The War Machines
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| 027 - The War Machines | |
| Doctor | William Hartnell (First Doctor) |
|---|---|
| Writer | Ian Stuart Black Kit Pedler (idea) |
| Director | Michael Ferguson |
| Script Editor | Gerry Davis |
| Producer | Innes Lloyd |
| Executive producer(s) | None |
| Production code | BB |
| Series | Season 3 |
| Length | 4 episodes, 25 mins each |
| Transmission date | June 25–July 16, 1966 |
| Preceded by | The Savages |
| Followed by | The Smugglers |
| IMDb profile | |
The War Machines is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in 4 weekly parts from June 25 to July 16, 1966. This serial is the first appearance of Michael Craze and Anneke Wills as the companions Ben Jackson and Polly, as well as marking the departure of Jackie Lane as Dodo Chaplet
Contents |
[edit] Sypnosis
The Doctor and Dodo arrive in 1966 London and see that the Post Office Tower has been completed. Inside is WOTAN, an advanced computer that is supposed to link up with computer systems worldwide. However, WOTAN has plans of its own.
[edit] Plot
When the TARDIS lands in London near the Post Office Tower, the Doctor is unsettled by it. There the Doctor and Dodo meet Professor Brett, the creator of WOTAN (Will Operating Thought ANalogue), an advanced computer that even knows what TARDIS stands for. On C-Day, WOTAN will be linked to other major computers to take them over, including those of the White House, Cape Kennedy and the Royal Navy.
WOTAN begins to have its own agenda and takes control of Professor Brett through a hypnotic beeping noise. WOTAN's hypnotic influence is exerted over many humans including Dodo until the Doctor breaks her out of it. He subsequently arranges for her to be sent to the country house of Sir Charles Summer, leader of the Royal Scientific Club, who has come to the aid of the Doctor.
WOTAN uses its hypnotised workforce in a secret warehouse near Covent Garden to construct an army of War Machines to take over the world. Major Green, the chief of security at the Post Office Tower, has been programmed to oversee the construction of the War Machines. He ensures that any intruders are dealt with and all humans continue working on the project until they drop. Polly, Professor Brett's secretary, is one such production line convert, though a friend of hers, merchant seaman Ben Jackson, evades the production line. He seeks out the Doctor, whom he met through Dodo before her conditioning, and helps flesh out what is known about the threat of WOTAN and the War Machines.
The Doctor alerts the army to the warehouse production factory, but their bullets are useless against the War Machines. He knows WOTAN is behind the plot too, but can do nothing as humans cannot enter the Tower through the strong hypnotic beams being emitted. Given scientific and political support, the Doctor manages to capture a War Machine using an electromagnetic trap. He changes its programming and then uses it to enter the Post Office Tower and destroy WOTAN. This ends the threat and immediately releases the human slaves from the hypnosis.
Ben and Polly, the two "fab" young people the Doctor has befriended during the adventure, meet him at the TARDIS to explain Dodo has got in touch and decided to stay in London. The Doctor thanks them and heads into the Police Box - followed by Ben and Polly, who enter the TARDIS to return the old man his key. They are whisked off into time and space...
[edit] Cast
- Dr. Who — William Hartnell
- Dodo Chaplet — Jackie Lane
- Ben Jackson — Michael Craze
- Polly — Anneke Wills
- Professor Brett — John Harvey
- Professor Krimpton — John Cater
- Sir Charles Summer — William Mervyn
- Major Green — Alan Curtis
- Voice of WOTAN & War Machine Operator — Gerald Taylor
- Kitty — Sandra Bryant
- Flash customer — Ewan Proctor
- The Minister — George Cross
- Kenneth Kendall as Himself
- American Journalists — Ric Felgate, Carl Conway
- Interviewer — John Doye
- Radio Announcer — Dwight Whylie
- Workers — Desmond Cullum-Jones, Eddie Davis
- Tramp — Roy Godfrey
- Taxi Driver — Michael Rathborne
- Mechanic — Edward Colliver
- Soldiers — John Rolfe, John Boyd-Brent, Frank Jarvis, Robin Dawson
- Man in Telephone Box — John Slavid
[edit] Cast notes
WOTAN received a credit as "And WOTAN" at the end of the first three episodes, the only time a fictional character was credited as itself in the series.
[edit] In print
A novelisation of this serial, written by Ian Stuart Black, was published by Target Books in February 1989.
[edit] Continuity
- This serial is the first in the series to be completely set on present day Earth. The previous landings of the TARDIS in the 1960s were either brief (the Empire State Building sequence from The Chase, several landings during The Daleks' Master Plan, the stop over on Wimbledon Common in The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve) or exceptional (Planet of Giants, where the TARDIS crew were shrunk down to the size of insects and could not fully interact with present day humans). Here, for the first time, we see the Doctor take a leading role in the protection of the planet, which becomes a regular theme for the series from here on.
- WOTAN is pronouced "Votan" – as, it is explained, the Norse god sometimes was. It stands, though, for Will Operating Thought ANalogue, which is indicative of its ability to connect to the human brain.
- WOTAN refers to the Doctor as "Doctor Who" – the only time the character is ever given this name within the series' narrative (though he is often credited as such in the end titles). While there is nothing in the series that directly contradicts it, many fans see this as an error and several theories have tried to account for it, one noting that WOTAN may have been misinformed, since it also described the Doctor as "human" (but see also Doctor Who (1996)). WOTAN also manages to discern the meaning of the acronym TARDIS; how it manages to do so is not explained.
- At the start of the serial, the Doctor comments that he feels the same sensation as he felt when the Daleks were around. While this appears to be intended to equate the War Machines and WOTAN to the Daleks, it is interesting to note that the events of the serial are revealed later in the series to happen contemporaneously with the Second Doctor serial The Evil of the Daleks.
- Another series entry that preshadows the idea of the internet is The Green Death, which features a very similar computer villain. The Face of Evil also sees the Doctor encountering another such being (this time having been linked with his own brain rather than that of a human) and commenting on how familiar the threat has become.
- The Past Doctor Adventures novel The Time Travellers by Simon Guerrier is set in an alternate reality where the Doctor had not been around to stop WOTAN. The villain is never referred to by name, only as "the Machine", and while he was overthrown thousands were left insane by his mind-control and Britain was reduced to a technologically backward dictatorship.
[edit] Production
- Working titles for this story included The Computers.[citation needed]
[edit] Restoration and video release
- Aside from its soundtrack (recorded off-air), this serial was lost in the junk of episodes in the 1970s. In 1978 a collector in Australia provided a copy of episode 2. Later in 1984 copies of all four episodes were returned from Nigeria. Episodes 2, 3 and 4 all had cuts to them, but most have been restored due to a combination of the other copy of episode 2, material used in a promotional item on the BBC's Blue Peter and censored clips from Australia. Some of the restored footage did not have its accompanying soundtrack, and so the missing sound was restored from the off-air recordings.
- The serial was released on VHS in 1997, with an item from Blue Peter and a BBC1 "globe ident" (from the first part of the story) as an extra.
[edit] External links
- The War Machines episode guide on the BBC website
- The War Machines at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
- The War Machines at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
[edit] Reviews
- The War Machines reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
- The War Machines reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide
