The Web Planet (TV story)

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The Web Planet was the fifth story of Season 2 of Doctor Who. It is unique in Doctor Who history as the only television story where there are no humanoid characters aside from the regulars. In the same vein as the Voords, the creatures of Vortis were designed to be memorable as the show was yet to produce a monster to rival the Daleks.

Synopsis

On the planet Vortis, the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki are 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 larvae guns.

Plot

The Web Planet (1)

An unknown force pulls the TARDIS off course and onto the planet Vortis, in the Isop Galaxy. The Doctor and Ian investigate and try to find the source whilst Barbara tends to a disoriented Vicki who has been affected by the natural high-frequency communications of the ant-like Zarbi monitoring the TARDIS.

File:Webplanet1.JPG
Zarbi inspect the TARDIS.

Vortis is a thin-atmosphere planet with natural crag-like rock formations and what appear to be pools of acid. The Doctor recognises the planet from the remains of a dead grub-like creature, however he is puzzled by the presence of moons around what should be an otherwise moonless planet.

Meanwhile, inside the ship, Barbara is influenced by an unknown force through her gold bracelet. This force mesmerises her and draws her outside, leaving Vicki alone in the untended TARDIS. When the Doctor returns to the TARDIS's position, he finds it has vanished.

The Zarbi (2)

Menoptra - one of Vortis's many assorted creatures.

The Zarbi have dragged the TARDIS away. In her trance, Barbara walks into a trio of Menoptra – all that remains of a reconnaissance force sent to prepare the way for an invasion spearhead. They free her of the trance by removing her bracelet, and then debate what to do with her. Barbara escapes; however, she is immediately captured by the Zarbi and brainwashed through the use of a gold neck-harness. The Zarbi take her back to the Menoptra, killing one and capturing another, whilst the third escapes. The Zarbi take Barbara and a Menoptra called Hrostar to the Crater of Needles, where they are forced to gather vegetation and drop it into rivers of acid, thereby feeding the central force of the Zarbi, called the Animus. The Doctor and Ian, having investigated the theft of the TARDIS and a trail leading away, begin tracking it. They are captured by the Zarbi and are taken to the Carsinome, where they find Vicki and the TARDIS. There they indirectly meet the Animus, who talks to the Doctor through what appears to be a mental communications device.

Escape To Danger (3)

The Animus talks to the Doctor.

The Animus forces the Doctor to help it track down the Menoptra invasion spearhead and the following main invasion force of the Menoptra. Ian escapes, whilst the Doctor, who has already worked out the invasion plans of the Menoptra, and Vicki try to bide their time. Ian, trying to find Barbara, meets with a Menoptra called Vrestin, the only escapee of the Zarbi ambush. He learns from Vrestrin that the Menoptra were native to the planet Vortis along with the Zarbi, until a great evil force, the Animus, slowly and gradually took control of the planet through the mindless Zarbi. By the time the Menoptra had noticed this it was too late, and they had to flee the planet. The Menoptra fled to the moons that had been pulled into orbit around Vortis by the great evil force of the Animus – the same force that had pulled the TARDIS off course. The Zarbi soon locate Ian and Vrestin, but as the pair try to hide, the ground below them gives way.

Crater of Needles (4)

The Optera take Vrestin for a God.

Ian and Vrestin fall down into an underground tunnel, where they meet the Optera. Ian soon realises that the Optera are descendants of the Menoptra, who had fled underground. The Optera had lost their wings through the generations and consider the Menoptra as gods, although they don't recognise Vrestin as a Menoptra. Ian and Vrestin convince the Optera to join them in fighting the Animus. Back in the Carsinome, the Doctor accidentally releases a bit of information about the Menoptra invasion force, particularly that the spearhead plans to land at Sayo Plateau just north of the Crater of Needles. The Animus uses this information to ambush the spearhead. Barbara and Hroster escape from the Crater of Needles and try to meet up with the spearhead and also to warn them of the ineffectiveness of their weapons against the Zarbi. They fail to convince the spearhead force of the uselessness of the weapons, and the spearhead Menoptra are massacred by the Zarbi forces. The Zarbi move in to kill Barbara.

Invasion (5)

Ian, Vrestin and an Optera.

Barbara and a few Menoptra survive the massacre, and manage to hide in one of the Menoptra's old temples. There they try, without success, to radio the main force and warn them that their weapons are useless against the Zarbi. Meanwhile, the Doctor works out that the Animus uses gold as a conductor to channel a mesmerising force. He counteracts this force and then uses the hidden power of his ring to control one of the Zarbi. The Doctor escapes with Vicki and his captive Zarbi, and meets up with Barbara and the Menoptra. They all devise a plan to attack the Carsinome, with the

File:Webplanet6.JPG
The Doctor and Vicki are ensnared by the real Animus.

Menoptra acting as a diversionary force whilst the Doctor and Vicki try to reach the Animus with the Isop-tope device, a living-cell destructor.

The Centre (6)

The Doctor and Vicki make their way back to the Carsinome, where they are taken to the centre to see the Animus, a great spider-like creature. Here they are mesmerised and made helpless by the Animus. Meanwhile, Barbara and the Menoptra attack the Carsinome from the outside, using the Doctor's ring to control a larvae gun, the Zarbi's living weapon. At the same time, Ian, Vrestin and the Optera try to dig their way to the Animus from below. They all make it to the centre and to the Animus where, with a singular act of willpower, Barbara manages to use the Isop-tope device on the Animus, destroying it. In the end, with the Zarbi free from the control of the Animus and the Menoptra and Optera free to live on Vortis, the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki leave in the TARDIS.

Cast

The Menoptra

The Optera


Crew

References

Story notes

  • This story was originally entitled The Zarbi and was made under the working title The Centre of Terror.
  • The Centre was initially titled Centre of Terror. The novelisation restores this title for the sixth chapter.
  • The first and so far only television story in which all the characters, other than the regulars, are entirely non-humanoid.
  • Robert Jewell, Jack Pitt, Gerald Taylor, Hugh Lund and Kevin Manser are credited as Zarbi Operators for The Web Planet and The Zarbi, and under the heading 'The Zarbi' for Escape to Danger to The Centre. They are billed as The Zarbi in Radio Times for The Zarbi to The Centre.
  • Roslyn de Winter (Vrestin), Arne Gordon (Hrostar), Arthur Blake (Hrhoonda), Jolyon Booth (Prapillus), Jocelyn Birdsall (Hlynia) and Martin Jarvis (Hilio) are credited under the heading 'The Menoptra'. Roslyn de Winter is credited as Menoptra Vrestin in Radio Times for Escape to Danger.
  • Ian Thompson (Hetra) and Barbara Joss (Nemini) are credited under the heading 'The Optera' for Crater of Needles and Invasion. Ian Thompson is credited as Optera Hetra in Radio Times for The Centre.
  • Jacqueline Hill does not appear in Escape to Danger as she was on holiday while it was filmed. She is not credited in this episode's closing credits and later complained to the production team about this, but her request for her credit to be reinstated for overseas sales of the story was not acted upon.
  • Noted choreographer Roslyn 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 costumes for all of the aliens who appeared in this story were created by Daphne Dare.
  • 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.
  • The music soundtrack, although from stock, is a highly unusual one, created by a group called Les Structures Sonorés. They produced music on glass tubes. This music was reused in Galaxy 4.

Ratings

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

The first episode of the serial gained the highest number of viewers for any Doctor Who episode in the 1960s.

Myths

  • The misty effect over the planets surface was created by applying Vaseline to the camera lens (The effect was actually created with the assistance of special camera lenses, although on the DVD production subtitles it says that Vaseline was then smeared over these special lenses.)
  • The butterfly creatures in the story are called the Menoptera (The correct spelling is Menoptra)

Filming locations

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
  • In Escape to Danger one of the Zarbi runs directly into the camera.
  • In Crater of Needles as Ian is buried in a rock fall someone can be heard laughing. It appears to be Vrestin "laughing," who is buried with Ian.
  • For most of the story shadows can be seen across the sky.
  • There are some late cues for the actors as some shots start with them standing still waiting for the order to move.
  • A Zarbi's abdomen clangs on the studio floor.
  • One of the imprisoned Menoptra, judging by its gestures, is merrily chatting to a Zarbi guard.
  • In episode two, when Hroonda is killed, his wings fall off.
  • For five seconds in episode two, nothing appears to be happening in 'Web HQ'.
  • The subtitles on the DVD release erroneously spell the Optera's name for the Animus as "Poidirac" rather than "Pwodarauk," which is the correct spelling used in both the camera scripts and Bill Strutton's novelization of the story.
  • In The Centre a Menoptera refers to "the planet Pictos" when it is a moon.

Continuity

Timeline

Home video and audio releases

DVD releases

Released as Doctor Who: The Web Planet.

The title card for the DVD release.

Released:

PAL - BBC DVD BBCDVD1355

Contents:

Rear Credits:

Notes:

  • N-dvd.jpg

    Region 2 cover

  • Region 1 cover

    Region 1 cover

Video releases

Released as Doctor Who: The Web Planet over two separate VHS cassette cases.

Released:

PAL - BBC Video BBCV4405
NTSC - CBS/FOX Video 8142
NTSC - Warner Video E1265

Notes: The 'Next Episode' caption has been removed from The Centre, which features an American TV Movie compilation version of the closing credits – i.e. featuring the cast and production crew of the entire story – and not those as originally broadcast in the UK. These credits bill Martin Jarvis (Hilio) as Captain Hilio and Catherine Fleming (Animus Voice) as Voice of the Animus. Whether this inclusion was a big mistake, or to overcome clearance problems with a short piece of incidental music originally played at the end of the episode, remains unclear.

  • UK PAL VHS Box 'Part 1 Episodes 1-3'

    UK PAL VHS Box 'Part 1 Episodes 1-3'

  • UK PAL VHS Box 'Part 2 Episodes 4-6'

    UK PAL VHS Box 'Part 2 Episodes 4-6'

Novelisation and its audiobook

Novelisation first edition
Main article: Doctor Who and the Zarbi

See also

External links

Template:Season 2 Template:Wikipedia

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