The First Eight: Classic Doctor Who: "The Web Planet"

Welcome to The First Eight – The Roarbots’ classic Doctor Who watchthrough. We’re going through the 50+ year history of the Doctor Who franchise in chronological order. This is not a “rewatch”; I’m watching these shows for the first time.

This is not an effort to write an authoritative history or connect all the dots among the characters, planets, and eras of the franchise. I’m simply here to correct one of my most flagrant Geeky Blind Spots. And I hope you’ll join me on the journey. There’s only 26 seasons and 8 Doctors to catch up on. Easy peasy.

Want to watch along or catch up on classic Who on your own terms? Check out BritBox, which has nearly every existing episode available for instant streaming.

“The Web Planet” (First Doctor, Second Season, Story 13) is composed of the following episodes:

“The Web Planet” (February 13, 1965)
“The Zarbi” (February 20, 1965)
“Escape to Danger” (February 27, 1965)
“Crater of Needles” (March 6, 1965)
“Invasion” (March 13, 1965)
“The Centre” (March 20, 1965)

Here we are again. Struggling to find the First Doctor’s redeeming qualities. And watching his companions barely hide their contempt for him. Just another day.

“The Web Planet” finds our misfits “mysteriously” taken off course and plopped down on the planet Vortis. The TARDIS is completely powerless, and they’re stranded. I get that this is a plot device meant to show that there’s an incredibly powerful mystery just outside. But The Doctor has lost control of the TARDIS so much in these first two seasons that he really just seems like a buffoon at this point.

It’s only her second serial, and Vicki’s already fed up with The Doctor’s shit.

And once the doors are open, the group of course splits up. The boys (The Doctor and Ian) head outside to investigate while Barbara and Vicki are left behind. Of course.

There’s actually a nice moment between Barbara and Vicki where Vicki questions their use of “medieval medicine”: aspirin. And we finally get a sense that she’s from the future and not just a young, naive replacement for Susan.

And frankly, so is Barbara.

But then the status quo returns. Barbara walks out of the TARDIS and into the distance like a zombie, Ian gets trapped in a makeshift Ewok net, and Vicki fumbles with the TARDIS controls and somehow makes it disappear.

Ultimately, the entire team gets captured – separately – by giant ants (the Zarbi). Sigh. So much for being whip-smart travelers through space and time.

It turns out that Vortis is the native home of the Menoptra – a species that resembles a butterfly/moth – and the Zarbi (those ants) are actually an invasion force controlled by the Animus, an evil, ephemeral force that speaks to The Doctor through a telekinetic tube.

In the end, the Animus is a giant spider that gets blowed up by a MacGyvered bomb the team somehow assembles. And Vortis is returned to the Menoptra.

There’s actually a number of things to like in this story. The character design is top notch. The antlike Zarbi, the butterflylike Menoptra, the underground-dwelling Optera, and another (I think) unnamed creature are all fantastic designs, and the creative team really went for it in this story.

Credit is also due to the writer (Bill Strutton, in the ONLY story he wrote for Doctor Who) for attempting an epic sci-fi plot with multiple species entangled in a planetwide invasion.

I’ll also say that one of the “bloopers” that made it into the final cut is awesome. There’s a scene of a Zarbi running away from The Doctor, and it smashes right into the camera. Excellent.

What’s not to like? For starters, it’s WAY too long. At six episodes, the story simply isn’t epic enough. It just plods along and absolutely would’ve benefited from some judicious editing… and perhaps only four episodes.

The sound given to the Zarbi is a high-pitched alarm squeal, which gets old by the end of the first episode. That you have to endure that sound for another 2.5 hours is unforgivable.

The Doctor has devolved into a giggling dolt. All he does is giggle and ignore everyone else. In this serial, especially, Ian and Barbara help the gang out of all the jams. The Doctor, if anything, has become an obstacle to everyone’s safety.

Finally, the cinematography. They used a blurry, smeary filter for all “exterior” scenes on the surface of Vortis. Ostensibly, this was meant to create an otherworldly effect and try to show an atmosphere that made it difficult for the humans to breathe. In reality, it just looked like the cameras had greasy lenses or weren’t in focus. It was hella distracting.

The first half of the second season has been pretty hit or miss. I’ll admit that the show certainly hasn’t shied away from taking risks, but as much as I prefer the sci-fi stories to the historicals (at least so far), “The Web Planet” is mostly a miss.