Day 64 — March 5th 2021
The War Machines — Episodes Three and Four
The War Machines — Episode Three
If I complained that the third episode of The Savages was a ‘typical’ Episode Three’ then this is anything but. There’s plenty of interest going on here, and I think that much of it is actually quite scary. The first half of the episode, in which Polly falls under WOTAN’s power and Ben finds himself trapped in the warehouse threw me — I’d completely forgotten that Polly got taken over, and it was both exciting and a bit scary to see that happen.
And then there’s a brilliant moment where she stands up to the rest of WOTAN’s people. She argues that Ben shouldn’t be killed, but rather spared so he can work for WOTAN! Hurrah! She’s not possessed at all! She was pretending to get Ben out of trouble and help him escape!
Ben: ‘Strewth, that was a close one. Thanks, girl. Well, you really played them along. You even had me fooled.’
Polly: ‘You have been spared. Now you must work hard for the success of this great new cause.’
Ben: ‘Eh? What cause?’
Polly: ‘The victory of the War Machines.’
It tripped me up again! Because she’s not pretending! She really is arguing that he should be used to work for the War Machines! Oh, I love being wrong footed like that. Especially when it’s an episode I’ve seen at least twice before! I’ve mentioned a few times already in this marathon that I can’t remember an awful lot from the last time I watched through Doctor Who, and it’s true. Oh I’m great with the facts and figures, I can tell you all sorts of details about every story, but the actual plots? Some of them are a mystery to me. Even ones like this which I know I loved before!
The episode is automatically better because it’s surprised and excited me. It’s also another thing that Ian Stuart Black will return to in The Macra Terror — although in that instance it’s Ben who comes under the hypnotic power of the enemy. We even get a similar trajectory with them both finding that the bonds of friendship can overcome their conditioning. Polly gets terribly cross with Ben for working against her in that one, but it’s a bit rich considering her actions here!
Elsewhere in the episode you’ve got — possibly — my favourite William Hartnell moment as Doctor Who, and it’s one which I can’t believe doesn’t get trotted out to represent him all the time. It comes right at the end of the episode, as the War Machine advances towards us. The army, all those soldiers with their weapons, and the government ministers all panic and retreat back to a safe distance. But Doctor Who just stands there and faces down the threat! Ooh, that’s brilliant! It’s genuinely powerful. And how fantastic does William Hartnell look in that moment? He’s even wearing the perfect costume for his incarnation, complete with the cloak. Choosing to stand and fight isn’t always a defining characteristic of the First Doctor (although it certainly is by this stage in the third season), but this moment is absolutely pure Doctor Who.
Objectively, the War Machines themselves aren’t very good. They’re boxy, clumsy, and the moment where the advancing one here menacingly knocks over a pile of cardboard boxes just for the sake of it isn’t exactly the most terrifying thing a monster has ever done. And yet, somehow, I genuinely love them. There’s something about the design — so basic and sixties — which really appeals. I feel like it would have looks brilliant on broadcast, ridiculous a decade later, and has now circled back round to being something pleasingly retro.
I was going to make the remark that they’re the opposite of Ray Cusick’s intention for The Daleks. There, the intention was to make them as small as possible to stop you from thinking about the fact that there’s someone inside wheeling it around. The War Machines are so bulky you could likely fit two people inside… and yet, d’you know, I’ve never ever thought about it. I’ve never looked at them and considered that there’s anything inside but electronics. There’s a success!
A War Machine was one of the very first Eaglemoss figures I bought, simply because I wanted one on the shelf. Indeed, over Christmas I staged a recreation of this scene on a shelf in our hallway to see how long it would take the wife to notice. I added the War Machine on Day One, a Doctor Who on Day Two, and then a few little paper crates every day for about a week. She noticed before I managed to make a Post Office Tower out of loo rolls, but we’ve compromised and the shelf now displays figures of all the Old Testament Doctor Whos. Apart from Paul McGann, because you can only get his telly outfit in an out-of-stock box set that now sells for silly money on eBay.
I’ve got loads more written down for this episode, but I’ll stop now before I run on for too long. The one last thing I did think while watching this one is how lucky we are it exists. There’s a solid five minutes at the end of the episode which is made up of weird electronic noises punctured with the occasional ‘crash’ or ‘run!’. I’m not sure that would be so effective on a narrated soundtrack…!
My favourite episode of the story so far, simply because it’s very much not an Episode Three, and I love that this show can still surprise me all these years later. 9/10.
The War Machines — Episode Four
I’ve been banging on for four days about how Ian Stuart Black’s stories feel more like Doctor Who than pretty much anything we’ve had before, but I think this particular episode feels more like Russell T Davies’ Doctor Who than almost anything else in the Old Testament.
We’ve got an alien invasion taking place on the streets of contemporary London, with real life newsreaders popping up to keep us abreast of the attack. Real people — totally unconnected otherwise to the story — are caught up in the action, and we see their reaction to the events. Alien invasions in Doctor Who often feel like things that take place ‘over there’ somewhere, away from the public, but this one is right up in your face and that’s brilliant!
And how exciting is it to see the War Machine trundling down an every day street? Okay, sure, it’s going at about half a mile an hour, it’s wobbling a bit on the uneven surface, and it moves blindly right into a trap, but it’s still really exciting to see it out and about somewhere real. I’m sure we’ll discuss the ‘Yeti in the loo’ theory once we reach the Pertwee years, and I think this episode absolutely proves that it’s effective.
See also all the photos of the Machine out on the streets. There’s something about it that’s far more magical than just plopping it in a television studio and hoping for the best. And bizarrely, the BT Tower always feels a bit special too, simply because I know it was in Doctor Who once — for four weeks more than half a century ago! Oh, our brains work in mysterious ways as Doctor Who fans.
I’m also impressed by the couple of shots in this episode featuring back projection for the War Machine heading off to the Tower for the final confrontation. It’s also used (slightly less-effectively) for Doctor Who and Sir Charles in a car to the same location. It’s not the first time the series has used this technique, but it works nicely here and I’d not spotted it before.
Do you know something else I noticed today for the first time ever? There’s only a single War Machine. In the story there’s two of them, but you only ever see one on screen at once, and there clearly only ever was one. I always used to think it was strange that no parts of the War Machines had survived, but it suddenly seems a lot more plausible when you realise they only built a single prop. I only noticed because there’s a continuity error in Episode Three where the number switches from ‘9’ to ‘3’ depending on film or studio, and then I realised they only use those two numbers throughout.
I’ll accept that the actual ending of the story is a bit of a let down. It’s all a bit too easy to overcome WOTAN, who seems to have the upper hand throughout until Doctor Who does… well, something. He alters the War Machine’s programming, but it’s all off screen and explained after the fact. We don’t even get much of a resolution to Polly’s brainwashing. Ben gets her out of the room before the War Machine attacks… and then she turns up fine again in the final scene with no real consequences.
But I can’t say I particularly care! Hah! I’ve enjoyed the rest of the episode — and the story — so much that I’m happy to overlook that and just go with this. I’m pleased to say that The War Machines remains a favourite.
And that final scene contains a bit of a saving grace for Dodo’s departure, too. I’d always thought having Ben and Polly turn up to say ‘she’s gone’ was ridiculous, but I’d forgotten that Doctor Who himself is annoyed about it too!
Doctor Who: ‘I’ve been waiting around here for [Dodo]. Where is she? I very nearly left without her.’
Ben: ‘Left?’
Doctor Who: ‘Yes, er, to the airport, yes. She is well, I hope?’
Polly: ‘She says she’s feeling much better and she’d like to stay here in London, and she sends you her love.’
Doctor Who: ‘Her love? Oh, there’s gratitude for you. Take her all the way around the world, through space and time, and then…’
Ben: ‘Come again, Doctor?’
Doctor Who: ‘Er, what? I, er, nothing, my dear boy, nothing.’
There’s something quite fun in that. I love the idea that she’s ditched him and he’s annoyed by it. It doesn’t quite save the fact that she vanishes halfway through the story and that’s the end for her, but it certainly helps. It seems a shame, though, that we have some final shots on location in this scene, meaning that Jackie Lane was there just out of shot, but because they’d not renewed her contract we don’t get to see her.
I’m going for an 8/10 for this final episode, which might be more than it would merit in any other situation, but I’ve really enjoyed it. The War Machines isn’t my highest-rated Hartnell this time around, but it’s tied for second place.
