William Hartnell as the First Doctor.
"Doc-tor....Who....isssssss....required......."*
Sooner or later, I was afraid we would get to this.
No, it's not the story I'm about to review, it's the situation.....allow me to explain. You see, back in the 1970s, the BBC erased most of their black and white programming due to a clerical mistake. Instead of erasing and throwing away copies of their episodes, they ended up destroying nearly all of their programming that was either black and white or just plain old. Their MASTER copies. So, any British series pre-1980 has a good chance of not existing in their entirety. Examples of this include the very very first season of "The Avengers," a great deal of "Out of the Unknown," and sadly "Doctor Who." It is only lucky that fans of the show have saved the good Doctor's past adventures in either still picture, audio, or primitive video format that some of the earliest adventures even exist. One of the saddest examples is "The Tenth Planet," William Hartnell's swan song. An story of four episodes, only the first three exist. Episode 4 is missing, save for the audio track and 26 seconds of professional footage showing the very first regeneration.
Thus, we enter the realm of William Hartnell, the very first Doctor. And "The War Machines" is the last story of his that still exists in it's whole form.
William Hartnell as the First Doctor.
The Doctor and his companion Dodo land in 'present-day' London to find that the Post Office Tower is now completed. Atop the tower is WOTAN, a supercomputer that is slowly taking over the governments of the world. Of course, the computer requires the Doctor to finish it's plans for world conquest. A plan, that will use deadly robots that shoot what appears to be gas (or a projectile?) and reminds me of a obscure design for a Dalek that was given up because they were too big. So, Dodo is possessed by WOTAN over the phone and tries to lure the Doctor into a trap, failing and alerting the Doctor to WOTAN's plan. On the way, the Doctor meets two young people who help him as Dodo is written out of the series...er....I mean, RESTING from her trials. Yes. That's it. Sure. Anyway, these two young people, Ben and Polly, are destined to become the Doctor's new companions.
So, the Doctor finally beats WOTAN without much hullabaloo. After being told by Ben and Polly that Dodo has decided to stay in London, the Doctor disappears into the TARDIS. Curious, Ben and Polly enter after him as the TARDIS vanishes into space and time.
A War Machine Invades "Blue Peter."
A bad thing about the Hartnell Years is the fact that the plot is quite simple, and has no real suspense. As the Doctor finds out about WOTAN, he takes care of it. A few shocks, but no real sense that the Doctor is going to lose. This changed when Patrick Troughton took over the role and fleshed out the 'old man's wisdom' angle and made the series much more enjoyable. To be honest, most of Hartnell's story are either involving or not, the majority I've seen falling into the latter.
But, the War Machines still ranks as my favorite Hartnell, thanks to the more lively pace of the story as compared to the others of the Era. The addition of Ben and Polly add more to the atmosphere than Dodo does, thanks to having 'hip' people who are more action-takers than followers. Up until this point, all the companions have either been 'heroic' or just dullards who couldn't save themselves if they had a gun. Add this to the present-day as opposed to some far off time, makes this Doctor Who more appealing.
Also, I've heard rumors that some stations aired this story with the extra 26 seconds of the regeneration sequence tacked onto the end, skipping across the missing Episode 4 of "The Tenth Planet." I haven't seen this (nor does the current release have this), so I suppose this may be merely rumor. Plus, it wouldn't make sense for Hartnell to transform into Troughton: all the complete Troughton stories do not have Ben and Polly in them. The closest would be "The Moonbase," a four-parter of which only two parts exist). So, believe it or not.
RATING: One of the better Hartnells I've seen, due to setting. Hartnell shines as the Doctor, and having two new companions compared to the dull (and forgettable) Dodo helps immensely. If you need to have a black and white Who fix, this is my recommendation. Four out of Four Stars.
*This is only one of the few times the Doctor is referred to as "Doctor Who" in the whole series. Neat trivia fact.
For your enjoyment, here are some links about the missing Doctor Who episodes:
Doctor Who Restoration Team's Home Page