planet is a story that has never been in my top 100 because I have felt that it was dull and just a six part story with giant bees and ants. Watching it a day at a time is hopefully going to make me reappraise it. The opening scene set in the TARDIS is a strange one because its been so long since anything more than a brief moment has taken place in the console room that when you first see what is now in the console room which kind of distracts you from the story.

It’s not long before the Zarbi are introduced and my attempt to have any goodwill towards the story is already tested. Thankfully their involvement is kept to a minimum and instead we have another episode where its just the companion. There’s a lovely moment when the Doctor points out to Ian that the ring he wears isn’t just a decorative item. Was that the same ring he gave away in ‘The Reign of Terror’? Oh how the story would have been different if he didn’t have the ring.

It was good how they managed to maintain the interest between both plot strands. The stuff between the Doctor and Ian was good because they are investigating the mystery of what caused the interference to the TARDIS. The stuff between Vicki and Barbara was also well done but that was down to Maureen O’Brien and Jacqueline Hill who work well together. The scene where Barbara and Vicki are talking is an interesting one. Barbara has had to put up with ideas of her generation been seen as primitive and backwards and its nice that she defends her generation. It’s during this scene that Barbara finally informs Vicki that she and Ian both met Nero which Vicki finds hard to believe. It’s nice how Vicki has kept some of her character even after ‘The Rescue’ ended.

There are some interesting things that happen in this episode. Effects wise there is definetly a different feel to it with the stuff outside of the TARDIS having this sort of smudge effect around the characters. It’s most noticeable on the Doctor and Ian with their white jackets and does go a bit over the top during the scene where they hear Vicki calling Barbara. Another thing I like is the spinning console. It does seem like something that was a spur of the moment thing which isn’t a bad thing cause it looks rather cool.

The cliffhanger is a great one because it sees Vicki somehow operating the TARDIS and it spears that the TARDIS has moved much to the dismay of the Doctor. It’s a great question that must have run in the minds of the viewers which would have festered for seven days. Where has the TARDIS gone? It’s one of the better endings to an episode for some time. I’m not quite sure whether my opinion of this story will change as my reaction when I saw the Zarbi was the same as its always been. Time will only tell…