Line #26 Recap/DoctorWhoS3E10TheWarMachines


1	[[WMG:[[center:[-''[[Series/DoctorWho Doctor Who]]'' [[Recap/DoctorWho recap index]]\
2	'''First Doctor Era'''\
3	'''Season 3:''' [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E1Galaxy4 1]] \| [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E2MissionToTheUnknown 2]] \| [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E3TheMythMakers 3]] \| [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan 4]] \| [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E5TheMassacre 5]] \| [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E6TheArk 6]] \| [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E7TheCelestialToymaker 7]] \| [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E8TheGunfighters 8]] \| [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E9TheSavages 9]] \| '''10'''\
4	'''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E1PlanetOfGiants <<< Season 2]]''' \| '''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E1TheSmugglers Season 4 >>>]]''']]-]]]
5	!The War Machines
6	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wotan2_3202.jpg]]
7	[[caption-width-right:350:[[AC:"Doctor Who is required- What? His name ''isn't'' 'Doctor Who'? Well, it's too late to remind me ''now!'' We already used up all the retakes the studio is allowing!"]] [[note]] Early ''DW'' was mostly shot live in one go because retakes were difficult to manage back in TheSixties. Hence a lot of identifiable production errors, like misread lines, especially from Creator/WilliamHartnell (in his case, nicknamed "Billy fluffs"). [[/note]]]]
8	->Written by Ian Stuart Black, from a story by Kit Pedler\
9	Directed by Michael Ferguson\
10	'''Production code:''' BB\
11	'''Air dates:''' 25 June - 16 July 1966\
12	'''Number of episodes:''' 4
13
14	->''"I dig your fab gear!"''
15	-->-- '''A nightclub owner''' likes the Doctor's clothes.
16
17	JustForFun/{{The one w\|ith}}here he is actually called "Doctor Who".
18	----
19
20	The TARDIS arrives in contemporary UsefulNotes/{{London}}, and the Doctor and Dodo visit the Post Office Tower, where they meet Professor Brett and his new super-computer WOTAN, which can think for itself and is about to be plugged into a worldwide computer network.
21
22	Hmm. Computer that can think for itself... [[AIIsACrapshoot Yeah.]]
23
24	We're just gonna skip to the part where WOTAN hypnotises humans into building the titular War Machines, which turn out to be more than a match for the army. The Doctor uses a magnetic field to capture one, which he then reprograms to destroy WOTAN.
25
26	Dodo, having been hypnotised by WOTAN, decides she's had enough adventure. Since she's back in her own time, she decides to stay there. In one of the lamest departure sequences for any companion, she [[DroppedABridgeOnHim isn't seen after Episode Two and says goodbye to the Doctor in part four via a note, delivered by Polly]]. The Doctor leaves, but not before Professor Brett's secretary Polly and able seaman Ben Jackson enter the TARDIS while trying to return a missing TARDIS key to the Doctor.
27	----
28
29	All four episodes of this story exist in the BBC archives. As of now, it's the final complete serial of the First Doctor's run, and the only complete serial (without animated reconstruction) to feature Ben and Polly. It's notable as the first instance of the faster-paced and more action-oriented "Yeti on your loo in Tooting Bec" story archetype which would become increasingly prominent in the Creator/PatrickTroughton era and come to define the Creator/JonPertwee era, with various baddies running around recognisably modern-day London and haunting major London landmarks It's also notable as taking place on the same day (July 20, 1966) as Ben and Polly's last story, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E8TheFacelessOnes "The Faceless Ones"]].
30
31	!!The Trope Machines:
32	* AICronym: WOTAN, from Will Operating Thought [=ANalogue=], referring to its purpose as an abstract experiment in AI.
33	* AIIsACrapshoot: There's no actual explanation of why WOTAN turned out to be power-hungry and malevolent.
34	* AllForNothing: Professor Krimpton fights valiantly to escape WOTAN's influence, but fails and is ultimately killed by the Doctor's War Machine before he can have his mind restored like WOTAN's other victims.
35	* BigBad: WOTAN.
36	* BringNewsBack: Ben escapes to tell the Doctor and others what WOTAN does.
37	* CelebrityResemblance: When the Doctor arrives at the Inferno club, Polly comments that he "looks a bit like that disc jockey". Presumably she means Creator/JimmySavile, which makes it a [[DepravedKidsShowHost somewhat unfortunate comment]] now...
38	* CharacterAsHimself: For the first three episodes, WOTAN is listed last under the cast as a cast member playing 'himself'.
39	* ComplainingAboutRescuesTheyDontLike: Ben tells a man to stop hassling Polly, he starts a fist fight with Ben, and Polly complains -- though Dodo intervenes on his behalf.
40	** Though to be fair, he did tell her "be careful who you encourage" - implying it was [[ValuesDissonance her own fault]][[invoked]] she was harassed by that fellow.
41	* ComputerEqualsTapeDrive: Not only WOTAN but the War Machines have these -- the latter are mounted on the outside where they can easily be damaged by gunfire!
42	** Justified in that the story was set in 1966.
43	* DamselInDistress: Mind control effects on two women. (Plus the man who wouldn't leave Polly alone at the nightclub.)
44	* DisposableVagrant: A tramp tries to sleep in an abandoned building, unaware that WOTAN is using it to construct one war machine.
45	* DistressedDude: Most of the mind control victims are men. And Ben gets captured and forced to work without it.
46	* TheDulcineaEffect: Ben fights for Polly rather quickly.
47	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Polly is introduced privately pulling a silly face to make fun of her nagging sexist boss, and quickly turning it into a forced smile before looking around. Ben is introduced moping in a bar, beating up a man who sexually harasses Polly, and then blaming Polly for the assault.
48	* FadSuper: WOTAN is a 1960s computer that lives in the Post Office Tower, which was then an emblem of the bright and glorious future. It is capable of ''ringing up other computers to talk to them'', a simplification of what we'd now recognise as the Internet, only this was portrayed as having it actually call up the computers to talk to them over the phone in a creepy whispering voice.
49	* ForHappiness: The bartender asks Polly to help cheer up Ben. Polly comments on how reliably she is called on for such measures.
50	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Even more impressive because it was unintentional. The Doctor says when near the tower that he gets a feeling that he normally only gets when the Daleks are nearby. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E9TheEvilOfTheDaleks Turns out there are Daleks in the area, they're just not involved in the current situation]]. That serial was still a year away.
51	* AFriendInNeed: Ben is first persuaded to act when he sees Polly being hassled at the nightclub.
52	* HypnoPendulum: This is how the Doctor mesmerises Dodo, only instead of using a pendulum he swings his hand with the ring on it back and forth in a similar motion.
53	* IdiotBall: Plenty from WOTAN -- its hypnotised slaves work like machines until they drop (WOTAN should know that the inefficient humans require regular food and rest) and it tries to take over London by brute military force instead of [[Series/AForAndromeda using its role as an advisor to the government to manipulate events]].
54	* InHarmsWay: Ben is morose because he's on shore duty.
55	* LandmarkingTheHiddenBase: The Post Office Tower serves as the villains' HQ.
56	* MasterComputer: WOTAN, which is similar to [[Franchise/TheTerminator Skynet]] — but, this being The '60s, it consists of a single Master Computer based in the Post Office Tower in London.
57	* MindRape: Dodo gets hypnotised by WOTAN, necessitating the First Doctor to hypnotise her back to normal. Since Dodo quits afterwards, only giving a second-hand goodbye through Ben and Polly, some fans speculate (especially in light of the scene that went on between the Tenth Doctor and Donna) that the Doctor actually wiped her memory, or else influenced her to leave for her own perceived safety.
58	* NewscasterCameo: Real-life newsreader Kenneth Kendall plays himself in news reports about the War Machines. Similarly, radio announcer Dwight Wylie reports on a Machine being spotted killing someone.
59	* OutOfGenreExperience: This is a First Doctor story that feels strongly like a prototypical Third Doctor story. It is a rare occasion where the First Doctor has an adventure in the Earth of the present (the previous one was "Planet of Giants") and he works together with the military to defeat an evil machine that plans to dominate humanity. The story's tone is likewise more bracing and action-oriented than the mannered theatricality of prior Hartnell serials, drawing the show closer to contemporaries such as ''Series/AdamAdamantLives'' or the Creator/DianaRigg seasons of ''Series/TheAvengers1960s'' (in a progression that would continue through much of the Troughton and Pertwee eras).
60	* ThePowerOfFriendship: The mind-controlled Polly clearly sees Ben escaping, and says nothing. When someone asks after him, she explains, but when he asks her why, she does not know, and after a moment, starts to remember that he had been her friend.
61	* PutOnABus: Once Dodo is freed from WOTAN's influence, she's removed from the plot. In Episode Two. And in the most perfunctory way possible: the camera just pans right off her onto the Doctor in mid-scene, and she's never seen again; her decision not to return is briefly described second-hand two episodes later.
62	* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Midway through production, Creator/JackieLane's contract expired and producer Creator/InnesLloyd was keen to introduce new companions, hence Dodo's sudden departure. Lloyd later apologised to Lane, saying she was "a victim of circumstance". Also compare to Ben and Polly's similarly unceremonious exit in "The Faceless Ones" a season later, likewise produced under Lloyd.
63	** Creator/JackieLane got her own revenge when she'd become an agent representing actors who did voiceover work. Lloyd came to her a few years later, asking if she could find him work. She reminded him that he'd sacked her from ''Doctor Who'', and declined to represent him.
64	* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The story focuses on the newly-built and cutting-edge technology of the Post Office Tower, as well as theoretical new concepts like computers all over the world linked together via telephone lines (which of course is presented as the computer ringing people up to talk to them with words).
65	* ScooterRidingMod: The story features a scene in a nightclub full of mods, although none of the major characters really adopt the style.
66	* TheSixties: Remember when [[AlternateHistory that computer took over the world]]?
67	* SpecialEditionTitle: The story title, episode number and writer are presented as if they are being typed out by a [[TheSixties Sixties]] computer.
68	* StayInTheKitchen: Polly is constantly told to stay out of the computer science and go and make coffee.
69	* TinCanRobot[=/=]KillerRobot: The War Machines.
70	* WorldsBestCharacter: One of the scientists developing WOTAN, who is an artificial intelligence, insists it's the most advanced computer in the world ''despite'' it not being the biggest.
71	* WorstNewsJudgementEver: The death of a tramp makes the front page of ''The Times''. Actual deaths in 1966 included writers Creator/EvelynWaugh and CS Forester, actors Creator/BusterKeaton and Creator/MontgomeryClift, comedian Creator/LennyBruce and Captain Cook's 200 year-old tortoise. Their deaths did not make the front page of ''The Times''.
72	* YouHaveFailedMe
73	* YouShallNotPass: Episode 3 ends with a war machine bearing down on the army and random civilian director-type-people. They all turn and run for cover, but the Doctor stands his ground.

Context Recap / DoctorWhoS3E10TheWarMachines