Ending a season on a TV story for a change! And quite a fun one at that!

“The War Machines” sees the Doctor and Dodo land in London, 1966. After landing, they meet up with professor Brett, a scientist who’s building a sentient, hyper intelligent computer called WOTAN. His plan is to hook up the computer to all the others in the world. However, WOTAN himself has other plans.

My first thought when going through this was “Doctor Who has just invented the internet”, since we’re talking about a computer that’s connecting to all others all over the world. However, as the story goes on, that thought changed a little. It’s less about connecting to others and more about WOTAN having thoughts and influencing those of humans. So, by modern standards, it’s a bit more like AI. WOTAN is literally an artificial intelligence gone mad. Which I’m kind of impressed by, considering its age. This was released 2 years before 2001: A Space Odyssey, which features the famous killer AI HAL 9000.

That’s not saying the idea is new, since other movies like the famous “Metropolis” from 1927 featured similar ideas (Which Doctor Who will eventually also play with), but still, It’s notably early for this kind of concept.

But I think it works! And what makes it more impressive: It works in a very kid-friendly fashion. This story has a very notable child-friendly tone and knows when to take its time. When computer concepts get explained, we give the explanations room to breathe. They never feel rushed. Sure, the concepts explained here might feel basic nowadays, but I assume this was quite helpful for children back then. We know what the big ambitions behind WOTAN are, even when he turns evil.

But the child-friendliness also shows in other moments. Like the introduction. There’s a silent bit of acting from Dodo and the Doctor when they first get out of the Tardis. Like 2 clowns that aren’t allowed to speak. There’s probably a clever acting word for it that I don’t know. Still, it’s presented as a funny and light-hearted scene. Something made to bring a smile on your face. These moments are carried throughout. For such a serious threat, the story stays notably light hearted.

Another noteworthy aspect of this story is the introduction of new companions Ben and Polly. Before watching, I didn’t have the most favourable impression of these two. They’re always sort of lumped together. Oh yeah, those two who hung around a bit during Hartnell’s last stories. But I’ve got to say, the first impressions are pretty good! Polly is smart and noticeably snarky, but still has a heart of gold. She can dish out some sarcastic comments, but will also pay the taxi fare for a homeless man. It’s something we haven’t really seen in a companion yet, and could be fun.

Ben, too, is clearly different from Ian and Steven. All of them can be labelled as “The Muscle”, but Ben’s first go at it is noticeably clumsy. He falls over, gets captured and honestly, kind of fails at the action. Personality wise he’s also a bit of a loudmouth, rough type. Less composed than his predecessors, which could lead to fun moments.

After we’ve met our two new companions, it doesn’t take long for WOTAN to begin his plans. He hypnotizes people to do his bidding, the big idea being that the human race has long reached its evolutionary peak, and should be wiped out. His pure logical thought has lead him to the conclusion that the world can only prosper if the stagnant humans are thrown out. That kind of plan hits kind of different nowadays, huh? Other than that, it is interesting to see logic without feelings presented as the big bad. Especially since some familiar cyber-faces might pop up next season.

Using hypnosis, WOTAN brings people under his control and puts them to work, making them build tank-like machines he can control. The Designs of these war-machines are kind of interesting. Way bigger than other threats. Like small cars. To improve his designs, WOTAN is looking for the Doctor (who he actually calls “Doctor Who”. Interesting). He has hypnotized Dodo to fetch him, which leads me to her “fate”.

The Doctor and friends soon discover that Dodo is hypnotized. Using his psychic abilities and ring, the Doctor is able to snap her out of it. She will have to recover for a while, though. So one of the characters sends her off to his vacation home. This is the last time we see her.

Wow. Talk about unceremonious. Polly later tells us that Dodo is having a great time, doesn’t want to travel anymore and sends her love. I genuinely have no words. The departures have definitely not been as strong this season, but this is a new low. The companion didn’t show up for her goodbye, what the hell?

Yet this, somehow, in a weird way, feels exactly in character for Dodo. The oblivious, impulsive idiot, who’s so out of touch she didn’t even show up for her own ending. That doesn’t make it a good ending, mind you. But I can’t imagine any other ending for her. At least she didn’t get married. We can finally lay that trope to rest, right? ……. Right?

But enough about Dodo, let’s talk about the final showdown with the War Machines. Frankly, I didn’t care for it. It turns into an army showdown that mostly feels like filler until the Doctor comes along and actually takes them down. At this point, Ben is resting up, Polly is hypnotized and Dodo is out of commission. The only character of our main cast left to care about is the Doctor, who mostly watches the action from the back. And I don’t really care for all these random army men and their stupid faces when their guns don’t work. I didn’t find it exciting at all.

Which is a bit of a bummer, because the story definitely held my attention during the first 3 episodes. But the last episode doesn’t have much to care about. I wish we had something smaller scale and more personal. Maybe our main team could’ve faced only one War Machine. The first one built. Maybe the Doctor learns how to deactivate all the other ones from that first encounter. That would’ve been more entertaining than soldier #12 looking afraid and pulling the trigger on his fake gun with no bullets.

Yikes, I hope I’ll like the Pertwee years.

But after the War Machines and Wotan are taken down, we head back to the Tardis and end as our 2 new companions enter. The end of a season being the start of a new beginning.

So that was the War Machines, which was pretty good except for the final episode. Neat concepts for a villain, companions and enemies, but also a really odd companion departure and a weak final part. Is it worth a watch? Yeah! It's fun, light-hearted tone makes for some great moments and our new duo is surprisingly endearing. I’m looking forward to seeing more from them!