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22 October 2014

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Doctor Who | Photonovels | The Web of Fear

Episode Two contact sheet

As the Doctor cautiously examines the web-smothered crates on the platform of Charing Cross Station, Knight orders Weams to detonate the charges.

The Doctor is caught by the effects of a contained blast as the crates seem to explode. As the sound of the explosion subsides, the crates rhythmically glow with an eerie light...

Knight allows Arnold to search the blast area for the Doctor. Weams reports that the newly repaired blast recorder has failed to register an explosion. Knight is sceptical: 'You can't have an explosion without a blast can you?' He decides to question Jamie and Victoria.

Knight puts Chorley's journalistic skills to good use as their questions adopt an increasingly aggressive tone. Weams reports that there is trouble at Holborn. As Knight leaves to investigate, Jamie tells Victoria that he heard mention of the word 'Yeti'.

In the operations room, Knight strains to listen to the distressed communication from Holborn station.

The sound of gunfire is followed by screams and a piercing alien roar, before the line clicks dead. Chorley records the final moments of the Holborn soldier's struggle, but declines Knight's offer to join the team locating the unloaded ammunition.

Staff Sergeant Arnold and Corporal Blake follow the cable in their search for the Doctor. Arriving at Charing Cross station they mount the platform.

Blake discovers the exploded crates, now little more than a pile of splintered wood smothered by the web. They also find their fired detonator – another incongruous item in an area untouched by blast damage. Both suspect the absent Doctor of foul play.

At the Goodge Street fortress, Professor Travers examines some relics from his Tibetan expedition of 1935.

The small Yeti figurines and the inner workings of a control sphere could hold the secret to effectively combating the robotic invasion.

Engrossed in his work, he fails to notice Anne until she tells him that the two youngsters are unusually knowledgeable about the Yeti. His curiosity aroused, he decides to meet the two prisoners.

He enters as Jamie explains to Victoria that if the Yeti are in London, then it must have been the Great Intelligence which ensnared the TARDIS in space. The Scotsman is indignant when the Professor demands the source of their in-depth knowledge.

A surprised Victoria recognises the elderly Professor and reminds him of their names. 'I'm Victoria Waterfield,' she explains.

'And that's Jamie McCrimmon!' Travers collapses into a chair, stunned with disbelief that the travellers he met over 40 years ago should reappear – seemingly not a day older. Recalling their time machine, he enquires after the Doctor, then leaves to find Arnold.

Arnold has returned, and reports that their attempts to explode a device at Charing Cross were a failure. He attributes the blame to the Doctor's sabotage.

Professor Travers energetically defends the Doctor. 'What rot!' he exclaims. 'The Doctor's a friend of mine – the one man that can help us!' When Jamie says he might know where the Doctor is, Arnold asks him to lead the way.

Anne listens intently as Victoria attempts to explain the Doctor's unusual means of travel. 'It flies?' Anne enquires, incredulously. 'Through time and space?'

Victoria and Anne

'It's difficult to explain,' says Victoria. 'Not half as difficult as it is to believe,' replies Anne, who remains surprised at Victoria's first-hand knowledge of her father's original encounter with the Yeti.

Chorley returns to collect his typewriter, so he can begin writing an article about the Doctor.

He asks Anne if she has any theories about what the Doctor and his friends were doing in the tunnels. Anne's reply that they were mushroom-picking sparks a whining outcry from the journalist. 'Why is everybody being so evasive?' he complains.

Anne attributes everyone's evasiveness to Chorley's reputation as a sensationalist, adding 'I have a very quick temper and very long claws.' Undaunted, he continues pressing Victoria for answers.

Approaching the Goodge Street fortress with the recovered ammunition, Captain Knight supervises the construction of a barricade comprising explosives boxes. He orders Corporal Lane to fall back.

However, the soldiers soon become aware they are being stalked by an alien presence at the far end of the tunnel.

They open fire at the approaching giants, their shots echoing in the tunnels around them. Impervious to the bullets, the lumbering giants continue to approach, their glowing eyes illuminating the darkness.

The soldiers' bullets and grenades have no effect, but before they can retreat a Yeti raises a long rifle-like weapon. It pulls the trigger, with horrifying results.

The device is a lethal web-gun. Hit in the face by its blast, a soldier screams in agony and collapses.

The Yeti continue their attack, as the web begins to smother soldiers and ammunition alike. As Knight and Lane retreat, they encounter Arnold and Jamie. Knight decides to halt the advancing Yeti by igniting the explosives in the barricade.

A carefully aimed shot by Knight triggers an enormous explosion. The shock waves resound around them and the men realise, with horror, that the Yeti seem completely unharmed. They turn to run but find the way blocked.

Unable to answer his daughter's queries about the TARDIS, the Professor then becomes indignant when she asks if he feels the Doctor's and the Yeti's reappearance are connected.

Having only overheard the negative parts of the conversation, Victoria enters with a tray of tea.

'Do you think she heard us?' Anne asks nervously when the girl has gone. The Professor asserts that the Doctor is a trustworthy ally, and Anne concedes that she was letting her imagination run away with her.

In the tunnel, Jamie and the soldiers are surrounded on either side by the imposing forms of stationary Yeti. They consider their chances of escape.

Knight expresses irritation at the high-pitched rhythmic bleeping the Yeti emit. The noises almost suggest the creatures are communicating with each other.

After weighing up the odds, the stranded party decide not to push their luck.

Blake listens as Weams confidently informs him that the Yeti come from outer space.

Blake, however, has other ideas. He hypothesises that the 'fungus' in the tunnels is bacteriological warfare, being waged by a foreign power using the Yeti as a robot army.

The two soldiers become despondent, realising that with the Holborn ammunitions lost their chances of knocking out the Yeti with small arms are minimal.

Weams' thoughts are disturbed when he notices that the web in the tunnels has progressed.

The illuminated Underground map confirms their worst fears. Weams is horrified: 'That fungus stuff is moving again!'

Old age is taking its toll on Professor Travers' hands and he asks Anne to take over his work. Feeling personally responsible for the current crisis he again voices the hope that the Doctor will turn up.

They are informed of the fungal progress and Anne notes that it has never moved this fast before. Euston Square becomes the latest station to fall.

Chorley snidely suggests that the Doctor's continued absence is surely no coincidence. The Professor once again defends the Doctor's reliability before they all realise that Victoria is missing.

Victoria has escaped, and is hopelessly lost in the tunnels. The fungus, meanwhile, continues its relentless progress.

In another tunnel, Jamie and the trapped soldiers are seemingly ignored by the Yeti. The creatures respond to an electronic signal and simply walk away. As the men continue their journey they hear someone singing 'Sospan Fach' in the distance.

They encounter Driver Evans, wandering alone.

'There's a sight for sore eyes!' he cheerfully greets them, the relief clear on his face.

Knight reprimands the errant soldier for making so much noise and demands he stands to attention and identifies himself. The Welshman explains that he was the driver of the Holborn ammunitions truck. It was abandoned after a Yeti attack.

Evans reports sighting a giant cobweb, which seemed to follow a Yeti holding a glass pyramid. Jamie tells the others that smashing the pyramid would put the Great Intelligence out of action. Jamie elects to look for the Doctor: Evans volunteers to join him.

At Goodge Street, Professor Travers refuses to even consider evacuation – the decision must be taken by Captain Knight. 'But where is he, father?' asks Anne. 'He's been gone for ages.'

Meanwhile, Jamie and Evans reach Cannon Street station and Jamie excitedly discovers a London Underground map. Evans is unimpressed, his thoughts having turned to desertion. They continue on their way to Monument.

Harold Chorley now seems to be alone in his desire to evacuate. The Professor rounds on the cowardly journalist. 'If you want to leave, Mr Chorley, no one's stopping you!' As they argue, a door opens.

Knight and Arnold return, but to everyone's dismay they have no news on the missing travellers.

'All three of them are out there, sir,' reports Arnold. 'But where?' asks the Professor.

Victoria is still wandering in the tunnels. She calls out for the Doctor and Jamie, but the darkness yields only silence.

Nearby, an unfamiliar soldier also makes his way along the tunnel.

As Jamie and Evans continue along the tunnel they become aware of a swarming, seething noise ahead of them.

The noise is soon accompanied by an unearthly glow, illuminating the tunnel with an eerie light.

'The fungus!' exclaims Evans. 'It's here!'

NEXT WEEK: An historic encounter for the Doctor...

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