Product Description

The Tardis narrowly avoids becoming engulfed in a web-like substance in space. Arriving in the London underground railway system, the travellers also discover that the tunnels are overrun with the web. They find it is the web from the Great Intelligence's robot Yeti.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #604464 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-06
• Released on: 2000-03-06
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 3
• Binding: Audio CD

Amazon.co.uk Review
Victim of the BBC's insane policy of deleting classic shows while ensuring that all of Blue Peter survives for future posterity, Dr.Who's loss of so many early episodes has long left Whovians in despair. However, appeasement/cash-in appears in this three-CD audio version of the acclaimed 1968 Patrick Troughton era tale, The Web of Fear, featuring the first appearance of Colonel Lethbridge Stewart, later to become the Brigadier. A sequel to The Abominable Snowman, it features the return of the Yeti, now stalking the confined darkness of the London Underground (an excellent setting). Aided by youthful companions Jamie (Frazier Hines), Victoria (Deborah Watling) and the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT), the Doctor (Troughton, marvellously eccentric) must prevent an invasion by the fearsome Yeti. It is both refreshing and intriguing to revisit this milestone of classic Science Fiction, replete with the show's trademark touches and nail-biting cliff-hangers ("As they retreat, a massive web of glowing fungus spills into the room!!"). Given the slim resources the show had, it's a triumph of the show's style that Dr. Who managed to convey such a striking atmosphere of impending doom and excitement. Despite the sometimes intrusive narration by Frazier Hines, this has been lovingly recreated and will appeal to fans of this much-missed show. --Danny Graydon

Customer Reviews

If we can't watch it, this will be just fine!
The BBC, in the days before home video, decided that some of its programs were no longer required in its archives. In a somewhat unsystematic purging, many classics were consigned to the flames, including several Doctor Who stories. Fortunately, some fans of the series had made their own audio recordings, and these (following a thorough re-mastering by the BBC) are being released.

"The Web of Fear" is one of these releases. This story is very important in Doctor Who's long history - it points the way forward to a major change in format. At the beginning of the series, the Doctor's companions included two teachers Intelligence (Ian and Barbara). No story took place on contemporary Earth as one of the plot threads was the endeavours of these two teachers to return to their own time and place. Even after they returned home, this aversion to contemporary Earth continued. The first story fully set on contemporary Earth was "The War Machines", and "The Web of Fear" was the second.

Following on from the popularity of the Yeti in "The Abominable Snowmen" (another lost story, and sadly not also available as a CD soundtrack), the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria again encounter the Yeti - this time in the contemporary London Underground. This story introduces Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart, who afterwards is promoted to Brigadier and placed in charge of the British section of the United Nations Taskforce. One of the most popular of Doctor Who's supporting cast.

The story is strong, with an underlying mystery - who is the agent of the Great Intelligence who is controlling things? There is a sizeable cast with lots of suspects. As the story progresses, the web closes in and the cast members are thinned out. Tension would have been quite high for the viewers experiencing this story, one episode at a time over six weeks. It is still palpable in this story, even if you were to listen to all two and a half hours in one sitting.

Of course, we are deprived of the visuals and linking narrative read by Frazer Hines (who plays Jamie in the story) can only go some way towards bridging these gaps. For me, the season in which "The Web of Fear" appeared is the first I can remember watching Doctor Who as a child. My memory could supply a limited amount of imagery to accompany the sounds, but I don't believe this is necessary.

"The Web of Fear" is one of the best stories of Patrick Troughton's era playing the Doctor, and it is a good story for anyone interested in the show. For the fans, the bonus is that the story is a precursor to the UNIT stories, which were to form the backbone of the series a couple of years after this story was broadcast.

Highly recommended. OK BBC, where's "The Abominable Smowmen"?

The Best who ever!
Truly the most scary Dr Who from my childhood memory I was in no way disappointed by the audio. The atmosphere of the programme together with the challenges and twists of an action mystery make this alongside the Tomb of the Cybermen as the best Who ever.

Doctor Who at it's finest!
This has always been one of my favourate Doctor Who stories ever since I heard a copy of the original off-air recording. Since then I have gone through the novelisation and the telesnap reconstruction with a fine tooth comb, and now that the BBC have released this story on audio it seems almost complete. It is only with hindsight that we can actually see how important this story was. It included the first appearance of Lethbridge-Stewart, a character which was to appear with the five predecessors to Troughton as the Doctor, and it also laid the foundations for the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (or UNIT) which was to make it's first appearance later in the Troughton era in 'The Invasion'. The Web of Fear was also the last proper (and the best) appearance of the Yeti. This is in many ways a shame. They were at the time amongst the most popular enemies of the Doctor (barring of course the Daleks and the Cybermen), and had it not been for a fall out between Haisman and Lincoln [the creators of the Yeti, and writers of this story], they would probably have played a prominent role in future Doctor Who stories. However, it was not to be, and their final outing is certainly a worthy one. The BBC release of this story is done to perfection with the audio crystal-clear, and Frazer Hines linking narration completely unobtrusive and extremely appropriate. I just hope that the BBC continue to delve into Doctor Who's lost past through the use of audio... There may not be any pictures, but it's far better than nothing!