Episode #41 : The Web of Fear

Episode 41:   The Web of Fear.
Companions: The 2nd Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield.
Air Date:        Six episodes. 3rd February to 9th March 1968.

The TARDIS narrowly avoids becoming engulfed in a cobwebby substance in space. It arrives in the London Underground railway system, the tunnels of which are being overrun by the web and by the Great Intelligence's robot Yeti.

At the close of The Enemy of the World, a special trailer was played to prepare viewers for the terrors that were to come with The Web of Fear. The audio remains and has been turned into an animated feature here:

 

 

The Web of Fear is a sequel of sorts to The Abominable Snowmen and continues the machinations of the Great Intelligence as it seeks physical form or whatever it's ultimate goal is at this time. This story also introduces one of the most loved characters in the show, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (though he is Colonel at the time of this story). It can well be argued that the events of this story would perhaps be the reason for the founding of U.N.I.T. later on.

 

The sets were so well done that during the showing of this story the BBC received complaints from the London Underground claiming that they had filmed down there without permission.

 

This would be the last time that we see the Great Intelligence in the classic run of the show. It does return much later on for the eleventh Doctor where we also learn how it knew to use the London Underground for its invasion.

 

Episode #38 : The Abominable Snowmen

Jamie: Have you thought up some clever plan, Doctor?

The Doctor: Yes, Jamie, I believe I have.

Jamie: What are you going to do?

The Doctor: Bung a rock at it.

Episode 38:    The Abominable Snowmen.
Companions:  The 2nd Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield.
Air Date:        Six episodes. 30th September to 4th November 1967.

Mysterious forces are at work in 1930s Tibet. The once gentle Yeti have turned savage and besieged a Buddhist monastery. The Second Doctor, Jamie and Victoria arrive expecting a friendly welcome from the abbot, but soon become ensnared in the plans of the extradimensional being known as the Great Intelligence.

This story sets up another sort-of long running villain in The Great Intelligence, an entity also retconned into being another of HP Lovecraft's Great Old Ones. In this case, it is supposed to be the god-like entity called Yog Sothoth even though it bears little in relation to that being. There is a gap of 44 years between appearances, giving The Great Intelligence the biggest gap between appearances on screen of any villain so far.

Only the second episode of this story survives so again I am basing this review on episode synopses. With that in mind it is difficult to actually tell what the plot of the villainous Intelligence involves. It hints that it is seeking a physical form but I don't think it is implicit that that is the case. The story also sets up the appearance of the robot Yeti, who only make a couple further appearances at this point. Whether these are meant to be the new physical form for the Intelligence is unclear.

As episodes go it seems ok, but lacking in motivations for the villain, but again that could just be the result of reading the synopses.