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24 September 2014

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Doctor Who | Photonovels | The Web of Fear

Episode One contact sheet

As Salamander is expelled into the space-time vortex the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria cling to the base of the TARDIS console. 'We've got to close the doors!' the Doctor calls out.

Jamie manoeuvres himself along the wall roundels to the other side of the console room and falls against the controls. He succeeds in operating the door control before he is pulled back towards his struggling companions.

With the double doors safely closed the TARDIS crew relax. 'Well done Jamie,' says the Doctor. Reassuring Victoria he playfully enquires 'Now, where shall we go?'

An unenthusiastic Jamie jibes the Doctor that he has no control over the TARDIS's destination. Indignant, the Doctor begins to manipulate the machine's controls as Victoria sighs 'Here we go again.'

Inside a dark, candle-lit museum, Professor Edward Travers gazes mournfully at the Yeti he brought back from his Tibetan expedition of 1935.

His thoughts are interrupted by his daughter, Anne, and the museum's proprietor, Julius Silverstein. Anne has arrived in response to a telegram from her father, stating that he is in trouble. 'Trouble,' the Professor emphasises, 'and it's that thing!'

Professor Travers fails to persuade Silverstein to part with the Yeti exhibit. 'For thirty years it has stood here in my museum, and now he tells me it's dangerous!' the enraged proprietor exclaims.

Anne tries to calm her father, reminding him the Yeti cannot function without its control sphere. Her father reveals that he has reactivated just such a sphere – and it has disappeared. Julius still refuses to part with the Yeti, accusing the Professor of scaremongering.

'All right!' shouts Travers in frustration. 'I'll buy the thing back if that's what you want!' The museum owner remains steadfast, refusing to part with his unique exhibit. Anne attempts to pacify her father and the two are escorted out of the building.

As Julius sees his visitors out, a bleeping silver ball hovers outside the window, near the dormant Yeti. It is the familiar control sphere, used by the Great Intelligence to manipulate the robotic giants. It drops from sight as Silverstein returns.

As Silverstein blows out the museum candles, the sphere propels itself through the glass with a crash. Silverstein, suspecting Travers, examines the broken window. He fails to notice the Yeti's eyes suddenly light up as it adopts a menacing stance.

Brought back to life by the control sphere - now implanted in its chest - the beast slowly turns to face the mortified museum owner.

Silverstein barely has a chance to scream as the creature looms before him, striking him down with a savage blow.

Inside the TARDIS the Doctor refuses to allow his meal to be disturbed by Jamie's insistence that the materialisation indicator is flashing. He points out that the TARDIS is obviously still in flight.

Victoria enters the room wearing a new dress, and also notices the flashing console light. The Doctor's suspicions of a light-hearted conspiracy against him are forgotten when he too notices the blinking indicator.

The Doctor confirms that they are apparently landing. While Jamie and Victoria speculate on their destination, they look to the scanner for clues.

The scanner only shows a formation of stars. The Doctor surmises that they are suspended in space.

Meanwhile, the surface of the police box is slowly enveloped in a gossamer-like web substance. As it spreads, the machine's flashing rooftop light is slowly obscured.

With growing concern, the Doctor checks the Ship's controls with the help of his companions but can find nothing wrong. Victoria draws his attention to the scanner, which is becoming smothered in a pulsating web.

Meanwhile, in London...
In a fortress adjacent to Goodge Street underground station Corporal Lane is on the telephone as Corporal Blake enters, looking for Captain Knight.

The Captain is upstairs, recording an interview with journalist Harold Chorley. His sincere tribute to his late commanding officer, Colonel Pemberton, seems to fall on deaf ears. 'I meant what I said, Mr Chorley,' the soldier insists.

Professor Travers bustles past a saluting soldier, furious at his secondment. Knight informs Travers that he is here at his daughter's request – not the army's.

After a brief but hostile exchange he leaves Travers alone with Chorley, who introduces himself as a reporter from London Television. Chorley explains that he is the official journalistic correspondent for the crisis.

His attempts to interview Travers are curtly dismissed by the irascible Professor, who leaves Chorley lost for words.

Inside the TARDIS, Jamie hands the Doctor a vital component which puts the finishing touch to a device he hopes will release them from their predicament.

The web smothering the outside of the TARDIS slowly begins to dissipate.

The Doctor hurriedly links the device to the console and flicks a switch. The TARDIS begins to materialise and a piercing noise fills the air before they're thrown to their feet.

The Doctor informs Jamie and Victoria that the device has moved them on about half a mile from where they were expected to land. The scanner indicates they have landed in a long, dark tunnel.

'Is it safe?' asks a concerned Victoria.'I shouldn't think so for a moment,' replies the Doctor, and asks Jamie to fetch them some torches.

Emerging from the police box into the mouth of a tunnel, the TARDIS crew trade theories – are they in a prison, or the dungeon of a castle?

They locate a darkened staircase and cautiously descend.

At the foot of the stairs, the Doctor notes the tiled walls and the curved ceiling.

Jamie points out what he believes to be a trench, while Victoria draws the Doctor's attention to a sign on the wall. Jamie's torchlight reveals the legend COVENT GARDEN. 'Of course,' the Doctor chuckles.'It's an underground station!'

After a brief explanation of this particular form of public transport, the Doctor leads his friends up a long staircase which ends with a barred station exit. Although the station is closed, there is broad daylight outside.

The Doctor agrees with Victoria that, for the middle of the day, everything seems unnaturally quiet.

Jamie spots a news vendor outside the gate, but when he taps him on the shoulder the old man topples to the ground.

His fallen body, covered in a dense cobweb-like substance, reveals the extent of the crisis facing the country's capital.

Back in the tunnels, and as Jamie steps steps onto the line, the Doctor hurriedly checks that there is no current in the rails.

Pausing momentarily, the Doctor runs his fingers over a rail. Layers of dust indicate no trains have run for some time. Their investigations turn up a power cable, then the tunnel is suddenly illuminated. The travellers duck into a nearby alcove.

The Doctor sees three soldiers unwinding a large drum of cable along the tunnel. When the soldiers have passed...

... the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria cautiously peer after them. Emerging from their alcove, the Doctor tells Jamie and Victoria to follow the soldiers surreptitiously while he tracks the cable's source. They agree to meet in a few minutes.

Craftsman Weams thinks he's heard something behind him. 'Getting a bit jumpy are you?' says Staff Sergeant Arnold. They set about connecting a new drum of cable.

Unsure whether the three soldiers have stopped or not, Jamie and Victoria wait before continuing to follow them. Victoria walks into a hanging cobweb and her exclamation alerts Craftsman Weams.

The increasingly agitated Weams is now convinced he heard something behind him.

As Victoria and Jamie cautiously advance they are surprised by Staff Sergeant Arnold, who has been waiting in an alcove to ambush them. 'Well, well, well,' he mutters, levelling his gun. 'The Babes in the Wood.'

The Doctor follows the cable as far as Charing Cross underground. Jumping onto the platform, he begins examining the crates at the end of the cable before he is aware of a familiar bleeping noise.

Going Underground

He hides by the rails as a lumbering giant appears on the platform above him.

Back at the army's base, headquarters Corporal Lane reports his failure in contacting Holborn station to establish the whereabouts of the ammunitions truck. Captain Knight tells him to keep trying.

Anne Travers enters, reporting that the blast recorder has now been repaired. She declines Knight's over-eager offer of assistance. Harold Chorley arrives to protest about the Professor's obstructive and secretive behaviour.

As Knight bustles the journalist away, Anne finds quiet amusement in her father's lack of tolerance.

Still lying by the rails, the Doctor notices that there are now two differently pitched bleeping rhythms above him. Two Yeti use small weapons to smother the crates in a thick cobweb substance to the accompaniment of a sweeping, rushing noise.

The crates are soon totally enveloped in the smoking web.

The cable-laying party return to the Goodge Street fortress with Victoria and Jamie. Captain Knight hasn't got time to question the two youngsters – they need to get on with blowing up the tunnel.

Herding Jamie and Victoria into the common room, Staff Sergeant Arnold is reluctant to answer any of their questions, but is keen to establish if they were with anyone else. Their contradictory replies make him suspicious.

Their task complete, the two Yeti leave the now glowing crates behind them. The Doctor gingerly emerges to examine their handiwork.

In the common room, Arnold confirms to Knight that the boy and girl were apparently alone. As the Captain leaves to order the demolition, Jamie and Victoria are horrified to learn of the tunnel's fate. 'The Doctor!' the frightened girl exclaims.

On the station platform, the Doctor is caught by a contained blast as the crates explode. As the sound of the explosion subsides, the crates glow with an eerie light...

NEXT WEEK: Will the Doctor survive the blast?

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