Monday, November 18, 2013

Doctor Who Week: "The Web Planet" (1965)


In "The Web Planet," the TARDIS is unexpectedly dragged to the surface of the planet Vortis, and when the Doctor (William Hartnell) and his companions, Ian (William Russell), Barbara (Jacqueline Hill) and Vicki (Maureen O'Brien) investigate, they are surrounded by giant-like aliens known as “Zarbi.”

After escaping these insect creatures, the Doctor and his friends meet the kindly butterfly-like people of the planet, the Menoptera.  They once ruled the world, until the Zarbi fell under the influence of an evil life force known as “Animus.”

While plans are afoot for the Menoptera to re-take the planet from the Zarbi, the Doctor learns that Animus is housed at the center of the planet’s “magnetic pole” and is harnessing the energy of the planet to attract other energy sources, like the TARDIS. 

The Doctor is captured by Animus -- a sort of giant spider monster -- while Ian and the Menoptera hope to destroy the monster using a “living cell destructor.”




A tempting target for negative criticism because of its excessive duration (at six parts) and at times incomprehensible action, “The Web Planet” is one of Doctor Who’s most daring visual experiments.  

Although its ambition is greater than its often-faulty execution, “The Web Planet” is a stunningly-original serial in terms of design, and a good-faith attempt, at least, to create a truly alien environment on a TV budget.

Specifically, the Menoptera, the Zarbi, Animus, and the planetary landscape are all completely out-of-the-norm in terms of their designs, and therefore fully removed from the restrictions of our earthbound reality.  

Today, the effects, costumes, and make-up of "The Web Planet" may look silly or fake, but in terms of 1965 technology this show is just…crazy inventive

The surface of Vortis looks like the pock-marked moon, the Menoptera glide about on wires (!) and the Zarbi are created by men operating large insect-like exo-skeletons.  Again, the imagination on display here is simply staggering, even if the narrative is familiar: yet another "Time Machine Syndrome" tale of two cultures in seemingly perpetual conflict.



Again, I want to point out a neat visual flourish (or perhaps expedient...) seen in early Doctor Who.  Here, to provide the texture or feel of an alien world, the camera lens is smeared with some kind of jelly or Vaseline.  This affectation makes the visuals a little indistinct and a bit blurry, but also successfully creates -- literally -- an alien “air” to the fantastic world of Vortis.  

Today, digital effects can create creatures, landscapes, and atmospherics with relative ease, but in 1965, when “The Web Planet” aired, everything had to be constructed or devised for “in camera” execution. Every time I gaze at what was attempted here, on a TV schedule and budget, I'm astonished at the level of imagination on display.

Critic John Baxter wrote positively about “The Web Planet" in his book Science Fiction in The Cinema, commending "the brilliance of imagination that produced creatures like the Zarbi, ant-like monsters that preyed on humanoid butterflies in an Aubrey Beardsley catacomb of art nouveau screens." (A.S. Barnes Company, 1970, page 186).  

Baxter's comparison to Beardsley (1872 - 1898) is illuminating, as that artist was renowned for his use of black and white spaces and contrasts (a key element here, considering the surface and sky of Vortis). Beardsley is also remembered for his dark, twisted, macabre visions of the human form.  Although the artist's work tended towards the erotic and outrageous, one can see how the designers of "The Web Planet' re-purpose the human form towards similarly grotesque ends, vis-a-vis the costumes.

So -- yes -- there are better-written Hartnell serials out there, but“The Web Planet” is an experiment worth checking out purely because of its visual distinction..  The serial would be considered a greater success today if the story were more original, if some of the wire-work wasn’t so obvious to our better-trained eyes, and if the creature vocalizations were easier to understand.  But by my estimation, the problem with so much television programming is its utter, mind-numbering same-ness in terms of visualization and approach.

Love it or hate it, “The Web Planet” is like nothing else in Doctor Who, or in cult-TV history.  Sometimes an ambitious failure is a lot more fun to experience than a safe, utterly predictable "success."

6 comments:

  1. I've slowly been making my way through the complete run of Doctor Who since late last year and you are quite correct: there really is no other Who story quite like "The Web Planet." In one sense the serial really is a terrible slog (it's terribly slow and repetitive, with characters endless wandering to very little purpose much of the time) but in another, as you point out, it's so completely different and, frankly, bug-nutty insane that you can't help but be mesmerized (the first time out anyway). It's what I imagine a Monty Python parody of Doctor Who would look like only played utterly straight -- remarkably weird deadpan lunacy. One wonders what everyone involved was smoking when they made this serial, but gods bless 'em for doing it.

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    1. Count Zero, I agree with you completely. "The Web Planet" is too-long by half, and as you say, very repetitive and directionless. And yet...it is visually stunning and so damned weird. There are about a hundred bad reviews of this serial out there on the Net, and today I just wanted to show it a little love. There's imagination and creativity on display too, and I agree with you...it's good for at least one (jaw-dropping...) watch. So weird...but so creative too. Every great science fiction series should have an ambitious failure like this one in its canon. Better to stretch and fail than glide safely along, never offending, never imagining new things...

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  2. Anonymous12:31 PM

    It's nice to see you reviewing some of the older Doctor Who eps. As with "The Sensorites", this episode drags on too long. You also made note of two of the most memorable aspects of this serial- the scenes enhanced with vaseline smears and the rather impressive wirework for the landings. The Outer Limit's "Feasibility Study" also used vaseline smears to add an alien quality to the Lumineers planet. This ep is singled is often singled out for particularly harsh criticism. The paunchy men in insect suits do look ridiculous, but dodgy monsters were a constant on Doctor Who. The Worn in "Ark in Space" were just as fake.

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    1. Hi Anonymous,

      Thank you for the great comment!

      I am a huge fan of early Doctor Who, and serials like "The Web Planet" endlessly fascinate me. This episode is often the butt of jokes, and singled out for nasty criticism, as you accurately note.

      But I don't mind standing up for the serial, especially when there are valid reasons to defend it. The episode is way too long, and the narrative is confusing. But the visuals are imaginative and daring.

      best,
      John

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  3. It took a couple of goes for me to be able to actually make it all the way through this, but you're right, there's no faulting the staggering ambition involved. Even the dialog includes odd touches to distinguish the different varieties of insectoid life.

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    1. Hi John,

      It definitely isn't an easy watch! :)

      But I'm glad you brought up the dialogue distinguishing the Optera/Menoptera, and so forth. That's another good points that reflects this episode's strong efforts.

      It present something different for Doctor Who, for sure. And after 50 years, it really stands out to me as something special in the series, ambitious failure or no.

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