This is the fifth episode of The Web Planet serial. If you're looking for the Troughton story with the Cybermen invading London then come back in a few months when we get to it.
Maybe I'm in a better mood today than I was the last couple of days, but I really enjoyed tonight's episode.
Barbara and the Menoptera are surrounded by the encroaching Zarbi. Barbara falls down against what looks like a stone wall only to trigger a secret door. She and the others scramble through.
It turns out that this was an entrance to a legendary Menoptera Temple of Light. Hrostar looks at it as divine intervention, I think that the script writer got a little lazy, but I'm in a good mood and don't feel like splitting hairs.
Along with Barbara and Hrostar are Prapillus, Hylinia and the leader of the spearhead Hilo.
Hilo is dismissive of Barbara, but Prapillus comes to her defense saying a fairly nice speech that boils down to the fact that the Menoptera don't know jack about making war or surviving without their wings, but this "Earth woman" comes from a world where they have to get by without wings; we should listen to her.
It turns out that the Doctor's tinkering with Vicki's wishbone last episode worked. She's not under the influence of the Animus and uses that freedom to take the Doctor's wishbone off.
The Doctor has Vicki pull a ruse. She calls out as if her collar had fallen off and she was freed from the mind control. The Zarbi guard comes over to her, looks at her empty neck, looks at the ground and then back again. The Zarbi is confused out of his little buggy mind until the Doctor puts the modified wishbone on him.
They are building up something with the Doctor's ring in this story. It's been in the series since day one. He traded it away in The Reign of Terror only to get it back later.
Earlier in the serial the Doctor makes reference to the ring being something more than a piece of awesome bling. Here it has become linked with the collar allowing the Doctor, using his angry charades skills, to control the beasty.
Vicki thinks that it's cute and dubs him Zumbo. The three manage to get out of the Animus' lair without incident and follow the battle tracks to Barbara and the Menoptera.
While all of this is going on Ian, Vrestin and the Optera are on the move.
Strutton was trying to play around with the way we perceive aliens. I suppose that Terry Nation tried the same thing when he created the Daleks. The latter were physically divorced from the human form while aping human behaviors (alright Nazi behaviors.) The aliens of Vortis are obviously humans in suits aping insect behavior and trying to get into a truly alien mindset.
Part of that mindset has to be language. The way that the Optera speak is odd. It's almost as if they only have a few words and have to make do with similes. It can be wonderful to listen to sometimes. It oddly reminds me a bit of the way that the cavemen spoke back in the first serial. So maybe it's not so alien as I had thought when I started this paragraph.
The party go forward bashing through styrofoam stalagmites and causing a cave in. The Optera decide that they have to tunnel through a section of wall.
One of them makes a hole into one of the acid pools and it starts pouring in. Ian starts to help the Optera who is getting hit by the deadly acid only to be held back by her fellows. She bravely patches the hole with her own body, preserving the lives of the others.
The surviving Optera offer up a prayer, but seem to accept the sacrifice for what it was, the responsible response to the dangers that they face every day.
Ian pauses for a time over the woman's body. His look speaks volumes, I can't do it justice. It's a testament to William Russell's talent that he can bring so much to a scene where he's looking at someone in one of those godawful costumes.
Back in the temple of light Barbara is hammering out a plan of attack. Hilo comes off as a glory hog and a jerk.
That's when the Doctor, Vicki and Zumbo show up.
The Doctor takes Barbara's plan of a distracting attack from one side while a single person tries to deliver the Isop trope (seriously, that's what they called it) to the center of the Animus' web and decides that he and Vicki will do the job.
The Doctor doesn't seem to think that he'll have any difficulty getting inside and through the Animus' defenses. He seems a trifle too optimistic to me, but it's enough bravado to convince the were-butterflies.
He leaves Zumbo in the control of one of the Menoptera which means that he has to loan out his ring. He refuses to say anything about the source of the ring's power only that he demands that the Menoptera swear on his life to return it to him.
The first Doctor's ring is one of the great mysteries of the series. It's obvious that the production team had an idea as to what they wanted it to be, but whatever it was it never quiet materialized on screen. The last we see of it is in Troughton's first story if I remember correctly.
The Doctor and Vicki return to headquarters and are easily captured. It's a good thing that Vicki decided to add the tights to her 25th century colonist togs, because she takes a tumble over the snout of a larvae gun and would have shown the world her unmentionables otherwise.
The two huddle together in the center of the room. The weapon appendage on the wall sprays them with a web. The webbing itself is quiet good. We don't get to see it hit them so the production team could take their time doing it right instead of hoping that the wall gun would hit the mark perfectly.
Next up: The Centre
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