I've been watching a variety of Doctor Who DVDs over the weekend, including the recently released early story, The War Machines.
There's a certain majesty to certain early episodes of Doctor Who, that I've only come to appreciate in recent years. After all, was it not this original incarnation of the good Doctor that is responsible for a show with such longevity and that has captured the imagination of a whole new generation of kids today?
The great thing about this show is that there are still so many episodes I am yet to see. So it was with great anticipation that I unwrapped my shiny new copy of 1966's The War Machines, and sat down to immerse myself in 95 minutes of classic monochromatic science-fiction.
The concept of the Post Office Tower being the core of the menace in this story was enough for me to want to watch it, and with regular camera zooms and upward pans on this tower of evil, the enormous then soon-to-be-opened modern structure that towered above 60s London was the perfect setting for this adventure. Perhaps this also reflected the opinion of many a Londoner at the time, opposing this vast, menacing construction that ripped into the skyline. Of course inside the tower the real enemy - WOTAN (pronounced "Votan") is housed. A super computer with a mind of its own - which in Who standards is a large box with diodes, lights and tape reels. WOTAN decides it wants to take over all the other super computers around the world and dominate mankind, and it achieves this by possessing its creators, who, in turn hypnotise themselves a workforce - all done miraculously by the technology of the telephone - to begin building the War machines (that had already conveniently arrived in boxes) with which to terrorize the population.
I absolutely loved The War Machines from start to finish. One of the first stories of the era to be set in swinging sixties London, we are treated to companions Polly and Dodo's antics at the city's "hottest night spot" - a nightclub aptly titled The Inferno (complete with dodgy dancing and bouffants-a-plenty), and one of the few, if only stories where cast members and indeed WOTAN himself refer somewhat hilariously to our leading man as "Doctor Who".
Throughout the story, it is evident that William Hartnell was absolutely absorbed into the role of the Doctor by this point, and although the end was nigh, he clearly gave it his all with a performance ranging from dark and mysterious to over the top extravagance (including the talent of hypnosis); characteristics that many a future Doctor would inherit.
The War Machines was a very strong bit of writing and a wonderfully realised 'save the world' type adventure, that could work just as well in modern day Britain as it did back in the day before mobile phones and the internet.
I then followed this by watching two great Jon Pertwee stories; Inferno and The Silurians.
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