What....what? - Doctor Who: The Web Planet (1965) - REVIEW

[@MrTARDIS]

"ZARBIIIIIIIIII!" Thanks for watching my review! Make sure you're subscribed for more Doctor Who videos and you can also support my channel by "liking" the video and leaving a comment!

[@UnchainedAmerica]

If you rewatch Episode 6, one of the Zarbl's body crashed into the scenery as it leaves the scene. At the Episode 5 cliiffhanger, you can hear Hartnell talking off-stage, it was caused by a sound leak. I know it was supposed to draw children, but the insects' movements were comical. The Web Planet is way down on the bottom of my Doctor Who list.

[@Jedi_Spartan]

Stubagful: "This is fine. This entire serial is like the meme with the dog in the pub that's on fire going this is fine..."

[@billmilligan7272]

Love stubagful's take on this episode. You'd think someone so cynical would have hated it but no, he appreciated the imagination and ambition that went into it.

[@englishgiraffe2124]

​@@billmilligan7272 Tbf, Stubagful isn't really cynical in his reviews. He just really likes when DW goes both experimental and bleak despite having a quirky wacky side on the surface. Which is 60s Who, McCoy era and most Big Finish in a nutshell, which is his cornerstone for DW.

[@Abominatrix650]

"So I tied a tie around my trousers, which was the style at the time"

[@chibacityblues2003]

I genuinely adore this serial. The script is genuine trash, but the production design is just incredible and the visuals are so striking! And you just get the feeling that this is genuine experimental TV pushing the bounds of what 60’s TV could do! It may be tragically comical to watch now, but through that lense of Camp, it has such charm!!!

[@pious83]

I really think there is potential for the characters and ideas of Web Planet to be picked up in Nu Who. Since the main hook is visual, that is probably why only the Animus has appeared elsewhere.

[@johno_5.0]

the zarbi have had quite the comeback! can’t believe they’ve gone from this subpar story to managing Brighton & Hove Albion in the prem

[@Newt5996]

I have a soft spot for this one, mainly for its ambition and the script is clearly trying to do something really alien and experimental even if the middle drags so much and Martin’s direction is subpar in places

[@PaulMabley]

Wearing a tie around your waist was something the Private School University Old Boys used to do. It had the colour of your Alma Mater for all to see. Think Freemasons Handshakes, it's a similar concept.

[@MrTARDIS]

Ahh, so much like wearing an onion on your belt, it WAS "the style at the time".

[@ii237]

'This far you may come and no further’. A production team riding an unexpected smash hit series, seeing how far they can go… the novel is enchanting.

[@DigitalBath742]

I love this story. I don't know why.

[@SJHFoto]

This was one of my favourite Doctor Who stories growing up! It still is my favourite first doctor story, and probably my fav B&W story (so 1st and 2nd doctor)

[@seedhillbruisermusic7939]

never understood why folks say the menoptra are butterflies. they're not. look at their costumes, look at their wings, they're giant bees or wasps.

[@whoisthedoctor2]

In the novelization, which I read years before seeing the actual serial, there are no atmospheric density jackets and Ian is just wearing a tie as usual, that tie ending up in the acid pool. I suspect that the original script worked that way as well and it was the ADJs that led to the strange phenomenon of Ian wearing his tie as a belt.

[@greghawkins59]

The doctor chuckling as he dissolves Ian's tie is excellent 😂

[@DanielDiaz-um1xd]

I saw this in 2003/04 when my local TV station started showing all surviving full stories as part of the 40th. I got it as one episode a day so have a soft spot for it

[@SegaNintendoGuy64]

You wanna know the sad part about this.. The Late John Scott Martin Long time Dalek Operator as well as a Fungoid and a Mechonoid in The Chase was one of the Zarbis in this story.

[@jonathanmurphy3141]

I purchased the vhs of this story in the Winter of 1995, when I lived in Chicago. I had seen in on PBS, where American fans then, could view DW,…and, it was tedious. That Winter, in Chicago, I had recently moved up, for Graduate study in Art. I didn’t have many friends yet. It was my birthday. I went out in the cold, to a local Indian eatery, and put-in an order for take-out (pre-internet) I had 20 mins to wait, and crossed the street to a Comics/media shop. I saw on their video shelf one Who, “the Web Planet”. Why not! Crossed up the block to a liquor store, got a bottle of Scotch. I was 26 years that day. So, with an Indian meal, bottle of Scotch, and Who video, I went back to my warm apartment, north of downtown Chicago. Spicy Curry and good Whiskey, do make viewing The Web Planet…easier ☺️

[@SuperSweetBoy]

I would love to see what a modern redesign of the Menoptra would look like, I’m imagining a sort of anthropomorphic Mothra

[@dylanhyatt5705]

I am with Capaldi on this - The Web Planet is a gem (albeit a flawed one). The poetic language of the Menoptera truly alien, and the Animus has the feel of HP Lovecraft's 'Ancient Ones' - harbingers of corruption and chaos. I think it's harsh to judge early 60s Doctor Who with the contemporary criteria you apply - despite the pulp sci-fi BBC production-line of the series during its infancy, an underpinning magical depth somehow shines and it certainly does for me in the Web Planet. Your review has the finesse of a flying anvil in an antique china shop.

[@pinealdreams1064]

This has nothing to do with ageing sets or designs. Phenomenal writing was being done a long time before 1963, and even within the show itself. This is a confused mess with one fantastic idea - The Animus - completely wasted among a sea of laughable, boring tripe. It sucks, to put it plainly. The only F tier story of the Hartnell era.

[@dylanhyatt5705]

It sucks for you - and that's fine - it's a gem for me - and that's fine too @@pinealdreams1064

[@markpatrick2735]

I think my main thought on seeing the web planet for the first time was: WTF! it was what kept me watching despite the story. at 59 I saw most of doctor who as I grew up, but this one i didn't remember at all( possibly because of childhood trauma over the sound effects...) so I only saw it a decade or two ago. these days I love watching other peoples reactions to the web planet. if you can get through this you're a true Whovian.

[@josephryan362]

I love the web planet series 2 is my favourite series of the william hartnell era of doctor who classic

[@SegaNintendoGuy64]

I know I'm very late to bring that up but the captain of the Menoptra Hilio is played by Martin Jarvis who later appeared again on the show on two stories Invasion of the Dinosaurs & Vengeance on Varos, Also an Big Finish audio Dalek story Jubilee.

[@lunabourke3923]

I actually like this one. I don't understand how they thought the Zarbi could be the next Daleks though, they were just a tool of the Animous in this.

[@bladersmosh]

Although this story does get quite boring after episode 3 or 4, I would like to see some expansion of the planet Vortes itself. If the Animus can make a reappearance in expanded media, surely something can be made to do the Zarbi and Menoptra justice that could’ve been done in this story. Maybe Big Finish will do something in the distant but time will tell. Always does. Side note: the costume design still holds up today. You got to give credit to everyone behind the production team for that.

[@davidbrent8031]

17:47 Mr TARDIS has regenerated into Ron ‘Fucking’ Swanson, guys. Be afraid.

[@melanieconnell4156]

I just about remember some of William Hartnell episodes from when I was very young but not this one. I loved William Hartnell and thought of him as my own grandfather ❤

[@NitroIndigo]

Jay and Stu's discussion of The Web Planet is hilarious.

[@guygrist4436]

I am quite fond of this serial I enjoyed it. I love the Meanoptra they are one of the most adorable aliens in Doctor Who come on Big Finish give us the Vortis Chronicles.

[@bobbyshaddoe3004]

You might want to find a copy of Return to the Web Planet, Big Finish did that one, it's quite good

[@ropecrewman36]

I haven't been able to finish the Web Planet on my own, but I enjoy watching reaction channels try to do so! But thank you for the very informative review. It helped me appreciate this story much more!

[@jasonwheeler826]

Bugs with frickin' laser beams on their heads!

[@ladylikelayla]

It took me so long to get through this serial. I did really enjoy the reuse of an item from a previous episode's plot, the bracelet given to Barbara by Nero - it felt a lot like how Blon Fel Fotch's extrapolator "surfboard" stayed aboard the tardis and played a part in The Parting of the Ways and The Runaway Bride.

[@soupdragon1971]

I remember seeing this for the first time and going WTF am I watching? I really struggled to get through it. I hoped there would be no goodbye scene, once the situation was resolved I desired for a change, the Tardis crew would leave without saying a word. Yes, I recognise the ambition of the production, yes I recognise they were doing something different, unfortunately it was also great ammunition for critics of the show. That sound the Zarbi made, being repeated continuously and the cast must have been given notes to slow the dialogue down to a crawl to drag it out even more doesn't help. Okay, to be fair, I thought there were some really good comedy beats in the earlier episodes. Ian's growing frustration at losing his personal belongings, the way the Menoptera struggled with his name and the Doctor's (ad lib?) about the hairdryer thing, I thought were genuinely funny.

[@Adam-nb6im]

After getting the Season 2 boxset at Christmas, I went through the first 4 stories at a pretty consistent pace with relative enjoyment....Then I hit The Web Planet. Took me about 2 months to watch all 6 episodes and it was genuinely painful. The Zarbi noise drove me insane.

[@richardclay4158]

The novelisation, Doctor Who and the Zarbi, was one of the first full-length books I ever read. And, to be honest, like Invasion of the Dinosaurs, I'd recommend reading the book over watching the serial to today's fans, just so you don't have all the wobbly effects that you have to make allowances for. Still, it was the debut of the legend that was John Scott-Martin, so we mustn't grumble.

[@jgharston]

I came here to post exactly the same. I have a vague memory of reading that it was the very first serial to be novelised.

[@josephnash2081]

I thought the idea of an intelligent and malevolent spider living at the center of a planet inhabited by giant insects and taking it over was interesting. I think it would have worked better in the 3rd Doctor story, "Planet of the Spiders", though. The execution seemed hurt by the low budget here.

[@SamyulDavis]

I would've taken Goodfellas with Insects. Godspeed to you Will.

[@deanrussell2224]

This shows the dangers of drugs kids - just say no to writing anything on acid and that Bertie basset story with sylvester McCoy don’t get me started on that …

[@minicle426]

This serial rather reminds me of those bizzare showa era tokusatsu shows from Japan. You almost expect Ultraman to turn up at any moment.

[@jackevans3480]

Frankly, I think "The Web Planet" suffers most from a lack of convincing effects. I know that was inevitable given the time in which it was made. I loved the Target novelisation as a child and I really enjoyed the William Russell-narrated unabridged audiobook. For me, it is much easier to appreciate and enjoy as a story when one has to rely on one's imagination.

[@draugr7693]

The Web Planet isn't the best serial but it does have a certain charm to it.

[@user-lt9py2pu6u]

I remember this as a kid in the sixties, even back then I thought the Zarbi costumes were more funny than intimidating, but the idea was pretty good. I think they would be worth a return with a better story and CGI and animatronics. Trying to find a set of villains to compete with the Daleks was never going to be easy, but they came pretty close with the cybermen. Successful villains are always difficult to match, after all Star Trek never really equalled the Klingons, though the nearest they got was probably the Borg or as I call them non shiny cybermen.

[@danieldunn613]

When the Zarbi first appear onscreen it genuinely took me almost a minute to stop laughing

[@IsaacWhittakerDakin]

ZAAARRRRBBBI!!!

[@llewelynshingler2173]

So this is the first time the Doctor Who team tried to make "The Next Daleks"?

[@mkalotichou]

A really interesting analysis of what is an attempt at an ambitious story. I admire the visuals of an alien world including insects but jeez it is hard to get through 6 episodes of beeps although the Animus is a good idea. Possibly the only Hartnell where I was looking at my phone by episode 3 and wishing it would just end

[@SJHFoto]

I have something to say: I think it is hard for modern viewers to watch old shows-the effects were not what they are today. And creative ideas may not be appreciated now. But let's talk about the Vaseline thing: 1977's Star Wars did this as well for the landspeeder scenes-it's not such a daft idea. And to complain that you can't colorise this episode seems a bit odd to me; you are correct, but do you think the creators of the show were thinking about that when they made it? I think the visuals are incredible. As far as the plot goes, a lot of Doctor Who from this time is padded compared to today, but that's the way serial television was

[@macsnafu]

Honestly, while I admit the story could have been better, this is really the kind of thing I want in Doctor Who: something truly weird and wonderful. It was an interesting attempt at creating an utterly alien civilization, however much it faltered in production.

[@jdzencelowcz]

This dvd was actually hard to get, as it was discontinued, but then they rereleased it at just the right time!

[@LordGeorgeRodney]

I lopve thsi serial - it has nothing to do with Earth as well - a rare treat!

[@jaketokich2322]

From a first watch point of few.....this serial was the most painful do to the Zarbi sound. I felt my ears want to bleed. Effort on everything else. A+

[@carealoo744]

Can't believe I remember they were called Menoptra. By the way, I remember when I showed this to my grandparents, and my grandpa literally stormed out of the house at the last part saying he can't believe he wasted so many hours watching that garbage

[@richardpeel6056]

Were the zarbi or something similar included in the Walls Ice Cream Dr Who cards?

[@xedalpha1]

This is what i call an April 20th essential. You inow why

[@octaviusfooks7194]

Only a matter of time back then until the Cybermen usurped the Zarbi to rival the Daleks

[@carahiggs7157]

I really liked this one in 1966 and still remember why

[@richardhumphreys8662]

Martin Jarvis is one of the Menoptra in one of his earliest screen roles. I remember him saying in a interview how proud he was to be working with the likes of William Hartnell and William Russell.

[@gatts205]

LOL smear something on the camera lens. Old school practical effects were WILD!

[@randomericthings7506]

Not to be confused with “The Web of Fear”.

[@DKGCustom]

almost as scary as 'Planet of the Mr Blobbys'

[@paulrichards4452]

The Web Planet is wonderful. It can be interpreted in so many ways. At least in Classic Who they were willing to give us an alien world even if it is on a low budget. Modern Who and the Third Doctor stories are too preoccupied with Earth based stories. The Animus is a parasite that feeds off of the land and controls its inhabitants. Different to the first Dalek story. I love the weird alien atmosphere and score. I disagree with your criticism. I’d take this over modern Who any day. The Doctor is an odd older eccentric and sometimes more alien than the aliens themselves. The great thing about Classic Who is it’s creative ambition and willingness to take big risks. Today it would be full of unconvincing CGI graphics blatantly added to the screen. I give this story 10/10.

[@DoctorWhoHome1]

Life is too short to watch the web planet ever again

[@TimothyCollins]

The basic idea always struck me as a good one - a race that is basically insects. There are things that could be done with that type of monster. It'd be kinda borg like with drones and different types of monsters for different types of jobs and such. But... well, look at it. Today that idea could have been done with some believability. But in the 60's... I mean, look at it. That was sad even for Dr Who in the 60's.

[@aliservan7188]

We forget how weird Dr Who used to be

[@kazinwho]

Watching this while sick must have been like some weird fever dream. I've watched it three times, and cannot get into it. The beeps from the Zarbi in particular are grating within seconds.

[@Logan_Irrelevant]

I have never felt more miserable watching Doctor Who. I’m sorry you watched this too.

[@andyhight9441]

Great production value, mixed story quality. It has some great moments, especially in the 1st half. But it does make you wonder if the writers were on acid.

[@CyborgCharlotte]

The Web Planet: A mess for sure, but a damn brilliant one XD

[@thisiszaphod]

The Web Planet. So where's the spiders?

[@rngwrldngnr]

You might try the novelization and see if it works better with more room for exposition and no special effects failures. Though it also means you miss out on the strengths.

[@sdollar1399]

classic who writers really thought giant ants could be the next dalek.

[@rassilontdavros3004]

Personally I love this story and always will. I definitely recommend spacing the episodes out a bit, though. Do NOT try to watch it all in one go.

[@Thorscauldron]

It (the show) was just a bit of Saturday afternoon tat for the kiddos imaginations. Before the 6 o'clock news hit.

[@Tymbus]

Web Planet was the second Hartnell story I saw in the Eighties and spent the next day hoping like an Optera around a London suburb's streets. Now, this story certainly goes down hill becoming directed much like a school play - but the ambition was awesome. I don't want to revisit it and spoil the fun going on in my memory

[@matthewbolitho-jones]

I like The Web Planet

[@nigelwillits7818]

Surely the Menoptra are based on bees (Hymenoptera) not butterflies!

[@MartinGiadrosich]

I've been watching Classic Who for the first time and watching your review of an episode after I'm done with each one. This is the first story I've watched where I just was falling asleep and was generally uninterested, to the point where I didn't even watch the final episode, I just came here to get the breakdown. I was massively annoyed by the sound the giant ants made and it really dulled any enjoyment because I had to turn the volume so low just to make it through the grating noises.

[@tokublwhovian]

The bugs are basically Kaiju, but human size.

[@minicle426]

Really does remind me of Ultraman to a degree.

[@tokublwhovian]

@@minicle426 I literally thought of Ultra Q, when I originally watched.

[@martinbennett8752]

I remember this from my childhood, and I didn't find it boring. Looking back as an adult it might have been better reduced to 4 episodes, but some of the elements of classic Hartnell adventures were there in all the stories, which were about the loss of the Tardis through some means or other so moving on is not an option, and the separation of the companions which required different strands to the story. And let's not forget that at this stage everything was experimental - some stuff worked some didn't. Maybe by modern standards there is too little wham-bam action, but I would support more time to tell a story than the rush to get it over and done with asap - and without hitting us all over the head with the social justice message.

[@tpfang56]

This story was such a chore to sit through but a part of me does want the Menoptra to make an appearance in nuwho.

[@bobo577]

One thing I hate about this serial. That almost incessant noise from the Zarbi. Otherwise it was alright.

[@petefischer3820]

Sad that it is so bad, but what an amazing attempt at science fiction at that time on that budget.

[@rngwrldngnr]

I love the Animus as a villain, like, it capturing a bunch of planets into the system feels like a Stolen Earth type threat. I actually would like a return here in the modern day, albeit one that was ideally better written and produced.

[@bobp6742]

I was 5 when this was shown i don't remember any of the story but the costumes fascinated me, that's the only reason I remember it. Don't forget that most tvs were only 12 to 14 inches which the whole family had to sit around and the definition was awful compared to today which all added to the atmosphere to the program.

[@logansmith2703]

If this story was 2 episodes shorter it'd be WAY better

[@jensablefur155]

I really don't like this story. And that's the emphasis, here. The story. Even if you put the execution and the limited aspects of the production aside, the setting and world just doesn't interest me. I think the characters, as much as they're meant to be alien and different, are annoying and shallow and uninteresting, the pacing is ridiculously slow, even for this era, and the slow pace isn't even padded out with interesting dialogue or attempts to flesh out the setting and world, but instead it is filled with annoying sound design noises, aimless running around, and outright boring visuals and action setpieces that are dull and bland even if you look past the pantomime execution. I get that this story is one that kids in the 60s might have vibed with. It's cute and charming in a way, how it's essentially the televised Doctor Who equivalent of a kid emptying their toybox which is full of plastic insects and playing with a combination of said insects and their Doctor Who toys together, but to me it's just not good TV and there's no way it was 6 episodes worth of content. I agree with you, it is 3 episodes stretched to 6. Personally I'm glad this was a one and done production and the show never did anything like this again. I sort of get what people who like this see in it, sort of, maybe? But this is a contender for bottom 10 of classic for me, without a doubt.

[@Dullahan161]

I liked it

[@boxfox2945]

Starship troopers

[@nevem5010]

👍

[@vorebiz]

Oftentimes I don't find myself agreeing with Sue (of Wife In Space fame), but I think that her description of The Web Planet as "they're pushing their bloody luck" is about as apt a description as you can give in a single sentence. Personally I think it is turgid and a legitimately hard watch with almost no redeeming features. I'll happily never watch it again.

[@Arib-lw9sg]

Zarbiiii

[@thehorrorist3471]

I agree with all your points, Web Planet is one of my least favorite serials. One more thing, I actually found the most off-putting part to be the sound design. It wears on my nerves to an intolerable degree.

[@bobbyshaddoe3004]

When i first watched this, i really didnt like it because it just seemed to go on forever. I actually prefer thr audio follow up Return to the Web Planet.

[@chrisshorten4406]

Imagine what they could do with modern social effects if they brought any of these aliens back!

[@Gerrypotterpoet]

Dr Who was/is a family show with a children’s television shadow, a long shadow and perhaps that truly begins with The Web Planet. The show has always been influenced by literature, including children’s literature, The Web Planet, to me, feels like a show mainly aimed at the kids. Kids love bugs. I think the shows makers thought they were making/breaking new storytelling territories, and at the time, they possibly were. Also the adventure now looks really, really bad, theatrically painted backdrops do not a classic serial make, well, not this many. I really love episode one of this story, one of my fave eps ever, but it soon wears out, by ep three, I’m out. I think if a kid into insects and literature, this show on a 1960’s monochromatic winter night, must have really charged their imaginations, rocked their other worlds. Then there’s the venom grub, oh dear, so appalling, even for the time. Unintelligible pseudo Shakespearean dialogue doesn’t help any, I genuinely don’t know what the menoptera/optera are on about, still don’t at sixty. I do love the visually alien vista of Vortis, I really see how it worked for the audience of the time. It’s a mix of what was children’s storytelling had been and what television might be able to do with that, it doesn’t work now, my guess is it worked for some (nearly fourteen million of them, at one point), then. A fab review. Gx

[@christophersheets5452]

I know Planet of Giants was filmed alongside Season 1 but doing insects again so soon after feels like a weird choice. This is definitely the worst story yet. Really not worth watching other than the design work and the extras fully committing to their roles

[@benw4409]

Not exactly a story that works per say but certainly one of the boldest experiments in the show's history. Its revival counterpart is Rings of Akhaten, another story with basically no connections to Earth or humans that experiments with a large alien world and abstract concepts.

[@Monocheto1]

I was thinking the exact same when i watched this serial, a wayy less interesting version of the daleks

[@TyrannoNoddy]

So from what I can tell, this is what people who think Doctor Who is just cheap sets and costumes with all that's happening is running down corridors is, lol.

[@joerogers9413]

Web Planet is too long and boring but I respect how ambitious it is. I remember reading the novelization as a kid and really liking it. A world of insect people is a great idea for a sci fi story.

[@Just-Plain-Potential]

Starship Troopers tried it in the 90s. It was obviously not the same thing, but it does have a world of insects. It was so popular that it started the Bug Shooter franchises that were a big part of that decade. Outwars PC is just one of them. Maybe this serial was the start...just took 30 years to get off the ground.

[@joerogers9413]

@@Just-Plain-Potential True. Starship Troopers is a great movie. Watch it all the time. 👍

[@andrewholdaway813]

Is it that bad? Based on the first two minutes of this video I would say no... It's far worse. 🤣