and meets a Menoptra called Vrestin (Roslyn de Winter). He learns the Menoptra and the Zarbi are native to the planet. The Animus has taken control of the planet, and the Menoptra have fled to one of the moons that the Animus has pulled into orbit. The Doctor accidentally reveals the Menoptra spearhead plan to land near the Crater of Needles, giving the Animus the opportunity to ambush them. Ian and Vrestin meet the Optera, descendants of the Menoptra who fled underground, and convince them to help fight the Animus, digging upwards beneath the Carsinome. At the Crater of Needles, Barbara and Hrostar fail in their attempt to warn the Menoptra and the spearhead is massacred. The Doctor deduces that the Animus uses gold to channel its mesmerising force and counteracts it to control a Zarbi and escape with Vicki. They meet Barbara and the Menoptra and devise a plan to attack the Carsinome. The Doctor and Vicki are taken by the Zarbi to the Animus, a great spider-like creature. Barbara and the Menoptra attack the Carsinome from outside while Ian, Vrestin, and the Optera reach the Animus from below. They defeat the Animus with the Isoptope, a cell-destroying weapon devised by the Menoptra. The Zarbi return to their docile state, and the planet turns to its purer state. The Doctor and his companions leave in the TARDIS, and the creatures of Vortis promise to tell stories of their saviours. Production Conception and writing In 1964, Australian writer Bill Strutton viewed Doctor Who and decided that he wanted to write for it, although he had no knowledge of science fiction. After his agents at Associated London Scripts contacted the production team, Strutton was invited to discuss his story idea with producer Verity Lambert and story editor David Whitaker. They asked him to avoid robotic monsters due to the success of the Daleks. Strutton recalled a memory as a toddler, watching two bull ants fighting inside an empty kerosene can; he linked this memory with his two sons, aged six and four, fighting each other. He discussed the idea with Lambert, and Whitaker officially commissioned the story, Doctor Who and the Webbed Planet, on 28 September 1964. Richard Martin was assigned to direct the serial. Although disappointed with the scripts, Martin observed that they were as close to a fantasy adventure as Doctor Who should get; he felt that they had