Why I like the Velvet Web
"The Keys of Marinus" has an episodic structure that is virtually unique in the series. It is a McGuffin Hunt through disparate worlds, each episode set in a different place with no contact or connection to any of the others. Each has its own flavor and its own villains and challenges. And the villains for episode 2, "the Velvet Web," are a set of malevolent brains in jars.
Everything about the Velvet Web capitalizes on the old Cartesian puzzle. How can we be sure that what we perceive is reality? We could all be mere brains in jars being fed electrical impulses, our lives a constructed fantasy. In addition to featuring literal brains in jars, the Velvet Web is precisely that - a constructed fantasy of opulence, the illusion of luxury. Fine foods and clothes, the odd extremely symbolic pomegranate, anything the heart might desire - but above all leisure and safety, a haven for weary travelers. The TARDIS is great and all, but sometimes you just wanna lie on Divans and eat grapes (see also: "the Romans"). So inviting is this prospect that it proves a Land of the Lotus eaters, distracting our heroes and those before them from their quest and purpose. They actually find the previous questors sent after the titular Keys of Marinus caught in the same web, which I personally find to be a super cool little touch.
All of this is being done by and for the benefit of some malevolent brains in jars. They need the slave force because, well, they don't have hands. And it's super effective! Their workers have no idea they're being held captive and no impetus or desire to find out - and so no basis for resistance. (Is a slave still a slave if he doesn't know he's a slave? YES!) The only real flaw in the system is that it requires a somatic component - some sort of drug tablet thing placed on the forehead during sleep. Once that's been absorbed, the brains can easily maintain control. But should it happen to fall off before then, well, that's when you get trouble. Trouble with a capital T that rhymes with B that stands for Barbara.
I may have mentioned before that Barbara Wright (Ace Historian!) is a total BAMF and quite possibly the single strongest character the show has ever produced. This is one of the first times that really comes out. Barbara is the one whose suspension of disbelief gets broken, as it were. She arises to find the velvet web in tatters that only she can see. This incidentally inspired by very favorite tweet frm the sadly now defunct Just the Doctor twitter: "Barbara is acting strange again." (It's the "again" that makes me lose it every time.) But Barbara is indeed acting very strangely - at least from the point of her companions still wrapped in illusory paradise. It's a conceit I very much enjoy. The Cassandra - the one who speaks the truth but will never be believed. Only Barbara can see through the illusion, and try as she might she cannot convince anyone else to give her even the benefit of the doubt, let alone aid her against their captors. Quite the opposite. They are so far beguiled as to actually join in trying to restrain and overpower her. It's wonderful group dyinamic stuff, as well as really giving Barbara an opportunity to shine.
And does she ever. Undeterred, undaunted, she not only resists the mind control and the pressures of her peers to stay true to the evidence of her eyes, she also gets to the bottom of it. She discovers the proverbial puppet masters, the brains in jars at the center of the web. And she smashes the hell out of them. It's immensely satisfying, both for her and for us. Sometimes violence really is the answer, and as the Doctor himself will later say: "It is a real joy to destroy something truly evil." And where do you think he learned that? The smashing of the brains has all the triumph and catharsis of a well-deserved punch in the face. Is it Barbara's Crowning Moment of Awesome? Well, it's got some pretty serious competition in that time she ran over some Daleks in a truck, but it's up there. Barbara's just kind of great like that. And it really is just incredibly satisfying to see her take a lot of evil brains in jars entirely to pieces.
That's probably the take home point here. Brains. Evil Brains. In Jars. They speak to the same corner of my soul as severed heads (I love me some severed heads, yo). The mental omnipotence coupled with physical helplessness (not to mention true malevolence juxtaposed with inherent silliness) is just plain fun.
The Velvet Web is a great episode all around. It's got Cartesian Doubt, Reckless Violence, and Brains in Jars. And Barbara acting strange again.
Everything about the Velvet Web capitalizes on the old Cartesian puzzle. How can we be sure that what we perceive is reality? We could all be mere brains in jars being fed electrical impulses, our lives a constructed fantasy. In addition to featuring literal brains in jars, the Velvet Web is precisely that - a constructed fantasy of opulence, the illusion of luxury. Fine foods and clothes, the odd extremely symbolic pomegranate, anything the heart might desire - but above all leisure and safety, a haven for weary travelers. The TARDIS is great and all, but sometimes you just wanna lie on Divans and eat grapes (see also: "the Romans"). So inviting is this prospect that it proves a Land of the Lotus eaters, distracting our heroes and those before them from their quest and purpose. They actually find the previous questors sent after the titular Keys of Marinus caught in the same web, which I personally find to be a super cool little touch.
All of this is being done by and for the benefit of some malevolent brains in jars. They need the slave force because, well, they don't have hands. And it's super effective! Their workers have no idea they're being held captive and no impetus or desire to find out - and so no basis for resistance. (Is a slave still a slave if he doesn't know he's a slave? YES!) The only real flaw in the system is that it requires a somatic component - some sort of drug tablet thing placed on the forehead during sleep. Once that's been absorbed, the brains can easily maintain control. But should it happen to fall off before then, well, that's when you get trouble. Trouble with a capital T that rhymes with B that stands for Barbara.
I may have mentioned before that Barbara Wright (Ace Historian!) is a total BAMF and quite possibly the single strongest character the show has ever produced. This is one of the first times that really comes out. Barbara is the one whose suspension of disbelief gets broken, as it were. She arises to find the velvet web in tatters that only she can see. This incidentally inspired by very favorite tweet frm the sadly now defunct Just the Doctor twitter: "Barbara is acting strange again." (It's the "again" that makes me lose it every time.) But Barbara is indeed acting very strangely - at least from the point of her companions still wrapped in illusory paradise. It's a conceit I very much enjoy. The Cassandra - the one who speaks the truth but will never be believed. Only Barbara can see through the illusion, and try as she might she cannot convince anyone else to give her even the benefit of the doubt, let alone aid her against their captors. Quite the opposite. They are so far beguiled as to actually join in trying to restrain and overpower her. It's wonderful group dyinamic stuff, as well as really giving Barbara an opportunity to shine.
And does she ever. Undeterred, undaunted, she not only resists the mind control and the pressures of her peers to stay true to the evidence of her eyes, she also gets to the bottom of it. She discovers the proverbial puppet masters, the brains in jars at the center of the web. And she smashes the hell out of them. It's immensely satisfying, both for her and for us. Sometimes violence really is the answer, and as the Doctor himself will later say: "It is a real joy to destroy something truly evil." And where do you think he learned that? The smashing of the brains has all the triumph and catharsis of a well-deserved punch in the face. Is it Barbara's Crowning Moment of Awesome? Well, it's got some pretty serious competition in that time she ran over some Daleks in a truck, but it's up there. Barbara's just kind of great like that. And it really is just incredibly satisfying to see her take a lot of evil brains in jars entirely to pieces.
That's probably the take home point here. Brains. Evil Brains. In Jars. They speak to the same corner of my soul as severed heads (I love me some severed heads, yo). The mental omnipotence coupled with physical helplessness (not to mention true malevolence juxtaposed with inherent silliness) is just plain fun.
The Velvet Web is a great episode all around. It's got Cartesian Doubt, Reckless Violence, and Brains in Jars. And Barbara acting strange again.