The Web Planet is a fascinating story. A world full of insect creatures set on an alien world enslaved by a cancerous enemy has lots of potential and it's a challenge that most of Hollywood would turn down even now. So the fact that this story was made in a BBC television studio is some kind of miracle.

The strongest aspect is the story, with Bill Strutton coming up with an innovative narrative. While it's original, the production team jump through hoops to come up with different ways of making the story. Richard Martin smearing the camera lenses with Vaseline creates an unusual effect, and gives us a distinctive looking alien planet.

The creatures themselves are quite good. It's a shame that the story isn't colour, as I can imagine that the Menoptra would look rather beautiful, while the Venom Grubs look suitably repulsive. People may criticise the Zarbi for looking like men in giant ant suits, but come on, what Doctor Who monsters don't look like that?

Despite the rather plodding rate the tale is told at and some very dodgy acting from some of the cast, it's still an ambitious tale. At a time when, one or two exceptions aside, television struggles to be inventive and panders to the cheap and unimpressive, surely it's worth rewarding pieces of television that do show ambition, despite some of the failings.

The Tales of Isop is the biggest extra, though not the most innovative. It's a fairly standard making of featurette that run's to 40 minutes. The most interesting contributions come from those on the production side, which works given the ambitious scale of production. The actors comments are kept to specific anecdotes.

The commentary has four participants this time, and as with other releases, the commentary is moderated by Gary Russell. Russell's impact can't be underestimated as his gentle prompting enables the likes of Verity Lambert and William Russell to come up with something more than general memories. Richard Martin and Martin Jarvis are informative and fun.

The first Doctor Who annual is presented in a PDF format, the first time such a format has been presented on a Doctor Who DVD and makes for an interesting read. William Russell reading of The Lair of Zarbi Supremo, a short story from the annual, makes you think that he should have read the story on Jackanory.

The photo gallery is notable for it's lack of colour pics, but somehow I doubt they exist. Martin Wiggins production subtitles provide great delight in pointing out some of the failings behind the production, while the Spanish soundtrack of episode 6 has a semi-amusing appeal.

The Web Planet is a DVD, which could have been awful, but thanks to some good extras, it makes up for the failings of the story and given the alternative was nothing, it's a DVD well worth having..

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