Okay, I'm going to come clean: when I first watched this serial, I liked
it better than most people but still didn't think it quite worked.
Since then I've read Elizabeth Sandifer's analysis, and for once I consciously
took her viewpoint on board, and attempted to watch it as spectacle
(usually I try and forget what I've read before watching something).
This actually pushed it up another notch, so thank you, El! Some of
my comments are still unconsciously drawn from there (I forgot she'd
mentioned the lampshading, for instance), but fortunately there's a lot
that's original to me too - as an example I'm particularly happy with my
review of The Invasion. I still think that this serial is four
great episodes wrapped around two limp ones, but as you will see from
Isaac's comments even that's not a case of "no one could like the middle
of this"!
Earlier in these reviews, someone commented that they had never thought
of the serial as horror. I mentioned the Lovecraftian aspects of the
Animus last time - though they should perhaps be called Derlethian due
to the watering down of the cosmic inhumanity that happened with many of
the writers working in Lovecraft's universe - but that's not the
totality of it. There are a lot of horror signifiers: in the early
episodes we have losing control of the TARDIS, not knowing what's going
on, being gradually taken over, witnessing torture and death - all
features used in the more consistently horrific Robert Holmes era. Oh,
and giant insects also count, though their realisation doesn't really
add to the horror! Later we have the devolved Optera and their grim
existence in the dark, that moment when the Doctor and Vicki are webbed,
and of course the confrontation with the Animus. There's also a fairly
consistent tone of dread and desperation that plays against the action
adventure elements of the story. None of this is unique to the serial,
but it all stacks up. I stand by my opinion.
The Webbed Planet was commissioned by David Whitaker, showing how
far into the second production block the direct influence of the
original script editor stretches. It was writer Bill Strutton's only
contribution to the show, unless you count the novelisation separately;
although he wrote numerous episodes for many other shows including The Avengers. Next year Big Finish are releasing a Lost Story based on his unused third Doctor script, The Mega; we'll have to see if it's as controversial as his first.
Isaac's Corner
I preferred the third episode to the first two, unlike dad, because the plot moved on more in Escape to Danger.
When I saw the title of this, I exclaimed "the term is out of the
frying pan, into the fire, not escape to danger!" The fourth and fifth
were also very good, and the last was extremely good.
I found the larvae guns and Optera very cute, and I liked the way that
Vicki gave the controlled Zarbi a name. The story was well written and
well directed, and the effects were all effective! My overall rating is
8/10. I'm looking forward to The Crusade, one I haven't watched or listened to before!
DVD Extras
There's a good range of extras on the DVD, with a detailed "making of"
documentary and an entertaining commentary. We also get a PDF of the
first Doctor Who annual. This was something 2|Entertain gave up
on after a while: apparently nobody ever commented on them, so they
decided to put the money into other features. The collector in me thinks
it's a shame - they got about halfway through the annuals, and I would
have liked to have the rest to go along with them - but to be honest I
barely look at them most of the time, so (assuming I'm typical) it's
probably a good decision. This particular annual has two stories set on
Vortis, and I was going to review them next; but neither fits
chronologically, and after more than 5,500 words here I'm going to
briefly review one more thing and then move on.
One of the stories from the annual is also present in another form: an
audio reading by William Russell. Long-time readers will know this
automatically gives it a boost for me (and I actually started listening
to it before I decided I wanted a break from the Zarbi). I look forward
to reviewing it as part of the next phase of my marathon.
Missing from the Archives, Part 7: Finishing Touches
BBC Enterprises had prints of all six episodes in the archive when
audits were taken in the late 1970s. These had been returned from a
foreign broadcaster - probably Algeria - because the "Next Time" caption
at the end of The Centre said "The Space Museum" instead of "The Lion". For some obscure reason the next serial, The Crusade, wasn't sold to predominantly Muslim countries. Go figure.
Anyway, apart from this oddity and some minor edits, the story was complete. However, true
completists always want to get as close to the original as possible, so
it was still good when unedited versions were found in Nigeria in 1985.
This story is unusual in that there is no link into the next serial. I
wondered briefly if this was forward-thinking on the production team's
part, taking account of the problems of selling The Crusade in advance; but there's such a tight link on the other side (leading into The Space Museum) that I think it must have been simple coincidence.
Rating:
Mine: 7/10.
DWM Mighty 200: 54.69%, 178th.
2012 Gallifrey Base Non-Dynamic Rankings: 4.85, 219th out of 234.
This was voted the second-worst Hartnell by Gallifrey Base voters, and
the third worst by DWM readers. I can see it's not without flaws, but
really!
Next Time:
Let's take a break from stories and step (very briefly) into the world of games as we consider Animus, Zarbi, Menoptra.
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