The Web of Fear episode 4 discussion:
A: So was this episode 12 minutes long in Australia?
R: Figure it must have been.
A: And very confusing.
Sp: Let me say up front that I really feel for Loose Cannon this week, because it seems that they only had so much to work with. During the extended fight scene they were reusing so much footage and looping so much footage that I half expected to see a launching Colonial Viper at one point.
H: By the way, did you notice, just for a fraction of a second, you could see a little bit of text on the screen where the edit point was?
Sp: Yup.
P: I did see that.
K: I swear there was footage from the War Machines.
Sp: Me too.
H: I don’t think so. And I say that because I have seen a different reconstruction from the Web of Fear, and that footage looked familiar. I’m pretty sure it was censor cuts. Looped censor cuts, but censor cuts none the less.
Sp: Probably. But I was probably seeing the same soldiers crouching near a warehouse that Ketina saw.
K: Actually it was the machine guns that fired with the jerking that was EXACTLY like the goofy machine guns in the War Machines that made me think that it was the same footage. We mocked it when we saw the War Machines, and how the recoil was wrong and the timing was wrong, and the sound effects were wrong.
A: British people don’t really do guns.
H: Something to remember is that anyone in this story over 35 would have had compulsory National Service. Not necessarily military, but generally some kind of service.
A: Oh. Okay.
P: So, what you’re saying is if you’re 35 or older you would have to server?
H: No, they ended it. So if you were under 35 in 1967 you would have been too young for it to have been compulsory for you, I think.
Sc: They ended the draft sometime in the 50’s.
Sp: So, remind me the purpose of multiple Yeti costumes? Was that just an artifact of the recon reusing footage, or did they really have the Owlbear Yeti and the Hillbilly Yeti?
H: Well, I’m trying to understand your question.
Sp: Two very different costumes in this same episode.
H: They were different costumes because they fit different people, but they were essentially the same. They weren’t old style and new style, at least that I saw.
Sp: No, the close ups and the medium shots and the looped in for the kill claw shots – those were all the Owlbear looking Yetis. But there was one scene in particular where we got the Hillbilly Yetis.
P: That’s when they were walking down the street. Maybe they looked different when they were outside?
H: Yeah. It’s probably an artifact of that, and the fact that they had to move differently so the costume had to be different.
Sp: I guess I was distracted by the suspenders.
K: It did look like they were wearing black furry overalls with black furry suspenders.
Sp: Perhaps that is where all the fungus came from? They did not wash their overalls.
H: Well maybe someday we’ll get to see all of this more in context so that we can get a better idea. Everybody cross your fingers.
<very brief discussion of missing episode rumors current at the time that I’m writing this>
Sp: Sooo… again, big ups and sympathy to Loose Cannon for doing what they could for an episode that was 1/3 fight scene.
K: And one quarter wandering around train tracks.
Sp: And the rest was fungus, fungus, fungus.
P: No, the rest of it was story telling.
Sp: About fungus.
H: So, should we talk about the story developments this episode?
K: Well, we’re rapidly running out of cast members. We know at least 4 survive – and there’s only 3 more people who can die. Well, I’m assuming at least 4 survive anyway.
Sp: How do you know? Maybe they’ve all been replaced. By… fungus.
K: This is not the Faceless Ones. That was like – last season.
H: Seriously though, various people wound up with various Yeti miniatures in various pockets. I wonder how they got there.
K: No you don’t. You know how they got there.
R: Is that a Yeti in your pocket? I hope?
H: But YOU don’t know how they got there. It’s something to think about. And potentially discuss.
R: Yeah. The list of people it’s likely to be is getting rather short.
K: So… Evans… Or… Evans?
H: That’s what you said last week about Chorley.
K: I was betting on Chorley. But he wasn’t in the episode this week.
R: I don’t think it was Evans.
K: Yeah. I don’t actually think it was Evans because of the horrified reaction when the two guys died in front of him and there was no one else there to see his reaction.
R: For him to mug to.
H: On the other hand, what happened to the piece of web in his tin?
A: What about Anne?
K: Ooooh! Could be Anne!
H: And there’s Travers dramatic reappearance in the last scene. Flanked by Yeti.
K: Yeah. He’s probably being controlled NOW. After being captured and mind fungused.
H: But there are some people unaccounted for.
K: Yeah, back to Chorley.
H: Chorley…
P: Butler.
Sp: No, in this one case the butler did not do it. In all seriousness though, who would have had access to everybody’s pockets?
H: So, can I take it, you guys are still intrigued and enjoying this story?
A: <nods>
Sp: Oh yes!
K: This particular episode dragged on a LOT for me, but mostly due to lots of looped footage because we couldn’t see what the hell was going on. I’m sure it would have been much more exciting if we could have seen them walking down the hallways… and shooting all the Yetis… and… <sigh>
P: Then we would have just been making fun of the recoil.
R: I would have been making fun of “Shoot from the hip! Then we’ll make sure that we miss!”
P: How come the tank gun didn’t work against the Yeti? Or why didn’t they just put down some really good fly paper?
R: Well, because plot, honestly.
H: Honestly, I don’t know. I would say that’s one of those things where we’d just have to see what the hell’s going on. I’m sure it would have been very dramatic.
P: So, on a different note, why is it that when the Doctor took the sample of the web, the web basically set off an alarm.
R: By design, I would say.
P: But if you were going to have an alarm, you would make it silent.
K: I think it was either screaming in pain, or doing some sort of sonic sound attack to drive them away.
P: I guess it worked.
R: There’s also the intimidation factor.
H: Yeah. The Intelligence seems to really go in for the intimidation factor. In both stories we’ve seen.
K: Arnold is sort of unaccounted for. We assume he died in the web, but he could still come back as FUNGUS ZOMBIE!
A: Fungus among us!
H: Yeah. I’m having a hard time keeping my mouth shut, so I’m willing to go to final thoughts.
R: I have a few things to say first. I really liked the technobabble in this one. I thought it was handled the way it should be handled. “Oh, I see what you did there. Nicely done. Well, this should work in general. If we had a few extra bits and bobs we should be able to get it to work even better.” Boom, done. No apfrangling. No reversing anything’s polarity. Just “No, I think you’ve almost got it.” And my one other negative comments about this would be that so apparently when one gets a concussion one coughs furiously. I only mention it because this isn’t the first episode I’ve seen it happen in.
P: I guess it’s a coughcussion.
H: Okay. So are we ready for final thoughts? Okay, let’s start.
E: Dun dun dun!
H: That it?
E: Yes.
A: Enjoying the story. Enjoying the mystery. And enjoying the future Brigadier. I’ve always heard him mention “that business with the Yetis” but I’ve never seen this one before.
P: Butler.
H: That’s it?
P: That’s it.
A: We should do a wager of who did it. But you, Historian, can’t play.
H: I can’t play, but if you want to do side bets among yourselves that’s fine.
P: I bet the Yeti did it.
K: That’s cheating.
Sp: I think I have an idea who put the Yetis on everybody. Let’s talk about availability, means, and motive. Who have we only seen intermittently through the story?
R: It’s not the Doctor, Spoo.
Sp: Who is a known sneaky person.
H: It’s really not the Doctor, Spoo.
Sp: Who is jealous of every other person in the story for having pockets.
H: It’s not Jamie!
Sp: It’s Jamie!
P: “I’ve got a pocket in the front!”
Sp: It’s not a pocket. <referring to the sporran on his kilt>
H: Yes, it sort of is.
Sp: Oh. That’s a pocket? Is that what that’s for?
H: Do you have anything more?
Sp: <shakes head> No. I could loop some of my earlier comments from the commentary.
H: Alright. Moving on.
R: “And don’t call me Shirley, Lt. Knight!” That’s it.
H: That’s it?
P: Mine was better.
K: <yawn> An action packed episode, with no action.
H: That we could see, anyway.
K: It was very, very frustrating. Gah. I find these types of recons particularly frustrated, as I have said already on many an occasion.
Sp & P: That’s it?
K: I mean, without getting to see the action, there was really only about 5-10 minutes of stuff. Dialog, plot advancement, etc. And 15 minutes of things happening that we couldn’t see. Just way too frustrating for me.
P: Well, having a recon that’s not the best is better than having no episode at all.
K: I don’t mean to knock the recon. They, theoretically, did the best they could with what they had. I’m just saying I’m frustrated and was pretty bored with a long section in the middle.
Sp: Owlbears!
K: Repeating Owlbears in a loop. We saw that one guy get melted by the web what – five times? Bleah. Anyway, that’s all I got.
H: I don’t have a lot to say this week. Just repeated what I said last week. I love this story. I thought the advancement in this episode was really interesting. And I really hope some day to actually see the episode.
Sp: That’s it?
H: That’s it.
MS: Wait! I haven’t said a word in this!
H: I didn’t think you watched it.
MS: No, I actually do agree with Dad <Spoo>. I think it is Jamie. He can be sneaky enough. Besides, I mean, if you just switched his clothes to black he’ll blend in.
H: What?
P: Are you saying it would be easy for him to hide in the tunnels?
MS: Yes.
Sp: Hey son?
MS: Yeah?
Sp: That’s it.
