Commentary Highlights:

On balance, I’d say Martin Jarvis’s presence in the commentary box- it’s a sign of the range getting semi-respectable when actors who could easily find something more lucrative or prestigious to do are prepared to turn up for a few hours and record a commentary instead.

I Didn’t Know That Before I Read The Information Text:

Pretty much anything about the life and work of Bill Strutton, in fact.

-Tales of Isop, this story’s "making of" documentary with contributions from the commentary team plus Maureen O’Brien, designer John Wood and maker-upper Sonia Markham.

-The Lair of Zarbi Supremo (the story from the Doctor Who Annual) read by William Russell

-The Doctor Who Annual from 1965 for anybody who’s progressed to being able to read for themselves

-Give-A-Show Slides; a neat reproduction of a set of slides abbreviating the story of ‘The Web Planet’ quite neatly.

-Photo Gallery, a surprisingly good collection including some behind-the-scenes snaps, Zarbi waiting for the bus at the very familiar stop outside Shawcraft and a few shots from costume rehearsals of Zarbi without their arms on and unmasked Menoptra

-Spanish Soundtrack option for Episode 6

It took me a little while to summon up the resolve to watch this one- it’s a divisive story at the best of times, and I think that the truth of the matter is that ‘The Web Planet’ is neither as good or as bad as you think it is. Besides, it cost me nothing- I bought it in Woolworths in Ilkley with some vouchers from work, the only downside being that they wouldn’t give me change from the vouchers so I ended up buying £5-worth of sellotape, envelopes and chocolate to make up the value. But as the first full Hartnell story released for some time (perhaps at some point in the future we’ll know whether the interruption caused by ‘Lost in Time’ had an impact on this), ‘The Web Planet’ had some way to go if it was going to catch up on the progress made by the DVD range in the previous year or two.

Fortunately for a forty-year-old story, at the time that the package was put together, the story still had two of its regular stars, its producer, director, designer and a well-known member of the supporting cast still living; add to this a certain amount of extra material relating to the merchandising of the Zarbi and the serial as a whole, and a suitably impressive release begins to come together. With Gary Russell’s moderation, the commentary team of Verity Lambert, William Russell, Richard Martin and Martin Jarvis work very well together in their various combinations and I suspect that the impressive visuals of the story probably helped to bring a few memories back to the surface. ‘Tales of Isop’ has additional interesting comments from Maureen O’Brien (who seems to have had a certain amount of insight into what made William Hartnell the man he was), John Wood (who seems to have brought some of his original Zarbi designs along with him) and Sonia Markham- just the sort of all-round input which gives as good an impression as we can hope for of what it was like to be in Riverside Studios in 1965 making ‘The Web Planet’.

No habloing espanol, it’s difficult for me to comment on the Spanish soundtrack option for Episode Six, or EL CENTRO as I should probably refer to it, and it’s very difficult to avoid thinking of it either in terms of the Fast Show’s Channel 9 or the Simpsons’ Bumblebee Man (who would probably have fitted in quite well on Vortis, now I think about it). Still, it’s an interesting example of how the BBC produced overseas prints of Doctor Who- the avant-garde soundtrack by Les Structures Sonores has been surgically removed although the Zarbi sound effect is kept in, but what’s particularly noticeable is how good the Spanish voiceover actors are at dubbing the regulars- they’re good matches in terms of pitch and pace for the leads, Vicki and Barbara especially. I’m not sure how many more episodes of DOCTOR MISTERIOSO!!! exist in the BBC sideboard, but it’d be interesting to see one or two more in the fullness of time. By contrast, the material from the annuals is mainly interesting because of the amount of reading the 1965 annual expects the young fan to do- there’s one maze game and the rest consists of text stories with a few illustrations, which (if ‘The Lair of Zarbi Supremo’ is anything to go by) are a good reflection of just how few ground rules there were for Doctor Who in 1965, but evidently the product of writers paid by the word; in William Russell’s reading, good though it is, the story meanders harmlessly to a conclusion which doesn’t really resolve much at all. Still, I think that as far as most fans are concerned, the annuals are viewed with affection rather than appreciation, and Russell’s reading is an engaging attempt to give life to what pretty much amounts to hack work.

And so the combination of extras, commentary and restoration on ‘The Web Planet’ show if nothing else that an impressive package can be put together for a forty-year-old story with a bit of luck, imagination and initiative. In fact, the interviews and commentary give such a good impression that the loss of Verity Lambert from future DVDs will be very much felt, but it’s equally good that in the closing moments we get to hear her reaction to Russell T Davies including a couple of references to ‘The Web Planet’ in the 2005 series- it’s perhaps the first DVD release to be put together after Doctor Who had been well and truly revived, and equally touching to know that Lambert saw and enjoyed it. A quick work for the information text too, which is particularly good on this story, as if with six episodes to fill, the writer went away and thoroughly digested very piece of BBC documentation, interview, photograph and scrap of detail about the making of the story. Yes, ‘The Web Planet’ isn’t always the easiest or most enjoyable story to watch, but with a good set of supporting material to help you understand what the production team were trying to do and why it came out the way it did, it’s a lot more enjoyable. And it has the proper ending with the caption leading into ‘The Crusade’ to boot!