February 4th, 2022
192 comments
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Doctor Who Web of Fear Steelbook
Available to order from www.amazon.co.uk, www.hive.co.uk and other selected retailers.
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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Gordon
January 3rd, 2021 - 1:09amPhilip Morris is not involved in the special features. He said he was never asked. Can’t say I’m too shocked if I’m honest
Gordon
December 19th, 2020 - 1:01amLee binding posted on twitter about starting a new folder with a photo with various funny folders and a new 1 called web of fear cover so I’d assume he’s doing a cover. Whether it’s for the dvd/blu ray or the steelbook or both is unclear
Bobby Fackrell
December 14th, 2020 - 11:16pmDelayed! Had an email from Amazon
Anonymous
December 15th, 2020 - 2:42amHow can it be delayed when there hasn’t been any release dates mentioned?
Gordon
December 15th, 2020 - 8:14amDelayed till???
Bobby Fackrell
December 15th, 2020 - 8:25amWe regret to inform you that the following items have been delayed as we are still awaiting stock from our suppliers :
“Doctor Who – The Web of Fear [Blu-ray] [2021] (Limited Edition)”
Estimated arrival date: Unknown
Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused by this delay
And it did have a release date in June or July originally can’t remember when now
Gordon
December 15th, 2020 - 8:51amAmazon did have a 1st of June 2022 placeholder date up for it. I’d imagine they just removed the placeholder date
Bobby Fackrell
December 15th, 2020 - 11:58amYes 1st I remember now, cheers Gordon
Lee B
November 27th, 2020 - 1:33pmDoes anyone know if the standard Blu-ray will contain the same content as the Steelbook? I’ve always been buying the steelbooks, but tbh the price is creeping up and just beyond what I’m prepared to pay for them now, especially with everything that’s been going on with the Covid situation. I always said £25 was my max anyway, so I’m sticking with the standard BR’s now.
Bob
November 27th, 2020 - 4:54pmEver since The Faceless Ones, the steelbooks’ contents have been identical to the standard Blu-Rays so you won’t be missing out on anything aside from really nice casing. The preorder price for the steelbook is pretty high but it will come down and, unlike The Collection boxsets, won’t sell out instantly so don’t rule them out for budgetary reasons just yet.
Lee B
November 27th, 2020 - 9:00pmThanks Bob, will keep an eye out and see if the price drops a little. I’ve pre-ordered the standard blu-ray for now.
ISIT Neil
December 3rd, 2020 - 2:36pm….to my understanding (based on the current information, is that; this release will be issued on DVD and L/E collectors Steel-book only……{and not Standard Blu-Ray}….FYI
As a result of the standardised releases with all formats having the same content, the BBC have deemed that both a blu-ray and a steel-book release is not necessary when there is a DVD also available, and so their current policy with these S/E or standalone releases (like Power of the Daleks S/E and Enemy of the world S/E) is to release them on DVD and (EITHER Blu-ray or Steel-book).
booboo
December 3rd, 2020 - 2:45pmBoth zoom and Amazon have listings for a std Blu-ray?
RPG74
December 3rd, 2020 - 3:18pmNonsense I’m afraid ISIT Neil. There are always three disc versions.
Chorley
November 27th, 2020 - 3:24amTrailer looks awesome! Love the animations, can’t wait!
Tim M
November 25th, 2020 - 6:02pmHopefully it means the chances of at least only episodes 1 and 4 of ‘The Underwater Menace’ being animated look more likely at some point. I actually really like the animation in the trailer for ‘The Web of Fear’. No doubt the actual episode 3 animated will be in the same style.
DPHill
November 25th, 2020 - 5:58pmI feel as thought this trailer was perhaps a little too experimental, but I have high hopes that the finished product will be good at the very least. Also, doctor who fans are spoilt much more than other fandoms, so just be happy about not living in war-torn Yemen for instance.
I’m sure one day there will be a complete web of fear, until then, we must go forward in all our beliefs and prove the doctor is not mistaken in mind.
Moreover, if they are currently up to 12 episodes and with current rumours of abominable snowmen and evil ofthe daleks, next year would make 14. If this continual increase continues – and we can’t deny it’s been slowed (exclude the pandemic) then 2022 could well treat us to 14-16 episodes. My theory is they will finish the fifth and sixth seasons with wheel in space and space pirates to total 12 episodes and the remaining 2-4 episodes be spent on the Underwater Menace. It would be a trilogy of less well regarded stories so they may even save budget by just doing lost episodes or one version instead of doing both colour & monochrome.
Either way, Dalek’s Master Plan seems likeliest of all the candidates for 2023 – here’s hoping.
Anonymous
November 25th, 2020 - 7:07pmNumber of episodes really isn’t the problem, its the content of those episodes. Producing a lot of complex costumes or sets is a lot of work, much more than a half dozen characters in a generic sci-fi base.
Richard Martin
November 25th, 2020 - 11:54amYes we need mission to the unknown and daleks master plan to be animated
Anonymous
November 25th, 2020 - 12:50amThat animation is terrifying. I get it. It’s nice and fluid and the 3D set is lovely. I hope they go for a more natural look this time instead of constant cutting. I’m not complaining much. It’s DOV what can you expect.
Gordon
November 24th, 2020 - 2:27amBeing honest I wasn’t really keen on the animation trailer at first. However I’ve watched it a couple of times and it’s kind of grown on me a little.
I’m not too concerned at the moment though as it’s a teaser and it’s in colour and in 16:9. I’m sure when we get the final finished product it will be in 4:3 and black and white. I know some didn’t like how big finish creative did it’s own thing but seeing as it has 5 episodes to blend in with I feel it’s going to be closer to the actual episodes than doing it’s own thing. The arms on Troughton don’t look ridiculously long either.
On the zoom listing it’s advertised as a 2 disc which isn’t an official confirmation but I’d be surprised if it isn’t. The lack of announcement of special features doesn’t surprise me. With previous animations they don’t reveal all the extras until the final cover is revealed. They probably haven’t finalised the extras yet
As for disc contents here’s my wishlist
Disc 1:
Episodes 1,2,4,5,6 new remasters
Newly Animated episode 3
New telesnap reconstruction on ep 3 from Derek Handley
lost in time episode 1 commentary
New Commentary episodes 2-6 with Toby Hadoke moderating
Isolated score
5.1 mix
Production subtitles
Disc 2:
Making of documentary
Making of animation
Great intelligence documentary
Yeti documentary looking at the men that played them
Now and then: the locations of web of fear
1990
31 who interview with Mervyn Haisman
Some archive audio interviews (if available)
2013 news reports and articles
2013 trailer
Web of fear animated teaser trailer
Fury from the deep audio trailer reconstructed (it wasn’t on the fury release)
The photo gallery
Pdf material
Think it makes sense for big finish creative to be tackling this if they are also tackling the abominable snowman which I think they are also doing. It makes both stories consistent plus you got yeti in both so it makes sense to use the same yeti asset.
As for when it’s out it’s obviously not the June 2022 release as that’s clearly a placeholder. I wonder if it might take the March 2021 animation slot and it might give evil a bit more time to be worked on seeing as it’s a longer story. It could always come out the same time as the power se did this year.
This upcoming release of web helps fill 1 of the last couple of inconstancies in the range. It was the only dvd left that hadn’t any special features at at all. There Is only 1real inconsistency left
The underwater menace will happen at some point. They are going to run out of Troughton stories in the next 2-3 years. It looks inevitable at this point and them being open to the idea of animating only the missing episodes with web 3 makes it possible they will do the same here when the time comes.
We are now at 30 missing episodes animated with another 67 still to go. 14 stories left unanimated. If evil and abominable do happen next year that will take the total to 41 episodes animated with 12 stories still to go. With each passing year it makes the odds in completing the missing episodes rise every year. With each passing year I’m getting more confident that they will eventually get everything done. The likes of crusade and Marco Polo maybe may look unlikely at present but in about 5 years years time when there is only a handful of stories left it’s chances are going to be a lot higher
Coleman
November 24th, 2020 - 2:51pmWell Gordon,
I don’t think I can add anything else to that.
Anonymous
November 24th, 2020 - 5:39pmReally would love underwater to be done.
Erato
November 24th, 2020 - 6:42pmI hope you’re right Gordon because I’m really struggling to find anything positive to say about the teaser trailer animation…
RPG74
November 24th, 2020 - 6:42pmThough I’m happy for Big Finish to work on completing titles like Web of Fear and The Underwater Menace, I hope they’re kept at arms length from Abominable and Evil. I’d prefer the animation for those titles to be at a Macra Terror/Faceless Ones level.
Anonymous
November 23rd, 2020 - 9:20pmI’ve just bought a brand new (released last week) film and due to plastic rule changes it’s in a slimline case.
Coleman
November 24th, 2020 - 3:05pmThat could be problematic for us collectors if the rest of the Dr Who Dvds that are left to animate all come in slimline cases due to new laws.
(I for one would like my collection to match).
Before someone says just swap the cases, surely the inner sleeve wouldn’t match either with a much smaller spine.
Rob W
November 24th, 2020 - 4:45pmA Blu-ray only issue?
Coleman
November 24th, 2020 - 5:25pmNot sure if it’s Dvd, Blu-ray or both.
1st I’d heard about it when anonymous posted above.
But id already heard about the Dr Who dvd cases changing from silver grey to clear after all these years, because of changes in the law.
So I hope it doesn’t go any further.
Anonymous
November 24th, 2020 - 8:53pmDVD in slimline case just checked bluray version for you Coleman and that looks standard sized. No idea though if this is a move towards slimline cases as standard. Considering the plastic situation I wouldn’t be surprised if the slimline option doesn’t become the norm
The Loiterer
November 25th, 2020 - 4:23amWhat film was it, Anonymous? Some UK companies nearly always use thin cases for movies (e.g. Network) just to help with space saving or because they think it looks good. I think it’s really only UK and Aus that use thicker Blu-ray cases though (?), due to their Red Tag security compatibility – shops wanted to keep using the tags they’d bought for DVD.
As for laws, I thought the BBC case changes were due to company policy (re. recycled and recyclable materials)? The only thick cases actually going out of production at the moment as far as I know are the clear Amaray Blu-ray, favoured by Arrow and some of the other boutique labels. Amaray are still making thick BD cases in blue and you can still get thick clear cases from other manufacturers, like Scanavo and the copycats. But the disc market is shrinking and some case varieties are being dropped for economic reasons – a horror movie company has been forced to stop using thin blood-red cases this year due to production ending.
Doctor Who releases will be fine.
Anonymous
November 25th, 2020 - 9:20amIt’s the first studio canal release I’ve had in a slimline case. To be honest it doesn’t bother me either way
Anonymous
November 23rd, 2020 - 7:00pmWhy are some fans so negative? Be happy we are getting this at all. There was nothing wrong with the trailer. Animation is never going to be the same as reality. Just accept it and enjoy it.
Anonymous
November 23rd, 2020 - 7:29pmThere is nothing wrong with reasonable criticism so long as it is reasonable, I personally enjoy the animations but can completely understand why some people may be upset or have problems if they see a drop in quality between releases.
Blind love is just as problematic as blind hate, times are hard and people are understandably more careful with where their money is going. Telling people to stop complaining and just accept an inferior product has never gone down well in any industry.
Anonymous
November 23rd, 2020 - 9:19pmYes but it seems some fans aren’t happy about anything!
Doctor
November 23rd, 2020 - 5:37pmBooboo I wonder is this all were getting next year for doctor doctor animations
Anonymous
November 23rd, 2020 - 6:53pmLittle bit of patience. This will be an extra, quick to do release
Gordon
November 23rd, 2020 - 9:36pmEvil and abominable are both rumoured
Coleman
November 23rd, 2020 - 4:50pmI’ll be getting this badboy.
Worth it for the missing episode animated instead of the photosnaps.
Anonymous
November 23rd, 2020 - 11:37amAre the episodes in Blu Ray HD?
Gordon
November 23rd, 2020 - 9:55pmWhen they were restored in 2013 they were transferred in hd. It’s a 16mm telerecording so it might scrub up quite nice on blu
Gordon
November 23rd, 2020 - 10:56pmIt was transferred in high definition when it was originally restored in 2013 though there probably will be additional restoration work from what was on the original dvd. Enemy of the world had additional restoration work when they did the special edition so I’m hopeful the same will happen. Going by the restored clips that they used from Krotons, mind robber and seeds of death on the whose doctor who documentary web should scrub up quite nicely. It’s also going to benefit from the better encodes and less compression that blu ray provides over dvd
Des
November 23rd, 2020 - 11:09amAny comment on special features…. or is this going to be yet another bare bones edition. We KNOW episode three is out there, because it got stolen in Nigeria in the 30 minutes that it was out of the finder’s sight, but Enemy of the World wasn’t touched. Negotiations are still ongoing, apparently. So we would be looking at a potential third dipping down the line.
Gordon
November 23rd, 2020 - 11:42amZoom describes it as a 2 disc set so will have a bonus disc full of extras. The problem with web 3 is that web 3 went walkies almost a decade ago. They were negotiating about 5 years ago. A lot could have happened since then. The person who went away with it could have sold it on or the film could have disintegrated. The bbc can’t wait forever on it
The Loiterer
November 25th, 2020 - 4:42amI would think that after the alleged thief had been called out, he either dumped the film to protect himself or hid it somewhere in the TV station – where it ended up consumed by the 2015 fire.
Chorley
November 27th, 2020 - 3:23amWe don’t “know” anything. Just Phillip Morris’s lunatic nonsense and gaslighting of fans. Who knows what became of it? Maybe it wasn’t there to begin with, maybe it was too damaged to restore, maybe it was stolen, maybe Morris has it, maybe a fan or private collector has it… who knows? Until Morris stops with his craziness none of us will know the truth, and probably never will.
Anonymous
November 23rd, 2020 - 10:54am£30 for essentially one new animated episode seems expensive!
Gordon
November 23rd, 2020 - 11:02amAnd a bonus disc full of goodies
A disappointed fan
November 23rd, 2020 - 10:48amTeaser just dropped on the Doctor Who YouTube channel.
I’ve been following these releases since “The Invasion” came out 14 years ago, and looking at the animation style on the teaser, this is their first mis-step. Don’t know what they were thinking going with 3D animation. Troughton‘s arms have a life of their own, and he seems to float more than walk.
Sorry to say all that but I’m just genuinely gutted. For the first time ever, I completely understand the people who say that no animation is better than a bad animation. Style is everything with these releases.
Auton
November 23rd, 2020 - 11:34amI don’t think that is what the final animation will look like as that is just for the teaser trailer which is based on the original trailer for web of fear
RPG74
November 23rd, 2020 - 11:37amIs this not just a preliminary animation you think, something they whipped up quickly for the teaser? Final result should at least be on a par with Fury, I should think.
Anonymous
November 23rd, 2020 - 11:51amHere we go…
A disappointed fan
November 23rd, 2020 - 12:02pmRPG74, I really hope you are right, but I have a feeling the final product will look identical to this trailer.
JL
November 23rd, 2020 - 12:11pmi actually quite liked the style, i think it’s cool that each animation is unique in some respect and i like them being experimental with different styles
RPG74
November 23rd, 2020 - 2:45pmPerhaps, in due course, booboo will be able to confirm if this is just a prelim animatic. It certainly looks like a rush job in a bid to make the 23rd. In any case, it wouldn’t put me off collecting this since I didn’t purchase the original version (I hoped an animated ‘complete’ version would appear eventually!).
Philip Shaw
November 23rd, 2020 - 3:28pmI’d like the animation team that did The Macra Terror and Power of the Daleks as I thought both these were great. The extra long arms on Fury from the deep totally spoiled it for me, and believe me it was great apart from this…
ChrisP
November 23rd, 2020 - 7:58pmAlso don’t love the long arms – found them really distracting on fury
martin ridley
November 23rd, 2020 - 10:40amwonderful news can’t wait please do dal;ek masterplan
Anonymous
November 25th, 2020 - 11:44amYes I want mission to the unknown and daleks master plan to be animated
Gordon
November 23rd, 2020 - 10:36amThe Web of Fear will be released in 2021 on DVD, Blu-ray and as an exclusive Steelbook next year. And in this new edition, episode 3 will be animated, completing the partly missing adventure, produced by Big Finish Creative in collaboration with BBC Studios, with animation created by Shapeshifter Studios.
Anonymous
November 23rd, 2020 - 10:25amGreat news. I’d rather have an animated version than wait for a return that might never happen. For those who will no doubt complain about this release, just don’t buy it and let the rest of us enjoy it. Amazon have 2021 down for the DVD.
Lee Moone
November 26th, 2020 - 9:41amThis is good to see. With his hand movements he is a bit 11th Drish though. Main gripe for me is the wrong bowtie, it wasnt his spotty one , it was his paisley one. That said, i’m pleased to see that the hankie looks as if it has the correct pattern on it as detailed on my blog. To read about the hankie and bowties in Pat’s costume, (and even the 3 Sonic Screwdriver props he used) go to my blog at http://www.thezeroroomblog.blogspot.com
The Loiterer
November 28th, 2020 - 6:15amMessage for Lee Moone:
I can’t post on your blog sorry (no Google account), but a quick bit of info on the Ever Ready/War Games sonic for you:
The earliest versions with the twist-top have the same metal finish as the push-button version – I “borrowed” my dad’s when War Games came out on VHS and I’ve just checked it again now. I’d never seen the shiny-finish version until I looked at your rather interesting site – which I hope you’ll continue adding to, because I really want to hear about the shenanigans involving the 70s sonics at the Cardiff exhibition.
DPHill
November 23rd, 2020 - 9:51amWhat if it was a cunning ruse?! It would be a lovely surprise to have the real episode and that would send everyone wild if they shocked us like that, but it is unlikely. This is a good enough surprise and maybe even hints at AbominableSnowmen as per rumours – could well be a box set…
To me, I think they’re going with a fund builder – people will buy this classic in a completed form and it’s a test for the B&W footage restoration too; maybe they are trying to build funds for a 50th anniversary Master Plan!
Prof Horner
November 23rd, 2020 - 11:43amI think the BBC will want something special to celebrate the big birthday in 2023 and it seems to me that The Dalek masterplan would be the one . It is also good news that they seem to be speeding up the animation .maybe we will get The space Pirates before too long for season six box set on blu ray.
Anonymous
November 23rd, 2020 - 9:46am2022 release? Right.. let the long wait begin
booboo
November 23rd, 2020 - 9:55amI think that just a default date
MikeM
November 23rd, 2020 - 6:42pmIt states “coming 2021” at the end of the trailer
JL
November 23rd, 2020 - 9:06amis this steelbook more expensive than the last few animations? is there going to be more special features? i only ask as it seems like a lot to pay for an exclusive 25 minute animation, sorry to sound ungrateful…
Gordon
November 23rd, 2020 - 10:29amIt’s 2 quid more expensive though I feel that may drop down to that considering the 50th steelbook is 27.99
Andrew Robinson
November 23rd, 2020 - 8:43amHeads up.
HMV have last three steel book animations CHEAP today.
(macra less than £17 IIRC)
So I think I will wait. Only so much double dipping I can take.
Rob W
November 23rd, 2020 - 9:39amHMV also have loads of recent Blu-ray releases with 20 percent off. Search using HIDEF20
daz
November 23rd, 2020 - 8:12amI guess the person who has episode 3 was demanding too much for it as they know it is out there still.
Glad they have animated it. Especially for the Brigs first scenes. Hopefully this means they might do other odd missing episodes to complete a Season? Maybe.
Auton
November 23rd, 2020 - 9:23amPerhaps underwater menace will be next as that should be an easy one to animate
skaroman
November 23rd, 2020 - 6:35amGood to hear that they haven’t forgotten about this one. I guess Web3 is truly out there missing since it’s been 7 years searching…
Can’t wait for it though!
Auton
November 23rd, 2020 - 8:05amI’m sure it will turn up eventually but at least for now we will have a complete version with the animated episode 3 and hopefully some special features too
the ergon
November 23rd, 2020 - 6:00amIts whats been wanting, until/unless that elusive episode 3 turns up. I had a feeling they would get round to animating this after Enemy. Very pleased.
Sarge
November 23rd, 2020 - 4:04amMajority Non-animated 60’s Who on Blu-ray! Could this be our first look at a cleaned up B&W story to go along with the new animated episode?
Gordon
November 23rd, 2020 - 2:49am1 step closer to getting season 5 completed