Written by Ian Stuart Black, Kit Pedler, and Pat Dunlop
Directed by Michael Ferguson

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series that has been around on and off since 1963. The main character is just known as “The Doctor” and is a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. This means he travels through time to various places. One of his favorite places to visit is Earth. Typically, he has a companion traveling with him, usually female, sometimes male, sometimes one of each. He travels in a time machine known as a “Tardis” which is disguised as a British Police booth.

A Time Lord can regenerate if fatally wounded, which has accounted for all the different actors who have played The Doctor throughout the years.  In this story-arc from the early years of the show, the Doctor is portrayed by  William Hartnell.  He’s traveling with Dodo (portrayed by Jackie Lane), and for reasons series fans are eternally grateful for, this was her last story-arc.

The Doctor and Dodo arrive in London, 1966.  The Doctor senses something is wrong and poses as a scientist to infiltrate the government’s latest project and discover what’s going on.  A new supercomputer is being developed that will link together with other computers across the world.

Unfortunately, the story will be a familiar one to many.  I say unfortunately, because I am sure at the time it was more thrilling than it is to those of us who have grown up on variations of evil machines that want to take over the world.  It makes it harder to appreciate the good things about this story.  That is, besides the fact that it gets rid of Dodo.

There are other issues with the story as well, especially to those of us who have grown up picking apart Star Wars (yeah, right, George Lucas, you intended Luke and Leia to be brother and sister from the start) and Star Trek, but to the audience of its era, I am sure The War Machines was more easily digested.  I could sit here and list a bunch of nitpicks from the episode that just don’t make sense and make it ripe for the MST3K treatment. However, giving it the benefit of the ages, I’m going to try to focus on what was right here.

The War Machines marked something of a change for the series, which seemed to be focused on aliens and adventures on other worlds. Here, the Doctor and his companion land in what was then modern-day Earth and defend it against destruction.  That the destruction would have happened as a result of our own actions is somewhat inconsequential. It’s reminiscent of the tone of the plot in Army of Ghosts, where the Doctor must save us from ourselves, as we know not the power we yield at times.

William Hartnell was the oldest of the Doctors and did a great job here in the role. He’s a pleasure to watch as he’s battling the electronic foe, and there’s almost an instant chemistry between him and Polly (portrayed by Anneke Wills), who would join him as a companion for a while.   The guest cast is excellent in their roles, and makes up for many of the plot holes, keeping The War Machines enjoyable to watch.

On DVD, this has the usual extras the BBC loves to indulge series fans with.  There’s a terrific commentary with Director Michael Ferguson and Anneke Wills that makes it worth sitting through the story-arc a second time.  There’s also a featurette on what the restoration team went through bringing The War Machines back from oblivion that will let you appreciate their talent and dedication.

Although far from the best of the series, or even of the Hartnell years, The War Machines has enough going for it to make it watchable, especially for those who have the desire to see all of the Doctor Who story-arcs.


SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Commentary with Director Michael Ferguson and Anneke Wills
• Info Text
• The War Machines: Now and Then
• Blue Peter
• One Foot in the Past
• WOTAN Assembly
• Photo Gallery
• PDF Materials
• Easter Egg in episode selection menu of Deleted Scenes