Friday, July 10, 2009

QQ5 - The Web of Fear 5



I wrote earlier about how The Web of Fear is, in essence, a pilot episode for the UNIT years of the 1970s. Well, thanks to almost every soldier in this story being wiped out by the Yeti by the end of Episode Four, the military side of the operation ends, but the new template of the Doctor-assistant role is expanded upon in the last two episodes.

With Jamie serving as the only subordinate in Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart's (gosh, I want to keep calling him The Brigadier) command, and Victoria being taken captive by the Yeti, Anne Travers steps in to fulfill the companion role to The Doctor during these last two episodes. However, she becomes more of an assistant in the mold of a Liz Shaw, assisting The Doctor as he builds a control device for the Yeti.

After the mass death and destruction of Episode Four, it becomes clear that the handful of humans left alive are going to carry the rest of the story home. But it still has yet to be determined who the mole is....

Of note during this story is the overbearing presence of the web (which is quite fearful). Every time someone opens a door, it's there. The Yeti shoot it out of their guns. Most effectively, it's even there under the closing credits, making sure that the last thing that anyone watching each episode is a pulsating web! No wonder so many people who remember watching this story rate it so highly in its ability to scare the pants off them.

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