Synopsis:
The War Machine leaves the warehouse as the soldiers retreat, their weapons useless. Everyone runs for cover - apart from the Doctor. He stands his ground as the Machine bears down on him...
It moves to within a few feet of him, then comes to a halt.
The Doctor explains that this is basically a mobile computer, and the attack by the soldiers led to it being activated too soon. It could not have been programmed properly yet.
The army are now able to enter the warehouse and capture Major Green and his men. His mental conditioning broken, he has no memory of recent events.
The Doctor drops a key which Ben picks up. Distracted by all the activity, he forgets to return it.
News of the incident is soon being reported on TV and radio, with the general public warned that more attacks are expected.
The Doctor is introduced by Sir Charles to his Minister, and informs him of the reason the War Machine failed.
At the Post Office Tower, Professor Brett is in contact with a technician at one of the other construction sites in Battersea. Here Machine No.9 is ready for testing.
Ben is concerned that Polly has not been found at the warehouse. The Doctor has examined the captured Machine and is able to tell Sir Charles and the Minister that there are another eleven War Machines yet to be found, within a 20 - 30 mile radius and all programmed to attack at noon that day.
War Machine No.9 is being put through its paces when it suddenly goes out of control and kills its technician.
It is soon reported that it is loose on the streets, killing and destroying all in its path.
It appears to be heading across the river into West London.
Polly has presented herself at Brett's office for punishment, but the scientist is too busy dealing with this latest malfunction.
The Doctor comes up with a plan to capture the rogue Machine, using a series of electromagnetic fields. Studying a map of the Kensington district, he identifies a place where a trap can be set.
In a cul-de-sac by Cornwall Gardens, three sides of the trap are set up - resembling a boxing ring. Once the War Machine is in position between them, the fourth side will be completed and the power switched on. Ben volunteers to do this.
The plan succeeds, and the Machine is deactivated.
The Doctor announces that he is going to reprogramme it, and send it against WOTAN. It heads for the Post Office Tower - with the Doctor following in a taxi with Sir Charles and the Minister. Realising Polly is there, Ben has gone on ahead to warn her.
He arrives moments before the War Machine and drags her to safety as it fires upon the computer. Professor Krimpton tries to intervene and save WOTAN, but is killed. The computer is wrecked.
When the Doctor and the others arrive, it is to find WOTAN destroyed and Brett unable to remember anything of the last couple of days.
The next day, Ben and Polly hurry to Fitzroy Square to meet the Doctor, whom they see standing next to a Police Box. They inform him that Dodo has recovered and decided to remain in London, which clearly annoys him. Thanking them for the message, he is eager for them to get on their way.
As they move off, they are suspicious at the way he is lingering by the box then see him open the door and enter. Polly suddenly remembers the key Ben picked up and they go back - despite Ben's worries about missing his transport back to barracks. They unlock the door and enter - and the TARDIS dematerialises seconds later...
Next time: The Smugglers
Written by Ian Stuart Black
Recorded: Friday 1st July 1966 - Riverside Studio 1
First broadcast: 5:15pm, Saturday 16th July 1966
Ratings: 5.5 million / AI 39
Designer: Raymond London
Director: Michael Ferguson
Additional cast: George Cross (Minister), Kenneth Kendall (Newsreader), Edward Colliver (Technician), John Slavid (Man in Telephone Box), Carl Conway (US Journalist), Dwight Whylie (Radio Announcer)
The original storyline would have seen new male companion Rich depart in the TARDIS with the Doctor and Dodo at the conclusion.
Dodo's departure is one of the worst in the history of the programme. She gets ditched halfway through her final story, and it all happens off screen. The Doctor hears about it at the same time as we, the audience, do.
Those actresses who simply failed to return for their next season - Caroline John and Mary Tamm - could be argued to have less satisfying departures. In the case of Liz Shaw, her absence fits the narrative. Time has passed, and she has left UNIT and moved back to academia. Romana I's absence is explained by regeneration. She's a Time Lord, so why not? Well, there really has to be a very good reason for regeneration, and Destiny of the Daleks fails to provide this.
The other famously bad one is Leela's. leaving to get married is a cliché, but narratively acceptable in normal circumstances. But Leela leaves to wed someone she's only just met, and who is hardly of the warrior class, to live in a stultifyingly boring technocratic society. Leaving to go with Nesbin would have just about made better sense.
The cliff-hanger resolution was to have seen the War Machine blow up due to incomplete programming, rather than simply grinding to a halt. This may be why, in the finished version, the Doctor reprogrammes the second War Machine, rather than the one already captured earlier at Covent Garden - in the draft this was destroyed.
The Sir Charles character - Sir Robert - wanted to attack all the mobile computers, which the Doctor had identified as converging on Central London in a circle. He wanted to concentrate on attacking the central computer at the Post Office Tower. Sir Robert was to have kept the military back whilst the Doctor used remote control to send the War Machine to attack WOTAN. Rich had arrived at the Tower earlier to rescue Dodo and been captured by Brett and Krimpton.
In the later camera script, the capture of the Battersea Machine was to have been done in studio. Location footage was to have shown more of the aftermath of the Machine's activities, such as burning motor cars. War Machine No.9 was to have been seen physically tearing WOTAN apart, rather than simply shooting it.
This episode contained a great deal of the location filming which had taken place on Sunday 22nd May (the War Machine on the rampage), and Thursday 26th May (the War Machine capture sequence).
On the first day, scenes were shot on Berners Mews (the couple running away), Maple Street (the arrival of the Machine at the GPO Tower), Charlotte Place (the telephone box scene), and Gresse Street (the Machine knocking through the dustbins).
The high shot of the telephone box attack was achieved by filming from an upper floor of the Duke of York pub.
Most of the publicity shots featuring War machine No.9 were taken during the Thursday location filming in South Kensington. The Machine was pictured with children (see below) and a woman walking a dog.
The main location was Cornwall Gardens and the adjoining Walk. William Hartnell was collected from Bertorelli's restaurant where he was having lunch and taken to the location, after a brief stop at Television Centre for him to get into costume.
Of the guest cast only William Mervyn (Sir Charles) and Frank Jarvis (Corporal) were required for the scenes of the capture of the War Machine. High shots of the action were obtained from the window of 50F Cornwall gardens, owned by a Mrs Lessing.
The day before the Kensington filming, Wednesday 29th May, Michael Craze provided a vocal recording at Lime Grove Studio R. This was to provide the voice of the police radio car announcement about the War Machine threat.
Joining the cast was Kenneth Kendall who had been a newsreader with the BBC until going freelance in 1961. He had done some acting work and possessed an Equity Card. Kendall had covered a similar role in episodes of Adam Adamant, Mogul and A For Andromeda. He had also presented TV programmes such as Songs of Praise and quiz shows. He would later become even better known for hosting Treasure Hunt with Anneka Rice.
He was recorded on a small news desk set, the material then being shown on a TV in a pub sequence. For another shot of the public listening to broadcast warnings, extras simply stood in front of a photographic blow-up of a radio shop façade.
The same technique was used for the US correspondent, to save on creating a set for one brief scene.
Dwight Whylie was a genuine radio announcer, and his involvement had been requested by Innes Lloyd in early June. He presented the BBC Light programme's Breakfast Special.
Unusually, the episode was recorded out of sequence. First before the cameras were all the War Machine shots, including the opening at Covent Garden and the activation of No.9 at Battersea. It was necessary to swap the numbers during a recording break, as the Covent Garden Machine was No.3.
As well as shots against photographic blow-ups, back projection was also employed - such as when we see the War Machine travelling towards the Tower and the Doctor's group in their following vehicle.
A shot of an empty Great Queen Street in Holborn was also used to illustrate the deserted city.
The final recording break of the evening was to set up the closing scene at the TARDIS.
As far as viewers were concerned, Doctor Who's third season drew to a close with this episode. From a production point of view, however, once again a story from this block was to be held over to launch the next season. As location filming had already taken place for The Smugglers, the BBC was able to show a trailer for the story alongside the announcement that the programme would return in the Autumn.
Season 3 had been a time of great change and experimentation, having seen three producers and two story editors. Peter Purves had provided some consistency in the TARDIS with William Hartnell, but there had been a revolving door of female companion figures - Vicki, Katarina, Sara, Dodo and now Polly.
The programme had dipped its toe into more fantastical realms with The Celestial Toymaker, but the Daleks had very much dominated, thanks to the 12 week epic The Daleks' Master Plan. We had lots of other strong sci-fi stories, but the writing was on the wall for the Historicals, which were clearly losing popularity as far as the production office was concerned.
Season 4 would continue the experimental trend - including the biggest gamble of them all...
- The ratings see the story end on its highest audience figure, but the appreciation index drops below 40 once again. The AI has fallen by 10 points over the course of the story. With summer's arrival and the start of the 1966 World Cup - hosted by England - you would have expected the viewing figure to fall instead. An action-packed finale would normally see a higher audience score.
- The episode was transmitted earlier than usual as the BBC were broadcasting the Royal Tournament that evening. It took the slot normally occupied by Juke Box Jury.
- The BBC commissioned one of their Audience Research Reports for this episode. Of the 149 respondents, around half claimed to have no interest in the series. The ending was deemed anti-climactic and the War Machines regarded as a poor alternative to the Daleks. One lady thought they looked like something her young sons could have made. Many found the idea of a computer taking people over "preposterous". On the positive side, it was still popular with children and people liked the contemporary setting, which made the story more realistic.
- Two weeks later, the story featured on Junior Points of View which also plugged the second Peter Cushing Dalek movie. The programme was still deemed to be frightening to some children, though one wanted to see the return of the Chumblies - not seen since the very start of the season.
- Television Today on 21st July thought The War Machines "one of the better ones" and highlighted the strong supporting cast. Craze and Wills were also praised as the new companions.
- When you watch this story on DVD or streaming service you might be forgiven for thinking that it's one of those stories which exists in its entirety in the archive. This is not the case, however. Some censor-driven cuts were made and not all of the missing material has never resurfaced. Small sections of other episodes are used to plug the gaps.
- Gerald Taylor is credited only as "Voice of WOTAN" on this episode. In the previous instalments he was simply "WOTAN".
- John Slavid - the man in the telephone box - had previously played an officer in The Massacre.
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