User Reviews

Sadly Steven has gone, so it's just The Doctor and Dodo. I'm struck by the on screen dynamic between the pair, there seemed a genuine warmth there, they work well together. Dodo is a companion I seem to know so little about, too many of her episodes missing in space and time. I am struck by the transformation in her accent, she's now more posh then The Queen, her lovely Northern accent gone for good.

This story in so many way is ahead of its time, The Earth under attack scenario is fresh and rather original, it wouldn't be long before this format was the norm, but praise where it's due at this point it's fresh. The opening scenes are fantastic, so modern and different on Who.

I love the idea of Wotan, a central computer controlling everything, suddenly deciding that man's time is up, the whole concept is brilliant. The arrival of Ben and Polly is hugely welcomed, a wonderful duo in the show's history. A few quibbles, 'Doctor Who is required,' that doesn't work at all, but worst of all is Dodo's dialect, 'Scotland Yard whisked off into Time and Space,' it's so bad it's unforgivable.

Lots of good things, and definitely an attempt to sex the show up a little with the gorgeous new companions.

7/10

Review of all 4 episodes:

This is the first time a whole story was set on a contemporary Earth. It really foreshadows the later style of Doctor Who in 2nd Doctor stories The Invasion, The Faceless Ones and The Web of Fear which became the regular style of the Jon Pertwee era. For that reason this is a notable adventure.

The story involves a revolutionary new computer called WOTAN which can think for itself being unveiled by Professor Brett (John Harvey) at London's Post Office Tower. This is intended to be linked up with other such computers to be installed around the world. Of course the computer actually decides to take over the world.

The 1966 setting and the story itself are very much designed to allow producer Innes Lloyd and story editor Gerry Davis put their stamp on the show making it more action-orientated, gutsy and trendy. One companion of the Doctor exits in part 2 (Jackie Lane as Dodo) and he acquires two new young, swinging sixties companions Polly and Ben who are introduced for the youth of the day to have someone they really relate to alongside the Doctor. Both of them work very well, having good banter together and carrying out their roles in the plot convincingly. Dodo was never that great as a companion so this is a definite improvement in that respect but previous companion Steven, who left in the previous story, was better in my opinion. William Hartnell as the Doctor continues as strongly as ever. These central performances and a lot of good dialogue are the strengths of this story adding a lot of quality. The first episode is strong and interesting but the second episode is rather silly and the rest of the adventure is not great.

The plot itself is not very well thought through at all in many aspects and has a general lack of logic. For example in episode 2 a tramp is killed late at night and his picture appears in the next mornings paper which would be impossible of course. WOTAN also is shown in episode 2 to recruit a workforce, acquire premises, manufacture parts, print WOTANS 'W' logo onto hundreds of boxes then pack, ship and construct new machines all in the space of about 12 hours, which again is clearly impossible. An additional small gripe for many is that the Doctor gets referred to as "Doctor Who" throughout this story which all fans know was never meant to be the actual name of the character only the title of the show but this was later somewhat retconned by Steven Moffatt so it now is not really a mistake.

In addition to the lack of logic, 'WOTAN' and the war machines are also not that impressively realised. They look a bit silly and are not a believable enough threat. WOTAN is entirely unconvincing in most respects. The battle scenes are not enacted well enough for my liking either. All these issues detract quite a lot from the quality of the story. To be fair taken as a whole it is still entertaining at times and explores issues of machines taking over which were very prominent at the time. It has some strong dialogue, some fun scenes and good acting. So it is not bad overall, it is a reasonable run-of-the-mill 1960s sci-fi story but below average for Doctor Who standards.

My Ratings: Episode 1 - 8/10, Episode 2 - 4/10, Episodes 3 & 4 - 6/10

Overall: 6/10

Season 3 is in my opinion stronger than Season 2 but due, probably, to the changes in production team the quality is not consistent across the whole season. It does not reach the standards of Season 1 or the best seasons of the show but it is a fairly average quality season overall.

Overall Season 3 average rating - 8.06/10

Science fiction has long dealt with the replacement of people by machines. This was a real and understandable issue that began with the invention of the Jacquard Loom putting weavers out of business. Advancements in technology and production techniques did away with a great need for unskilled labor and even some skilled labor. What need for a hundred navvies when you have a backhoe? What need for ten thousand cobblers when shoes can be made by machines? But brainwork was considered the final provenance of humans, at least until computers began to be used widely in the 1950s and 1960s. Once they started coming in, who would need people any more?

THE WAR MACHINES deals with this worry in a bizarre fashion as the master computer, WOTAN, proceeds to hypnotize people into its quest for a world where man lives only to serve the computer. Although the symbolism of this is buried -- properly so -- it is the intelligent manipulation of these symbols that makes good fantasy and science fiction, and that made DOCTO WHO into more than a pointless children's show.

The writers, Kit Pedlar and Ian Stuart Black have written a straightforward script that goes about its work efficiently -- even though the symbols show up occasionally with the dehumanized scientists under Wotan's domination, or the young people who seem to have no jobs -- there are several scenes set in a disco; older people, on the other hand, seem to get their plot points while in their locals. The actors read their lines well and the directing is first rate -- notice the point-of-view shot for the cliffhanger that ends episode Two: suddenly you are not an audience, not even one of the good guys, but one of the lumbering robots under the control of WOTAN. Very nicely done.

Unhappily, much of he technology looks ridiculous, not only from the perspective of 2010, but even for the day: it all looks like flat-painted fiberboard.

Oh, well, the delight of DOCTOR WHO does not lie in its visual execution, which was always limited by a budget that was tight at the beginning and shrank every year. It lies in the vision of its writers, their care and their craft, and the competence of the actors, producers, directors and cameramen.

The Doctor (William Hartnell) and Dodo (Jackie Lane) materialise on a London street in the mid-1960s (necessitating extra camouflage on the TARDIS, as it could be mistaken for an actual police box) just as WOTAN, a sophisticated new super-computer is to be linked with other computers world-wide and put in charge of England's military defence. This serial, the first to take place on a contemporaneous Earth, is an early spin on the sci-fi staple: 'malevolent AI'. Although not the first time that a rogue computer posed an existential threat to humanity after being put in charge of our safety (for example: 1957's 'The Invisible Boy'), the Doctor's adventure predates 'Colossus: The Forbin Project' by a few years and 'The Terminator' by almost two decades. Given the old show's limited resources, the plot overly relies on 'hypnotic mind control', a common work-around to move things along frugally, and the titular 'war machines' are a bit slow-moving and clunky-looking considering the fear they evoke (conveniently, they seem to be able to inactivate firearms at a distance, making them somewhat more formidable than they look). Despite the interesting opening, the storyline is weak, the resolution is anticlimactic, and the decision to have WOTAN address his hypnotised minions in a stereotypical 'sinister' voice misguided. The serial introduces Ben and Polly (Michael Craze and Anneke Wills), who, at the end of 1966's 'The Tenth Planet', become the first companions to bridge a regeneration. Supposedly the resourceful 20-something pair from swinging London were added for market-appeal (although Dodo was presented as a 'mod' '60s girl, she was younger and less capable than Polly and came across simply as a continuation her young distaff predecessors Susan and Vicki). Sadly, while companions usually get a sentimental send-off, Dodo is simply packed off mid-serial to the countryside to recuperate after being hypnotised and never seen again (the Doctor does briefly acknowledge her departure before closing the TARDIS's door in the final reel). The scenario, which finds the Doctor teaming up with an over-matched British military to battle enemies in contemporary England very much foreshadows Jon Pertwee's stint as the Third Doctor (1970-1974). *Score and comments pertain to the complete serial.