Contrary to outward appearances, the Tour likes to indulge in the odd bit of ‘ambition’ for time to time, and admire it in others. In the context of Doctor Who the answer for what constitutes ambition is almost, by necessity, highly idiosyncratic.
In the Hartnell era, when the contours for what Doctor Who was were being drawn and re-drawn week-to-week, ‘ambition’ is an especially elastic concept. Given the limitations of time and budget and the inevitable drumbeat produced 40+ episodes a year, the realm of the possible quite often won out. That’s the job of the script editor, to separate and clarify what was possible, and then slip in a bit of ‘ambition’ when you could.
That’s not meant to be uncharitable, but when a big’ol dallop of ambition, slap dash in the heart of the Hartnell, appeared, it deserves to be seen at the very least as notable, but that doesn’t mean it was any good at all. And that’s what The Web Planet was, a noble failure. A slow-as-all-get-out, ponderous, and more-than-occasionally weird noble failure.
Warring factions of giant insects plodding across an alien landscape, inexplicably made to look gauzy, probably to seem more alien, only made events seem more indistinct. The Web Planet was supposedly a budget-buster too, and needed six episodes to justify the cost. To be sure there were a number of bits of weirdness, like the TARDIS skittering across the landscape or the console rotating on its own which were interesting, but got lost along the way.
The new HD caps for The Web Planet sadly cannot add clarity to what was deliberately made to be unclear, Still, for those seeking a way to drift off for a nap or other restorative rest, The Web Planet cannot be beat.
