Many years ago at a convention Terrance Dicks, comparing this with "Jurassic Park", said, "We only had to work with wobbly dinosaurs. They had to work with a wobbly plot!"
This genuinely might be my second favourite Pertwee story. I was just super surprised by how terrific the story and twists were. I adore the acting, the scale, the location filming, the music and commentary is beautiful delivered by Pertwees speech later in the story.
This story is an absolute cracker and honestly I don't feel that let down by the dinosaurs. The very worst one is sadly the TRex, but the rest are decent enough. Barry letts did say this story taught them a lot of lessons and because of the struggles they had getting the dinosaurs to work with location shoots they instead used tape for Robot (which is debatable how much better it works lol). Overall though great stuff, Malcom Hulke always kills it. Also Pertwee's Blue outift for this story may be his best!
Like you, I love everything else about this so much that I can overlook the dodgy dinosaurs. The idea of not knowing who you can trust, with the conspiracy going all the way to Parliament and the upper echelons of the armed forces, and even Yates being the enemy within, creates a fervid atmosphere, with a criticism of a rigid military hierarchy due to the Brigadier, outranked by Finch, having his hands tied. That he, and Benton, come good in spite of this is a victory for moral fibre and doing what is right superceding orders.
The majority of folks (in the UK) back then had small TVs - compared with now where the average TV fills half a wall and allows for microscopic attention to detail. However - I remember even as a young school kid feeling the 'rubber toy' dinosaurs were embarrassingly naff. Still one of my favourite Doctor Who stories and one where Yates is finally put to good use.
The Web Planet is probably too long for its own good - but I love the atmosphere and the poetic language - there's something timeless and magical about it and I rank higher than Invasion - but that's just me.
This story had various external factors that influenced my thinking. The Radio Times 10th anniversary special in 1973 gave us advance spoilers of the titles and synopsis of the season 11 stories So it made no sense to just call episode one Invasion when we already knew. I was of an age when I didn’t want cringeworthy monsters and not old enough to enjoy the adult story line being told. So this story didn’t do it for me at all. Then I visited the first Blackpool exhibition and the dinosaur models were fantastic and well presented. We then got the Dinosaur Invasion novel with the superb cover by Chris Achilleos (klack!). I started to have a soft spot for the dinosaurs and to be fair some of the shots are very good. This story was the final VHS release by the BBC in 2003 with episode one in glorious black and white. By this timeI appreciated the story more and more. I love what they do with Mike Yates and I really like him. Also interesting that you didn’t comment on the fact we have Martin Jarvis here last seen (or not) in the Web Planet. So nowadays I love this story including its faults.i do think it’s Malcolm Hulke's best story and shame it was his last.It was during the screening of this story that Jon Pertwee announced he was leaving and I was shell shocked. But I also realised I was changing. Shortly after this season ended I was to turn into a teenager. But more importantly I upgraded from being a regular viewer into a fan.
After loving the excellent Target novelisation as a kid, my first viewing of this was….not disappointing but distracting? And look! Yates has character development! Chew on THAT, Benton! 😁
Before I watch, I will say that this is my favourite serial from Season 11. In fact, this is one of my favourite Pertwee stories even though I rather dislike a lot of Season 11! This is a review I've been really looking forward for.
It’s only really the T-Rex that looks awful. I think the pterodactyl attack is really effective, and driving under the brontosaurus is one of the better integrations of the film and video effects.
One of the first stories that I watched properly and, aged seven, the dinosaurs were frightening! Watching the story in recent years has produced another revelation, namely that the actor playing Adam is the spitting image of Jeremy Corbyn!
I think that is a great analysis of the relationship between special effects (Aristotle would have called it spectacle in his Poetics) and the Plot. For me the inverse is also true when there are episodes with great special effects (like I'm a big fan of Kane's face melting in Dragonfire) but if the plot of the story is already bad, no special effect is going to make up for it (sorry Dragonfire). And if there is a great episode with a great plot with great spectacle moments (including song and music, like the score for Heaven Sent or the Curse of Fenric) then they enhance what is already a great meal. Perhaps, we can liken spectacle to mayonnaise and ketchup, the condiments, because if its already a good meal (Plot) which is well-seasoned (themes, characters, etc) then the spectacle will enhance the flavour; but if its a poor meal with no seasoning, then the condiments have their work cut out.
This has always been a blind spot for me - I remember watching the Time Warrior and I remember watching all the subsequent episodes, but not this one. I was 6 going on 7 at the time, mad about dinosaurs and mad about Pertwee as the Doctor - even mad about the Whomobile - but don't remember this one at all. Maybe it was the bad realization of the dinosaurs that made me memory-hole this one?
The dinosaurs have just a little under ten minutes of actual screen time (including a couple minutes of the T-Rex in the background in the hangar). That’s a pretty small amount considering it’s a six episode story. I don’t have a problem with the dinosaurs themselves as much as how they tried to mix puppets with still photos and live action all together through CSO. When it’s just the dinosaurs in the shot without people CSO’d into the foreground, they aren’t that bad for a low budget mid-70s TV show. On a side note, where did you get the color footage from Episode 1? Is that a fan made restoration? It looks much better than the color recovery included on the official DVD.
Web planet is a story that clearly on paper relied on the visuals and immersion into an alien world to work (rather than a real plot). But they did not have the budget or capability to do that, which is why i think it totally falls flat.
I love this one, the awful effects make me laugh out loud, knowing its so old helps, but the actual plot is really good and the cliff hanger of sarah on a spaceship is still a massive curve ball. And sarah geverally is pretty good here. And some interesting political commentary.
I actually enjoyed the story itself but for the Dinosaurs I can sort of look over them but I agree they are their a bit too much - I mean how many episodes ended with a Dinosaur it seems like most of the story lol.
Such a schizoid story - Hulke's attacks on martial law, freedom association types and neo-malthusians is great - the faffing about with dinosaur setpieces is not! Perhaps a shame that Hulke seems to have been so disappointed with the end result that he quit his association with the show after this point, which is a real shame
At this point I have pretty much just been leaving season review-comments and not individual stories. But...oh boy, this story really got me triggered. First of all (TL:DR) I hated it and I think most people really like this one. So...sorry in advance. One of the disadvantages of doing a Doctor Who marathon is you can quickly tire of certain tropes. During Pertwee's era specifically, there's a ton of stories where corruption exists in the upper levels of (British) society where the Earth is dangerously at risk as a result. Be it military, government, scientific, civilian, or a combination of all those branches of society. I think here is where that trope finally broke me. There were also points like the Doctor's "exposure" that makes zero sense as he wasn't doing a thing and was just there. And how these people think they will survive ancient (sorry, "purer") Earth with a small group is mind boggling. And duping a group of people into believing a lie...is extremely tiring at this point in the show and is not something I'm interested in watching. I did however, love Sarah, the Doctor, Brigadier, and Benton in the story. And the ending is great, especially with the Doctor tempting Sarah to go to another planet. Oh...and Yates can go *uck off.
This story (and the next one that I've also watched presently, which was fairly meh) could be defined as a Marathon killer. But I love 3 enough and Sarah Jane is charismatic enough that I can continue forward. Although it's very nice to know that the modern Earth setting is about to take a bit of a break.
Many years ago at a convention Terrance Dicks, comparing this with "Jurassic Park", said, "We only had to work with wobbly dinosaurs. They had to work with a wobbly plot!"
This genuinely might be my second favourite Pertwee story. I was just super surprised by how terrific the story and twists were.
I adore the acting, the scale, the location filming, the music and commentary is beautiful delivered by Pertwees speech later in the story.
This story is an absolute cracker and honestly I don't feel that let down by the dinosaurs. The very worst one is sadly the TRex, but the rest are decent enough. Barry letts did say this story taught them a lot of lessons and because of the struggles they had getting the dinosaurs to work with location shoots they instead used tape for Robot (which is debatable how much better it works lol).
Overall though great stuff, Malcom Hulke always kills it. Also Pertwee's Blue outift for this story may be his best!
Like you, I love everything else about this so much that I can overlook the dodgy dinosaurs. The idea of not knowing who you can trust, with the conspiracy going all the way to Parliament and the upper echelons of the armed forces, and even Yates being the enemy within, creates a fervid atmosphere, with a criticism of a rigid military hierarchy due to the Brigadier, outranked by Finch, having his hands tied. That he, and Benton, come good in spite of this is a victory for moral fibre and doing what is right superceding orders.
My favorite cliffhanger ever. I also love the atmosphere of doom and mystery in the first ep
The majority of folks (in the UK) back then had small TVs - compared with now where the average TV fills half a wall and allows for microscopic attention to detail. However - I remember even as a young school kid feeling the 'rubber toy' dinosaurs were embarrassingly naff. Still one of my favourite Doctor Who stories and one where Yates is finally put to good use.
The Web Planet is probably too long for its own good - but I love the atmosphere and the poetic language - there's something timeless and magical about it and I rank higher than Invasion - but that's just me.
This story had various external factors that influenced my thinking. The Radio Times 10th anniversary special in 1973 gave us advance spoilers of the titles and synopsis of the season 11 stories So it made no sense to just call episode one Invasion when we already knew. I was of an age when I didn’t want cringeworthy monsters and not old enough to enjoy the adult story line being told. So this story didn’t do it for me at all. Then I visited the first Blackpool exhibition and the dinosaur models were fantastic and well presented. We then got the Dinosaur Invasion novel with the superb cover by Chris Achilleos (klack!). I started to have a soft spot for the dinosaurs and to be fair some of the shots are very good. This story was the final VHS release by the BBC in 2003 with episode one in glorious black and white. By this timeI appreciated the story more and more. I love what they do with Mike Yates and I really like him. Also interesting that you didn’t comment on the fact we have Martin Jarvis here last seen (or not) in the Web Planet. So nowadays I love this story including its faults.i do think it’s Malcolm Hulke's best story and shame it was his last.It was during the screening of this story that Jon Pertwee announced he was leaving and I was shell shocked. But I also realised I was changing. Shortly after this season ended I was to turn into a teenager. But more importantly I upgraded from being a regular viewer into a fan.
KKLAK!(Collectors of the Target Books will get this reference )
Meanwhile, in an alternative Universe, I like to think there's a really good Doctor Who called "The Invasion of the Hulk", by Malcolm Dinosaur.
After loving the excellent Target novelisation as a kid, my first viewing of this was….not disappointing but distracting? And look! Yates has character development! Chew on THAT, Benton! 😁
Before I watch, I will say that this is my favourite serial from Season 11. In fact, this is one of my favourite Pertwee stories even though I rather dislike a lot of Season 11! This is a review I've been really looking forward for.
It’s only really the T-Rex that looks awful. I think the pterodactyl attack is really effective, and driving under the brontosaurus is one of the better integrations of the film and video effects.
One of the first stories that I watched properly and, aged seven, the dinosaurs were frightening!
Watching the story in recent years has produced another revelation, namely that the actor playing Adam is the spitting image of Jeremy Corbyn!
I think that is a great analysis of the relationship between special effects (Aristotle would have called it spectacle in his Poetics) and the Plot. For me the inverse is also true when there are episodes with great special effects (like I'm a big fan of Kane's face melting in Dragonfire) but if the plot of the story is already bad, no special effect is going to make up for it (sorry Dragonfire). And if there is a great episode with a great plot with great spectacle moments (including song and music, like the score for Heaven Sent or the Curse of Fenric) then they enhance what is already a great meal. Perhaps, we can liken spectacle to mayonnaise and ketchup, the condiments, because if its already a good meal (Plot) which is well-seasoned (themes, characters, etc) then the spectacle will enhance the flavour; but if its a poor meal with no seasoning, then the condiments have their work cut out.
This has always been a blind spot for me - I remember watching the Time Warrior and I remember watching all the subsequent episodes, but not this one. I was 6 going on 7 at the time, mad about dinosaurs and mad about Pertwee as the Doctor - even mad about the Whomobile - but don't remember this one at all. Maybe it was the bad realization of the dinosaurs that made me memory-hole this one?
Great review. Quite often this story is contrasted with The Green Death.
I absolutely love this story. Maybe in my top 10 of all time, shockingly bad dinosaurs notwithstanding.
The dinosaurs have just a little under ten minutes of actual screen time (including a couple minutes of the T-Rex in the background in the hangar). That’s a pretty small amount considering it’s a six episode story. I don’t have a problem with the dinosaurs themselves as much as how they tried to mix puppets with still photos and live action all together through CSO. When it’s just the dinosaurs in the shot without people CSO’d into the foreground, they aren’t that bad for a low budget mid-70s TV show.
On a side note, where did you get the color footage from Episode 1? Is that a fan made restoration? It looks much better than the color recovery included on the official DVD.
Web planet is a story that clearly on paper relied on the visuals and immersion into an alien world to work (rather than a real plot). But they did not have the budget or capability to do that, which is why i think it totally falls flat.
I love this one, the awful effects make me laugh out loud, knowing its so old helps, but the actual plot is really good and the cliff hanger of sarah on a spaceship is still a massive curve ball. And sarah geverally is pretty good here. And some interesting political commentary.
My favorite pertwee era story 😊. Which is nice
I actually enjoyed the story itself but for the Dinosaurs I can sort of look over them but I agree they are their a bit too much - I mean how many episodes ended with a Dinosaur it seems like most of the story lol.
the costumes and effects might suck, but damn is it a good story. Def in my top 3 favourite third doctor stories ever
Excellent script and acting. I think an upgrade with CGI, people would think different. A gem in a bad season. I find it the end of Pertwee doctor.
Such a schizoid story - Hulke's attacks on martial law, freedom association types and neo-malthusians is great - the faffing about with dinosaur setpieces is not! Perhaps a shame that Hulke seems to have been so disappointed with the end result that he quit his association with the show after this point, which is a real shame
At this point I have pretty much just been leaving season review-comments and not individual stories. But...oh boy, this story really got me triggered.
First of all (TL:DR) I hated it and I think most people really like this one. So...sorry in advance. One of the disadvantages of doing a Doctor Who marathon is you can quickly tire of certain tropes. During Pertwee's era specifically, there's a ton of stories where corruption exists in the upper levels of (British) society where the Earth is dangerously at risk as a result. Be it military, government, scientific, civilian, or a combination of all those branches of society. I think here is where that trope finally broke me. There were also points like the Doctor's "exposure" that makes zero sense as he wasn't doing a thing and was just there. And how these people think they will survive ancient (sorry, "purer") Earth with a small group is mind boggling. And duping a group of people into believing a lie...is extremely tiring at this point in the show and is not something I'm interested in watching.
I did however, love Sarah, the Doctor, Brigadier, and Benton in the story. And the ending is great, especially with the Doctor tempting Sarah to go to another planet. Oh...and Yates can go *uck off.
This story (and the next one that I've also watched presently, which was fairly meh) could be defined as a Marathon killer. But I love 3 enough and Sarah Jane is charismatic enough that I can continue forward. Although it's very nice to know that the modern Earth setting is about to take a bit of a break.
First!
FIRST