The concept is fantastic. The ambition is heroic.
The budget is inadequate. The result is curious and, to 21st century eyes, looks strange.
Apart from that the success here is that the presentation of aliens by costume and effect is greatly improved... (last effort was the rubber head sock Sensorites remember..)
The UK TV ratings were the highest for the 1960's (avg 12.5 million)
The last half is actually better than the first half.
Prapilius (Jolyon Booth) as the wise, old Menoptra is my fave. He rabbits on with poetic nostalgia at the drop of a hat and adds greatly to the show.
Catherine Fleming as the Voice of the Animus is the first in a long DW tradition of booming disembodied voice baddies (the Great Intelligence, The B.O.S.S., Xoanon, House) and sets the standard.
Watching in order benefits the viewing. In the first episode, the gold bracelet Barbara wears is a leftover from the previous story.
The music is very effective. Les Structures Sonores was an experimental French group that devised their own instruments and was one of Verity Lambert's initial ideas for asking about the DW theme music. The music is not atonal and has some catchiness when you listen to it over a few times. It certainly suits the material: larking about on the weird web planet.
Watching in modern vidfired DVD with restored, less noisy sound makes it much easier to follow. But it's still hard work for a modern viewer.
It is a great mistake to dismiss Web Planet as kooky nonsense. It has a solid plot and spooky atmosphere. The whole cast and crew work hard to create an unsettling and alien experience with only the crew of the TARDIS in actual human like roles.
As SF this is pure SF. There's no pseudo science (UFO's, ghosts, mind reading etc), no magical fantasy (Daemons psience, Fendahl rock salt, Unquiet Dead's seance etc) and no ahistorical fantasy (Richard the Lionheart as merely a scheming rogue, Nero as a cuddly old 'lech', Robospierre as sympathetic etc)
As a Doctor Who serial from 1965 this is actually a disregarded classic. There can be no question that this was the peak for Hartnell, Lambert, Russell and Hill.
ABM Rating 3.75/4.00
LJM Rating 1.25/5.00
SPJ Rating 7.00/10.00
Peak Ranking No. 6 (out of 13)
Link to Cumulative Rankings
Link to Rankings Scoreboard
From Quickflix
ReplyDeleteThis is hard to love. The stories of modern DW people trying to get into this are fairly consistent. They usually fail to get past ep2. But here's a tip. Watch ep 5 and 6 first...... There are several very good bits in those eps, dreamy poetic bits that make this show well worth watching. It's not a car chase or a laser battle... but I think there is something visionary going on beneath all the set wobbles.... afterwards, if you like it, you will **need** to see the rest.