The TARDIS has been dragged by a powerful force to an entirely alien world. The sets designed by John Wood to represent Vortis look very sparse and very different to anything seen before, with the filter used on the camera lenses helping to emphasise the creation of an alien world. The Zarbi on first appearance also come across rather well, backed up by the chittering noise they make which sounds like cicadas, but on a lower pitch.

Excellent first appearances do not make a good story, so the first episode The Web Planet sees the TARDIS crew come under attack from the Zarbi calls, giving Vicki a headache. The Doctor and Ian decide to go outside and investigate, with the Doctor equipping himself and Ian with Atmosphere Density Jackets; the need for the ADJs in a rarified atmosphere again builds up the alien nature of Vortis. While the Doctor and Ian are outside, Barbara and Vicki have a good character moment that fills in more details about Vicki's life. The distorted echoes added to the Doctor and Ian's speech again emphasises the alieness of Vortis, as does the strange building they find, and the acid pool that destroys Ian's tie - it seems the production team have gone all out to make Vortis a completely different world compared to the other places seen so far in Doctor Who. The episode ends with the Zarbi chittering affecting the TARDIS, drawing Barbara outside, and dragging the TARDIS elsewhere, with a close up of William Hartnell uttering in a shocked tone "My TARDIS..."

The Zarbi continues the mysterious slowness of The Web Planet, before it worked to set up the nature of Vortis; now it just makes the story dull and boring. Barbara's possessed wanderings introduce viewers to another alien species - the butterfly-like Menoptra. The Menoptra movements and speech patterns created by Roslyn de Winter also emphasise the alien nature of the story. The Doctor and Ian are soon captured by the Zarbi. The TARDIS has been taken to a part of Vortis covered in a strange growth, and the Doctor and Ian are also led into the same area and are reunited with Vicki. Barbara gets captured by the Zarbi too, fitted with a gold controlling harness. the Menoptra Hrostar frees her from this, and in a brutal act, the Zarbi rip off his wings. The Doctor is put in contact with the force controlling the Zarbi...

Can the pace of The Web Planet pick up now that the villain of the piece, the Animus has been introduced? No. Escape to Danger opens with the Animus initially ignoring what the Doctor says, then claiming that the Menoptra are the aggressors and needs the Doctor's help to stop them. William Hartnell does well as the Doctor in the scenes in contact with the Animus via the tube, making it clear that the only way to communicate with 'her' is via the tube. As for the Animus herself, Catherine Fleming gives her a sultry, seductive tone of voice, with just a hint of danger lurking underneath.

Ian gets sent off to find Barbara, and in a scene where he has to fight a Zarbi, the limitations of the Zarbi costumes are starkly revealed - the arms are fairly useless, so all the Zarbi can do is run around and menace with their size. More successful is the Venom Grub, which looks quite compact, moves around quite easily, and its venom can quite easily kill and dissolve matter. Ian meets up with Vrestin and learns the true story of Vortis - the Animus is an invader of Vortis, and many of the Menoptra retreated to a moon of Vortis to plan and invasion to reclaim their home. Ian and Vrestin are soon captured by the Zarbi and a Venom Grub moves in for the kill...

Crater of Needles reveals that Barbara and Hrostar, along with other Menoptra, are harvesting vegetation to enable the continued growth of Khazenome - the Animus' zone of occupation. The Doctor gives the Animus enough information sate her, and to keep himself and Vicki alive; the news sending things into a panic. Another species lives on Vortis, and they have captured Ian and Vrestin - the Optera; their costuming is very effective, with a hunched back, withered limbs and large eyes, making it obvious that they have been cave dwellers for many generations.

The prisoners at the Crater make an escape to warn the invasion fleet, as the Doctor's stalling of the Animus gets discovered. It turns out that the Optera are Menoptra who have ended up as cave-dwellers, worshipping what they once were as Gods. In a beautifully filmed sequence the Menoptra spearhead invasion fleet fly in, only to be killed, with any survivors quickly trapped by the Zarbi...

Barbara manages to find a way to escape the Zarbi at the beginning of Invasion, and it seems that success is also there for the Doctor - he has managed to successfully reprogram a control harness, attaching it to a Zarbi. Barbara has found the way into a "Temple of Light" - an ancient place of worship for the Menoptra; she also manages to convince the surviving Menoptra to continue on the fight, rather than hide. The Optera meanwhile also agree to fight the Animus; it seems that all not under the Animus' control are preparing for one last battle; if it fails, the planet falls to the Animus.

The Doctor, Vicki and Zombo's (the captured Zarbi) wanderings have reunited them with Barbara, and they end up formulating an attack plan - Barbara and the Menoptra (with Zombo) at the South entrance, with the Doctor not happy in giving up his ring; with the Doctor and Vicki to get back into the Khazenome via the north entrance. As the Optera prepare to break through and the South party prepare to attack, the Doctor and Vicki are captured... At some action seems to be taking place; but way too much of the episode is all talk, working out how the attacks are to take place - dull, dull, dull.

The Web Planet finally reaches the final episode - The Centre. Barbara's forces stage their attack, as the Optera make their way up into the Centre - finding Vortis's water supply along the way; it had been sent underground by the Animus' influence. The Doctor and Vicki are taken to the body of the Animus, and 'she' is an immense creature, well designed and operated; and now thanks to the Doctor, plans to attack the Earth.

Barbara's forces reach the Animus' domain, and they are subdued by the Animus' power, who prepares to absorb them. Barbara manages to fire the isop-tope, spurned on by the sight of Ian, she fires it again, killing the Animus. Vortis slowly reverts back to normal - a now docile and quite harmless Zarbi uncovers water spring, while the venom grubs are very playful. Vrestin reintroduces the Optera to the surface, and the TARDIS crew depart; leaving the citizens of Vortis to begin their lives in peace once more.

As commented previously, the designs of Vortis and its' life forms are excellent, apart from some flaws with the Zarbi design. The Menoptra have an alien body language and speech structure, as well as a nicely developed culture. The Animus too came across well with a great sense of menace, so where does Bill Strutton's script fail? It's too slowly paced, dragging the story out over the course of six episodes. Many characters, who started off quite strongly scripted, end up degenerating into clich�d charicatures; this can especially be seen with the Optera, who start off quite strong, but end up as comical, child-like creatures. If the script had been reedited and cut back to around four episodes, The Web Planet would be a triumph, but as it stands it is merely a well-designed, but badly paced experiment.

5.9/10

Next time: Ian gets Knighted, Vicki becomes Victor...