The Web Planet

Come along! Drop this hairdryer or whatever it is.

The Web Planet is another of those stories that is talked about a great deal in how one has to try and look past the production design to see the story beneath. I have to say that doesn't fill me with a great deal of confidence, but I've been surprised before. This also happens to be the last First Doctor story that I have not watched. I've one more to review after this but it was also both the first First Doctor story I saw and the first classic story I saw in it's entirety after The Mask of Mandragora so I made a point of saving it for last. So feels a bit strange to know that I'm effectively done with the William Hartnell era given how much of the overall archive he takes up.

Plot Summary

The TARDIS is pulled by a strong force to an alien planet. The Doctor attempts to break free by supplying more power but it fails to work. As he does, insectoid aliens emerge and communicate with each other using high frequency. The high frequencies are painful to Vicki and she passes out.

Barbara sees to Vicki while the Doctor and Ian head out to investigate the power drain. Before giving her a sedative, Barbara shows Vicki a gold bracelet given to her by Nero with a promise to tell her about their Roman adventure later. As Vicki drifts off, Barbara feels her arm tugging involuntarily away from her towards the outside.

The Doctor begins to examine the rocks and surrounding area but Ian becomes unnerved when his gold pen disappears out of his hand. They continue to explore, finding an old pyramid structure and something that looks like a pool of water. The Doctor tests it with Ian's tie and finds it filled with acid.

Barbara is pulled by her arm until she slips into a trance and walks out of the TARDIS. Vicki wakes and finds Barbara missing and the doors open. She calls out for her and the echo alerts the Doctor and Ian. They rush back towards the TARDIS but Ian is trapped in webbing. He tells the Doctor to go on. Vicki panics and begins to try and make the TARDIS dematerialize but only succeeds in closing the doors. The Doctor arrives back at the spot and finds the TARDIS gone.

The Doctor goes back and frees Ian from the webbing, reviving him from a stunned state. The Doctor informs Ian of the TARDIS's disappearance but they find evidence that it was dragged away and follow the trail. After walking for a bit, they come across a chrysalis and the Doctor realizes they are on the planet Vortis. He is confused though as Vortis was not supposed to have a moon but several objects can be seen in the sky.

Barbara walks in a trance until she is taken by a moth-like creature called a Menoptra. The creature removes the gold bracelet from her arm and Barbara wakes up. Two other Menoptra debate on whether to kill her, fearing that she will betray their presence to the Zarbi, the ant-like creatures that created the chirping. Barbara manages to get away but runs into a couple of Zarbi who re-hypnotize her with a gold collar. The Zarbi overrun the Menoptra hideout, killing two of the Menoptra but leaving Barbara and the third alive.

Another group of Zarbi bring the TARDIS into their lair where Vicki emerges and is captured. A Zarbi attempts to enter the TARDIS as Vicki left the door open but that seems to put it in great pain. It's cries attract Ian and the Doctor, who shuts the door of the TARDIS. Vicki and Ian are restrained while the Doctor is placed in a cylinder that communicates with him.

A voice in the cylinder accuses them of being agents for the invading Menoptra and tries to destroy the TARDIS. The attack fails and the Doctor counters with an offer to assist in finding the Menoptra fleet with his star charts. The voice agrees, allowing the Doctor access to the TARDIS. Inside, the Doctor devises a plan to stall the voice while Ian goes to find Barbara, who has been taken to the Crater of Needles.

The Doctor pulls out his charts but informs the voice that he cannot search due to the defenses raised. The voice reluctantly agrees to a lowering in the area which allows Ian to work his way though the webbing. The Doctor picks up traffic signals from the Menoptra fleet and hones in on their signal. Meanwhile, Ian is detected and alarm is raised. He manages to get free where he is rescued by a Menoptra. The voice is angry with the Doctor but he plays coy with the information on the Menoptra fleet and it is unwilling to risk losing that information.

Ian learns that the Menoptra, whose name is Vrestin, was stunned in the attack which captured Barbara but escaped. He also learns that the Menoptra and Zarbi lived in peace on Vortis until a force called the Animus came and brainwashed the Zarbi, who are of a lower intelligence level. The Menoptra were driven off the planet to a recently captured moon but now are prepared to fight to drive the Animus away and reclaim Vortis.

Ian and Vrestin travel towards the Crater of Needles to free Barbara and other Menoptra who have been captured. They are pursued by the Zarbi and they hide in a rock crevasse. There is a cave in and Ian and Vrestin fall through a hole into an underground cavern. They are captured by a group of creatures calling themselves Optera. They are fearful of Ian and Vrestin since they are surface dwellers and threaten to kill them. Ian however realizes that the Optera are descendants of Menoptera who fled underground. At the mention of Menoptra, the Optera react as they are worshiped as gods. Vrestin unfurls her wings and requests that the Optera help her and Ian.

At the Crater of Needles, Barbara toils along with several other Menoptra, who've had their wings ripped off, including Hrostar, who was captured with her. They pour vegetation into pools of acid to feed the Animus. Hrostar also informs Barbara of a fleet of Menoptra who are to arrive at the crater to attack the Animus. He is fearful if the Zarbi are aware as their weapons were designed to attack the Animus and not the Zarbi.

Back at the hive, the Doctor's attempts to stall the Animus are making it more angry. It has the Zarbi replace the gold collar on Vicki though the Doctor is able to buy more time with a partial location of the invading fleet. Once the collar is off, the Doctor attempts to short circuit the collar by hooking it up to the projector. The projector short circuits and the Animus finally has enough. It replaces the collar on Vicki and it pulls the exact location of the fleet from the Doctor. With that information, it dispatches the Zarbi and places the Doctor under the same golden collar.

At the end of a work shift, Barbara and Hrostar notice the Zarbi massing towards the attack point of the Menoptra. Fearing for the attack's safety, they attack the lone Zarbi guards, overwhelming them. They make their way up to the top and meet with the initial invasion force. They warn them to leave but they refuse having already been committed. The Zarbi attack and the group is scattered with several rushing into a cave for shelter.

In the cave, they find only one of the original Menoptra attack has escaped along with several de-winged Menoptra. The survivor is despondent but Hrostar rallies them and turns to Barbara for help. They decide to go ahead and try to carry out the attack on the Animus as planned with the isotope weapon the attack force carried.

Also within the tunnels, Ian and Vrestan take command of a group of Optera who are willing to help them. Their group also begins to work its way along the tunnels toward the source of the Animus to try and defeat it. They find their way to cave and break off stalactites to dig their way through a portion where poisonous gas is leaking. One of the Optera uncovers a vein of acid and sacrifices herself by plugging the hole with her body. The others manage to dig a hole and they push further up the tunnels.

At the hive Vicki watches out until the Zarbi are distracted. Her collar had been successfully shorted by the Doctor and she removes his working one. He comes around and forms a new plan with Vicki. One of the Zarbi leave the room and as the second one passes, the Doctor takes the collar and places it around the Zarbi's neck. The collar blocks the Animus' control and it becomes docile, allowing the Doctor to control it with his ring. The Doctor bids it to follow them and uses it as cover to make it look like they are being escorted out. The Doctor and Vicki then make their way with the Zarbi towards the Crater of Needles.

Barbara and the Menoptra make plans in their hiding place when the Doctor, Vicki and the captured Zarbi enter. Together they form a plan where the Doctor and Vicki will take the isotope weapon and try to smuggle it in to the Animus. Barbara and the Menoptra will create a diversion, drawing out the Zarbi and then come in to help the Doctor. The Doctor reluctantly gives his ring to the Menoptra to control the Zarbi as they will be more useful in the attack.

The Doctor and Vicki return to the hive but the Animus has them seized and bound in webbing. It communicates with the Doctor, informing him that for his escape attempt, they will be brought to it and dealt with. Vicki, not hearing this and fearful of capture, hides the isotope weapon in the astral projector. They are then taken to the center of the hive where the Animus blinds them with light and ensnares them in it's roots to absorb their knowledge.

Barbara and the Menoptra successfully draw out the Zarbi, though Hrostar is killed in the feint. With most of the Zarbi out and hunting them, the group makes their way into the hive where they find the TARDIS and the projector. They try to use it to contact the Menoptra fleet but find it isn't working. Checking it, Barbara finds the isotope weapon and the group heads to the center to assist the Doctor.

Ian, Vrostar and the lead Optera find a mesh of roots leading upward at the end of the tunnel. The three climb up though Ian quickly outpaces the other two. As he does so, Barbara and the Menoptra enter the Animus' cavern. It stops it's work on the Doctor and Vicki and attacks this new group. Barbara activates the isotope weapon but cannot get close enough to properly use it. Ian however emerges from a pit just below, distracting the Animus further. Barbara crawls forward and levels the weapon at the heart of the Animus. The radiation kills the creature and the light and resistance fade.

With the Animus gone, the Zarbi return to their docile state and underground streams poke their way back to the surface. Vrostar signals the Menoptra fleet of their victory and instructs them to land. The Optera are also encouraged to come back to the surface where their children may develop wings again and fly as the Menoptra do. With things returning to normal, the Doctor and his party depart in the TARDIS, after the Doctor has recollected his ring.

Analysis

There is a kernel of a good story here, but overall the thing is too bloated, too slow paced and the production is just a bit too far for me to fully take. I think we can applaud taking the risk of doing something this experimental and in the hands of a better director, it might have worked. Here, it just falls a bit flat.

All of the insects had some level of flaw but if things had been directed a bit better, they might have gone alright. Probably the best example of this is the Zarbi. We had seen the use of large ants before with Planet of Giants and although they didn't move as they were dead, there was an acceptable suspension of disbelief with them. Here, that suspension was a bit too much to swallow whenever the human legs of the Zarbi controllers were seen. It worked much better in the few shots where the Zarbi are low enough that these legs are not seen. Then you believe them as giant ants. But when the shots include the whole mass, you see human legs manipulating while the six ant legs just hang out in mid-air. That's a level of disbelief that no one can overcome. I suppose they might have hoped that the smeared lenses might have masked that, but again, the director did nothing to aid the situation by often getting things directly lined up so that the legs were right there.

The smeared lens themselves didn't bother me as I respected the effort to make it look like the atmosphere was different. I think it actually helped with some of the insect effects, which might have been the point. As for the other insects, I didn't have any problem with the Menoptra. I thought those costumes worked fairly well and the wing design was nice. I didn't care for the constant hand movement but that was a minor distraction. The Optera on the other hand were most irritating. They have six legs shown but they just hop around. I also didn't like the stunted, almost pidgin-English they were speaking. I'm guessing it was to make them seem more primitive (like Tonto) but it just came across as labored and annoying.

There are some other issues that were of the director's purview and I'm curious as to whether he could have altered them or not. There is a lot of background noise in this story. Some is obvious and very difficult to alter, like the clank of feet on the boards. That's a problem in a lot of stories and it's something that you learn to tune out. But there are a few instances of other people talking or making sounds off-stage as well as a few other instances of things bumping into cameras or shots including things that should be offstage. It's just looks and sounds like an amateur production and instead of pumping up the story, it downgrades it.

One thing I can say from a positive point of view is about the actors themselves. I thought everyone did well, even the guest cast when they were clearly not given much to work with. The Doctor was pretty good and I think the sheen of The Romans is still on him as he is rather light-hearted throughout the story, even at dire points. His only moments of hardness are when he is looking out for Vicki and at times, even when threatened by the Animus, he seems almost playful. I would have liked to not be the damsel in distress at the end but he did a lot to set up things so I can't quibble too much with that.

Of the four principles, I would argue the Vicki draws the short straw. She doesn't do a whole lot through most of the story and seems a little more paralyzed by fear than in other stories. Granted, she comes out of it in the second half but that is a bit of a slow development. Her rescue of the Doctor from the golden collar is about the only real action she gets. She does hide the isotope device but it's more of a lucky chance that Barbara recovers it and not any significant foresight on her part. On a more visceral level, I also have to say that I didn't care for Vicki's haircut, but that's rather petty.

Ian and Barbara traded roles through the story. Barbara didn't get much to do while Ian was his typical action man in the first half, though some of that is due to the fact that Jacqueline Hill was on vacation in Episode Three. However starting in Episode Four, the tables are turned. Ian fades into the background and Barbara jumps to the fore. It is Barbara the makes the plans and she is the one that delivers the killing blow against the Animus. William Russell never actually went on vacation but I think that if his scenes had been pre-filmed, he could have easily taken a week off with a minimum of effort on the show's part.

The trade off in Ian and Barbara's strength is reflective of certain flaws in the story. This is a bloated story, something that the writer probably envisioned being four or five episodes but was told to make it six. This meant that instead of having Ian and Vrostar reunite with Barbara and form a combined Menoptra force, we are given the Optera. Yet the Optera do nothing. They refrain from killing Ian and Vrostar and they lead Ian back to where the Animus is, resulting in the death of one of their own. It's very reminiscent of the Thals taking Ian and Barbara for a real attack on the Dalek city in The Daleks, but in that case, you got to know the Thals and they were vital in the overall attack. Here, the Optera are just shoved in and do nothing except act as guides. Ian himself does almost nothing except add to the distraction which allows Barbara to deliver the killing blow and the Optera don't even make it to the surface until the Animus is dead. They do nothing and add nothing and could easily have been cut.

Much of the back and forth could also have been cut as well. The Doctor and Vicki didn't need to find Barbara, especially as Barbara carried the isotope weapon into battle anyway. There are at least two different rallying speeches given before the various parties foray into battle and neither one is really needed. They give a little character depth but are just there for padding. Remove all that superfluous stuff and I think this would have been a tight and fairly action-packed four part story with the interesting twist of it being bugs rather than the random primitives that we get in several other stories.

If you carve away the fat, there is some interesting writing. I think the Doctor has good moments as well as Barbara. I think the characters of Vrostar and Hrostar were reasonably well done and portrayed well, even if they get into a bit too much exposition. I even think the Animus was a decent villain, a dark force that was partially plant like but not truly explained. It only mattered that it was evil and it had control over the Zarbi. Perhaps a little simple but in a story about overthrowing an evil dictator, why give that much depth to the villain? Again, there is potential in this story that is lost in its execution.

I applaud the ambition of this story, but the first major problem is that it should have been given to an innovative director rather than someone who was more of a point and shoot director. He had moments but this story needed more imagination that he was able to give. The second is the bloat. I would imagine that for the money that had to be poured into the sets and costumes, a minimum of six parts was demanded. So the fat is added and that drags this story down immensely. It does not have enough depth to justify anything other than a revolutionary action story and slowing it down only makes the flaws and limitations of the production values stand out that much more. I would not call it the worst First Doctor story, but it is a slog to get through and it's easy to find your mind wandering rather than keeping an eye on the screen.

Overall personal score: 1.5 out of 5