Worldwide Web

"Please tell me intelligent, mutant spiders aren't behind this."

Writer: Eddie Robson
Format: Audio
Released: October 2009
Series: EDA 3.08

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Lucie

Synopsis

Thanks to the Eightfold Truth, Metebelis crystals cover the Earth, and the Eight Legs, giant spiders from that distant world, are poised to take control of the planet.

As the Doctor attempts to deal with the invasion and its connections to a long-lost stellar manipulator he last saw above Orbis, Lucie Miller finds herself playing host to the Great One. Can she break free of the spider leader's control, or will she be lost forever?

Verdict

Worldwide Web was a good conclusion to the story already started in The Eight Truths and to the third series of the Eighth Doctor Adventures itself! This was the first series in the range that I hadn't listened to successively, but spreading things out still made for a thoroughly enjoyable listen! I didn't think this quite lived up to its setup adventure in the previous episode, but given how good that was it would be pretty difficult! Things started interestingly with Goodman being ousted from the Eightfold Truth and Lucie pretty much taking the reins. The idea of Metebelis crystals being harnessed was good and exciting given their abilities to harness and protect thoughts. The power in being able to make something like that was vast! The Doctor briefly recalling his last encounter with the Eight Legs during Planet of the Spiders and describing how they guarded the crystal jealously was great and all that anyone needed as a recap if, like me, they hadn't watched the Third Doctor's swan song recently. Discovering the role of the spiders in how the Eightfold Truth was built for order was very good and I also liked how the timing of that came with us hearing Lucie, our Lucie, on the inside of her mind still there fighting against being taken over. Her questioning of why she was used after only coming into 2015 and the time of the Eightfold Truth right before the events we listened to was good and I liked the answer when it came later with her being used by the Headhunter to draw the stellar manipulator to the planet. It had been following them through the Vortex ever since Orbis which was a nice way of bookending the series. The Doctor still having some of the stones from Metebelis maybe seemed a tad easy, but I liked that they were used again here as being the opposite of the crystals and repelling their effect. The special effects in the spider voice of Lucie was pretty good and a nice way of being able to differentiate. The lack of a shared vision amongst the Eight Legs and some of those not wanting to just rule discreetly from the shadows was very interesting and very logical given what we know of the species. The Doctor acknowledging that he seems to be coming up against a number of old enemies he thought dead was very good and something I thought ought to be acknowledged given the frequency. The Doctor and Karen joining forces actually worked really well which was nice to see and I liked how at the end he made a thing of confirming he'd return to look in on her. A series four appearance perhaps? The cliffhanger worked well with hundreds of millions of Eightfold Truth members, all of whom had a crystal, coming together in the form of a hive mind projecting a psychic pulse laying praise to the Great One. That was quite the sound it has to be said! I liked it a lot. We had a new Great One and it appeared Lucie was dead. Roll credits. The vision that resulted in non-members from the pulse was good as it was making others believed. The Eight Legs were using the stellar manipulator to boost the power of their crystals which brought everything together nicely for their mission. Kelly being given the mission to kill the Doctor was very good, but I was surprised with how suddenly she was killed after running in front of the car Goodman was using. She was such a good and important character in the first episode so that was very impactful. That obviously makes for a good moment though. It wasn't the last we heard of her though as she mysteriously joined Lucie wherever she was! Kelly thought it was Heaven and a reward for her loyalty. In fact it was within the manipulator and a place where the virtual could react with reality which was excellent. I wasn't too surprised to find that the Queen wanted to rule everything including her fellow spiders as she certainly had a history! The idea of downloading Lucie into the TARDIS was quite humorous and the idea of her sharing a joke with the time machine about the Doctor was wonderful. The Headhunter sacrificing herself and trapping the Great One inside her own mind and repelling the awe against itself was admirable. The Doctor was impressed, but I do think he could have done more than ask a question to try and save her life. The way everything was tied up with the forget the Eight Legs chant was decent, but I must admit I'm not a fan of things getting wiped from memory, whether that's a character or the whole of society! Overall though, this was still a fantastic finale.

Rating: 8/10