The War Machines

The TARDIS makes another trip to contemporary London, this time in 1966, landing at the base of the newly completed Post Office Tower. The Doctor and Dodo emerge and immediately the Doctor has an odd premonition about the tower and decides to investigate, but finds nothing more menacing than a supercomputer named WOTAN, which is about to be linked to computers across the world. WOTAN, however, is full of surprises, and can solve any problem; it even knows that the word TARDIS stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, which tips the Doctor off and makes him suspicious of the machine and its creator, Professer Brett. Brett's secretary, Polly Wright (no relation to Barbara) becomes fast friends with Dodo, and they hit the local club where they befriend Ben Jackson of the Royal Navy. WOTAN, meanwhile, begins to exude some form of influence over everyone around it, taking over Brett, two of his associates, and then Dodo in its attempt to get at the Doctor. Polly eventually falls under WOTAN's influence as well and joins a work crew who are creating one of many massive War Machines, which will be WOTAN's soldiers in its coming war against humanity. The attack of one machine is triggered prematurely so the Doctor can get a look at it, and with Ben's help he is ready for the next one when it emerges on the streets of London. The Doctor manages to turn the machine back on WOTAN, which effectively ends the computer's bid for world domination. Having recovered from the machine's influence, Dodo decides to stay in London, but as the Doctor is attempting to leave Ben and Polly accidentally enter the TARDIS and are whisked away with him.

I watched The War Machines with my friend Jay, who is not very familiar with the early years of the show, but he had a lot to say about the production values. It has been pointed out before that at the time it was made, Doctor Who was state-of-the-art despite the flimsy sets and effects, but it was also affected by the timeline it was made under; the third season had 45 episodes and there was no luxury of time to re-shoot anything that went wrong (hence some of William Hartnell's flubbed dialogue carrying over to the final takes). Jay also noted a lot of close-ups gone wrong, which I had never thought much of, but it's almost as if the actors were not told about the close-ups and moved off their marks ever so slightly so rather than see their faces, we get a close up of an ear. The War Machines is also the first episode to experiment with a "customized" opening title, with the episode title and the writer's credit in some computer-ish text, with a dramatic drumroll in the background.

The army is involved in this episode a lot, the Doctor's first direct involvement with the local authorities to help combat an alien menace. In a few years the show will touch on this theme again, and it will become part of the programme's history. Although a lot will change between now and then.

So season three is over. There is no starscape this time as with the previous two seasons, just some confused pedestrians as the TARDIS dematerializes with a new crew...

NEXT EPISODE : THE SMUGGLERS

The Savages

As the Doctor promised, it is an era of peace ond prosperity on the planet the TARDIS has brought himself, Dodo and Steven to. There is an idyllic city governed by the Elders, where all the needs of the citizens are met and everyone is kept happy. Oh sure, there are some savages living in the wastelands, but they're nothing to worry about; they are easily controlled with light guns, and they do have their uses after all. The Elders, it seems are so advanced that they knew the Doctor would come to them one day and have offered him a position on their council. He accepts, and then is told the secrets of the civilization's propersity. The chief scientist of the city has discovered a way to distil the life force out of the savages and transfer it to the citizens of the city, which enhances their lives but leaves the savages weak and confused, and they are flung back into the wilderness to recover or die. The Doctor and his companions are outraged at what they see and immediately side with the savages, but the Doctor is subjected to the process and the leader of the city absorbs his life essence, only to absorb the scruples and morals of the Doctor as well. Steven shows the savages how to fight back and when the battle is eventually won by the good guys, they want Steven to stay and lead them. And he does.

Alas, there are no complete episodes of The Savages to enjoy, but the CD was entertaining with liking narration performed by Peter Purves. This was Purves' last adventure as a member of the TARDIS crew, with Steven taking the responsibility of leading the savages and the citizens of the city into their future. He immediately says he can't do it, but the Doctor almost pushes him into the role, telling him this is what he was born to do, and thus the TARDIS is down one companion. Do I buy this? Sort of. Steven was a strong character yes, a good foil for the Doctor, almost a grandson to him, but leader of a planet? Not sure. Still, he did a good job of showing them how to fight back, that's got to count for something, and everything he has seen and learned while with the Doctor has prepared him for just about anything. This leaves the Doctor on his own with Dodo, "the girl with the ridiculous name" as her calls her. What is an old man to do when he is travelling alone with a young girl? (Minds out of the gutter, people).

Maybe Dodo might want out too.

NEXT EPISODE : THE WAR MACHINES

The Gunfighters

Well yeee-haw it's an adventure in the rootin' tootin' wild west!

The TARDIS arrives in Tombstone, right across the street from the infamous OK Corral. Decked out in the tackiest of cowboy fashions, Steven and Dodo (who even got hair extensions for this one) accompany the Doctor as he searches for a dentist to deal with his aching tooth. Luckily for him, there is a newly-opened dental surgery right on Main Street. Unluckily, it is run by outlaw, gambler and boozer Doc Holliday, and just down the street at the Last Chance Saloon the notorious Clanton brothers are a-waitin for a chance to get even with Holliday for shooting one of their kin. The Doctor is mistaken for Holliday while Steven and Dodo are forced to sing and play the piano at gunpoint, and then are separately abduced and held at gunpoint a few more times over the adventure's four episodes. Sensing that Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson will protect their friend Holliday, Pa Clanton hires himself the meanest gun in the west, Johnny Ringo, who has his own score to settle with Holliday, and all paths converge at the OK Corral at sunup... and we all know how that story goes.

A lot of fans hate The Gunfighters and it's not hard to see why. Bad cowboy accents, a thin plot, and dreary sets. But I actually liked it. It's a comedy. I laughed my ass off in places. The Doctor gets in some fun moments while everyone thinks he is Doc Holliday. Steven warbles his way through the lyrics of The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon. The song itself is featured throughout all four episodes, serving as not only incidental music but a chorus commenting on the action so far. (Doctor Who would not use vocal incidental music again until 1987's Delta and the Bannermen). But the irony of all the hatred people have towards the adventure is it actually exists intact, all four episodes VIDfired and restored for viewing pleasure and sold in a boxed set in 2003. Okay it's not great, but it's fun, it's something different. After all the heavy tones of the season so far (Vicki leaving, Katarina and Sara dying, a foiled Dalek invasion, a religious cleansing of Paris, Earth being destroyed by the sun, and the twisted world of the Toymaker) it is good to have something a bit lighter to enjoy to take the edge off.

With The Gunfighters comes a significant style change to Doctor Who; from the very beginning each episode was individually titled (and with the new series that has been brought back) but this would be the last story to receive that treatment. Every adventure after in the classic series will have a collective title and the episodes numbered.

Once the dust settles and the TARDIS leaves Tombstone, the Doctor declares that they will next step out into a world of the future, an age of peace and prosperity. But, if that's the case, who's that mean dude with the spear on the TARDIS scanner screen as the credits roll..?

NEXT EPISODE : THE SAVAGES

The Celestial Toymaker

The Doctor finds himself suddenly fading from sight. Dodo and Steven believe that it has something to do with the invisible Refusians, but the Doctor senses a much greater threat at work. The TARDIS has landed in the world of the Celestial Toymaker, an immortal being outside time and space who delights in ensnaring travellers in his web and forcing them to play his games with their freedom as the prize. The Doctor is made to play the trilogic game which requires 1023 precise moves for him to win, and when he becomes too irritible the Toymaker makes him intangible save for one hand so he can play the game, and makes him mute as well (this continues through two full episodes, which allowed William Hartnell a break in the filming schedule). Dodo and Steven meanwhile are flung into the other regions of the Toymaker's world to play games against the Toymaker's dolls, including a pair of clowns, some playing cards, and a snide schoolboy named Cyril. The Doctor manages to play his game despite constant taunting from the Toymaker, and Steven and Dodo manage to outplay the cheating toys and win the TARDIS back as their prize.

As with so many other adventures of this era, The Celestial Toymaker is incomplete, with only episode 4, The Final Test, surviving on the Lost in Time DVD. The balance of the episodes are on the BBC Radio Collection CD, and I enjoyed them at the gym over the last couple days while doing my cardio bike sessions. Michael Gough makes a splendid appearance as the Toymaker, and it's a shame that he never got a chance to return in that role - a rematch between the Doctor and the Toymaker was planned for a 1986 story but it was not made. The story was made into a novel, though, and I will be looking at that, if for nothing more than a chance to see what might have been. There is already a history between the Doctor and the Toymaker; the Toymaker alludes to a previous visit the Doctor made to his realm, one that the Doctor escaped from without playing any games (these events are outlined in the novel Divided Loyalties which I will also look at later on). Having most of this story on CD lets one imagine it as a bit grander than it may have appeared on screen. By the time we get to episode 4 there is only the Toymaker's office and the hopscotch game room to go through, and both are pretty bland sets. Who knows what Mrs Wigg's kitchen looked like, or the Dancing Hall?

And out of this twisted domain, we go into what a lot of fans refer to as the worst episode ever - a romp through the rootin' tootin' old west...

NEXT EPISODE : THE GUNFIGHTERS

The Ark

The TARDIS materializes in a lush jungle and Dodo emerges with a cold. She think she is somewhere on Earth and shows Steven her proof: reptiles and trees surround her that could only come from her home planet. The Doctor cannot tell exactly where they have arrived but realizes that the wildlife around them is from many different areas of Earth, there is a faint regular trembling to the ground beneath them, and there is a steel roof overhead. No, this is not Earth, but a spaceship carrying the last refugees from the planet Earth as it is millions of years in the future and the planet is about to burn up in the sun. The majority of the human race has been miniaturized for the journey to their new home on the planet Refusis, which will take 700 years, and only a handful of humans staff the vast ship along with members of another race, the Monoids. The Monoids are speechless creatures with lizard-like skin, mops of hair, and one singulat eye, and after making a partnership with the humans to join them on their voyage they have become a servant class of species. The playing field is levelled, though, when Dodo's cold infects the humans and the Monoids indiscriminately; it appears that at this point in time the common cold has been cured for so long that no-one has any resistance to it - even Steven. The Doctor works under the suspicion of some of the humans and finally cures the cold, saving the inhabitants of the Ark, and the time travellers leave. The TARDIS performs something of a miracle, though, and returns in episode 3 some 700 years later when the Ark's voyage has been
completed and Refusis is in sight. This time, though, there has been a secondary outbreak of the common cold, and the Monoids have emerged stronger, and having made voice boxes for themselves and devised weapons, they are now in charge and the humans serve them. Not only that, but the Monoids intend to take Refusis for themselves and blow up the Ark with all the human race on board. Obviously the Doctor and copany cannot stand by and let this happen, and it is up to them to save the day.

I quite like The Ark. It's a simple story really but the production values are very high with no seams showing in the Monoid costumes, vast sets for the Ark control centres, and some great location work for the initial few moments of the show (unless you're going to tell me they got an Indian elephant into the BBC studios just for that scene). The costumes on the humans are a bit sily though; it seems in the far future we'll all be well-toned men and women wearing speedos and shredded tunics and flip-flops. There are also some good effects shots of the landing craft from the spaceship as they head for Refusis, even if the strings on the landers show a bit. A bit of a cop-out with the Refusians though; they're invisible like the Visians on the panet Mira in The Dalek Master Plan. All four episodes of the story exist in full and they're good quality copies, so when this story is considered for DVD release there will be great results with what I assume will be minimal effort.

Up next, the Doctor himself starts to fade from view for the next adventure, a twisted classic I enjoy despite only 1 episode existing to watch...

NEXT EPISODE : THE CELESTIAL TOYMAKER

Salvation

Steve Lyon's book Salvation was published by BBC Boks in 1999. Lyons has taken a bit of a liberty with the continuity of the series at this point; Dodo claimed in the final moments of The Massacre that a little boy had been hit by a car and she needed to get hold of the police, but here that is all thrown out the window in favour of the girl fleeing from an alien who had kept her locked up for the last day. She runs from him and sees the welcome form of a police box and decides to call for help. And we can all guess what really happens.

And then the scene switches to New York (and in my head I am hearing the Sex and the City theme). It's still 1965, the TARDIS having only made a hop across the Atlantic, and Steven is still fuming about his fight with the Doctor over his disregard for Anne Chaplet. What's more, the state of the world in 1965 with the Vietman War and homelessness and poverty has disgusted Steven further, despite the fact that he has seen worse things inflicted upon mankind by other races (note a clever mention of the Cybermen, who have not appeared in the series yet). Steven feels himself starting to want to leave the Doctor after all he has seen, and for Dodo, the adventure is just beginning. The people of New York are visitied by aliens who have come to save the world, aliens who simply claim to be the Gods. History makes no mention of this of course, and the Doctor is determined to get to the bottom of things; he suspects some kind of deception and, of course, he is right, and must foil another invasion of Earth.

I always like it when Doctor Who goes somewhere else besides a corner of England. I've got some hopes that the new series might have some far-out foreign filming location in its future, given that the BBC have already ordered a special episode for around Christmas this year; what more special than to go afar? The show doesn't make its first real location journey until 1979, but so far the TARDIS has been to China (Marco Polo, The Eleventh Tiger) Mexico (The Aztecs) France (The Reign of Terror, The Massacre) America (The Chase) Italy (The Romans) and somewhere in the mideast (The Crusades). I've never been to New York City but I get a proper sense of what it might be like in Salvation, as if Lyons spent enough time there to get a feel for the place rather than look at some pictures and try to describe it in text.

A good book. A fun story. The Doctor at his best, as always.

NEXT EPISODE : THE ARK

The Massacre

Still smarting from their losses against the Daleks, Steven and the Doctor find themselves in Paris, France, in 1572. The Doctor wants to visit the apothecary, Charles Preslin, and leaves Steven to his own devices for a while, unaware that they have landed during a time of political upheaval driven by religious rights. The ruling monarchy are all Catholic and are having difficulty with the Protestant community, and there is treachery afoot. Steven is caught up in the swell of events and befriends a young girl named Anne Chaplet who has overheard news of an assassination plot. It gets even more dangerous for Steven when he discovers that the Abbot of Amboise, one of the cheif persecutors of the Protestants, looks exactly like the Doctor. The Doctor is laragely missing for the story, leaving Steven to first believe the Abbot is the Doctor in disguise, and then to believe that the Doctor is dead and he has been stranded in this time. The Catholics conspire amongst themselves to cleanse the city of its Protestant population, and on the eve of St Bartholomew's, they begin a slaughter that will spread across France and claim thousands of lives. The Doctor realizes what the date is and hurries Steven to the TARDIS so they can escape and leave history to run its course.

Here's a story that Catholics probably overlook when they like to speak of religious oppression in history. Kind of like how Americans don't like to talk about the War of 1812. I don't mind bringing either up, but that's just me being smug.

The effects of losing Katarina and Sara are bad enough for Steven, but having grown fond of Anne Chaplet he is furious with the Doctor for sending her home to die in the massacre. The Doctor could really not have saved her as it would have gone against the laws of time and perhaps changed the future, but Steven sees it as cold scientific logic and wants off the ship as soon as it lands. The Doctor lets him go and reflects to himself that no-one has understood him or what it means to travel in time, and now they have all left him in the end. His solitiude is short-lived though as a young girl named Dorthea Chaplet (she prefers Dodo) pushes into the TARDIS; the ship has landed in England and she has mistaken it for a real police box and needs to use the phone. Steven also comes back in having seen policemen heading for the ship, and the Doctor takes off, with Dodo still on board.

The whole inclusion of Dodo like this is purely for the sake of getting a new girl in the TARDIS, and her casual acceptance of the TARDIS as a time machine and her dismissal of the possibility of never going home again feel a bit too rushed. The Doctor welcomes her openly (how times have changed - remember how he was furious at Ian and Barbara when they invaded his privacy?) and tells Steven that Dodo looks just like his granddaughter, Susan (oh god please no not her again).

So we have a full crew again. Not much of an introduction for the new girl, though.

Let's take a side trip into a novel so we can get to know Dodo better...

NEXT EPISODE : SALVATION