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| PLANET
SF HOME | DOCTOR
WHO HOME | BIG FINISH AUDIOS
| 8TH DOCTOR NOVELS | EPISODES
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Another in the BBC's collection of 'lost' (i.e. thrown out by the BBC themselves during the 1970s) Doctor Who stories, The Web of Fear is probably best remembered these days for Nicholas Courtney's appearance as Colonel (here) Lethbridge-Stewart. Of the previous audio-only releases, I've preferred four-parters like The Massacre and The Macra Terror to the six or seven part stories. The latter tend to have an awful lot of running around to pad out the story to the required length, and this doesn't transfer well to audio only. So how does The Web of Fear measure up? Well, first off, minus points to the BBC for spreading the six episodes over three CDs, when a glance at the episode lengths shows that they could surely have got the whole thing onto just two discs. Still, no doubt a triple-CD helps to justify the price tag. I was fortunate enough to tape episode one when BSB showed it as part of its Who weekend back in 1990, but the print was so dark that some scenes (especially those in Silverstein's museum) are difficult to make out. Obviously, there's no pictures here at all, but at least we have Frazer Hines' commentary to explain some of the less obvious parts. The links on these releases have improved since the early days, with none of the nonsense that we heard in the likes of The Power of the Daleks. Mercifully, too, Frazer uses his normal voice rather than his 'Jamie' accent. On to the story itself. Episode one opens with a direct link to the preceding The Enemy of the World (also missing except for episode 3), with the TARDIS in flight with the doors opened and Jamie struggling to find "a better position" and some strange sounds coming from Victoria. Hilarious stuff if you're (a) Finbar Saunders or (b) the writers of The Discontinuity Guide. Then we're in Julius Silverstein's museum where we meet Professor Travers and his daughter, Anne. There's some great (stock) incidental music in the story in general, but this scene especially, where Travers pleads for the return of the Yeti he sold Silverstein back in the thirties. On the story front, there is a lot of padding in The Web of Fear, with plenty of wandering off into the tunnels and returning. This does add to the suspense of who the Great Intelligence is using as a host, with Lethbridge-Stewart and reporter Harold Chorley being prime suspects. Well, it would if, like me, you didn't read the page 3 of the booklet beforehand as the text stupidly gives it away... Of course, the loss of these episodes in the first place is something that the BBC can never fully atone for, but at least we are able to hear what's left. As a story, The Web of Fear is by no means perfect but unless you've got an absolute aversion to television being presented in an audio-only format, it's well worth checking out. It's a shame a bit more effort wasn't put into the cover, though. BACK TO THE TOP |
THE
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