Doctor Who: Summary: The Velvet Web

The Velvet Web is the second episode of the Doctor Who serial The Keys of Marinus, and Episode 22 of Season 1 overall. It first aired on April 18, 1964. The series stars the First Doctor, played by William Hartnell, traveling with his granddaughter Susan (Carole Ann Ford) and companions Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill).

After arriving on the planet Marinus, the TARDIS crew are forced by Arbitan, keeper of the Conscience machine, to track down five keys scattered across the world. In The Velvet Web, the group reaches the apparently idyllic city of Morphoton to find the first key. The city’s citizens live in luxury and praise their unseen rulers, the Morpho. Barbara is given beautiful clothes and treated like royalty, while the others are welcomed as honored guests.

However, Barbara soon realizes something is wrong. The opulence is an illusion created by mind control. The “Morpho” are actually a single, grotesque brain creature using telepathic influence to enslave the city’s inhabitants. When the Doctor and his friends destroy the brain creature’s life-support machines, the illusion collapses and the people of Morphoton are freed. The travelers recover the first key and prepare to continue Arbitan’s quest, but they’re now aware that each location on Marinus will hide its own dangers.