The Web Planet (TV story)

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Summary

The TARDIS is pulled off course by a mysterious force and trapped on the barren, desolate low-oxygen world Vortis in the Isop galaxy. The Doctor, Barbara, Ian and Vicki are soon swept up in the struggles of the butterfly-like Menoptra, the original denizens of Vortis who were forced to flee the planet for the moon Pictos to escape the encroaching web of the Animus and its mind-controlled minions, the ant-like Zarbi and their living weapons, the Venom Grubs. With assistance from the caterpillar-like Optera, the devolved descendants of the planet's original inhabitants, the TARDIS crew and the Menoptra are able to destroy the Animus at the center of its web complex with the secret Menoptra weapon, the isotope-powered living cell destructor

Cast

Uncredited Cast


Crew


Notes

  • The first and so far only television story in which all the characters, other than the regulars, are entirely non-humanoid
  • All episodes exist in 16mm telerecordings
  • Negative film prints of both episodes exist and were recovered by the BBC in 1978
  • The Zarbi was held by the Film & TV Library when it was audited in 1978
  • Believed lost in the BBC's early 1970s purge, negative film prints of all six episodes were recovered from BBC Enterprises in the late 1970s. These prints appear to have stemmed from a 1973 sale to Algeria and as a result the final episode was amended so that the "Next Episode" caption referred to The Space Museum instead of The Lion, as the next story The Crusade was not sold to Arab countries. There were also some edits to the first episode. Unedited prints of all six episodes were also discovered in Nigeria in 1985
  • This story was originally entitled The Zarbi and was made under the working title The Centre of Terror
  • Episode six was initially titled "Centre Of Terror". The novelisation restores this title for the sixth chapter
  • The costumes for all of the aliens who appeared in this story were created by Daphne Dare
  • Jacqueline Hill does not appear in Escape to Danger as she was on holiday while it was filmed. She is not credited in this episodes closing credits and later complained to the production team about this
  • Noted choreographer Rosalyn de Winter was hired to create the distinctive movements and stilted speech of the Menoptra. She was so successful that the production team asked her to take on the role of the Menoptra Vrestin (which she accepted).
  • The first episode of the serial was watched by 13.5 million viewers, the highest number for any Doctor Who episode in the 1960s.
  • The serial was only the second to be novelised by Frederick Muller. It was written by Bill Strutton under the title Doctor Who and the Zarbi in 1965. This novel introduced the concept of the "Zarbi Supremo", a vast Zarbi with a role similar to that of a queen bee. In 1973 Target Books acquired the rights to the novelisation and reprinted it as one of the first in their long running series of Doctor Who novelisations. For more information see Story Novelization


Influences


Ratings

  • The Web Planet - 13.5m viewers
  • The Zarbi - 12.5m viewers
  • Escape to Danger - 12.5m viewers
  • Crater of Needles - 13.0m viewers
  • Invasion - 12.0m viewers
  • The Centre - 11.5m viewers


Myths

  • The misty effect over the planets surface was created by applying Vaseline to the camera lense (The effect was actually created with the assistance of special camera lenses)
  • The butterfly creatures in the story are called the Menoptera (The correct spelling is Menoptra)


Location Filming

The story was filmed at Riverside Studio 1, Hammersmith, London


Continuity

Discontinuity

  • In episode 3 one of the Zarbi can be heard hitting the camera
  • In episode 4 as Ian is burried in a rock fall someone can be heard laughing
  • For most of the story shadows can be seen across the sky
  • When Vicky asks for a sedative Barbara gives her an Aspirin


Quotes

Animus - "What Vortis is, I am. What you are, I will become."


Story Arcs

Great Old Ones Arc


Similar stories

Venusian Lullaby - Another attempt to set Human characters in a completely alien environment


References

To be addedd


More Info


Public Releases

DVD Release Released as Doctor Who: The Web Planet

UK Release: October 2005
PAL Region 2 - BBCDVD1355
Further information about the restoration for this DVD and its special features can be found at The Web Planet DVD
  • Video Release Released as Doctor Who: The Web Planet
The next episode caption has been removed from episode 6
UK Release: September 1990 / US Release: August 1994
PAL - BBC video BBCV4405 (2 tapes)
NTSC - CBS/FOX Video 8142
NTSC - Warner Video E1265


External Links

BBC Episode Guide Page with video clips

Story synopsis at the Doctor Who Reference Guide

A Brief History of Time Travel

Encylopedia of Fantastic Film and Television

BBC Production Information

Template:Wikipedia

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