The War Machines

WOTAN must be obeyed.

The War Machines was the last story of Season Three and the unceremonious dumping of the last of the earliest companions. It also marked true beginning of the end for the First Doctor. He would survive for two more stories, but the process that had begun in earnest in The Celestial Toymaker finally came to fruition and word came down on high that the Doctor would be replaced. It is rather ironic then that The War Machines actually produced probably the most iconic shot of the First Doctor: him staring down the war machine while everyone around him flees at the end of Episode Three.

Plot Summary

The Doctor and Dodo land in London in July, 1966. Looking around, they see the newly finished Post Office tower and the Doctor gets a strange alien feeling from it. They enter, posing as a scientist and secretary.

The head scientist, Professor Brett, shows them the computer WOTAN, which is scheduled to be connected to other major computers around the world in a few days. The Doctor is impressed but also unsettled. Dodo examines it but zones out for a moment. She dismisses it as being tired and Professor Brett suggests that his secretary, Polly Wright, take her out. Polly suggests a club she knows called The Inferno.

In the club, Polly meets a friend who encourages her to cheer up a repeat customer. A sailor named Ben Jackson is moping about due to being assigned to shore duty for six months. Polly chats with him and is accosted by another patron. Ben, warning the patron, knocks him down and settles in to keep Polly and Dodo company.

The Doctor heads to the scientific meeting where WOTAN is being made known to the press. Professor Brett is late but the head, Sir Charles Summer, discusses the project without him. At the lab, Professor Brett is preparing to leave when WOTAN hypnotizes him to bring him under control. It does the same with Major Green, head of the building security. Professor Brett heads to the scientific meeting where he grabs Professor Krimpton and brings him back to WOTAN where he is also hypnotized.

While they are gone, Major Green calls The Inferno and has Dodo put on the phone. Over the phone, WOTAN reengages the hypnotism it started earlier. Dodo then leaves the club, although Ben and Polly notice she is missing after a while. When all four are assembled, WOTAN issues an order for the Doctor to be brought to it. Dodo and Professor Krimpton leave to do this while Professor Brett and Major Green begin to construct a set of war machines. Major Green also works on telephoning scientists from all over the country to be hypnotized by WOTAN.

Dodo reenters the club and tries to lure the Doctor back to the tower. Polly jumps in and gets a taxi for them. The three drive off with Ben agreeing to meet Polly for lunch tomorrow. He passes a tramp who is preparing to enter an old warehouse to spend the night.

In the warehouse, Professor Brett is leading a group of workers who also have been hypnotized in building the war machines. Professor Krimpton comes in to let him know that Dodo has not been able to bring the Doctor. The tramp overhears this but he is detected by WOTAN. Professor Brett orders the workers and they surround and kill him.

The next morning, the Doctor reads of the death of a noted scientist. Sir Charles has also become aware of the disappearance of several other prominent scientists. Polly enters the room, having been telephoned by Professor Brett that Sir Charles' secretary was ill and that she should work for him today. Dodo enters a minute later and suggests that they go to see Professor Brett to have his questions answered. The Doctor agrees but decides to telephone the lab to let Professor Brett know that they are coming.

When the Doctor calls, Major Green connects the phone to WOTAN. The Doctor reacts with pain and hangs up the phone. Dodo comes to him to ask what his instructions are, but the Doctor broke contact before WOTAN could control him. Realizing that Dodo has been hypnotized, the Doctor counters the hypnosis with a little of his own. Sir Charles offers to take her to his country house to be taken care of by his wife. Polly, seeing what happened to Dodo, heads over to the lab to check on Professor Brett.

The Doctor continues to recover and think when Ben shows up looking for Polly as they were to meet for lunch. The Doctor enlists his help to investigate the area near the club last night. Ben, seeing the activity near the warehouse, slips in and observes Major Green conducting tests with the new war machine. It kills one man in a weapons test and begins to approach his hiding spot in another test.

Ben tries to run but is spotted by the machine. Major Green alerts the people and they pursue him. Polly arrives and locks the door, having been hypnotized and sent over to work. Ben is captured and would have been killed but Polly states that WOTAN demands the work be finished and all labor must be used. Ben is put to work but with everyone working, he is able to run off and escape. Polly sees him but does not raise the alarm as she is starting to fight the hypnosis. When this is discovered, she is sent back to WOTAN for punishment.

Concerned for Ben's safety, the Doctor is about to leave Sir Charles' house when Ben arrives. He tells them what happened and the Doctor realizes that they must knock out WOTAN. Sir Charles however believes that the war machine Ben found is the only and they should deal with it directly. He calls the government and has the army brought in.

The army sends a squad in to the warehouse. Major Green dispatches the workers and the war machine to attack them. The workers are beaten back but the machine beams out a signal that jams their guns. In the face of the attack, the soldiers fall back. Others begin to retreat as well as the machine advances but the Doctor stands his ground, despite Ben urging him to retreat. As the machine approaches, it suffers a fault and shuts down.

With the machine down, the soldiers clear the warehouse and the men come out from their hypnosis. Major Green does not even remember meeting the Doctor so they are dismissed. The Doctor examines the machine and determines that the other eleven machines are scheduled to attack all of London at noon.

In another location, a second war machine is misprogramed, kills the programmer and destroys the relay device. It then breaks loose and begins to attack London, heading towards a major power station. The Doctor proposes capturing it by trapping it in a powerful magnetic field. He has the army set up electrical cables in three parts of a square. When the machine enters, Ben runs behind it and finishes the square. The cables are activated and the magnetic force renders the machine inert.

The Doctor enters the field and deactivates the machine. He then reprograms it to only attack other machines and not humans. The Doctor then sends the machine to the Post Office tower to destroy WOTAN.

Guessing that Polly had gone back to WOTAN, Ben races ahead of the machine and breaks into the office. He grabs Polly and carries her out, her fighting him the whole way. Professors Brett and Krimpton try to stop him, but the reprogramed war machine arrives. Professor Krimpton tries to stop it but the machine shoots him down. The machine then smashes WOTAN. Professor Brett slowly comes out of his trance as Sir Charles and the Doctor arrive. Seeing WOTAN destroyed, the Doctor leaves.

The next day, the Doctor waits for Dodo outside the TARDIS. Ben and Polly arrive with a message that Dodo has fully recovered, but has decided to stay. The Doctor, slightly indignant, thanks them and enters the TARDIS. As they walk away, Polly realizes she still has a TARDIS key that had been dropped earlier. She and Ben unlock the TARDIS and enter to give it back to the Doctor. As they enter, the machine dematerializes.

Analysis

Okay, first to address the big controversy: WOTAN referring to the Doctor as Doctor Who. First, it is very clear that WOTAN uses that as the Doctor's name. However, that does not mean that this is the Doctor's actual name. Throughout the series, nearly all Doctors have enjoyed a little joke in using Doctor Who. The Second Doctor goes so far as to use the German titled version: Doktor Von Wer. I have no problem with it as it obviously and alias used by the Doctor. I like to imagine that the Doctor came up with it when he entered some place and a clerk or receptionist asked his name. He said "the Doctor" and the clerk responded, "Doctor Who?" In response, the Doctor simply said "Yes." It is an easy way to get past annoying people and the use of it as a joke would explain why the Doctor is seemingly so amused by the joke so many years later (Asylum of the Daleks being an obvious example). So of all the great nerd rages, this is not one that causes me much of a second thought.

Now, on to the actual review. Overall, this wasn't a bad story but the limitations of 1960's television do show with the design of the war machines. There is also some very questionable pacing decisions that nearly undercut some good performances.

I enjoyed the Doctor in this story a great deal, despite his being sidelined a bit for screen time. In a way, that sidelining worked to his advantage and he appeared smarter and even more on top of the situation than if he had been involved in every scene. I mentioned the stare down at the end of Episode Three and as this is the first time he has seen a war machine, his facing it down without flinching seems even more impressive.

It was also nice to see the army looking somewhat competent for a change. Obviously they were hindered by the inability to use their weapons which didn't help, but the fight against the workers and the war machine in Episode Three wasn't bad, although not shot that well. Then the fact that they successfully organized a clear path and capture of the war machine made them better that what we often got out of UNIT.

I enjoyed the acting of the side characters as well. The hypnosis moment was a bit shoddy but the overall performance of everything else was pretty good. I had this nagging feeling that I have seen the actor who played Professor Brett before but the only thing I can find that I've seen is that he was also in The Macra Terror so I must be remembering him from there.

Of course, there were some let down moments as well. The production staff tried hard to make the war machine scary but it didn't really work. Probably the biggest fault is that it fired a steam cannon rather like the Daleks in the two Peter Cushing movies. It just works better when there is an actual projectile be it bullet or laser. The forward hammers were also very clunky and obviously restricted by their own weight so that didn't help the machine either. It was a competent try but it still looked a bit unconvincing.

My second complaint was Ben's acting. It makes a marked contrast with Steven who could also be over the top but had a certain level of restraint also. Ben just sounds like he's a hair away from hysterical which give an odor of "Look, I'm acting!" to his performance. His quieter moments we're okay, but his intense moments got grating at times, especially in the first half of Episode Three where he combined them with obtuse character moments that just made him an annoyance.

As an aside, I also didn't like WOTAN's voice. Why is a computer hissing like an Ice Warrior? I'm guessing they were going for a sinister sound, but I think it would have been better if it were a cold, emotionless voice. That would have been more appropriate for a computer and much scarier. To say nothing of that fact that I would have been able to understand all that it said instead of straining make out the words.

But probably the biggest problem is the pacing. Episodes One and Two weren't bad, although I thought the parts in the club were a bit dull. But with the focus being on Dodo and the direct threat to the Doctor, there was a tension that was reasonably well played out. But Episode Three got dull. Too much time was devoted to Ben's capture and rather cheesy escape. As a result, very little time was spent with the Doctor and nothing much had been accomplished except that the army and the Doctor were aware of one machine.

This lack of development had a cascade effect in pushing together so much that Episode Four felt rushed. Rather than have so much time wasted on Ben's capture and escape, I think the story would have been better served if he had escaped immediately after being detected. This would have pushed the army attack to the middle of Episode Three and it could have ended with either learning that the machines are preparing to attack at noon or with the word that a second machine had been loosed on the city. A bit more development there would have evened out the pacing.

Instead, we are left with a very rushed ending with the reprogrammed war machine rushing in to destroy WOTAN, making it look weak with very little defense. It also makes you wonder why the army couldn't have rushed in and destroyed WOTAN. Afterall, Ben was able to rush in and grab Polly. Why couldn't have a squad of troops rushed in, grabbed Brett and Krimpton, and then tossed a few grenades through the door to destroy WOTAN? I would have been simple and easily done before the rest of the war machines were launched. Either way, the villain was shown to be not up to the caliber that you would expect of a principle threat.

Overall, this is a mixed bag. Decent performances and some nice cinematography, but poor pacing exposed some annoying shortfalls in the story and left me a bit bored at points. It's ok for background watching, but I can't say that I'd rush to watch it again.

Overall personal score: 2 out of 5