June 14th, 2021
80 comments
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Doctor Who – Web of Fear Blu-ray New Edition
Available to order from www.amazon.co.uk, www.hive.co.uk, www.zavvi.com and other selected retailers.
Available to order in the Australia from www.sanity.com
Textless Cover By Lee Binding
In order to escape an attack in space, the TARDIS makes an unscheduled landing and ends up deep inside the London Underground. Here the travellers soon find themselves engulfed in a thrilling battle with the Great Intelligence and the Yeti, a deadly enemy set to invade the Earth.
But as events take a turn for the worse, it becomes clear that the golden prize is not just the Earth, but the Doctor’s mind too…
This release includes all 5 surviving episodes, plus a brand new fully animated reconstruction of the missing third episode created from the surviving audio-only recordings.
You can watch a clip of the newly constructed animation below:
The Web of Fear is the partly missing fifth serial of the fifth season of Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from February to March 1968. Starring Patrick Troughton as the Doctor, the story concerns an abandoned London and the return of the fearsome Yeti, patrolling the London Underground. It also marks the first appearance of the popular character Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart (before his promotion to Brigadier).
The six episodes (available in black and white and the newly constructed animation in colour and black and white) will include the following exclusive special features:
- Audio commentaries on all episodes (with two on episode 1)
- An episode 3 Telesnap Reconstruction
- Photo Gallery
- A ‘Making Of’ documentary
- A ‘Making the Animation’ documenatary
- The Web of Fear Trailer
- The Missing Years documentary
- The Many Voices of Jack Woolgar documetary
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Demdike@CultLabs
August 15th, 2021 - 10:39pmHas anyone got this yet?
Do the episodes look considerably better than they did on the first dvd version?
Timelord 1944
August 17th, 2021 - 2:06amI have it. The original episodes look fantastic but the animation on the missing episode is the worst I have seen in this range. It makes Reign of Tertor look like a Disney Animated Classic.
ChrisP
August 18th, 2021 - 12:14amEpisodes 1-2 look fantastic.
Episode 3 hmm well the animation’s not to my taste. But does at least make it easier to follow what’s going on.
Kevin225
August 13th, 2021 - 3:07pmMines been dispatched by Amazon, arriving tomorrow apparently!
Merv-J
August 13th, 2021 - 4:35pmSame!
Dunc
August 14th, 2021 - 9:44amJust had mine delivered.
Alan Silvester
August 14th, 2021 - 11:25amHope I get mine today. Amazon email says delivery today, but tracking on item page says Monday! At least it’s on the way! Can’t wait.
Kevin225
August 14th, 2021 - 5:23pmSpoke too soon. Now got the ‘running late it should be here by Monday’ message. That means it will no doubt arrive tomorrow. Feeling nostalgic for the old ‘play.com almost guaranteed Saturday before day of release’ delivery!
Anonymous
June 21st, 2021 - 4:17amWhat I’d like to see improved from this animation is:
– remove the cartoon details
– make the character models look more realistic
– animate the characters’ faces
– give the characters a sense of weight
– alter the lighting so it actually reflects off the details in the characters’ faces
– change the camera movement according to the movement of the existing episodes and add some videotape/film effects to make it feel authentic
I feel like all of that could be feasible if this animation had BBC America backing it.
What I already like about this animation:
– the characters actually move
– because the characters actually move, I’m not bored by the lack of movement, like in the Power of the Daleks animation
– it’s 3D animation, so there shouldn’t be any sacrifices made for the sake of the animation, like removing Samantha’s hat in Faceless Ones
– the audio actually works with the visuals due to it being 3D people in a 3D environment (when Chorley closes the door, I couldn’t imagine that being as effective in 2D)
– again, because the characters move, the actors’ visual performances are far better translated in this medium, where they’re not limited by the constraints of 2D character rigs. They couldn’t make Lethbridge-Stewart move like he did when he spoke to Chorley if this was 2D. Say what you like about how he looks in this animation (personally I think he looks fine) but he definitely moves like the Brigadier.
– Some of the character models, ignoring the cartoon textures, do actually look very good, like Knight, Chorley and Arnold.
– the characters aren’t flat
– Whilst not exact, I’ve compared this scene with the telesnaps, and the attention to the camera angles and the positioning of the characters is at least better than, say, The Macra Terror, where there was very little regard for what the original looked like.
Doctor Blu
June 20th, 2021 - 5:48pmJudging by the trailer, the animation isn’t too bad. By no means the best, but as it’s only for one episode, I’m not too bothered. You could always squint your eyes throughout episode 3, and almost imagine it’s the actual episode I suppose. 🙂
Erato
June 17th, 2021 - 6:24pmIt’s the facial likenesses that I can’t abide. I don’t think they are good at all!
Say what you will about 2D animation providing limited movement for the characters; at least the 2D characters on Fury, Faceless, Macra, Power etc. actually look like the characters in the show.
Anonymous
June 19th, 2021 - 8:47amOn Fury Jamie looks nothing like Frazer Hines – at all.
RPG74
June 19th, 2021 - 10:11amThere are certain shots where the Doctor looks more like Victor Pemberton than Troughton. I wonder, if some of the animators got a little confused here. But generally, for a low budget release, Fury’s animation is fairly solid. Unlike Web’s effort, which is ghastly.
Erato
June 19th, 2021 - 4:20pmAnonymous: …And you think he looks better on this animation???
Anonymous
June 21st, 2021 - 3:45amMaybe let’s not judge the Jamie 3D model just yet.
Y’know.
Considering we haven’t actually seen it.
Btw, the characters in this clip do actually look like themselves, with the slight exception of Anne. It’s the *textures* that are the problem. It’s this strange insistence on sticking with the cartoonish vibe that’s never suited the goal of bringing the missing episodes back.
Watch an existing episode, then watch a 2D animated episode. They don’t fit. In fact, the reason why the 2D ones deviate from the original so much is because the 2D animation is incapable of doing the things that were possible in live action or in 3D. Literally why the Rough and Tumble scene was cut from Macra Terror.
This would be better if the textures were like the TARDIS TimeGirl Web of Fear trailer on YouTube and it tried to look even more like an existing episode.
The movement is very good. At least because it’s actual movement and not “character’s head switches from basic front to sideways within one frame.” Oh, don’t get me wrong, the movement here needs a lot of improving but that’s why they should stick with this.
This is the first animation project since The Moombase that’s not been funded by BBC America. Of course there was a far smaller budget on this release, but it makes sense for them to at least try 3D animation on one episode rather than be forced to test it on a whole serial. If they use this as a learning experience, with more time and money, they could do even better.
I think only doing the 2D animations just because it’s “tried and tested” rather than working on new ways to make the episodes even more faithful to the original would be a mistake.
Anonymous
June 15th, 2021 - 5:16pmJust had a look at the short clip on BBC Dr Who Twitter. Don’t know if it’s my eyes or not but the colours on the colourised version are very muted. Their doesn’t look a great deal of difference between the Monochrome and colour versions? Hope it’s just this clip and not the whole episode.
Auton
June 17th, 2021 - 9:25amI think it’s the clip as in that scene the lights are off so that they can project the slide show on the screen
Dalekz
June 15th, 2021 - 12:32pmNot sure if it’s worth buying these individual discs as I guess they will end up as part of the 2nd Doctor Blu-Ray collection boxset at some point in the future.
I have no idea what they are going to do with the 1st and 2nd Doctors regarding those Blu-Ray sets as so much is missing. Will they wait till the end of the run encase more stuff turns up or until they have animations for most of them.
These are the things that keep me up at night.
the ergon
June 15th, 2021 - 5:48pmThats the reason i ,m sticking with these to match the DVDs for the time being. Its the additional content thats the draw for me mainly.
Winter
June 17th, 2021 - 3:00amBefore it’s over we will get all of The 1st and 2nd Doctor seasons. If you look back at all the released animations and the announced as slated for future production animations it’s a guarantee Troughton will be completed…and you can bet the Beeb isnt going to ditch on the first Doctor after completion of all the others:)
Gordon
June 15th, 2021 - 7:32amI saw it twice. Once on my phone and once on my 50 inch tv. I think it looks better on tv than on mobile. Its not brilliant or anything but I think it’s fine. Its watchable. It does what its designed to do which is filling a gap unlike the full blown animations which are more designed as their own productions. I suspect with it only being 1 episode bbc America weren’t involved with this release and it does look a lot lower budget than the previous couple of animations. I’m curious to see the final version without YouTube/streaming compression.
Anonymous
June 15th, 2021 - 9:45amI think it’s better because it’s trying to recreate the actual episode. I don’t like how much the previous animations have deviated
Prof Horner
June 15th, 2021 - 10:00amWhat’s your thoughts on season 5 been the first sixties season to be released on Blu ray Gordon? I was thinking if we get The Abominable snowman and The wheel in space animated within say the next year, maybe we may this season either in late 23 or 24. I was thinking given there are only three stories in that season that will need the Blu ray treatment.
Gordon
June 18th, 2021 - 11:01pmIt maybe end up being the first 60s season to get completed in a year or 2 but with how season 5 heavy the releases have been in the last couple of years it would not surprise me if they leave it a couple of years as to have a break between the stand alone releases and the season 5 collection set
Prof Horner
June 19th, 2021 - 11:29amYes Gordon, I was thinking from a work point of view. The volume of episodes to restore in the sixties seasons would make it a easy one to release. Personally I am hoping for season six.
Auton
June 19th, 2021 - 1:24pmI’ll be happy with whatever 60s season they do first. I have favourite stories in all the 6 seasons. I think the main question is what are they going to do with the stories that don’t have making ofs that sadly don’t have many people from the cast and crew left alive like the war machines or the space museum. They will have to invent a new format of making of which does focus on interviews with cast and crew
RPG74
June 15th, 2021 - 1:10amI’ve finally had a look at the full scene from episode three (available to view on the bbc doctor who twitter page) and it isn’t good, it isn’t good at all. Amateurish rotoscoping reminiscent of The Reign of Terror, just embarrassing. Fury from the Deep-style 2D would have been perfect here. I’m at a loss to explain why they went in this direction.
I don’t own any version of Web and I was planning on purchasing this, but now I think i’ll pass. If I want Web i’ll pick up an earlier, cheaper, release and tolerate the telesnapped 3rd episode.
And God help us, if Big Finish Creative have employed the same animation techniques to restore Evil of the Daleks and Abominable, i’ll pass on those releases too!
Anonymous
June 15th, 2021 - 6:06amThey’ll be including a telesnap reconstruction of episode 3 if that helps. And I think this will probably be just a one off experiment as we’ve had a few leaks from evil of the Daleks and it looks similar in style to the faceless ones.
Anonymous
July 7th, 2021 - 12:49pmSorry why aren’t you animating them then
bryan
June 14th, 2021 - 7:53pmI know I’m so last year, but I have now watched the Trailer/ Teaser on the Big 55” TV.
It looks superb. It’s very different from previous ones, if you look at the movements. The 2d looked more look left, look right look straight ahead. These looked more rounded, so you see the Head for instance , move from left to right and back. The Doctor in the chairs with Travers would never have looked this good in 2d. I am not dissing 2D , the amount of episodes in 2D is phenomenal, and I thank the Teams who slogged hard to make them all.
Wonderful.
zudee
June 14th, 2021 - 7:29pmMissing years doc? Hope it’s new, but I guess its the same doc from Lost in Time
Auton
June 14th, 2021 - 7:52pmHopeful they will update it to include galaxy 4 episode 3, underwater menace episode 2 and the most recent finds of The web of fear and the enemy of the world
Anonymous
June 14th, 2021 - 6:17pmLoving the Lee Binding art for this. Hope he’s done similar covers for the animated “Evil of the Daleks” too (to be announced very soon, I hope), as well as “The Abominable Snowmen”. Making 2021, “The Year of The Yeti”.
Anonymous
June 15th, 2021 - 9:23amI doubt we’ll get anymore releases this year. I hope we do but normally they are announced considerably before release. I think they might be next year now.
The 14th doctor
June 14th, 2021 - 6:16pmHi, does any one know if the surviving episodes have new restorations for this blu-ray?
The 14th doctor
June 15th, 2021 - 1:35pmanyone? would really like to know
The Loiterer
June 16th, 2021 - 9:32amFor EotW they did some extra work on the old restorations, so presumably they’ll do the same thing here – not that I remember major interpolation glitches, and there was only one bit with obvious tape damage that was missed.
Auton
June 14th, 2021 - 5:53pmFor the people wondering, the new special features are Audio commentaries on all episodes (with two on episode 1), An episode 3 Telesnap Reconstruction, Photo Gallery, A ‘Making Of’ documentary, A ‘Making the Animation’ documenatary, The Web of Fear Trailer, The Missing Years documentary and The Many Voices of Jack Woolgar documetary
Ian Cotterill
June 14th, 2021 - 6:14pmWill the steelbook include any additional special features?
Anonymous
June 14th, 2021 - 6:32pmThey tend not too
Anonymous
June 14th, 2021 - 4:56pmSeeing all the hate for the animation.
This is SO MUCH BETTER.
Finally, someone realised 3D animation is better for recreating something that actually *was* 3D. The 2D animations will never come anywhere close to the original episodes because they don’t move like them and they lack depth.
I don’t want to sound harsh towards the people who put a lot of work and effort into the 2D animations, but the goal is to try and bring back the missing episodes of Doctor Who and I don’t feel comfortable with the prospect of the 2D ones being *the* episodes forever. They’re good on their own.
This is a major step forward, and people should think about that. Going back to 2D would actually be a downgrade. If they persevere with the 3D animations, and advancements in technology rather than just sticking with 2D flash cause it’s always been the format since The Invasion, then in the future, we could watch the missing episodes almost like they actually existed.
Anonymous
June 14th, 2021 - 5:28pmThis is 2d animation. Certainly the clip on YouTube looks no different from the previous animations
Anonymous
June 14th, 2021 - 6:12pmThis is literally 3D animation. They are 3D character models.
I have no clue what you mean, it looks so much better. The other ones look flat and don’t move very much.
Anonymous
June 14th, 2021 - 6:16pmPersonally I was really disappointed in the animation, I have nothing against 3D animation, but this particular art style never really appealed to me and having now seen the preview clip they’ve released it is so much worse than the trailer suggested. I will give credit where it is due, the body animations are a huge step up but the faces just look terrible.
I would be interested to see more experiments with 3D animation, but unfortunately the cell shaded pseudo-2D look just doesn’t work on their budget.
Anonymous
June 14th, 2021 - 6:19pmIt is 3d but unfortunately the fan response (predictably) is very negative. Just stick to 2d for the full releases.
Anonymous
June 14th, 2021 - 9:18pmWith 3D animation, you have an opportunity to improve the animations and make them even closer to the existing episodes than was previously thought possible. Why settle for less?
And yeah, the cartoonish texture doesn’t help this animation. I’d like more 3D animations to use a real life basis for the character movement and somewhat realistic looking textures for the characters. The cherry on the cake would be if they could recreate the camera movements.
Anonymous
June 15th, 2021 - 12:10pmI’m actually very worried the animation team will listen to the fans and just do 2D animations in the future.
The 2D animations are static. That one clip from Web has more movement than any of the previous animations combined
Polly The Glot
June 15th, 2021 - 8:22pmHang on “I’m actually very worried the animation team will listen to the fans”…then you acknowledge that fans on the whole prefer the 2D animations over 3D, but that doesn’t matter because you want 3D?
Personally I hope they do continue with the 2D animations, each one has been an improvement over the last and the likenesses on the characters are infinitely better. Yes there’s been some dodgy sections of animations but at least the characters are in proportion. As for more movement in that clip, there’s still a lot of static background characters sitting on the chairs.
Unlike previous animations I’m not double dipping to support this. I’ve kept the Steelbook for the additional extras but I’m hoping if the rumours of Evil and Abominable are true…we go back to the previous 2D style. I fear my support of the animations will end with more episodes of this quality.
Anonymous
June 15th, 2021 - 11:39pmOK, fine then, I’ll just change my opinion so it conforms to the general consensus. No. If I personally love the 3D animation, then of course I’m going to hope that they continue with it? I want to watch the missing episodes almost like they existed, which to be totally honest, while great on their own merits, the 2D ones have never really achieved. Probably because they’re 2D and the existing episodes aren’t, among other reasons.
People are being unfairly harsh towards this animation. It’s an experiment. 2D’s really restrictive for the animators, so what, they should never try 3D? 2D animation prevented them from doing the Rough and Tumble scene and creating Polly’s Moonbase outfit and hair in Macra Terror, they had to remove Samantha’s hat in Faceless Ones (because in 2D, you need to draw everything from different angles for it to work) and the given reason for not doing Highlanders by AnnMarie Walsh was “all the tartan” which in 3D animation would just be a simple matter of placing a texture on a 3D model.
The existing episodes are 3D, and cutting from 3D to 2D is jarring, so I like the prospect of 3D animation because it’ll make the cut from the existing episodes to the missing episodes less awkward.
A key issue with the 2D ones is that the characters don’t move very much. You said the background characters in this scene are static, but they actually aren’t. There isn’t a single character in the scene who doesn’t move, even Arnold and Victoria, who don’t speak. Nobody’s static. Another huge benefit is that Troughton’s very animated (no pun intended) performance is translated much better here. If this was 2D, his head would swivel and switch between 3 basic angles.
The actual problem with this animation is the textures of the characters. Clearly they’re too afraid to venture out from the cartoonish style of the previous animations and have drawn lines on the characters’ faces instead of painting semi-realistic textures and letting the natural lighting show the details in the character models. If they strayed away from the cartoonish style, it would be much better.
Polly The Glot
June 16th, 2021 - 7:39amNo one’s asking you to change your opinion, if you like this you like this. It’d be a very boring fandom if we all liked the same thing.
After an established style of 2D animation since Invasion this style is incredibly jarring for many people. Regardless of how much you like it, there are genuine problems with it that needed looking at before offering it as an official release that people, more eloquent than me, have pointed out on forums.
Big Finish released a Bernice Summerfield 3D animation 10 years ago. Whilst cartoonishly stylised it was a country mile better than this Web animation, with tweaking for realism I’d have loved the 3D animation in that style. This is too much like a cut scene from early PlayStation days though. The sad fact is that no animation will ever come close to the filmed episodes but from Invasion we’re used to the switch between 2D and live action…this new style sticks out for being so different and veeringinto uncanny valley.
In the end sales will dictate the popularity of this style. I know that I’m only buying 1 copy this time (and that’s for the Steelbook and other extras) whereasI’ve doubledipped on every previousanimation. I’ve seen other people saying they’ve cancelled their pre orders too. It’s not a style I like, and definitely couldn’t sit through a whole story like this, but in the end time will tell…it always does.
Ryan Croughan
June 14th, 2021 - 4:19pmWhatever happened to the Steelbook? I ordered mine from Zoom which of course I had to cancel when the company dispersed, and I can’t seem to find one on Amazon anymore? Is it still getting released as a Steelbook?
Cymon
June 14th, 2021 - 4:46pmI think the steelbook is still coming out because I looked at my orders on Amazon and there is a picture of the steelbook there, the picture is not particularly great though, 3 yetis next to the TARDIS in a tunnel
I cannot see it available to pre order though but it will probably be listed again nearer the release date whenever that is
booboo
June 14th, 2021 - 4:49pmits way down in searches because it has no release date but its always been there
Anonymous
June 14th, 2021 - 4:15pmI take it there is still no release date yet?
booboo
June 14th, 2021 - 4:34pm16th of August
Anonymous
June 14th, 2021 - 5:15pmThanks boo boo
philip shaw
June 14th, 2021 - 4:10pmFantastic cover, can’t wait to see his Troughton Collection box art!
Ian Cotterill
June 14th, 2021 - 4:04pmIn terms of special features, is there any difference between the standard blu-ray and the steelbook?
Phil
January 24th, 2021 - 7:17pmI saw that this says Region B., Has anyone played this to see if it’s actually region free like previous releases:)
Gordon
January 24th, 2021 - 8:05pmIt’s not even out yet but if it’s like other animated blu rays it should be region free
Alzie Who
November 24th, 2020 - 5:16pmOrdered the blu-ray today. Nice treat for 2021to look forward to. Hope they include the original DVD commentary on episode one with Deborah Watling.
Anonymous
June 14th, 2021 - 4:12pmIt is included! That’s nice
Tim M
November 23rd, 2020 - 1:27pmBrilliant News! The Web of Fear is one of my favourites and having episode 3 animated will nicely complete the story. I suppose the chances of the orginal episode 3 turning up has now dried up.
RPG74
November 23rd, 2020 - 11:25amOMG this is fantastic. My only gripe is that I wish BBC studios had completed this rather than BFC, but this is great news.
MediaLover
November 24th, 2020 - 4:11pmBFC?
RPG74
November 24th, 2020 - 5:15pmBig Finish Creative.
Jonathan Dolan
June 14th, 2021 - 4:52pm100% agree as I think the animation is abysmal.
Anonymous
June 21st, 2021 - 3:47amI personally think the BBC Studios animations are flat, static and don’t try to look like the existing episodes.
Prof Horner
November 23rd, 2020 - 11:24amI did wonder if individual stories like this would be released on blu ray. Has the BBC finally given hope that episode 3 will ever be returned do you think?
Lee D
June 14th, 2021 - 8:05pmI still think episode 3 may turn up, but probably a long way off at the moment.
Jeroen
November 23rd, 2020 - 10:46amNot yet visible on Amazon? Checking later today. Can’t wait tot het this. Fantastic!
booboo
November 23rd, 2020 - 10:49amyou can order the steelbook and blu-ray just not the DVD yet
John
November 23rd, 2020 - 8:45amI really hope they have a photo recon of the missing episode as well (either a brand new one or at least what we got last time), or at least animate it faithfully. Fury from the Deep’s animation choices were just beyond belief
Anonymous
November 25th, 2020 - 4:17pmIn good way or a bad way?
MediaLover
November 25th, 2020 - 4:17pmLol I forgot to sign in!
Robert Sienicki
November 23rd, 2020 - 8:17amOooh, yes! I am so getting this. I can’t see the release date anywhere.
Rob W
November 23rd, 2020 - 9:24amRelease date 1 June 2022 – a Wednesday. No doubt this is To Be Confirmed. There’s also a limited edition Steelbook too.
Gordon
November 23rd, 2020 - 10:27amIt’s been confirmed for 2021.
Mike M
November 23rd, 2020 - 12:40pmIt even says “Coming 2021” in the trailer, so it won’t be June 2022
Anonymous
June 14th, 2021 - 4:18pmOn the Instagram doctor who page for this, it says it will be released on the 16 of August.