person or book cover
Screen cap from episode three titles
form y separately published work icon The Web Planet series - publisher   film/TV   science fiction  
Issue Details: First known date: 1965... 1965 The Web Planet
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Drawn into the orbit of the planet Vortis, the Doctor and his companions (Barbara, Ian, and Vicki) encounter three sets of non-humanoid inhabitants: the Zarbi, the Menoptra, and the Optera. The Zarbi are under the control of a sinister, spider-like central force, the Animus, which uses gold as a conductor for its mesmerising power. After a disastrous ambush of the spearhead Menoptra force attacking the Animus, Barbara manages to destroy it with an act of concentrated willpower. With the Zarbi freed from the Animus's malevolent control, they, the Menoptra, and the Optera are free to live on Vortis, while the Doctor and his companions leave in the TARDIS.

Notes

  • As was common in this period of the programme, each episode of 'The Web Planet' was given a different title: episode one, 'The Web Planet'; episode two, 'The Zarbi'; episode three, 'Escape to Danger'; episode four, 'Crater of Needles'; episode five, 'Invasion'; episode six, 'The Centre'.
  • 'The Web Planet' was one of the serials long believed to have been lost in the BBC's purge of its archives, but full prints of all episodes were discovered first in Algeria (in the late 1970s) and later in Nigeria (in 1985).
  • Apart from the primary cast, all characters in this series are distinctly non-humanoid. Australian mime and choreographer Roslyn de Winter was hired to choreograph the non-human movements of the butterfly-like Menoptra and design their stilted speech patterns, as well as to take the central role of the Menoptran Vrestin.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) ,       1965 .
      person or book cover
      Screen cap from episode three titles
      Extent: 6x25min. episodesp.
      Description: Black-and-white.
      Series: form y separately published work icon Doctor Who (International) assertion London : British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) , 1963- 9076372 1963 series - publisher film/TV science fiction

      Long-running British science-fiction television programme.

      Doctor Who ran from 1963 to 1989 in its original incarnation. After a long hiatus, it returned in 2005. Both series are treated as a single series on AustLit, with individual episodes listed as 'original series' or 'new series'.

             Number in series: 2.16-21 (original series)
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Related Works

y separately published work icon Doctor Who and the Zarbi Bill Strutton , London : Frederick Muller , 1965 Z1493207 1965 single work novel science fiction

Novelised by Strutton from his own television script for Doctor Who, screened as 'The Web Planet' early in the same year.
VIEW ALL RELATED WORKS (1)
Last amended 23 Nov 2015 09:46:12
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