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aka The Zarbi Production Code N
First Transmitted:
Cast
CREW
Plot Outline from Wikipedia An unknown force pulls the TARDIS off course and onto the planet Vortis. The Doctor and Ian investigate and try to find the source whilst Barbara tends to a dis-oriented Vicki who has been affected by the natural high-frequency communications of the ant-like Zarbi monitoring the TARDIS. Vortis is a thin-atmosphere planet with natural crag-like rock formations and what appear to be pools of acid. The Doctor recognises the planet from the remains of a dead grub-like creature, however he is puzzled by the presence of moons around what should be an otherwise moonless planet. Meanwhile inside the ship, Barbara is influenced by an unknown force through her gold bracelet. This mesmerises her and draws her outside, leaving Vicki alone in the untended TARDIS. The Zarbi then drag the TARDIS away. In her trance, Barbara walks into a trio of Menoptra – all that remains of a reconnaissance force sent to prepare the way for an invasion spearhead. They free her of the trance by removing her bracelet and then debate what to do with her. She escapes. However she is immediately captured by the Zarbi and brainwashed through the use of a gold neck-harness. The Zarbi take her back to the Menoptra, killing one and capturing another, whilst the third escapes. The Zarbi take Barbara and the Menoptra called Hrostar to the Crater of Needles where they are forced to gather vegetation and drop them into rivers of acid, thereby feeding the central force called the Animus. The Doctor and Ian, having discovered the theft of the TARDIS and a trail leading away, begin tracking it. They are captured by the Zarbi and are taken to the Carsinome, where they find Vicki and the TARDIS. There they indirectly meet the Animus who talks to the Doctor through what appears to be a mental communications device. The Animus forces the Doctor to help it track down the invasion spearhead and the following main invasion force of the Menoptra. Ian escapes, whilst the Doctor, who has already worked out the invasion plans of the Menoptra, and Vicki try to bide their time. Ian, trying to find Barbara, meets with the Menoptra called Vrestin, the only escapee of the Zarbi ambush. He learns that the Menoptra were native to the planet Vortis along with the Zarbi until a great evil force, the Animus, slowly and gradually took control of the planet through the mindless Zarbi. By the time the Menoptra had noticed this, it was too late and they had to flee the planet, so they fled to the moons that had been pulled into orbit around Vortis by the great evil force of the Animus – the same force that had pulled the TARDIS off course. However, the Zarbi soon locate Ian and Vrestin, but they manage to escape by falling down into an underground tunnel. There they meet the Optera. They soon realise that the Optera are descendants of the Menoptra who had fled underground. The Optera had lost their wings through the generations and consider the Menoptra as gods, although they don't recognise Vrestin as a Menoptra. Ian and Vrestin convinces the Optera to join them in fighting the Animus. Back in the Carsinome, the Doctor accidentally releases a bit of information about the Menoptra invasion force, particularly that the spearhead plans to land at Sayo Plateau just north of the Crater of Needles. This the Animus uses to ambush the spearhead. Barbara and Hroster escape from the Crater of Needles and try to meet up with the spearhead and also to warn them of the ineffectiveness of their weapons against the Zarbi. They fail to convince them of the uselessness of the weapons and the spearhead gets massacred by the Zarbi forces. Only a few survive and manage to hide in one of the Menoptra's old temples. There they try, without success, to radio the main force and warn them that their weapons are useless against the Zarbi. Meanwhile the Doctor works out that the Animus uses gold as a conductor to channel a mesmerising force. This he counteracts and then uses the hidden power of his ring to control one of the Zarbi. He escapes with Vicki and the Zarbi and meets up with Barbara and the Menoptra. They devise a plan to attack the Carsinome, with the Menoptra acting as a diversionary force whilst the Doctor and Vicki try to reach the Animus with the Isop-tope device, a living-cell destructor. The Doctor and Vicki make their way back to the Carsinome where they are taken to the centre to the Animus, a great spider-like creature. Here they are mesmerised and made helpless by the Animus. Meanwhile Barbara and the Menoptra attack from the outside, with the help of the Doctor's ring to control a Venom Grub, the Zarbi's living weapon, and Ian, Vrestin and the Optera try to dig their way to the Animus from below. They all make it to the centre and to the Animus where, with a singular act of willpower, Barbara manages to use the Isop-tope device on the Animus, destroying it. In the end, with the Zarbi free from the control of the Animus and the Menoptra and Optera free to live on Vortis, the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki leave in the TARDIS.
Analysis by Cuisle The critical opinion on the Web planet was that it was technically over-ambitious but successful for its time and place. The plot was a fairly simple one of a displaced race trying to get their planet back from an invading enemy. The complications arose in the fact that there were at least four types of creature involved and not one of them humanoid, a first for the show, indeed for any science-fiction show. Even George Lucas, with a multi-million dollar budget and the entire skill pool of Industrial Light and Magic at his disposal would probably think twice about a film with only four human characters and a whole collection of fantastically shaped giant insect creatures. On the other hand, Jim Henson productions have made plenty of movies with minimal human actors. Labyrinth, for example. But this is 1964, before the invention of any kind of remotely realistic computer graphic mixing with live action, and with the limited budget the BBC allocated to Doctor Who the special effects were not too bad. The planet itself, was as alien to human sensibilities as the creatures - a bleak rocky world - one of those Bedfordshire quarries and some clever film-work - with pools of deadly acid and a permanent night sky with multiple moons. The actors in the costumes had spent a long time having their movements coreographed so that they were balletic and smooth. Even so, it did not prevent one critic dismissing the story "six episodes of tedium with actors in silly insect costumes." And watching it in retrospect it is hard going. I don't know how people felt in 1964, and maybe having one episode a week rather than all at once as I watched it was a different experience. But I think six episodes were too long. Four or even three would have got the point across and used the costumes to the full - and they were lovely costumes. That is the main problem. It is JUST TOO DARN LONG. |
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