Classic Doctor Who 5x05 "The Web of Fear" eps 5-6 full reaction
Added 2022-02-20 09:46:06 +0000 UTCSorry for the wait on this one! Enjoy! :-)
Comments
I remember that line, and finding it so randomly funny - now I know! That's great!
Fourth Wall Reactions
2022-03-09 02:17:00 +0000 UTCJason -- just happy to share in the fannish squee with someone! :)
Nicole Mazza
2022-02-22 09:57:29 +0000 UTCSorry if I got in before you Nicole! Like you Im a huge fan of this story and it was a typically lovely little touch by Moffat to tie all the stories together in a way that classic fans would delight in, but modern Who fans who didnt know the GI background would not be confused or lost by, it doesnt interfere with anything in the Snowmen episode or hinder it, its just a single line of dialogue, but shows what an awful lot you can do with a single line if its a good one.
BobBob
2022-02-21 06:43:27 +0000 UTCYeah, having loved this story so much, I was so excited when it was referenced in 'The Snowmen' and then in 'Bells of St John' (the latter which seemed to take a lot of inspiration from 'Downtime', too). I couldn't wait to bring it up, but didn't want to spoil it until she was done watching. :)
Nicole Mazza
2022-02-21 03:15:57 +0000 UTCI think the writers did a really good job of creating suspicion around several people, but not making it obvious who was working with the Great Intelligence. The three prime suspects were Chorley, Evans and funnily enough, Colonel Lethbridge Stewart. However, if you really pay attention there are clues that it was Staff Arnold all along. First, there’s this exchange between Jamie and Arnold in episode 2: Jamie: Do you think the Yeti got him? Arnold: No. Jamie: What makes you so sure? ARNOLD: Dunno. Just a hunch. In hindsight, this is clearly meant to imply that Arnold knows more than he’s supposed to. There’s also the bit in episode 4 where Evans (the Welsh driver) gives the Doctor one of the small Yeti models, but what he says as he hands it over is telling: Evans: Hope I'm not disturbing, Doctor, but Staff asked me to give you this. This makes the Doctor suspicious of Evans, which is exactly what Arnold wanted. He was smart enough to realise that Evans was becoming the prime suspect because of his cowardly antics, so wanted to make everyone suspicious of him even more. This is also why Arnold makes it look like Evans left him and one of the other soldiers to die later on by letting them go through the fungus on their own. ‘The Enemy of the World’ had a great twist with Kent right at the end that no one saw coming and this is another example of that. I also like and think it makes sense why Jamie did what he did at the end. For all he knew, the Doctor was about to let his mind be absorbed by the GI. Jamie is fiercely loyal, so it’s no surprise that he’d try and do anything to help one of his best friends. A lot of the blame for this also goes to the Doctor for not telling Jamie or anyone else of his plan, but I’ve already got into why I think that’s so good and interesting for the Doctor’s character in another comment. Jamie still should’ve known better and trusted the Doctor though, but both of their mistakes tie into the overall theme of human fallibility (I know the Doctor’s not human, but it still fits) this story has. The whodunit mystery with everyone pointing fingers at one another is the biggest example of this, but there’s also Travers reactivating one of the spheres, which started all the trouble in the first place! What I also love is how Arnold is the only one possessed (aside from Travers briefly) throughout this story and not in control of his own actions. Everyone else has the freedom to do as they choose and yet they still make mistakes. Characters like Chorley and Evans are great red herrings because they make you think they’re the ones working with the GI, but they were in fact just plain old selfish humans looking out for themselves all along. The GI merely created the right set of circumstances to be able to exploit the stupidity of humans, everyone else did the rest all by themselves. I love how this shows that people are often driven to act irrationally if they’re pushed far enough. This explains why even someone like Jamie, who normally trusts the Doctor to do the right thing, feels compelled to take matters into his own hands. The sense of dread and paranoia had got too much for everyone. The claustrophobic sets and dark, moody lighting greatly added to the tension and suspense of this story. All of this makes for a truly great story.
Azmat Mahmood
2022-02-20 13:19:34 +0000 UTCNow you can understand an otherwise rather odd moment and seeming throwaway line in the 11th Doctor xmas special The Snowmen. When 11 confronts the GI at the end and has the memory worm in a lunchbox with a map of the underground on it and he holds it up to the GI he says - "A map of the London Underground, 1967. Key strategic weakness in metropolitan living, if you ask me, but then I have never liked a tunnel." This makes the Snowmen a prequel to this story, as its essentially a GI origins story, and also explains why the GI after the Snowmen chooses to attack via the London Underground in 1967- a future version of the Doctor put the idea in the GI's mind already knowing the outcome. So 2 only encounters the GI here because of 11, and 11 only directs the GI there because he remembers it from when he was 2. Its timey-whimey! Also it means after the Snowmen the GI went back to possibly Tibet, for the Abominable Snowman, and then to this story before he reappears in Bells of St John with 11 and Clara, and that explains why by then the GI is so determined to get revenge on the Doctor. It also means that though watching series 7 it appears that the GI pops back up immediately in ep 1 of the series after the Snowmwen, for the GI its actually been quite some time as he's been getting defeated by 2 in the inbetween.
BobBob
2022-02-20 12:57:28 +0000 UTC
