The Web Planet (TV story)

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

 * Dr. Who - William Hartnell
 * Ian Chesterton - William Russell
 * Barbara Wright - Jacqueline Hill
 * Vicki - Maureen O'Brien
 * Zarbi - Robert Jewell
 * Zarbi - Jack Pitt
 * Zarbi - Gerald Taylor
 * Zarbi - Hugh Lund
 * Zarbi - Kevin Manser
 * Zarbi - John Scott Martin
 * Animus Voice - Catherine Fleming
 * Vrestin - Roslyn de Winter
 * Hrostar - Arne Gordon
 * Hrhoonda - Arthur Blake
 * Prapillus - Jolyon Booth
 * Hlynia - Jocelyn Birdsall
 * Hilio - Martin Jarvis
 * Hetra - Ian Thompson
 * Nemini - Barbara Joss

Uncredited Cast

Crew

 * Writer - Bill Strutton
 * Director - Richard Martin
 * Producer - Verity Lambert
 * Script Editor - Dennis Spooner
 * Designer - John Wood
 * Assistant Floor Manager - Elisabeth Dunbar
 * Assistant Floor Manager - Gillian Chardet
 * Costumes - Daphne Dare
 * Film Cameraman - Peter Hamilton
 * Film Editor - Gitta Zadek
 * Insect Movement - Roslyn de Winter
 * Make-Up - Sonia Markham
 * Production Assistant - Norman Stewart
 * Special Sound - Brian Hodgson
 * Studio Lighting - Ralph Walton
 * Studio Sound - Ray Angel
 * Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer

Influences

 * 50s giant insect movies
 * Capek's The Insect Play
 * The Outer Limits episode The Zanti Misfits

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

 * The Second Doctor returns to Vortis in Twilight of the Gods
 * In Bad Wolf the Face of Boe is stated to be the oldest living inhabitant of the Isop galaxy
 * Venom Grubs are again referred to in Boom Town
 * It is revealed in All-Consuming Fire that the Animus was actually a Great Old One, one of several supremely powerful creatures that escaped the destruction of the prior universe by shifting into a later universe. The Great Old Ones are from the Cthulhu mythos created by H.P. Lovecraft and expanded on by other writers. Specifically, the Animus was identified as Lloigor, a Great Old One created by August Derleth and Mark Schorer.
 * Other examples of Great Old Ones include the Great Intelligence (The Abominable Snowmen), The Nestenes (Spearhead from Space), Fenric (The Curse of Fenric) and Cthulhu (White Darkness)
 * In the Doctor Who Annual 2006 it is revealed that the Animus (here called the Greater Animus) was destroyed during the Time War
 * The Doctor has heard of Vortis but has never visited previously
 * Barbara is wearing the braclet she was given by Nero in The Romans

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

More Info

 * Story Synopsis
 * Story Transcript
 * Story Novelization
 * Story Statistics
 * Story in the Media

DVD, Video, and Other Releases
DVD Releases

Released as Doctor Who: The Web Planet.

Released:
 * Region 2
 * PAL - BBCDVD BBCDVD1355

Video Release

Released as Doctor Who: The Web Planet over two seperate cassette cases held togther by a band of plastic.

Released:
 * UK September 1990
 * PAL - BBC Video BBCV4405


 * US August 1994
 * NTSC - CBS/FOX Video 8142
 * NTSC - Warner Video E1265

Notes: The 'Next Episode' caption has been removed from Episode 6.