Doctor Who (TV Series) Escape to Danger (1965) User Reviews

Escape to Danger

[guswhovian · 7/10 · 28 July 2020]

The Doctor is forced to cooperate with the Animus, who controls the Zarbi. Meanwhile, Ian escapes the Zarbi and meets the Menoptera Vrestin.

Richard Martin's direction is slightly better than it was last week, but this episode does include the (in)famous scene of one of the Zarbi bumping into the camera. Ian's escape attempt is horribly directed, and includes one unintentionally funny fight scene with a Zarbi.

Jackie Hill is absent for this week (even her credit is missing!), and her presence is missed. William Russell spends most of the episode running around corridors, but he does share a good scene with Roslyn De Winter towards the end of the episode.

This one's a bit silly in parts, but contains some great info.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 6/10 · 25 October 2019]

A powerful force speaks to The Doctor, seeking help to destroy The Menoptera.

I'd forgotten this was a six part story, this part is a little bit padded, this one is a bit silly, with lots of weird creatures running about the place, scenes Rentaghost would have been proud of, although I love the introduction of the Animus, that soothing voice had a sinister effect, similar to The Great Intelligence. Some nice detail about the planet, Animus etc.

It's a bit fuzzy looking in parts to be honest, I wonder if that was a natural side effect, or a deliberate special effects. They at least have the flying Menoptera's strings out of sight, something they failed to sort in Tomb of the Cybermen.

Decent. 6/10

The Web Planet Part 3: Ambitious but sadly unsuccessful.

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 5/10 · 6 July 2014]

Review for all 6 episodes:

This story gets a lot of bad reviews and dislike but it also has fans who defend it vociferously.

I do not hate it like some people but I also do not love it or really enjoy it very much. It isn't as terrible as some viewers say but also isn't particularly entertaining for me.

Surely it definitely deserves points for ambition as it attempts to show us a completely alien world with insect-like aliens which look and behave in a very non-human way. I applaud it for such a brave attempt but there are two problems. Firstly the technology and budget were not up to presenting the aliens well enough and secondly there is a lack of a compelling story.

If you are fair to it by bearing in mind its age you should not hate it too much for its dodgy costumes and other effects. I try not to heavily criticise and hugely deduct points for dated effects. I only do that if the effects are poor for the time it was made. However, even being fair in this way and recognising it is better than the worst Doctor Who stories from the 80s or modern Who, this is the weakest Hartnell era adventure in my opinion and well below the usual high standard of the show because it just drags too much for me.

The effects were acceptable for their time given the low budget and time constraints but the problem is there is too much reliance on the effects even though the budget was not nearly enough to create the effects required. The story puts all the emphasis on the creation of alien beings in insect form on a very alien landscape. It neglects giving us an exciting enough adventure to keep me interested.

The costumes and effects look silly to many modern viewers and give it all a pantomime feel but this would be forgivable if the story and script were strong enough to stand up on their own. Sadly, while it is far from awful, I do not think the story or dialogue are strong enough. If you imagine overlaying modern CGI effects onto this to make it all look plausible I am afraid it would still leave a lacklustre story with some below par performances in my opinion.

I am sad to say I find it rather boring and repetetive for too much of the time. It is very stretched and lacking in content. It is filled up with ear splitting sounds going on for too long and events going a bit round in circles. It has good aspects but is a weaker than average story by comparison to the great adventures in the history of Doctor Who.

However, it is saved from total failure by its ambition in presenting a strange world full of non humanoid aliens and the better parts of script, story and acting. It is not all bad and it is an interesting idea but it is badly realised and becomes boring. It is what I would call a brave but ultimately disappointing misfire.

My Ratings: Episode 1 - 5.5, Episodes 2, 3,4 and 6 - 5/10, Episode 5 - 4.5/10

Average rating : 5/10.