I finished watching the Web of Fear yesterday. Having watched episode one countless times, I was expecting it to be absolutely brilliant. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to boast. I was totally correct.
I don't even feel I'm exaggerating when I say that it's one of the best Classic stories I've ever watched. With a lot of Classic Who, even though I enjoy the stories as a whole, I do often find myself looking at the clock whilst sitting through an individual episode. This was not the case with the Web of Fear, and I wasn't even slightly bored.
The fascinating thing is, the story has basically three settings. The military base, underground, overground.
The underground sets were very impressive. (Apparently, the BBC received complaints from London Underground that they'd been filming there without permission!)
Yet despite the repetitive, boring sets, each and every one of the episodes I watched was fantastic. I didn't watch episode 3, but I read the detailed plot summary on the "Who Wiki" and it sounds a very good episode.
The characters are also surprisingly good, much better than some of the guest characters in Classic Who. Obviously Lethbridge Stewart is a joy to watch. Chorley, the classic in your face journalist. My favorite has to be the world's least courageous soldier, Evans (what's a guy like that doing in the army anyway lol.) Even Captain Knight and Staff Arnold's deaths were mildly upsetting. The fact that there is a body count in this story really adds to it's horrific feeling.
The Great Intelligence is actually scary, especially when he hijacks Travers's body, and the "web" is pretty realistic. Obviously the Yeti are horrendous and unconvincing, but they still have quite a menacing edge to them.
In short, it was a joy to watch, and like with The Enemy of the World, I was engrossed. I can't remember actually being disappointed about the length of a Classic Who story before, but I was with this. I didn't want it to end.
As an afterthought, I wonder if Steven Moffat knew about the re-discovery of these episodes when he wrote "The Snowmen." It sure seems odd to re-introduce a classic enemy whom has only two surviving episodes, so perhaps he knew that more were on the way? Who knows.
I don't even feel I'm exaggerating when I say that it's one of the best Classic stories I've ever watched. With a lot of Classic Who, even though I enjoy the stories as a whole, I do often find myself looking at the clock whilst sitting through an individual episode. This was not the case with the Web of Fear, and I wasn't even slightly bored.
The fascinating thing is, the story has basically three settings. The military base, underground, overground.
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Wombling free! :p
Yet despite the repetitive, boring sets, each and every one of the episodes I watched was fantastic. I didn't watch episode 3, but I read the detailed plot summary on the "Who Wiki" and it sounds a very good episode.
The characters are also surprisingly good, much better than some of the guest characters in Classic Who. Obviously Lethbridge Stewart is a joy to watch. Chorley, the classic in your face journalist. My favorite has to be the world's least courageous soldier, Evans (what's a guy like that doing in the army anyway lol.) Even Captain Knight and Staff Arnold's deaths were mildly upsetting. The fact that there is a body count in this story really adds to it's horrific feeling.
The Great Intelligence is actually scary, especially when he hijacks Travers's body, and the "web" is pretty realistic. Obviously the Yeti are horrendous and unconvincing, but they still have quite a menacing edge to them.
In short, it was a joy to watch, and like with The Enemy of the World, I was engrossed. I can't remember actually being disappointed about the length of a Classic Who story before, but I was with this. I didn't want it to end.
As an afterthought, I wonder if Steven Moffat knew about the re-discovery of these episodes when he wrote "The Snowmen." It sure seems odd to re-introduce a classic enemy whom has only two surviving episodes, so perhaps he knew that more were on the way? Who knows.
