Saturday 18th April 1964 - Doctor Who - The Velvet Web
"You are in the city of Morphoton. Our people are perhaps the most contented in the universe. Nothing they desire is denied them."
This was actually quite fun. There’s a dream-like quality to this episode that works really effectively (and manages to overcome the obvious deficiencies with the set) - with the caution that what we see on screen can't really be trusted.
After being concerned about Barbara’s blood on the (transmat) device, the Doctor, Susan and Ian find her in a luxurious palace being attended upon by servants. (It’s one of those Dionysian worlds that original Star Trek would later perfect.) Some sort of alarm goes off when the travellers enter the place that Barbara is which is later revealed to affect their perceptions.
In the very short few minutes that Barbara is separated from the others, she changes clothes and is pampered while reclining on a chase longue. The travellers are offered food such as pomegranates and truffles which are foods clearly hallucinated (who knows what they were really eating!).
They've arrived in the city of Morphoton, where their every wish is seemingly fulfilled. At first Ian and the Doctor are skeptical but the promise of a cutting-edge laboratory win them over. Susan is easily seduced by a silk dress.
Behind the deception are brains with eyes on stalks in bell jars who use a power they call mesmeron. These brains have evolved beyond their bodies but need to ensnare visitors to serve as slaves ("We are the masters of this place. Our brains out-grew our bodies. It is our intelligence that has created this whole city, but we need the help of the human body to feed us and to carry out our orders."). Somno-discs are placed on the foreheads of sleeping travellers which cause them to be hypnotised into perceiving the city as beautiful when it's much the opposite.
Not much is made of the quest that the travellers are on for Arbitan until the very end when the Doctor decides to split from the others and jump ahead (presumably, in real life, Hartnell was off on holiday and looks pretty happy about it, too). The Doctor must - after the months that they spent together travelling with Marco Polo - have finally developed enough trust in Ian and Barbara to let Susan stay with them. Up until now, the Doctor would have been protective of his grand-daughter and kept her close.
The travellers pick up Altos, Artiban's courier and Sabetha (Arbitan's daughter who had the second key in the form of a medallion... I think; you have to assume this as we're not told anything about the key explicitly) to accompany them. This time, Susan (transmats) goes ahead and the episode ends with her screaming her head off in the... Screaming Forest!
It would have been good to see establishing shots of Morphoton in order to get an idea of where they were. We rely on what the characters tell us and some diegetic sounds of disorder when the influence of the brains is removed. Even a model of the city from distance (both illusory and then as it actually looks). I like the attempts that are made to show things from Barbara's point of view when she is no longer under the influence of the brains - especially the creepy way that Altos comes to speak to her and the way she sees herself and the others. I'm also shocked by the violence she shows in attacking and, presumably, killing the brains. Perhaps the trauma of being captured in the Cave of Five Eyes finally shows itself.
This was actually quite fun. There’s a dream-like quality to this episode that works really effectively (and manages to overcome the obvious deficiencies with the set) - with the caution that what we see on screen can't really be trusted.
After being concerned about Barbara’s blood on the (transmat) device, the Doctor, Susan and Ian find her in a luxurious palace being attended upon by servants. (It’s one of those Dionysian worlds that original Star Trek would later perfect.) Some sort of alarm goes off when the travellers enter the place that Barbara is which is later revealed to affect their perceptions.
In the very short few minutes that Barbara is separated from the others, she changes clothes and is pampered while reclining on a chase longue. The travellers are offered food such as pomegranates and truffles which are foods clearly hallucinated (who knows what they were really eating!).
They've arrived in the city of Morphoton, where their every wish is seemingly fulfilled. At first Ian and the Doctor are skeptical but the promise of a cutting-edge laboratory win them over. Susan is easily seduced by a silk dress.
Behind the deception are brains with eyes on stalks in bell jars who use a power they call mesmeron. These brains have evolved beyond their bodies but need to ensnare visitors to serve as slaves ("We are the masters of this place. Our brains out-grew our bodies. It is our intelligence that has created this whole city, but we need the help of the human body to feed us and to carry out our orders."). Somno-discs are placed on the foreheads of sleeping travellers which cause them to be hypnotised into perceiving the city as beautiful when it's much the opposite.
Not much is made of the quest that the travellers are on for Arbitan until the very end when the Doctor decides to split from the others and jump ahead (presumably, in real life, Hartnell was off on holiday and looks pretty happy about it, too). The Doctor must - after the months that they spent together travelling with Marco Polo - have finally developed enough trust in Ian and Barbara to let Susan stay with them. Up until now, the Doctor would have been protective of his grand-daughter and kept her close.
The travellers pick up Altos, Artiban's courier and Sabetha (Arbitan's daughter who had the second key in the form of a medallion... I think; you have to assume this as we're not told anything about the key explicitly) to accompany them. This time, Susan (transmats) goes ahead and the episode ends with her screaming her head off in the... Screaming Forest!
It would have been good to see establishing shots of Morphoton in order to get an idea of where they were. We rely on what the characters tell us and some diegetic sounds of disorder when the influence of the brains is removed. Even a model of the city from distance (both illusory and then as it actually looks). I like the attempts that are made to show things from Barbara's point of view when she is no longer under the influence of the brains - especially the creepy way that Altos comes to speak to her and the way she sees herself and the others. I'm also shocked by the violence she shows in attacking and, presumably, killing the brains. Perhaps the trauma of being captured in the Cave of Five Eyes finally shows itself.
Next episode: The Screaming Jungle
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