The War Machines

 

The War Machines

(Episode 1)

 

Doctor Who is required? Yes, he bloody well is.

Ian Stuart Black returns immediately. Now, Black was a highly regarded bon viveur, acclaimed for witty after dinner speeches well into his early 80s. The Savages showed very little of this spirit, but let's see what this story does.

 

Oh, look, its London! Modern London!

Oh, ok, London of 1966, which is now older than subjects taught in actual school history. But its contemporary swinging 60s London and instantly recognisably so.

We start with a bird's eye view of London before the camera swings round to show us Bedford Square, one of the more instantly recognisable bits of posh, conservation protected London. The widow Asquith lived in that long shot. Well, not in 1966, she died in 1945, but you get the drift.

From this long shot from above, we hear and see the TARDIS materialise at street level.

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This opening shot is fantastic. I instantly had to go double check who directed this one. Michael Ferguson! That's an instant stamp of visual quality on a show, and that opening 15 seconds is already better than anything we've had for a while.

The Doctor and Dodo leave the TARDIS and they are delighted. They both celebrate.

A policeman is on his rounds so the Doctor carefully gets an "Out of Order" sign from his pocket and puts it on the TARDIS.

Dodo is delighted to be home, and even the Doctor seems happy to see Earth again.

 

DODO: Hey, what's that for?
DOCTOR: Oh, well, you see, the problem is, coming back to the twentieth century, my dear, the Tardis, I'm afraid, is often mistaken for the real police box.

 

The policeman walks on and the TARDIS duo smile mischievously. Dodo makes a joke about a policeman being whipped off into time and space, and off I go to check the filming dates for this and Dalek Invasion 2150AD. Almost simultaneously, so that's probably not a joke about the late, great, much missed national treasure Bernard Cribbins (RIP Wilf), but I like to think it was a friendly reference.

 

Dodo points out the Post Office Tower, and the Doctor says, "very interesting", which might be his description of the slow pan up the tower which makes it look much larger than life. I remember going to London in the very early 1990s and seeing the Post Office Tower and it looked futuristic and incredible then, to me, as a kid. So, I can only imagine how it looked in the 1960s when it was new!

The POT has 37 floors, 2 lifts (wide enough to carry a machine of war, no doubt), and is now owned by BT! Also, it's a listed building, because unusually for 1960s British architecture, it looks incredible.

 

DOCTOR: You know there's something alien about that tower. I can sense it.
DODO: Smells okay to me. Good old London smoke.
DOCTOR: I can feel it's got something sort of powerful. It's. Look at my skin. Look at that. I've got that pricking sensation again, the same. Just as I had when I saw the Daleks, those Daleks were near.

 

Given events still to come, that's not foreshadowing, surely. It can't be. Gerry Davis was never asked if it was, before he died of cancer, which was remarkably poor foresight on the part of us fans. You see, in a later episode we will find out that the Daleks are in London on that day, but that's a while to go yet. Another Doctor entirely, in fact.

We are introduced to a working professor and his young female assistant, as the Doctor and Dodo are led into the lab by an official. The Professor walks over, shakes the Doctors hand and says it's good to see a specialist.

 

Now, you might be thinking - how did that happen? How did he just waltz in and get taken as a higher upper at face value? In the book, Ian Stuart Black has the Doctor cite his friendship with Ian Chesterton, who is now widely respected as a scientist. On TV, well, who said psychic paper was new? Ahem.

 

DOCTOR: Well, hardly a specialist, sir, but I dabble, yes, I dabble. Oh, so that's what it is.
BRETT: I beg your pardon?
DOCTOR: Yes, you know I had a very strong sense of energy outside this building, a sort of magnetic pull if you like. It was most unusual, so I presume that's what it must have been.
BRETT: It is indeed. It's my life's work, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Most ingenious.
BRETT: I think I can go so far as to say that it's the only one in existence in the world. It's at least ten years ahead of it's time.
DOCTOR: Is that so?
DODO: What makes it so special?
BRETT: Well, Miss, er?
DOCTOR: Oh, ah, my secretary, Dodo Chaplet.
BRETT: Well, Miss Chaplet, I'll explain. This is perhaps not the biggest computer in the world, but it's certainly the most advanced. In fact it can handle scientific problems well outside the range of any other computer in existence. We are about to link this up with computers all over the world as a central intelligence. A sort of problem solver.

 

The Doctor instantly puts everyone at ease, and they start to chat about their plans.

And yes, you read that statement by Brett correctly. They plan to link the computers in the world together through a sort of internet of computers so they can pool resources.

 

You see, the War Machines is where we introduce one of the great regulars of 60s Dr Who. That's right - your hero and mine, Dr Kit Pedler!

 

Alongside getting rid of the historical stories, Gerry Davis and Innes Lloyd were interested in using the show to promote potential futures. Having a possible, realistic in 30 years, approach to their SF. To this end, Lloyd wined and dined several potential boffins he thought could work with the show. He was especially interested in noted Dr Who fan, Patrick Moore, but at dinner, Moore responded to Lloyd's teasers for more information ("what if a tenth planet showed up?") by pointing out how scientific impossible it would all be.

 

Eventually, a mutual friend put David and Lloyd in touch with Kit Pedler, an eye specialist who had a penchant for embracing wild new ideas out of his comfort zone. Some of which has dated incredibly well, like his pushing of man-made climate change in the early 1960s. Some of which, like his support for psychic research, has not. Pedler met with Lloyd and got asked about the scenario where a computer tried to take over the world.

 

"Well, it would have to use the phone lines," said Pedler and he started to describe what we now know as the internet. Now, he wasn't a unique visionary here. By 1966, the concept of the internet had been discussed in scientific journals, and experiments had been carried out in America (though larger ones were to follow in the 5 years after this story was broadcast). But the fact remains that The War Machines take on modem to modem computer communications is a good 30 years ahead of its time as a regular understanding of technology. Pedler took the theories he'd seen written down, and postulated a future based around them which pretty much happened.

 

At the same time, the supercomputer uses 1960s technology. The future and the past of technology in one scene!

We are introduced to the Professor's assistant, Polly, who has had her back to the camera so far so can't be that important a character.

The computer is called WOTAN.

 

Is it just me or does John Harvey (Brett) look a bit like Peter Cushing? Harvey was a TV regular in the 1960s and 70s, and was also in Stage Fright, one of the most underrated Hitchcock films.

 

DOCTOR: Are you seriously telling me, sir, that you have invented a machine that can think?
BRETT: Yes.
DOCTOR: And never makes mistakes?
BRETT: Never.

 

The Doctor "hmms" sceptically and asks the machine a mathematical equation. It solves it faster than the Doctor takes to work it out himself.

Naturally Dodo asks the machine to explain what the acronym TARDIS means, and the computer printout reads "Time and Relative Dimensions in Space". Because it's got the internet, so it can read Gallifrey Base, 1966 edition. "Dear Dodo, the show jumped the shark when Susan left. Jumping the shark has not been invented yet."

 

Then, Dodo seems a bit disorientated.

 

(Because you see, the machine knows what TARDIS means because it read her mind! But this is left subtle.)

 

Polly looks after Dodo and takes her to a nightclub.

And as soon as the camera notices Anneke Wills, it focuses directly on her, as if to go "This is the new companion" in neon flashing lights.

The nightclub looks so BBC 1960s you expect David Frost to show up and introduce our next act: "That was WOTAN and The Domination of Earth, up next, it's Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch."

Polly and Dodo meet up with Polly's mate, Kitty, who immediately tries to pair off Polly with a depressed sailor she met the previous week.

He arrives looking sad. Polly likes the look of him and goes over to flirt.

 

POLLY: Well, hello. We met the other night, remember?
BEN: Oh yeah, I think I do.
POLLY: You think you do? Oh, I must have made a big impression on him.
BEN: No, it's not that.
POLLY: Well, what is it then? It must be something pretty big, not to have noticed me.
BEN: Well, I'm sorry.
POLLY: Oh, he says he's sorry.
BEN: Well there's no law against sitting' here is there?
POLLY: Well, there should be when you've got that look on your face. Look, I'll show you.
BEN: Is it as bad that then?
DODO: Worse.

 

It's Michael Craze! He has an earthy, downtrodden approach to every line here. Polly instantly makes him laugh, and genuinely the chemistry between Wills and Craze is there from their opening lines.

Polly decides Ben isn't going to laugh and walks off, only to get propositioned by a git who has been in the background of the shot the entire time. This guy doesn't believe in the idea of consent and tries to pull Polly away, so Ben gets up and puts the guy in a wristlock before flooring him, then punching him. The guy gets barred.

Polly's not in a good mood, but now it's the turn of Dodo to play match maker, introduced the pair of them properly to Ben. She sets up her own demise....

The Doctor arrives at the Royal Scientific Club in a taxi.

He's there in time for a press conference. The Kremlin, Parliament and White House are connected to WOTAN already. An older man tells the press that WOTAN is perfectly safe.

 

STONE: Is there no way of fixing it so it can give the wrong answers?
SUMMER: There would be no point. Now don't forget that a computer like WOTAN is not a human being.
STONE: Oh, but surely, sir
SUMMER: It has no reason to suppress the truth, it has no emotions. It is our soul.
STONE: It seems to me by the way you're talking, sir, that this machine can think for itself like a human being.
SUMMER: It can. Only much more accurately.
STONE: But sir, I mean, isn't this kinda risky? I mean, suppose it decides it can do without people, what then?
SUMMER: I hardly think it'll come to that. I'm sure that Professor Brett and his team will have the machine well under control.

 

That Stone chap is the only one to realise he's in a Doctor Who story. The older gentleman is William Mervyn, better known for The Railway Children and a regular role in Crown Court.

He talks to a nervous scientist who says Brett is late to his own press conference.

Brett is on the phone and running late. Something catches his eye, and then the Major shows up. Brett feels someone else is in the building, but the Major assures him the security is fine. The Major leaves Brett alone, only for Brett to get more and more disorientated. Parts of Space Adventures stock music play, as the panicked scientist realises what is happening and then...is possessed.

 

Back at the nightclub, Dodo has successfully got Polly and Ben dancing. Dodo has a bit of a headache now though. Ben and Polly rush off to spend more time together, and don't notice Dodo's face falling blank, possessed.

 

(I like the fact that Ben and Polly meet each other and become an item before they've even met the Doctor. They feel more natural as a result, and Polly being clearly smitten with the sailor makes her more of a realistic character. From this point on, they are pretty much Ben and Polly, the only companion couple from now until Rory and Amy nearly 50 years later.)

 

(Note, Jamie and Victoria seemingly become couple-y in the TARDIS, but not before hand.)

 

The possessed Brett arrives at his own press conference, only to announce he needs to see Professor Krimpton.

Everyone thinks that was strange, but only the Doctor thinks its suspicious, worry flooding his face. William Hartnell is so great at these silent moments.

 

SUMMER: Thank you. Oh, excuse me, are you the doctor that Professor Brett telephoned me about?DOCTOR: Yes, I am, Sir Charles.
SUMMER: Oh, well, I'm glad that you could come along. I wonder what on Earth's got into him this evening? His manner was very odd.
DOCTOR: Yes, very odd, very odd indeed. Perhaps he's overworking. Who was that little man, Krimpton?
SUMMER: Oh, electronics fellow. One of our top men. Come to think of it, electronics. Perhaps there is something wrong with WOTAN and he didn't want to let it out? That would explain it, wouldn't it? Look, I'm terribly sorry but would you excuse me, I think I'd better go and check. Kennedy, will you look after the Doctor for me?
DOCTOR: I wonder. I wonder.

 

OK, make that two people worried.

Scene ends on a zoom in of William Hartnell's face as he ponders things.

 

It is the turn of Major Green, who just popped his head in the door to see if everything was OK, to get possessed. The actor, Alan Curtis, only died a year ago at the ripe old age of ninety. The possessed Major then phones up the nightclub and gets Dodo on the phone. WOTAN then completes his possession of Dodo over the phone. A resourceful villainous computer!

Doctor Who, warning you of the dangers of the internet before you even knew what the internet was.

 

Brett takes Krimpton to see WOTAN.

The worried Krimpton thinks something is up, especially as Brett starts talking about the upcoming domination of man.

 

BRETT: WOTAN has decided that the world cannot progress further with mankind running it.
KRIMPTON: Oh really? And what does WOTAN propose to do about it, take over from us?
BRETT: From now on, we are to serve.
KRIMPTON: And if we choose not to, I suppose mankind will be eliminated.
BRETT: If it is necessary.

 

Krimpton tries to escape but Major Green blocks his way.

WOTAN starts trying to possess Krimpton and he fights it every inch of the way.

 

KRIMPTON: No, it's not possible. No, I don't believe it! I won't work for you! I'm human. There's nothing more important than human life. Machines cannot govern man! I will not

 

But even his best efforts can't stop the computer, and he too is possessed by it, losing his glasses in the process. You may want to remember that poor sod fought for his life here.

 

Dodo has left the nightclub. Polly and Ben continue to flirt but are worried about Dodo. The Doctor shows up, and we'll just ignore the reference to him looking like that DJ, shall we. Jolly good. The Doctor recognises Polly, and Polly tells him Dodo has gone missing.

Kitty digs the Doctor's fab gear. I laughed, and William Hartnell pretty much did too.

The Doctor is worried about Dodo.

 

Dodo arrives at the POT and asks for her orders. And the computer speaks:

"Doctor Who is required. Bring him here."

And you know, years ago, I would have come up with many plausible explanations for why the computer calls him Doctor Who, from a scripting error to it not knowing his real name so its placeholder. But, I mean, we're not that far off Missy making jokes about it on TV, that bridge passed long ago. And if it detracts from those marvellous 25 minutes which preceded it, it says more about the viewer than it does the episode.

 

Poor old Dodo though. No sooner was she relaxed and happy and good as a companion, but they're going to write her out.

 

The War Machines

(Episode 2)

 

A brief pause while my TV tried to play Planet of Evil part 3 instead. That's not till next decade! Ahem.

Doctor Who is required! Dodo is possessed! The Doctor has to rely on two young horny teenagers! (Kitty did say they were under 20s, unconvincingly...)

The trio of possessed scientists listen as Brett announces WOTANs plan to take over by the weekend. "War Machines must be built immediately."

Plans to take over a labour team through possession are planned.

 

BRETT: You, Krimpton, will work upon a suitable electronic programme for the new mobile computers. They must be able to move freely and contain their own power. All computer systems throughout the world must be integrated in WOTAN.
KRIMPTON: I shall begin this at once.
BRETT: No. Top priority is to enlist Doctor Who. He has advanced knowledge which WOTAN needs. Doctor Who must be enlisted into our services tonight.
WOTAN: Doctor Who is required.

 

Damn straight. 'mon Doctor Who.

Doctor Who is still at the nightclub, which is shut, and is worried about Dodo. Polly suggests they go to the police and Kitty is all "yeah, you won't be doing that" - I wonder what else is on the premises then!

Then, just as they are about to call a search party, Dodo shows up, feigning ignorance.

 

They all leave the Inferno to their respective homes. Dodo had a plan to capture the Doctor (there's heavy waiting with chloroform!) but Ben flags down a taxi instead. Dodo foiled.

A tramp gets out of the TARDIS, only to fare dodge (or he doesn't have the right change, as taxi drivers love huge tips these days this is a bit out of context for me). Polly pays the man's fare, and Polly, the Doctor and Dodo share a taxi, but not before Polly arranges a date with Ben for lunch tomorrow. Aww, young love.

Ben offers the tramp a bed for the night at the sailor's lodge but he'd prefer to sleep in that old, abandoned warehouse instead.

 

TRAMP: I'm going to doss down in the old warehouse over there.
BEN: Okay, goodnight.
TRAMP: It's bloomin' paradise after what I've been used to for the last six months.
BEN: Yeah.

 

The heavies phone Brett to tell him they've been outwitted by a sailor.

The tramp enters the factory only to find its fully operational, building machinery. Welding is going on. Brett is there, arranging things. They realise a stranger is there, and so, despite a discretion shot, possessed workers chase down the tramp and beat him to death. Well, that is bloody grim!

It's the increasing panic of the guy who sells it. Roy Godfrey was only in his mid-40s here (he was still around for WrestleMania 21) but he has a short but memorable spot here.

And we cut to the Doctor reading about the tramp's death in the newspaper, complete with photo.

 

SUMMER: Tramp found dead in Covent Garden.
DOCTOR: Yes. Three o'clock. That must have been after we left him!
SUMMER: Did you know the fellow, Doctor?
DOCTOR: No, we met last night, or rather, early this morning. We used his taxi which he left in Covent Garden.
SUMMER: The Police aren't sure if it was a street accident.

 

Now, this got flagged as a goof in the Discontinuity Guide, but it's the timing there rather than the news. That it got into the morning papers despite happening after the nightclubs closed.

However, the taxi driver recognised the guy, so it is highly possible that this tramp was a well-known local eccentric, the sort whose death would get into the local papers.

Secondly, it appears in the newspaper Doctor Who is reading. Now, do we know of any large super computers who could possess the mind of a local newspaper editor, so as to put a story deliberately in the paper they discovered Sir Charles reads, so the Doctor will see it?

There is a lot going on so far, but some of it is left for the audience to consider their own views, and sometimes they just think it's a goof. And maybe it is just a funny plot contrivance goof, but the tools are there to explain it away if you prefer. Like I do!

Sir Charles says a lot of government scientists have resigned, mysteriously, as if they got a sudden phone call from someone.

 

SUMMER: No, that's the strange thing. Now these are two of the best men in England and I haven't been able to get in touch with them. No one appears to have seen them since last night. Now isn't it an extraordinary thing that two such well known men can vanish so suddenly.
DOCTOR: Yes, I wonder, Sir Charles, do you suppose, er? No, I don't suppose you would.

 

This got put in the goofs section too but is clearly the Doctor changing his mind. If it wasn't scripted, it's as good a cover of any error to make it not noticeable.

Dodo and Polly show up. Dodo wants the Doctor to speak to Brett, but the Doctor suggests phoning Brett up first.

Krimpton links the phone to WOTAN, and it tries to possess the Doctor, and we get some classic William Hartnell contortions in pain acting. It's not as famous as Pertwee's gurning, but it's just as much fun.

 

DODO: Don't be alarmed, Doctor. This is the method of establishing contact. Time is very short. Construction has already begun. You are needed.
DOCTOR: What happened?
DODO: It's all right, Doctor. You are now one of us. My function was to bring you in contact. Now I shall serve as an assistant.
DOCTOR: Oh, what are you talking about, child?

 

The Doctor fought off the possession attempt, and Dodo's been unveiled.

He immediately puts her into a sleeping trance to de-hypnotise her, Sir Charles says she will be looked after till she recovers and the Doctor plans to look in on her later.

Incidentally, top marks for "It was as if something enormous and terrific was trying to absorb me!" for some frankly terrific William Hartnell over acting.

 

And that is it, for Dodo. 

Done and gone. Never to return from this scene in Part 2. 

Jackie Lane was brought into the show, told to change her accent, given some of the worst material any companion had, and then gets the worst send-off of any companion to date. And it's a crying shame, because as episode 1 of The War Machines, and most of the Gunfighters showed, give her something of note to work with, and Jackie Lane would give you a solid showing. But not even Jean Marsh could have coped with the characterisation Dodo had in The Celestial Toymaker as Captain Gullible. Her treatment in the role put Lane off doing much more TV, and she became Janet Fieldings agent instead.

The show treated her and her role abysmally here, and fandom treated the character terribly by having her catch an STD in the Missing Adventures and then getting shot dead in Who Shot Kennedy, a decision so egregious the author changed the ending in the re-release of the book.

And worst of all, thanks to cancer, Jackie Lane has gone and died now, so none of this can ever be fixed.

 

It's a sour note in what has been a fantastic story so far.

 

Major Green tests a war machine's weaponry by having it blast a possessed worker. There's a casual disregard for the individual, the computers logic, which is chilling here.

Polly goes to find Brett and is quickly possessed instead.

As a result of this, she stood up Ben on their date, and instead of going huffy, he goes to find the Doctor.

 

BEN: Well, I was supposed to meet Polly for lunch, see, but they told me at the Tower that she'd come here.
DOCTOR: Didn't she keep that appointment?
BEN: No, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Oh, dear me, it's just as I feared.
BEN: Is there something wrong? Where's Dodo?
DOCTOR: Oh, she's a little under the weather and she's gone into the country for a few days.
BEN: Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.
DOCTOR: Oh she'll be quite all right, yes, really. I'm rather worried about Polly. She appears to be missing, that child.

 

For all his "meh, snooty upper class" reactions, he's quite fond of Polly, clearly, is our Ben.

The Doctor and Ben think as the tramp was killed a warehouse nearby must be used. Ben goes off to look, to help the Doctor.

Ben enters the warehouse, and a war machine starts to stalk him. We know strangers are killed instantly, and the episode ends as the spotlights uncover Ben. And it already works as a cliffhanger, as, having merely shown us that Ben is a caring individual who wants to help the Doctor even though he has no need to, he already feels worthy of a "how will they get out of this?" cliffhanger.

It's a case of goodbye one companion, hello to the next two. However, as much as Polly and especially Ben continued to impress, one can't help but feel bad for Dodo. 

There should have been another way.

 

The War Machines

(Episode 3)

 

Ben has been captured (he nearly escaped but walked into the now possessed Polly), but as he is now a Dr Who regular, he is allowed to live, and is used as forced labour. No idea why the computer doesn't just hypnotise him, to be honest.

Do you know what the war machines look like? Bertha, the kids show factory machine!

Also, note that Ben refused to escape solely because he couldn't leave Polly there. "Why do birds suddenly appear..."

Ben realises Polly is possessed and still tries to rescue her.

 

DOCTOR: Oh dear, dear, dear, dear, dear.
SUMMER: Well, take my advice, Doctor. It's no good upsetting yourself.
DOCTOR: Oh yes, that boy, that boy should be back here ages ago.
SUMMER: Well, you know what young people are. He's probably been distracted by something.
DOCTOR: Well, he seemed quite a responsible young lad.

 

The Doctor doesn't want the police to investigate. Sir Charles points out there's no evidence anything is up, despite bemoaning the disappearance of scientists last episode.

And note that Ben's life is spared because Polly suggests he has to be. Awww.

 

POLLY: I trapped him. I did not let him escape.
GREEN: That is true.
POLLY: WOTAN requires all the labour we can find. It is too soon to destroy this stranger. Let him work and destroy him later.
GREEN: How do you know what WOTAN wants?
POLLY: I have just come from Professor Brett. These are his orders and the orders of WOTAN.

 

The War Machines will take over strategic centres.

Green casually kills a tired worker.

Ben is worried about Polly, knackered from picking up stuff. She tells him the takeover will happen at noon tomorrow.

Say you want about WOTAN, but it knows how to stick to an efficient timetable for conquest.

There is no guard on the door. Ben prises the lock off the door and rushes away. Polly sees this but doesn't raise the alarm.

Ben rushes all the way to Sir Charles's house and the Doctor.

 

DOCTOR: My dear boy. What's happened to you, lad?
SUMMER: Are you all right?
BEN: Yeah, I'm all right.
DOCTOR: Now, take your time, take your time. Now, where's Polly?
BEN: She's still there, Doctor. They've got her. She's one of them now.
DOCTOR: What do you mean, they've got her? Where is she?
BEN: She's in a warehouse.
DOCTOR: Where?
BEN: A warehouse in Covent Garden. And there's a machine, a killer machine. And if we don't stop it, it'll kill half London!

 

Good old Ben.

Meanwhile, Polly reveals Ben escaped, and she saw it, but did nothing, and she doesn't know why. "A million love songs later..."

Polly calls Ben her friend and so is sent to WOTAN to be punished.

Sir Charles is sceptical about killer war machines, but the Doctor believes Ben instantly.

 

BEN: Look, I'm telling you, it has happened! Don't let's waste any more time arguing!
DOCTOR: We are not wasting time, my dear boy. We need Sir Charles' authority, his help. Without this we can do nothing.
BEN: Look, Sir Charles, every minute we waste is dangerous. They look as if they're preparing an arsenal to blow up London.

 

Sir Charles dislikes Ben but the Doctor vouches for him instantly. Sir Charles says that if there is a machine, the army will soon deal with it.

Doctor Who is quite doomy.

 

DOCTOR: I'm afraid we've got all our priorities mixed up. They might be able to destroy this machine, but in all probability, there are others waiting to attack us.
BEN: Well, I'm sure there are.
DOCTOR: Exactly. And we don't know their location. And I doubt very much if we can find them all by tomorrow noon.

 

Then, the Doctor gets a great line in to Ben.

 

DOCTOR: Well, I fear we've riled him, my boy. You see, the official mind can only take in so much at a time.

 

Still as true today as it was back then!

 

The Doctor is already conspiratorially close to the young sailor. They leave, and clearly the words did have an effect on Sir Charles after all, as he immediately calls the Minister of Defence to send in the army to the Covent Garden warehouse.

The army arrive in Covent Garden, entire lorries full of troops. They take positions and get ready to swarm the warehouse.

 

CAPTAIN: We've been taking bearings. There's a good deal of radio and electrical activity there. Have you any idea what's causing it?
SUMMER: Well I've been given to understand there's a large amount of explosive in there and a new kind of War Machine. Though how much truth there is in that I don't know.
CAPTAIN: And the people inside?
SUMMER: We don't know how they'll react yet.
CAPTAIN: Well, they won't get far. We've got a couple of platoons covering the back of the building, and my lads watching both ends of this road watching the front.

 

The captain is instantly recognisable to me, and that's when I realise, I have watched too much Doctor Who, because googling him discovers its John Rolfe, who had bigger roles in two of my all-time favourite stories, The Moonbase and The Green Death! A TV regular in smaller but vital roles, Rolfe was sadly a victim of the covid era. For a 60s story, The War Machines held up remarkably well until recently - Rolfe, Curtis, Lane, Michael Ferguson were all still with us when this marathon started in 2020, Now it's got about 3 or 4 cast members still with us, but then, that's as many as The Smugglers, Power of the Daleks and Highlanders combined! Tempus fugit.

Anyhow, good to see John Rolfe.

 

Sir Charles orders the troops in.

I'm not really sure what Sir Charles role is. I am left to presume he's sort of a top-level civil servant who works for Defence, and thus has an overarching role as mediatory between the government and WOTAN project.

Green sets the war machine on the army, and, well, it's a massacre. Smoke fills the warehouse, as men die around it, workers and army alike. And the smoke allows the director to imply massacre without showing too much blood on screen. It's a war through close ups and weapons going off, and off-screen screams. Did we mention Michael Ferguson was great? 

The army get gubbed and fall back.

And this was a quick sum up of five minutes of TV but its gripping stuff.

The War Machine crashes through the doors of the warehouse, and that looked quite good.

 

CAPTAIN: What's the matter Corporal?
CORPORAL: It's no use, sir. They've wiped us out.
CAPTAIN: Who did? What are you talking about, man?
CORPORAL: The machine, sir.
CAPTAIN: What machine?
CORPORAL: It's over there.

 

And to be honest, I'm already getting excited because one of my all-time favourite Doctor Who moments is about to happen.

The War Machine bursts out into the street, and we see its weaponry set warehouse boxes on fire and kill guards. The soldiers retreat. Machine guns are used and have no effect on the machine. 

It continues to advance on everyone.

 

CAPTAIN: I don't think it can be stopped, sir. We'll have to evacuate this place, and quick.
SUMMER: But we can't leave now. We can't let that thing loose over London.
CAPTAIN: It's no good, sir. The weapons are jamming.

 

They need to evacuate, to escape this relentless killer. It just wiped out a highly trained platoon. 

 

The army fall back.

 

Ben falls back to get cover. 

The captain follows suit. 

Sir Charles does too.

 

Everyone does, except the Doctor.

 

Remember way back in An Unearthly Child, when we met this suspicious alien, whose only reaction to danger was to run away. He mellowed over time, we grew fonder of him, and he grew fonder of his human friends. And we've seen glimpses of the future - staying on Earth to defeat the Daleks, refusing to leave because people needed him, and a few episodes ago, announcing his opposition to all forms of oppression in the universe. The character has grown as the Hartnell era moves onwards, and now, here we have, this stubborn old man who refuses to stand back.

 

And as this relentless killer moves closer to our cast, the Doctor doesn't only refuse to hide. He takes two big steps forward, blocking the way of the machine (which the camera has taken the POV of).

 Without a word, he states: YOU. CANNOT. PASS.

The spotlight flashes on the face of the Doctor and he stands, unblinking, the sole champion of the planet against takeover.

 

Doctor Who was required, and now here he bloody well is.

 

Just one of the greatest cliffhangers in the show's history, the precursor to Bad Wolf decades later. 

He has no plan, no back up, no weapons, but he's going to save the day. Oh Doctor, my Doctor!

 

¤¤¤¤ing goosebumps.

 

The War Machines

(Episode 4)

 

The War Machine still looks like a grumpy version of Bertha.

The Doctor walks round the machine and gets it to stop.

Meanwhile, Kenneth Kendall off the real-life news is delivering a broadcast about the Dr Who threat.

 

KENDALL: As yet there seems to be no explanation for this sudden attack. An emergency cabinet meeting was held at number 10 Downing Street this morning, and service chiefs were called in. The Ministry of Defence have just made the following announcement. Further attacks on London can be expected in the next twenty-four hours.

 

He tells everyone to stay indoors and wash their hands.

The Doctor twigged the machine was operated too early and therefore didn't have the computer programming to respond to someone standing still. Which in the grand scheme of winging it, is right up there, for Doctor plans.

Ben searches the warehouse, but Polly is still missing. He misses his possessed girlfriend.

The Doctor studies the war machine and has already deprogrammed it, which tells him how many there are and where they are in London.

It's remarkably how intelligent the Doctor's scientific knowledge gets in Part 4 of a four Parter.

Another War Machine gets grumpy, destroying some boxes and exterminating a worker.

The army arrest the brainwashed people from the factory, and the Doctor recognises Major Green.

 

DOCTOR: Just a moment, sir, please. Major Green?
CAPTAIN: Do you know him, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Yes, of course. Do you remember me, Major Green?
GREEN: No. I don't. I'm afraid I don't remember anything. Where am I? What is this place?
SUMMER: You don't remember anything?
GREEN: No.
SUMMER: Do you remember this machine?
GREEN: Good heavens, what on Earth is this thing?
DOCTOR: Yes, I think you'll have to have him removed, gentlemen. He may need medical attention.

 

The Doctor decides they need to get to the Post Office Tower immediately.

Incidentally, the Doctor has a very nice hat.

A man rushes to a phone box to tell the police a war machine is loose; it then attacks the phone box. And then trundles off to beat up some parked cars.

The army tell Ben the Doctor has a whole world to save, but Ben wants to save "the bird that saved his life, see." Even Michael Craze couldn't save that line.

Off-screen, appalling stuff has happened in Battersea. Massacres, destruction.

 

DOCTOR: Yes, and I think our only one chance is to paralyse the nervous system of that mechanism. Yes, and if I remember rightly, it will be electromagnetically controlled. Yes, in other words, gentlemen, we've got to capture it!

 

Well done William Hartnell. You could see him struggling with that complicated series of lines, but he got them out without a fluff.

Polly shows up to the Post Office Tower to get punished for being bad. Innes Lloyd would later claim that Anneke Wills was too sexy to be a Doctor Who companion. He hired her!

The Doctor sets a trap for a war machine and the army evacuate the nearby area.

The Doctor's plan involves magnetic field to disable a war machine.

It works.

 

Ben offered to run the cable as he is more expendable than the Doctor. He's allowed to do so!

So, they've captured a War Machine.

The Minister and Sir Charles haven't a clue what the Doctor is doing. He's rewired the machine to go attack WOTAN.

Krimpton tells the war machines to get ready to attack.

Ben rushes off to find Polly. The Doctor calls him a foolish boy.

 

11 minutes to attack.

 

The Doctor's War Machine trundles through alleyways and leads off to the Post Office Tower. Nicely shot, there.

Ben rushes directly into Brett's lab and armlocks Polly out of there before anything can happen. For a megalomaniac computer, WOTAN's security is bloody dire. Ben just gets her out of there as the War Machine arrives to destroy WOTAN.

Professor Krimpton jumps in the way and is blasted to death by the machine. You might recall that Krimpton, of all WOTANs pawns, fought the most to avoid being taken over by the machine. And now, he's dead. Poor sod.

 

WOTAN gets blown up. The Post Office Tower is safe though.

Professor Brett has a headache, then looks around his office, confused.

 

 

BRETT: Sir Charles.
SUMMER: Ah, Brett. Are you all right?
BRETT: I think so. What's been happening here?
SUMMER: Yes, well, I think you'd better ask. Oh, where the devil's he gone?

 

But the Doctor has already left.

Only he hasn't. We see him outside the TARDIS, waiting for Dodo, and when Ben and Polly show up, they say Sir Charles has been looking everywhere for the Doctor. So instead of sneaking off in time and space, he probably snuck off to a pub somewhere to watch the World Cup. No wonder they couldn't find him, he was probably in Middlesbrough watching Pak Doo-ik knock Italy out of the World Cup!

The Doctor is ready to go, but there's no Dodo, who has been written out of things off screen. This is a recurring theme with Innes Lloyd. In later life, Jackie Lane was a talent agent, who turned down Innes Lloyd.

Ben and Polly go off for a bit of private time together, but then realise they still have the TARDIS key. So, they walk into the TARDIS to give it back, and the TARDIS takes off. Looks like the Doctor has two new companions, and it's a couple. Oh, the comedy hijinks we'll no doubt have.

 

The War Machines is a snapshot of the future when Earth stories became more of a thing. It's a snapshot of the future, in real life, when the internet became more of a thing. It chugs along enjoyably.