Who Reviews The Web of Fear by Matt Rabjohns

 
It is little wonder that Douglas Camfield is renowned as one of the finest directors ever to grace Doctor Who with his presence. And if you ever needed a story to affirm all the myriad reasons of why this is the case then the Web of Fear is definitely it. Douglas is at the apex of his directorial brilliance in this story. The whole feel of the story is extremely claustrophobic. There genuinely is an air of palpable menace about the dank underground tunnels and the confined army outpost battling against the Great Intelligence and its robot Yeti. 

The story opens with one of the best scenes of Doctor Who ever. The officious and aloof Julius Silverstein is in heated debate with Professor Travers. His daughter Anne arrives and then the sparks fly between the two old men. The yeti the Professor brought back from Tibet has been harmless for over 30 years but the Professor in his misguided fooling around has reactivated a control unit and re-established a link to Earth for the Great Intelligence. So, for once we are treated to just a normal human being the reason for the pandemonium that unfolds and not the Doctor himself! It's a nice change! The more level headed Anne convinces her father to come home with her and search for the missing control unit, and Julius makes sure they leave. Then comes the superbly directed minute. First we get eerie scoring to underlay the scene, and then the sphere smashes through the window and heads for the Yeti which converts from a Mark 1 to a Mark 2 in one of the all-time classic moments of the show, and then the ill-fated Silverstein sees his folly as the Yeti clubs him to the ground with a harsh roar! 

This is only the beginning of the superb story too. Also, this story boasts the first appearance of Nick Courtney as Colonel soon to be Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart. It's a crying shame the single remaining lost episode is the one in which the Colonel first appears, so fans have been denied the chance to see the actual introduction of one of the best characters the show ever boasted. Nick too is immediately impressive as the sceptical, but not unreasonable Colonel. Also, Ralph Watson as Captain Knight is yet another superb piece of casting, as Ralph has some great scenes together with Nick Courtney and Patrick Troughton. 

One special and eerie scene is where the two army men beg the Doctor to tell them what the Intelligence exactly is. In a brilliant piece of in close filming, we see Patrick Troughton perfectly deliver an eerie description of what the Intelligence is. This is yet another stark example of Douglas's attention to detail in getting the very best out of a tense scene. 

Jack Watling too is just so amusing and wonderful as the dotty and slightly absent-minded Professor Travers. He first played the Professor in the Abominable Snowmen, but his character was harder and younger then but now he is softer and dottier and funnier. The scenes of when he is first ushered into the headquarters is utterly brilliant. The way he berates the TV Journalist is priceless. One must also of course mention that Jack is the father of Deborah Watling, who plays the brilliant Victoria in the story of course! It's great to see two members of one family sharing the same brilliant level of acting prowess. Both Jack and Deborah shine in The Web of Fear. 

Jack Woolgar as Staff Sergeant Arnold too is wonderfully nuanced in his performance. He plays the Staff Sergeant to utter perfection and helps make the story even more brilliant because of his amazing turn of performing. 

Another character who I really like too is Tina Packer as Anne Travers. I love how in the first scenes of her she is rather aloof and prissy, and slowly as the story goes on, she becomes more and more fearful and unsettled and then we see a more vulnerable side to her character which I find a brilliant way to play the character. At first you don't really like her much, but as the story progresses and she becomes a bit frailer and more human Tina is an award winner! 

The set design too of the Web of Fear is totally authentic and superb. The London Underground has never been shown so realistically with sets before. Well it's to the credit of the designers that the London Underground contacted the BBC to complain that they had gone down to the underground without permission to record, when of course they hadn't done any such thing at all. Scenes of web hanging everywhere and pulsating foam moving along the tunnels makes for a definitely tense feel to the action right from the start. 

Also, there is the magnificently shot scene of the army engaging with the Yeti. This scene is Douglas Camfield in his absolute element. The action is brilliant and the bullets fly but the implacable Yeti still keep on coming and in the end only the Colonel is left and has to retreat. This is a scene that would inspire similar scenes in the years to come with Cybermen and Autons instead being the menace! But the Yeti in this scene are mean and deadly. 

Then we come to the finale. The Doctor's plan has been to cross the wires on the unit meant to drain all knowledge from him so it actually drains the Intelligence instead. But his friends and companions are sadly rather lacking in sense and pay no heed to his warnings as they basically, disrupt his plans and all that happens is the Intelligence is cut off from the Earth, and not drained. The Doctor's irate tirade of snapping at everyone, even Jamie is a great and really different end to a Doctor Who serial for a change. So, the Doctor is annoyed that he has not seen off the Intelligence for good and there is the creepy chance the Great Intelligence will get to try again later to deal with the Earth and its defiant people. 

So, all in all The Web of Fear is a superb slice of Doctor Who. It has it all. Tension, creepiness, perfect pacing and some superb characterisation indeed! It is indeed nothing short of an absolute treat that almost all of the story was recently rediscovered and returned to the BBC! It's one hundred percent incredible!