C05S05 The web of fear

Synopsis

In order to escape an attack in space, the TARDIS makes an unscheduled landing and ends up deep inside the London Underground.

Here the travellers soon find themselves engulfed in a thrilling battle with the Great Intelligence and the Yeti, a deadly enemy set to invade the Earth.  But as events take a turn for the worse, it becomes clear that the golden prize is not just the Earth, but the Doctor's mind too...

Cover notes

2013 was a vintage year for Doctor Who with 50th celebrations enough to satisfy even the most enthusiastic fan.  But nobody could have predicted one of the greatest gifts that this year brought: the return of not one, but two missing stories.

Not even the Doctor could save episodes being lost by the BBC's recycling policy.  For most fans this iconic story, the return of the Yeti was something that could be enjoyed only in full on the story's audio release.  Delightfully, this proved not to be the case thanks to sterling research work from Philip Morris.

Making his first appearance in the series is Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart, performed to pitch perfection by the late Nicholas Courney.  It is a delight to see the opening episodes of a character that would go on to become one of the longest lasting and greatest loved of the show's history.

The Web of Fear is a beautiful example of a Doctor Who 'base-under-siege' plot.  Its brilliant sets convince viewers they are deep in the London Underground, whilst tight writing and directing keep up the action.  Doctor Who is never better than when its stories feature the extraordinary occurring within the ordinary.  And what could be more ordinary than the London Underground, and more extraordinary... than the roaring robot Yeti!

Cast

Crew

Special Edition DVD Extras

Commentary

[2021-12-16] Received my UK copy today – brilliant.  Late by more than a couple of weeks beyond the expected delivery window but these are the times we live in.

As you may have gathered from this site I'm a big fan of behind-the-scenes extras.  The "Shapeshifter animation process" featurette on disc 2 has a most unexpected excerpt about a minute in, showing an animated scene of William Harnell and Jean Marsh in the TARDIS from what can only be an episode of The Daleks' Masterplan.  To date there has been no official annoucement or speculation on the major fan sites suggesting this story is up for animation.

David Devjak, Managing Director of Shapeshifter, makes a point about the flexibility of the processes and asset reusability they have developed which would assist recreating stories previously considered too complex to animate.  To highlight this a montage of production stills from missing episodes plays at the end of this short featurette, notably: Mission to the Unknown, The Highlanders, Marco Polo, and The Daleks' Masterplan; the first three stills shown are repeated again at the end of the sequence.

Regarding the animation of episode three itself: maybe it's accentuated by the fact it's surrounded by original matterial, but the animated characters are... out of character!  Case in point: Jamie's wild gesticulations while standing with other characters in conversation - most people listening to others do move, but it's small precise movements; Jamie is verging on limbo dancing!  And that is not how he moves in any other similar filmed scenes, in any story.  Additionally, soldiers would be brought up on charges slouching like that in front of a senior officer,... 

If anything, while I like where Shapeshifter have gone with the technology, it reinforces my belief DeepFake recreations will struggle to deliver because of flawed character nuances.  Please, prove me wrong.