Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11633 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-10-03
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Formats: Black & White, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 147 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
One of the most widely-watched of all the '60s-era Doctor Who serials, The Web Planet (1965) puts the first Doctor (William Hartnell) and his companions in the middle of a war between two alien races--the moth-like Menoptra and a hostile race of ant creatures known as Zarbi--for possession of the planet Vortis. With the help of a grub-esque people called the Optera, the Doctor discovers the Zarbi's hidden weapon--the seductively voiced spider creature the Animus, which plans to ensnare the Time Lord and thwart his assistance to the Menoptra. An estimated 13.5 million viewers tuned in to watch all six episodes of The Web Planet, which manages to overcome its unfortunately awkward creature costumes (which are grim even by Doctor Who standards) to deliver a dramatic and suspenseful story with a subtle touch of social commentary; Hartnell is at his flinty best as the Doctor, and gets solid support from William Russell, Jacqueline Hill, and Maureen O'Brien as his fellow time travelers. The DVD includes the usual abundance of new and archival extras: in addition to commentary by Russell, Martin Jarvis (who played Menoptra prince Hilio), producer Verity Lambert, and director Richard Martin, there is a 40-minute making-of featurette (with Hill, Lambert, and others among the many interviewees), and Russell provides the narration for "The Lair of the Zarbi Supremo," a short story based on the serial that was taken from the first Doctor Who Annual (that periodical is also included on the disc in PC-ROM format). A crudely illustrated but historically interesting film strip version of the serial, as well as the usual text-only production notes track and photo gallery, round out the supplemental features. --Paul Gaita

DVD Description
STARRING WILLIAM HARTNELL AS THE DOCTOR A STRANGE POWER DRAIN FORCES THE TARDIS TO MATERIALISE ON THE PLANET VORTIS.

Special Features
Audio Commentary with actors William Russell and Martin Jarvis, Producer Verity Lambert, Director Richard Martin and Moderator Gary Russell. Tales of Isop (dur. 37' 48") Featurette. Lair of Zarbi Supremo (dur. 56' 43") - William Russell reads this story from the first Doctor Who Annual (Audio only with subtitles). Spanish Soundtrack - alternative soundtrack for episode six only. Photo Gallery Give-a-Show Slides - 14 slides from the 1965 Chad Valley 'Give-a-Show' projector toy. Doctor Who Annual - an Adobe PDF version of the first Doctor Who Annual. Programme subtitles Commentary subtitles Subtitle Production Notes

Customer Reviews

Primitive but fascinating
One of the oddest stories ever to emerge fom the Doctor Who canon. Once considered a classic, 'The Web Planet' is now derided by most fans. That's a shame. Of course, we're all much more sophisticated nowadays, but at the time this story was something truly magical. Yes, the production values are pretty ropey - even for 60s Doctor who! - and the sight of giant fibre glass ants banging into the sets (not to mention the cameras!) does take some getting used to; but if you persevere with it, then 'The Web Planet' has a lot to offer. For a start, the planet Vortis is one of the few genuinely realised alien environments in the show's history. It may look like an obvious studio set, but at least it isn't just another quarry. As with the planet Skaro in the earlier story 'The Daleks' there is a real attempt to present Vortis as fully realised, with a history, ecology and culture. The alien Animus that is slowly destroying the planet is one of the creepier entities to have appeared in the series, and the fact that we don't learn much about it actually makes it all the more sinister. The regular team of actors are generally on good form, doing their best to make it all seem real, although William Hartnell does forget the odd line (necessitating some quick thinking on the part of his colleagues) and Maureen O'Brien's growing dissatisfaction with the role of Vicki does manifest itself occasionally. But none of this detracts from the story's essential charm. The other characters are all non-human and, again, effort has been put into presenting them as genuinely unearthly. Overall, 'The Web Planet' has a very weird feel to it. Of course, it does take some effort to watch from a modern perspective, and the pace of the story is at times painfully slow; but if watched in short bursts, rather than in one go, this isn't so noticeable. A challenge to its makers at the time and a brave, though flawed, experiment, 'The Web Planet' really does deserve a little more respect than its been getting over the last few years.

Brill Idea, weak execution
The idea behind this story, the dispossessed menoptra with their sub intelligent helpers suborned by an evil power, is fairly standard Doctor Who fair. Raising it above the standard was the implementation of the menoptra and the zarbi. OK, so the menoptra, were... less than convincing, shall we say, but the zarbi were largely well realised, particularly in their movements and the larva guns were just brilliant.

Even the menoptra were raised above their rather limited costumes when their invasion force was presented in flight - a wonderfully trippy effect of swirling 'moth' and spread wings.

As always, there were moments of sheer boredom, particularly with Barbara and Vicki in the TARDIS, though it was nice to see the domestic side of life in the TARDIS - usually overlooked.

Other people have commented on the poor quality of the tranfer in some scenes, which is a pity as it does rather distract from the story. However, it remains a worthwhile addition to the collection, particulary as there are so few Hartnell stories still around in aything like full versions.

Web Planet Revisited
I first saw this as an original transmission when I was about 9 or 10 years old - we'd just about got our first TV by then! Who remembers black-and-white 405 lines VHF? (You could actually see the gaps between the scan lines, it was like looking through very narrow Venetian blinds) - anyway, In the succeeding 4 decades I had obviously forgotten nearly all of the details, but I do remember that it made a big impression on me at the time. It is ridiculed now for the amateurish sets and costumes and feeble 'special effects', but actually, all such-like studio-based TV productions from this period were all about the same, you name it, all suffered with wobbly sets and unconvincing explosions (the latter for simple safety reasons if nothing else). Not only is The Web Planet an extremely ambitious and complicated project, but the problems are compounded when you discover that they were only given two hours on a Friday evening each week in which to record an entire episode! This means that there are several dodgy moments and the production team freely admit that if they had been allowed more time, they could have come up with a much more polished result.

None of this matters if you have a good story. I watched the DVD right through for three hours solid and the story kept me hooked the whole time. (If you don't agree then I'm going to be a boring old fogey and suggest that you have been conditioned to conform with the modern obsession for constant, head-long, computer-game type action, but that's hardly your fault.) The best way to view The Web Planet is as though you were in a theatre watching a live performance on stage, then it works OK. In this context the actors manage to sustain convincing performances despite the restrictions, or so I think. The thin, Vortis atmosphere is indicated by a sheet of glass held up in front of the camera lens and smeared with Vaseline to add a blurry effect to the 'outdoor' scenes. Must admit the barren landscape with its perpetual night sky reminded me a bit of The Clangers' planet, while the so-obviously false flat walls of the Zarbi lair, which are supposed to be made of vegitation or the web stuff, virtually look the same as what you would get in an old computer game to represent e.g. hedges or jungle.

I was genuinely surprised that the whole thing is much better than I recall, perhaps because I'm now old enough to appreciate it better. A lot of the subtleties in the script obviously went right over my head at the age of 9! Yep, Doctor Who was never 'just for kids'. The picture and sound quality on the DVD is really excellent, certainly way better than that old 405 lines TV could have managed!