Story #27 - The War Machines (1966)

Harry -
Well, here's something completely different: an adventure that takes place in contemporary London! Although I wonder, because of the real-time that has elapsed between broadcast and present day, would "The War Machines" now qualify as a kind of historical? I wonder... I wonder...

Still, welcome to Earth!


Sarah -
It seems almost revolutionary for this point in Doctor Who, doesn't it? We know we’re going to spend a lot of time on Mother Earth from here on out, but for now it feels so fresh.

We need to give a shout out to the timely title graphics. How cool are they?


Harry -
A refreshing change. I always loved that "computer" font.


Sarah -
And then we get a gorgeous opening shot. The War Machines had my attention from the get go!


Harry -
Great establishing shot.


Sarah -
In the opening scene, it seems that they’ve come to Earth on purpose…or perhaps it’s just another happy accident. The Doctor’s manic response to the Post Office Tower sets our adventure in motion. I had a good laugh when Dodo asked “Daleks? Who are they?” For better or worse, Dodo, you’ll never have the chance to find out.


Harry -
The movement of time kept coming to mind as I watched this story. There are so many cuts from one scene to the next where a sizeable chunk of time seems to have passed. It was more jarring than usual, and it makes us miss out on moments that go unseen. How, for instance, was the Doctor able to just waltz into the Post Office Tower and be welcomed by all? Perhaps he flashed the Psychic Paper?


Sarah -
I was wondering that myself. They seem to have just wandered in.

Despite any problems I may have had with the continuity, I really enjoyed this story. It was so much of fun to watch.


Harry -
Absolutely. This is one of my favourites. It's a "diabolical supercomputer" story that was all the rage at the time, and I love the scenes in The Inferno club.


Sarah -
The Inferno Club! The Hottest Nightspot in Town! *Cue the swinging music!*


Harry -
We meet three fun new characters here: Polly the swinging 60s girl, Ben the moody sailor, and Kitty the bargirl whose Winehouse hairdo distracts from the fact that she doesn't seem to serve up one drop of alcohol the entire time. The crowd doesn't seem to mind. They look a pretty straight-laced set in their jackets and ties.


Sarah -
I guess that counted as swinging around the BBC at the time…

Could Polly be any cuter? Dodo should have seen it coming. I love that Ben is introduced with, “He’s not great advertisement for the most with it place in town, is he?” He and Polly have immediate chemistry.


Harry -
Am I going to keep bringing up the weirdness of time in this story?  Apparently.  How about that news conference hosted by Sir Charles, the one where he announces that all major computer systems will be transferred over to the control of WOTAN. Strange to be making such a monumental announcement in the middle of the night. The Doctor barely has time to pull some quizzical faces before he goes clubbing with the youngsters.


Sarah -
I kind of loved Sir Charles. He was perfect. The thing that confused me is that all the scientists pronounce WOTAN as “Votan.” What’s with that? Some wacky cold war thing? A running joke at the Royal Scientific Club?


Harry -
It might be one of those English things, like how they pronounce "St. John" to rhyme with "engine".


Sarah -
Actually, the whole WOTAN thing is a bit wacky. Why would any of the nations involved agree to have their computer systems linked up to some super computer? It wasn’t clear to me how WOTAN achieved conscious and got all the war machines placed. For a while I thought it was an alien lifeforce, but I guess WOTAN was just your run-of-the-mill evil supercomputer after all.

Still, it’s pretty amusing when the Doctor and Dodo are impressed by the computer’s ability to compute the square root of 17422 and define TARDIS. After all he’s seen, the Doctor is excited by square roots?


Harry -
The man loves his maths.


Sarah -
Don’t we all?

This bring us to the biggest controversy of this story: for the only time in the series, the Doctor is referred to as “Doctor Who” by WOTAN. So much for the alleged “supercomputer.”


Harry -
Rob and Toby opine on this and other oddities that the production crew inserted into the story. I think Toby's standard response to such things is "it didn't count." I'm fine with that!

Jumping all over the place here. It was great to see the Doctor back in his fur hat and cape too, which we haven't seen since "An Unearthly Child." It's his best look.


Sarah -
It’s a great look. I imagine him keeping it in a special cupboard marked “Earth.”


Harry -
Hah!

As for Dodo... the enthusiasm she generated in the previous story seems to have been all for naught. Here, she's got a headache, maybe hearing voices again, who knows? Rather than continuing to play detective, she's fallen under the mind control of WOTAN. Who will help the Doctor now?


Sarah -
I couldn’t help but think that the Doctor should have known that something was up with Dodo when she started acting so lucid.


Harry -
And "Hah!" again.


Sarah -
Poor Dodo doesn’t have the power to fight the voices in her head, as Polly does later in the story. We need our companions to be strong, not mad.

Having spent these many stories happily slagging Dodo, I felt kind of badly about how quickly she’s dismissed by the story. Dodo’s brain is taken over, she tries to lure the Doctor to WOTAN, gets hypnotized by the Doctor, is shipped off to the country – and it’s adios Dodo!


Harry -
Worst companion intro and worst companion exit to date. She was one strange duck.

But Ben and Polly fill the gap admirably. Ben takes on the role of "heavy lifter" when the Doctor dispatches him to investigate the goings-on at the warehouse. Meanwhile Polly literally steps into the role that Dodo has just abandoned. It was quite remarkable.


Sarah -
Wasn’t it? Companions usually get their little moment in the sun when leaving the Doctor. Dodo’s barely off-screen before Polly’s taken over the possessed-companion role.


Harry -
And now, a moment of tribute for the most well-known vagrant in London, whose death and photo made the papers within hours. Again, this is that weirdness of time that keeps bugging me about this story.


Sarah -
It was insane, but I loved it. What a performance by Roy Godfrey! Shear genius! Perhaps the tramp was a black sheep of the Royal Family who fled Buckingham Palace to live a life of freedom on the open road. That would explain the cab ride to his squat and not having the right change for the driver.


Harry -
At the warehouse, Ben discovers the war machines being assembled. This is probably the one big let-down of the story. The term "war machines" evokes something powerful and menacing, but these clunkers are just ridiculous -- like slower, dumber, clumsier Daleks in a way. Plungers already used up? Let's give 'em a comedy mallet! Yeesh.


Sarah -
The actual war machines are undoubtedly the most disappointing aspect of The War Machines. Even the knowledge that they can break tables and smash through stacks of crates is not enough to kindle our dread. Once again, WOTAN demonstrates that its supercomputer status is unfounded.


Harry -
To give credit to the production crew, you can see how they tried to make the war machines look threatening. They used lots of low angles, extreme closeups, and repeatedly showed the machines destroying those walls of crates with contempt.

But still... It's no surprise the Doctor so coolly stood one down at the end of Part Three.


Sarah -
This is the single best moment of the story and perhaps the best image of the entire series thus far. He didn’t even have to give the “I’m the Doctor and you don’t mess with me” speech. Brilliance!


Harry -
I loved that moment. Everyone flees in panic, but the Doctor not only stands his ground, but takes one step, then another towards the approaching machine. No dialogue either. It was an act of Total Badassery.

It did render Part Four a bit of an afterthought. Since the Doctor had already figured the machines out, it was just a matter of assembling the Most Obvious Trap Ever and snaring one. Again, not the most clever things, these war machines.


Sarah -
But it gives Ben a chance to shine. Ian and Steven would be proud.


Harry -
True.  He's picked up right where they left off.

And for the second story in a row, we get a lively smashup scene at the end, when the machines are turned on WOTAN. The way the Doctor vanished from the Post Office Tower without a proper goodbye is also something we'll be seeing more of.

In the final scene, we see the budding friendship of Ben and Polly continuing, as they scamper over to meet the Doctor outside the TARDIS. It's a bit obvious what happens next, but I'm so glad to be rid of Dodo that I don't mind. Welcome aboard to the cute couple!


Sarah -
I was wondering what Ben picked up while taking the Doctor’s cape for him. The TARDIS key, of course! Let the adventure begin!

There are so many reasons this story shouldn’t work, but I agree with Toby that everything’s important except when it doesn’t count. I loved "The War Machines." With good reason, it feels like a Troughton-era story and it’s just so much fun. We had a whole stretch of stories that just felt joyless and "The War Machines" brings the fun back to Doctor Who!


Harry -
I agree. Even though I've been a bit too nit-picky above, this remains one of my favourite Hartnell stories. It's all a bit odd, but it all comes together and works, flaws be damned!


Sarah -
Lasting image: The Doctor’s Standoff.

Favorite moment: The Inferno Club, followed closely by seeing WOTAN’s billing in the credits of the first episode.

Best line: From Sir Charles – “Well, we’ve tried the Army. What else is there?”
I’m not quite sure why this made me laugh so hard, but it did.

9/10


Harry -
Lasting image: Oh those rumbling, lumbering war machines.

Favourite moment: The Doctor takes a couple of silent steps towards the approaching war machine.

Best line: "I think she'll sleep for 48 hours." I burst out laughing when the Doctor said this after hypnotizing Dodo.

9/10

 



Our marathon continues with Story #28 - The Smugglers...