The Web Planet (TV story)

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 Voord, the creatures of Vortis were designed to be memorable as the show was yet to produce a monster to rival the Daleks. Web had the highest average viewing figure for the Hartnell era with a rating of 12.6 million.

Synopsis
On the planet Vortis, the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki are swept up in the struggles of the butterfly-like Menoptera, 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.

The Web Planet (1)
The TARDIS is forced to land on a desolate uninhabited planet, dragged down by some invisible force. The Doctor discovers, once the ship has landed, that it has had all it's power taken away from it as well with only the scanner left working. The Doctor begins to work hismagic at the console but can't make the motors work even though the energy is available. While they are fixing the TARDIS Vicki hears an ultra sonic noise which causes her great distress. The Doctor suspects that she can hear it due to her relative young age.

The source of the noise is revealed to be some form of bi-peadal ant like creature emitting loud beeping noises as a means of communication. Unbeknownest to the travellers to of those creatures, accompanied by a smaller species attack the TARDIS causing it to rock wildy - much to the suprise of it's inhabitants.

Barbara takes Vicki, who is most perturbed by both the noise and the battering of the TARDIS, to bed whilst The Doctor, resigning himself to not being able to sort his ship out, asks Ian to come and explore the planet. Ian and The Doctor don Atmospheric Density Jackets, inform Barbara of their plan and set off, using The Doctor's ring and a device in the TARDIS as a way of opening the door without power. Left to their own devices Barbara and Vicki have a conversation about Vicki's futuristic schooling.

Out in the planet Ian and The Doctor discover some very strange goings on. Ian takes his gold pen out of his suit jacket only for it to literally disappear out of his hand as he does so. Also the echos that the two men's voices produce seemto take on lives of their own and continue for much longer than normal Earth echoes. Ian confides in The Doctor that he feels he is being watched. The Doctor states the only way to prove that theory is to go exploring.

Meanwhile back in the TARDIS Barbara is tidying up when she seems to lose all power of her arm which appears to be dragging her out of the door. Just as she reaches the door she regains control. Scared she goes to sit with Vicki where the sensation happens again. Vicki,thinking she is joking, laughs and Barbara leaves her.

Outside Ian and The Doctor discover a large stone pyramid that is obviously not natural to the planet and has been built by some sort of creature. The two marvel at this. They then discover a pool of what Ian considers to be water and is about to wash his hands in it when The Doctor, borrowing a tie off of Ian, discovers it's acid. The two decide to head back for the TARDIS when Ian sees some sort of light in the pool of acid. As The Doctor inspects it the ant creature scuttles away producing his eye frquencey beeping. The Doctor and Ian head back.

Whilst Barbara has been alone she has agin lost power of her arm and has been dragged out of the door, after operating the console to open the door. The beeping wakes Vicki up and as she enters the console room she herself loses control of her limbs and calls out for Barbara.

The Doctor and Ian, hearing the echo, rush to the TARDIS however Ian gets caught up in a net made of webs which lifts him off the ground. Ian orders The Doctor to leave and help Vicki. As he approaches the TARDIS the TARDISbegins to move. As he round the corner the TARDIS has gone.

The Zarbi (2)
The Zarbi have dragged the TARDIS away. In her trance, Barbara walks into a trio of Menoptera – 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 Menoptera, killing one and capturing another, whilst the third escapes. The Zarbi take Barbara and a Menoptera 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 forces the Doctor to help it track down the Menoptera invasion spearhead and the following main invasion force of the Menoptera. Ian escapes, whilst the Doctor, who has already worked out the invasion plans of the Menoptera, and Vicki try to bide their time. Ian, trying to find Barbara, meets with a Menoptera called Vrestin, the only escapee of the Zarbi ambush. He learns from Vrestrin that the Menoptera 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 Menoptera had noticed this it was too late, and they had to flee the planet. The Menoptera 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)
Ian and Vrestin fall down into an underground tunnel, where they meet the Optera. Ian soon realises that the Optera are descendants of the Menoptera, who had fled underground. The Optera had lost their wings through the generations and consider the Menoptera as gods, although they don't recognise Vrestin as a Menoptera. 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 Menoptera 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 Menoptera are massacred by the Zarbi forces. The Zarbi move in to kill Barbara.

Invasion (5)
Barbara and a few Menoptera 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 Menoptera. They all devise a plan to attack the Carsinome, with the Menoptera 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 Menoptera 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 Menoptera and Optera free to live on Vortis, the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki leave in the TARDIS.

Cast
The Menoptera The Optera
 * The Doctor - William Hartnell
 * Ian Chesterton - William Russell
 * Barbara Wright - Jacqueline Hill
 * Vicki - Maureen O'Brien
 * Zarbi operators / The Zarbi - Robert Jewell, Jack Pitt, Gerald Taylor, Hugh Lund, Kevin Manser, 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
 * Other Cast - Jane Bowman, Ken McGarvie, Len Russell (all uncredited)

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
 * Producer - Verity Lambert
 * Director - Richard Martin

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 Menoptera'. 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 Menoptera. She was so successful that the production team asked her to take on the role of the Menoptera 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 Menoptera)

Filming locations

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

Production errors

 * 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 Menoptera, 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.
 * In the second story, the Doctor refers to 'Light Years' as 'Light Earths', before correcting himself and finishing the sentence.

Continuity

 * The Doctor makes four known visits to Vortis. Although The First Doctor tells Ian he has never been to Vortis before, he previously visited it in DWA: The Lost Ones and returns in DWA: The Lair of Zarbi Supremo. The Second Doctor again returns to Vortis in MA: Twilight of the Gods. The Fifth Doctor also re-visits Vortis in BFA: Return to the Web Planet.
 * In DW: Bad Wolf the Face of Boe is stated to be the oldest living inhabitant of the Isop galaxy.
 * It is revealed in NA: 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 (DW: The Abominable Snowmen), The Nestenes (DW: Spearhead from Space), Fenric (DW: The Curse of Fenric) and Cthulhu (NA: 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.
 * Barbara is wearing the bracelet she was given by Nero in DW: The Romans. Vicki was unaware Barbara and Ian went to Rome and so questions this.
 * In the first eppisode The Doctor uses Ian's "old Coal Hill School tie" to test a pool and discovered it was acid. At the end, Ian describes the destroyed tie as black with thin Emerald stripes.

Timeline

 * This story takes place after DW: The Romans.
 * This story takes place before DW: The Crusade.

DVD releases
Released as Doctor Who: The Web Planet. Released:
 * Region 2 3rd October 2005
 * PAL - BBC DVD BBCDVD1355


 * Region 4 3rd November 2005
 * Region 1 5th September 2006

Contents:
 * Tales of Isop - The original cast and crew recall the making of this story, featuring William Russell, Maureen O'Brien, Martin Jarvis, Verity Lambert, Richard Martin, John Wood and Sonia Markham.
 * The Lair of Zarbi Supremo - William Russell reads the short story from the first Doctor Who Annual.
 * Doctor Who Annual - The first ever Doctor Who Annual from 1965 is presented in its entirety (DVD-ROM only - PC/Mac)
 * Spanish soundtrack - An option to view Episode 6 in Spanish.
 * Give-a-Show Slides - A set of 1960s Doctor Who slides, based on The Web Planet.
 * Photo Gallery
 * Production Subtitles
 * Audio Commentary (moderated by Gary Russell): William Russell, Verity Lambert, Richard Martin and Martin Jarvis

Rear Credits:
 * Starring William Hartnell, with William Russell, Jacqueline Hill and Maureen O'Brien
 * Written by Bill Strutton
 * Produced by Verity Lambert
 * Directed by Richard Martin
 * Cover by Clayton Hickman

Notes:
 * Editing for DVD release completed by Doctor Who Restoration Team.

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

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 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.

Novelisation and its audiobook

 * Main article: Doctor Who and the Zarbi


 * The Web Planet was the second serial to be novelised, with an adaptation by the serial's author, Bill Strutton, published as Doctor Who and the Zarbi by Frederick Muller in 1965. In 1973, it was one of three Muller novelisations republished by Target Books, launching its long-running series of novelisations. This novel introduced the concept of the "Zarbi Supremo", a vast Zarbi with a role similar to that of a queen bee.
 * A 2005 audiobook, read by William Russell, was released in the boxset Travels in Time and Space, alongside Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks (the novelisation of The Daleks) and Doctor Who and the Crusaders (the adaptation of The Crusade).