The Zarbi (The Web Planet Episode 2)

The one where Barbara is captured by a gang of wasps...

We rejoin our heroes' adventure on this most alien of alien worlds with the triple threat from the previous cliffhanger - the TARDIS (with Vicki inside) has been stolen, Ian has been caught up in a strange webby trap, and Barbara is walking headlong into a pool of acid. It's real comic strip fantasy adventure of the Terry Nation school of writing. Let's follow each threat in turn to its conclusion...

First up, the hypnotised Barbara. She narrowly avoids stepping into the acid pool thanks to a burbly signal from a stray Zarbi, but she soon finds her way into the lair of another race of creatures, the Menoptera. There's a startling shot when Barbara's wandering aimlessly toward the camera, and just as she walks past, a Menoptera jumps up right in front of the screen in possibly Doctor Who's first ever jump scare. It's a truly arresting sight because it's totally unexpected and then when you see what it is, your brain runs hard to catch up and process what you're seeing. The Menoptera are magnificently strange creatures, and although not quite as effective or convincing as the Zarbi, are beautifully designed by Daphne Dare. As with the Zarbi, they look precisely how you'd expect a giant wasp to look, but unfortunately a little comical with it (their sad expressions and big black eyes).

In what is perhaps the only part of the episode where we learn anything of any value, Barbara discovers that the Zarbi can control people and things using the magnetic power of gold, and that the Menoptera are their enemies. We also learn that the Menoptera find Barbara's bouffant hair just as fascinating as we do as we see them comb through it with a curious crystalline rod. I love the Menoptera's tech, actually - both their radio device and their weapons are crystalline structures, which only adds to the overwhelming oddness of almost everything we see on screen in this serial.

The Zarbi's attack on the Menopteras' cave is directed as clumsily as I'd expect from Richard Martin, with Zarbi clunking around bumping into things, Menoptera shedding their wing harnesses, and then Zarbi tripping over the wings, and other Menoptera stumbling over their dead comrades. It's all very messy and comical to watch, partly because there's so little space on set for any of this to take place. After Hrostar manages to reverse the Zarbi's "morphotising" effect on Barbara through use of their strange control handles, the giant ants take the giant wasp to one side and do something unspeakable to it. The camera does not dwell on what is done, but we see Barbara's horrified reaction to it and can only imagine...

Meanwhile, the TARDIS is having a little adventure of its own. I was most amused to see the police box shuffling its way across the planet's surface under the gravitational pull of the alien force, and then being dragged into some sort of domain, the doorway of which is lined with rattling feelers. It's a wonderful bit of modelwork and has that uncanny quality that I also get when I see a police box inside the TARDIS control room in Logopolis, or the TARDIS on its side in The Ice Warriors and Castrovalva. Anything unusual happening to the TARDIS is fascinating to me, so this makes for extra-enjoyable viewing! I also get excited when the TARDIS is on the back of a lorry in The Time Monster, painted pink in The Happiness Patrol, or fused with other plains in Terminus and Frontios!

Inside the TARDIS Vicki can only look on, giving poor Maureen O'Brien very little to do but look puzzled. O'Brien has 29 words in this episode, most of which are "I don't know", and already I imagine she's beginning to see the good foundations of her character ebb away after only two months. Mind you, it's apparently during the filming of this story that William Russell decided to pack it in and leave at the end of his current contract. Who can blame him? I mean, Ian's not really had a strong storyline since Season 1.

Talking of Ian, he manages to escape the webby trap but is left feeling like he's been in a bed of stinging nettles (ouch!). He and the Doctor then spend the next 15 minutes wandering around John Wood's admittedly impressive sets doing very little, until at last they are cornered and captured by the Zarbi. I'm glad they're captured because it means something might actually happen.

Ian and the Doctor are reunited with Vicki and the TARDIS in the Zarbi's lair, where there's very little dialogue but an awful lot of sound effects. When nobody's talking (and also when they are), the soundtrack resembles the mother of all migraines, assaulting the ears with burbling and whizzing and zapping and chirruping and stuttering and vworping, but making very little sense. In many ways I'm glad these episodes exist so that we can at least see what is (or is not) going on, because if all we had was the soundtrack recorded off TV, I think we'd be utterly lost. Actually, maybe fandom would have a desperate curiosity about The Web Planet because it sounds so weird. Boy, would we be disappointed if that were the case and then an episode was found...!

I love the Zarbi trying to barge its way in to the TARDIS control room to have a look around, and then the Doctor's frenetic attempt at insect sign language (VSL - Vortis Sign Language?) to warn them to keep away from his Ship!

The tone changes at the very end of the episode when the Doctor's head is encased in a giant tube and a deep, resonant, not unsexy female voice demands: "Why do you come now?" Ah, now things are starting to get interesting! After two episodes of very little at all happening (and even less of it making any sense), I'm hoping things will improve if there are signs of a super-intelligent race behind all of this (and one that can speak English!).

First broadcast: February 20th, 1965

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The modelwork of the TARDIS being dragged across the surface of Vortis is excellent
The Bad: Hardly anything at all happens. So far it's just a load of giant insects bumping into each other.
Overall score for episode: ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

NEXT TIME: Escape to Danger...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: The Web Planet (episode 1); Escape to Danger (episode 3); Crater of Needles (episode 4); Invasion (episode 5); The Centre (episode 6)

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-web-planet.html

The Web Planet is available on DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Web-Planet-DVD/dp/B0009WT5BY