The Web of Fear
Previous: The Enemy of the World
The Web of Fear
Oh wow. Oh WOW. I know your budget was microscopic but...replacing the actual roundels with full-length photos in the middle of the wall?
Also, does anyone else find it odd that the TARDIS just *happens* to be tilting in the direction of the open doors?
But I digress. CLING!
"I wonder..." More importantly, YETIIIIII!
Wait a sec...is this the same explorer guy from The Abominable Snowmen? *checks* It is! Professor Travers! And played by Jack Watling!
This...this scene is really creepy. I blame the music. And pretty much everything else.
Seriously, this doesn't feel like a Doctor Who story. It feels like a gothic horror story. And maybe that's the point...
Suddenly, BALLS. Balls that...change the Yeti prop completely, apparently.
Sandwiches. Sandwiches. Sandwiches.
Aww, Victoria's not happy about them paying attention to her new dress. Also, SANDWICHES.
"Well, then we ARE landing, aren't we?"
"Let's hope it's somewhere pleasant!"
"Hey, it might even be Scotland!"
#jamieee
And then the TARDIS magically started forming cobwebs. In Space.
Ah, so THIS must be the titular Web. I was wondering what webs had to do with Yeti in the Underground.
Wait a minute...soldiers...and a dead colonel...OH MY GOD PLEASE TELL ME WE'RE ABOUT TO SEE...
Jamie. I don't quite understand how your socks and boots work. Also, your boots = SHINY.
So I guess Two said the magic words: the web's gone now.
"Shall we go out and have a look?"
"Now is it safe?"
"Oh, I shouldn't think so for a moment."
Typical Doctor. Typical typical Doctor.
Looks like an abandoned Underground station to me. #RAVALOX
NO JAMIE NO NO NO DON'T TOUCH THE RAILS whew okay the electricity's off.
Somehow the possible life-or-death situation just now makes the humor of Jamie not knowing what electricity is a lot less effective.
Wait. Soldiers with power cables...are they going to blow something up?
Yup. Boxes o' s'plosives. And YETI!
Oh god. Seriously. That woman. Has the creepiest evil grin.
So apparently the Yeti have...guns now...that shoot webs...what.
No s'plosion, but now the boxes are glowing a lot. That must be some REALLY strong web.
You know, considering how Jamie thinks that Two might be, you know, *dead* and everything, I'm surprised he isn't flipping out more.
Gunshots and Yeti? This can only mean one thing: YETI.
Agh, echo-y voices make for hard of hearing things D:
Ah, so THAT'S what the inside of a Yeti sphere looks like! And Now We Know.
Travers and TARDIS crew reunite! Actually, I think Travers might be the first non-villain returning character in Classic Who.
Well, Victoria seems to recognize him. And now, of course, the obligatory "...it can't be..."
Aw, and Jamie is a happy puppy now :3
"And you met him in 1935, in Tibet?" And this story takes place nearly 40 years later? OH HI UNIT DATING CONTROVERSY FANCY MEETING YOU HERE
Aw, poor Plucky Inquisitive Journalist Guy. He just wants his story but the mean military and science people won't let him have it.
"In short, you are a sensationalist!" Maybe I take that back.
FOOTAGE! Hello, giant monster killer Yeti! Whoosa big fluffy cuddly behemoth of death? Yesshu are! Yesshu are!
It'd be more efficient to count stories where Team TARDIS DOESN'T get blamed for everything for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Soldier, I think you may be onto something with the whole "the Yeti come from space" thing. Because, you know, they kinda do.
Ah, the London Underground. I wonder how much (if at all) that map has changed since this story was made.
*has weird fantasy about "what if this story took place in the New York subways"*
Oh my god. I want New Who to do a Yeti-in-the-Subway story now. It would be like Daleks in Manhattan, except not.
Uh oh, Victoria's gone out into the tunnels on her own. Somehow I don't see this going down well.
Sounds like someone singing scales...GEE, I WONDER IF THAT COULD BE A RECORDER-LESS TWO.
Oh. Actually, it isn't at all.
Well, looks like Jamie can read now. (I don't remember if canon said he could or not but I know about a Short Trip where he couldn't write.)
I just realized: I don't think Pat was in this episode at all. Wonder if he was on vacation again.
Also, as the Master would say, WEEEEEEEEEEEB!
Well, they've nailed the pyramid-thing from the last story, now what? WEEEEEEEEB.
"Doctor, is that you?" It is! And OH MY GOD IT'S FINALLY HIM....
Ladies and Gentlemen: the man, the legend, the mustache, Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. Or, as we all know him, The Brig.
Okay, so technically he isn't a Brigadier yet, but BRIG. #BRIG
"Where did the colonel come from?"
"...I don't know."
Well, when a mommy colonel and a daddy colonel love each other very much...
You know, I'm really glad that hat didn't stick around. Not too keen on it.
Jamie and Evans must pause for a moment in their journey because CHOCOLATE.
"Look, all you want to do is save your own skin!"
"Well, it's the only one I got!"
Slide show! "Those Yeti have changed in appearance!" Huh, maybe the redesign is going to be part of the plot.
Doctor Who's had a lot of base-under-siege stories, but this probably resonated especially well because of the familiar location.
Well, okay, familiar to Londoners. Can't remember many Tube station names and in NYC the "Circle Line" is a tour boat service, not a train.
This reporter seems to be getting more and more weasel-y, so thank you Brig for so swiftly shanghie-ing him into being your bitch.
("It seems, however, that there's a traitor at large inside the fortress.") DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN.
Yeti in the base! And it's heading for the s'plosives...
Uh oh. Victoria, whatever you just told Chorley, I have a funny feeling you shouldn't have.
Yup, I was right. But JAMIE!
Wait a sec, FOOTAGE! But this can't be a surviving episode, I thought only episode 1 still existed...
But between the Team and the TARDIS, WEEEEEEEEEEEEB!
Sorry Two, but WEEEEEEB does not approve of your attempts to Do Science To It!
Ah, of course, this must be surviving censor footage. I can just taste the delicious irony in the air.
And now we've got a traitor mystery story on our hands in addition to the Base Under Siege plot.
"I have a craft...that travels in time and space." Just think, Brig, not too long from now, you'll to be the one explaining this to people.
"Now this...craft of yours, this time-space craft, could it get us out of here?" Also, I LOVE how readily he accepts the TARDIS's existence.
"Well I've heard some stories in my time but that one really"
"So you don't believe him?"
"No of course not, sir! The whole idea is screwy! A police box?"
"Well whether you think it foolish or not, we are going to rescue that craft."
"Oh, but sir!"
"Captain Knight, the army has failed to defeat this menace, now the Doctor thinks he might succeed. Personally, I doubt it, but if we stay here we're as good as dead. Therefore, I do not intend to leave any escape route unexplored, no matter how...'screwy' you may think it."
Another difficulty in slogging through recons is you usually have a much foggier idea of the layout of wherever they are.
I still don't completely understand where this suspicion towards Evans is coming from. He seems more of the I-just-want-out kind of weasel.
Wait. Wait. Wait wait wait wait. If the whole point of rescuing the TARDIS was so they could escape, then how did they get to the surface?
Suddenly, YETI! ...But isn't that the Cybermen's music they're playing?
ahkflhaklfhadsklfhdskl this would've made a GREAT surviving episode. Any episode with action scenes like this should've lived.
Okay, well, technically speaking, ALL Doctor Who episodes should've lived, but if I could only save a few...
("The battle seems futile as the colonel orders a retreat.") "Seems?" Which seems to imply that it isn't actually futile?
In the event of Yeti, just rob an electronics store. Because saving the world is Just One Of Those Good Excuses.
Aw, poor Knight. The Yeti tear him down but leave Two alone.
Uh oh, I bet I know where that third Yeti model got to...
("One by one, every last soldier is caught and killed.") All except...THE BRIG.
I should probably mention that despite Nicholas Courtney's passing, I refuse to believe the Brig is dead until canon says so.
I mean, Barbara and Ben are still cited as being alive in the present day even though Jacqueline Hill and Michael Craze died years ago.
Yup, the Brig had the third Yeti model. And then REAL YETI. And TRAVERS.
Also, this isn't in the recons but you can still hear it, you notice how the end credits were meant to have the web in them as well?
It was in the surviving episode, though.
"I...am...the Intelligence." The way he started that, I could've sworn he was going to say "I...am...the Master" a la Derek Jacobi.
I wonder if this sequel story had been planned all along. We never really learned much about the Intelligence the first time, did we?
Oh...so it just wants the Doctor's smartness? ...Well okay then.
"Well, if what the Intelligence says is true, my mind will be like that of a child. You've have to look after me...until I grow up."
Excuse me while I am grinning at the image of Jamie and Victoria parenting baby!Two.
Excuse me while I am grinning even more at Jamie pitching a battle strategy to the Brig.
Meanwhile, Two and Anne Do Science To It.
"Certainly no sound out there." Except for that random low humming.
The solution to everything: pounding your fist down on it.
Aww, Two's so happy with his shiny new toy.
This is fun and interesting: father and daughter sharing the screen alone. Oh yeah, and Yeti.
So I wonder if Evans is going to turn out to be The Spineless Coward Who Winds Up Saving The Day.
Maybe it's just because I can't see her creeper face anymore, but I'm becoming gradually less suspicious of Anne being the mole.
Oh, this is going to be good: fighting Yeti with Yeti.
So apparently the fungus can break through SOLID WALLS now.
I take back my earlier comment. Maybe Evans is just That Spineless Coward Who Lives A Coward And Dies A Coward.
Kinda like Adelaide in Horror of Fang Rock, but I actually felt bad for her because of how legit scared she was.
I just realized an image I REALLY wish I could see in this serial: Two-running over Underground tracks.
Seriously, that man turns running into a comedic art like no other Doctor (except maybe Matt Smith.)
PLEASE TELL ME YETI VS. YETI IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN.
Wait. Did the Brig just knock Two to the ground? As part of a diversion? ...Oh wait, he's still doing that by Battlefield.
"Oh, don't blame yourself, professor."
"Well, why not? I...I've sacrificed you all! And for what?"
Cut to Two playing his recorder.
You know, this literally only just occurred to me: was Pat already an accomplished recorder player, or did he have to learn it for the role?
Huh. This is the first time we've seen Chowley in a good long while.
...and then he takes off his glasses and almost bears a striking resemblance to a late-20-something Matthew Waterhouse. Or is that just me?
Oh. Snap. I think Chowley just cracked the case. And it was the last person I was expecting.
What's this? The Brig being naive? Now this is an odd turn. Of course, he was young and just starting out in the world...
Jamie-in-a-Box! Jamie-in-a-Box!
"Yeti...come towards me..." Oh, come on, Jamie, you can do better than that. Just try calling it like a kitty! Because kitties.
Aww, Jamie is disappoint when Two's toys won't play with him.
So it was Chowley who turned out to be not such a bad guy after all. I applaud you, sir.
OH GOD. YETI WITH JAMIE IN A CHOKEHOLD. NOT SURE HOW OKAY I AM WITH THIS.
"I refuse to submit until you release Jamie!" ...there's a really bad innuendo in there somewhere...
Suddenly, JAMIE AND YETI TO THE RESCUE! Also, wow, Frazer's REALLY getting into the narration here.
Oh wait, that just threw a wrench in Two's plan, I bet...
"YOU BLITHERING WELSH IMBECILE, WHY CAN'T YOU DO WHAT YOU'RE TOLD?" ...did Two just call Jamie Welsh?
Also, WOW. Forget Frazer being really into the narration, Troughton is throwing EVERYTHING into this scene.
Seriously, this is the first time I've heard Two so angry that he sounds almost close to tears.
And now it's time for the extremely hurried goodbye. Those were certainly a lot more common in Two's day than others, wasn't it?
In Loving Memory of Nicholas Courtney
Next: Fury From the Deep