One of the earliest existing complete Doctor Who adventures, The Web Planet is a masterpiece of surreal design that fans have been eagerly awaiting on DVD. In many ways, this adventure set the stage for much of what would come later in the series. It features exceedingly imaginative set designs, bizarre costumes, memorable performances, and a plot that focuses more on the aliens than on the Doctor and his companions. The Web Planet’s slow and deliberate pace draws viewers in and envelops them in an interior logic and atmosphere that reminds me of the feel of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. But most of all, it’s a psychedelic artifact of switched-on ‘60s’ culture that works as both a crazy lark and a relatively serious science fantasy story.

In the Doctor’s thirteenth adventure, the TARDIS is once again mysteriously pulled off-course and lands on an unknown planet. The Doctor (William Hartnell), Ian (William Russell), Barbara (Jacqueline Hill), and Vicky (Maureen O’Brien) peer out through the TARDIS’ scanner to see a barren landscape made up of crystalline formations reminiscent of the fortress of solitude in Richard Donner’s Superman … if it was made out of paper mache. After a series of trials and tribulations leaves the TARDIS crew scattered, we learn that this planet, Vortis, is inhabited by an invading alien called the Animus. The Animus controls an army of giant ant-like creatures known as the Zarbi from the center of a vast, planet-wide web – think the mother alien in James Cameron’s Aliens. Meanwhile, the original inhabitants of the planet, moth men called Menoptra, are about to launch a counterattack against the Animus in a bid to win back their world. Against his will, the Doctor is forced to use timelord technology to help the Animus defend itself. Will the Doctor and Ian escape in time to foil the Animus’ plan?

Though the plot is decidedly thin, The Web Planet’s strength lies elsewhere. First of all, there’s the incredible production design. The BBC spent about as much money on an entire season of Doctor Who as NBC spent on a single episode of Star Trek, so the design team was constantly challenged to come up with striking sets and costumes that would substitute innovation and creativity for raw budget. While any single element of The Web Planet’s sets and costumes would stick out like a sore thumb in isolation, as pieces of a fully realized environment, they all work together seamlessly. The sets themselves were built out of organic-looking lattices, covered with plastic membranes, painted with wild designs and lit with pulsing backlights. The creature designs include the Zarbi’s attendant tank-bug companions, with carpet scrap legs looking vaguely like something out of Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers, and a species of cave-dwelling larva men with big fabric eyes. Most striking of all the costumes is the Menoptra. Anyone familiar with Cartoon Network’s The Venture Brothers will recognize a strong similarity between the Menoptra and the Monarch and his henchmen. 

The other strong element in The Web Planet is William Hartnell’s performance as the Doctor. After a dozen adventures, Hartnell has grown in the role. He plays the Doctor as an alternately mischievous and grumpy imp with more than a few similarities to Frank Oz’s performance as Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back, right down to the idiosyncratic line deliveries. “Mmmm, yes yes. Ahhh! Yes, my boy. Mmmmm. You seem to have discovered the source. Yes, yes you have. Ha ha!” Hartnell took his role as the Doctor very seriously and his performance in The Web Planet is one of his best. 

Other interesting aspects of The Web Planet include the physical performances of the actors playing the Menoptra. Producer Verity Lambert wanted to heighten the insect feel so she and director Richard Martin had the actors deliver what amount to abbreviated interpretive dance moves with head and hands as they delivered their dialogue. Supporting the visual elements is an ethereal score performed by avant-garde musicians on exotic instruments, sounding a lot like contemporary electronica.

Presentation
The Doctor Who restoration team delivers another solid release in The Web Planet. The source has been meticulously cleaned and repaired. Though the age of the video elements is still apparent in the final product, The Web Planet has never looked better on home video. The contrast is very good, there are no digital artifacts to be seen, and the overall look of the adventure seems true to the BBC’s original intent. All of the shots of the “exterior” of the planet are made with Vaseline on the lens to heighten the otherworldly look. The blurring can be distracting at times but it never obscures the action. The audio track sounds crisp and clean with consistent volume throughout, no hiss, and only a few instances of static. There was never a lot of dynamic range in these older Doctor Who episodes, so don’t expect it to give your home theater a workout.

Extras
"Tales of Isop" 37-minute making-of featurette – The BBC delivers another enlightening and entertaining featurette that covers just about every aspect of The Web Planet, from production to broadcast. “Tales of Isop” includes interviews with Verity Lambert, William Russell, Maureen O’Brien and others. It gives a nice behind-the-scenes view of this specific episode and of the Hartnell era in general. 
 
Commentary by: actors William Russell and Martin Jarvis, producer Verity Lambert, and director Richard Martin – The commentary track is more lively than some of the others in the Doctor Who catalogue. The participants relate lots of interesting anecdotes from the set and reminisce about working with Hartnell and others. Unlike some other Doctor Who commentaries, this one doesn’t suffer from long gaps. Russell, Jarvis, Lambert and Martin have plenty to say about the show, and it’s evident from their enthusiasm that they’re still proud of the final product. 

Pop-up production notes – Between the featurette and the audio commentary you’d think that there wouldn’t be much more to learn about The Web Planet. You’d be wrong. Rather than simply going back over information contained in the other extras, the pop-up production notes offer an even deeper level of scholarly information about the adventure. My only complaint is that so much is contained on the track that you have to read quickly to get it all. 

PC-ROM: 1965 Doctor Who Annual – The DVD contains a PDF version of the 1965 Doctor Who Annual fan publication. It’s a nice addition to the disc, but probably only interesting to the most hardcore fan. 

"The Lair of Zarbi Supremo" - William Russell reads the short story from the very first Doctor Who Annual in a 56-minute audio segment – On this audio-only track, actor William Russell (Ian) reads a version of The Web Planet’s plot that was adapted into a short story that appeared in the 1965 Doctor Who Annual. 

Give-a-Show: 1960s Doctor Who film-strip show based on The Web Planet – This is a series of comic book panels that illustrate the key plot points of the episode. 

Photo gallery – As with other Doctor Who releases, this is a brief program of production photos accompanied by music from the episode.

Conclusion
Most Americans got their first exposure to Doctor Who through PBS airings of the Tom Baker episodes. Baker is the most emblematic doctor with his long scarf and floppy hat, but William Hartnell, as the first Doctor, defined the role that Baker and others would refine. The Web Planet is an excellent example of Hartnell at his best. If you’ve never seen a classic Doctor Who episode, The Web Planet is a groovy place to start. It’s psychedelic, surreal, filled with fantastic aliens in weird environments, and has enough meat on the plot to keep you entertained through all six episodes. The BBC maintains its high level of care and attention to detail with this release. Though it’s not the Doctor’s greatest adventure, neither hardcore fans nor casual Who watchers will be disappointed with The Web Planet