The War Machines episode 1 discussion:
H = Historian
A = Altair
K = Ketina
M = MisterMother
Sp = Spoo
Sc = Schmallturm
P = Photobug
R = Ronelyn
H: So, this story is a breakthrough for the series in a lot of ways that we can talk about as we go. For one thing, it’s the first story that’s set entirely on contemporary earth since “Planet of the Giants,” where they were shrunk, and if you don’t count that, it’s the first story since the beginning.
A: I found the modern setting to be very refreshing.
K: Not exactly modern, but modern for the time.
M: It was very “mod.”
Sp: Okay, historical context for Wotan? And the post office tower?
H: Wotan is the Germanic name for Odin. It also stands for something, but it went by quickly and I didn’t hear.
Sc: So the computer has one eye. That’s kind of suitable.
K: Very Dalek.
Sp: Very Odin.
A: It made me think of Hal, but that of course is much later.
H: “2001: A Space Odyssey” was in production at the time, and people knew about it.
A: Oh!
H: I don’t know a lot about the Post Office Tower, but the construction in 1965-66 was a big deal. It was, at the time, the largest structure in London. I believe it’s still there, but the fact that it was finished told Dodo that she’d been away for some time. And it was apparently a big deal.
K: Like showing the Century Wheel.
H: Or the Gherkin.
M: <looking it up on the Internet> The Post Office Tower is now called the British Telecoms Tower. Started in 1961, finished in 1964
P: <looking it up on the Internet> Wotan: Will Operating Thought ANalog.
K: That’s a stretch.
Sp: And here’s the irony of us looking up historical background on the Internet when the bad guy in this story IS the Internet.
H: A lot of people have pointed to the story and said “look!” Kid Pedler was a scientist who worked on the story who came up with a lot of this, and they’ve said that Doctor Who predicted the Internet.
Sp: I understand because when I spend a lot of time on the Internet. It gives me a headache and then I do what it tells me to.
M: So it didn’t predict the Internet so much… it predicted Bing.
P: It was more of a super computer than the Internet. It’s connecting lots of computers, not lots of people.
H: More Arpanet than Internet.
P: I think Arpanet is more of a non-directed communication between several points.
R: I think the best way of putting what you’re trying to say is that Arpanet is distributed to avoid fault tolerance. And this is just BIG BIG brain.
P: How could it possibly understand what TARDIS was?
K: Reading Dodo’s fragile little mind.
R: Floppy disc?
H: I think there’s also the idea that this computer can assimilate all kinds of knowledge. So it’s “magic.”
R: So it’s Google.
M: So, if the original idea of networked computers was in the 50’s, and Arpanet was conceived in 1962, Doctor Who did not invent the Internet, but they were pretty cutting edge.
Sp: Polly’s HOOOOOOOTTTTTT!
H: Dude, the Celestial Toy Maker was married to her at this time.
Sc: I don’t want to think about that.
K: Yeah, he’s like, really old, isn’t he?
H: Well, a lot older than she was.
Sc: I mean, his episode was lame and boring, and hers was entertaining.
H: So, you guys like Polly?
P: Oh… is this a new…?
H: Maybe…
P: I assumed it was going to be the guy.. Bret? Ben?
Sp: Why couldn’t it be both?
H: Why indeed?
K: Muhuhahahaha!
H: So, you guys like the two of them?
R: Well, Ben has at least mastered the art of “white guy fighting.”
P: Well, that fight scene didn’t exactly go smoothly either.
Sc: Yeah, he has proved that he can master the judo chop. Or throw, or whatever happened in there.
R: That bit was actually a nice solid wrist lock and drop, basically. It was classic English school wrestling.
Sc: What they teach you in the navy I guess.
H: Yes, he’s a rowdy sailor.
R: But the rest of the fight was a “white guy slap fight.”
Sp: So, while having full motion let us appreciate things like Hartnell’s acting, it also exposed us to the unfortunate miming of moving backwards, sort of magnetically, sort of telepathically, sort of badly, towards a big computer.
M: I thought it was effective and not sure how else they would have conveyed it. You have to suspend disbelief.
P: I disagree, because at this time that’s some pretty groovy graphics.
Sp: I wasn’t disagreeing with the swirly thing.
P: I think, at that time, it would have been very convincing to the viewers.
Sp: I liked that Deep Grey… oh Wotan had a different series of modem noises for each person it was enthralling. It was even higher pitched when talking to Dodo.. like “Who’s a pretty bird? Who’s a pretty bird?”
Sc: Dude, haters just gotta hate, don’t you?
R: We just gotta hate Dodo.
H: Man, Jacky Lane just got so hosed with her character.
R: I have a feeling that she never really gets a chance to show off her acting chops.
Sc: I think they did a good job of setting up the brain washing of the third guy, because at that point you know what’s going to happen.
H: You really feel for the guy.
Sc: And you got more dialog. His brain washing was really compelling.
K: He tried to fight it. And his point about being a human being was cool. I felt like it might be foreshadowing for how someone with a stronger mind could fight it later.
H: I think this might be our first Doctor Who story where hypnotism is a strong point, and a companion of the Doctor is hypnotized.
K: Sort of in the Keys of Marinus.
H: But it wasn’t a major plot point like in this story.
R: So, I know the answer to this is “it’s the plot” but, there’s a super secret office, where the computer that is going to control the entire rest of the world is being put into readiness, and the Doctor just waltzes in and is all “Oh! What’s this then? Can I touch it?”
A: It almost felt like there was a missing scene in there.
H: To be fair, the secret part definitely isn’t there. People know what it is, and where it is. Apparently the Doctor managed to convince someone that he’s a computer expert. We don’t know what he did on Earth before an Unearthly Child. Presumably he has some sort of a reputation on earth at this time.
K: He was passing himself off as a computer expert… it’s what the Doctor does all the time later. Is this the first time he’s done it?
H: Pretty much.
Sp: He’s got that scientist empathy going. As recent as the last story, he’s been like “Hey, I have a brain, you have a brain, let’s chat.”
R: Now I’ve got this image of him walking up to the door, and he’s like “Hey… I smell computers?” and the other guy is going “Cool. Yeah… “ <she falls into an extemporaneous nerd rant.>
K: So, I swear, this is not the last time we will encounter “Sir Charles.”
R: Yeah, he’s probably going to be in the next episode.
K: No, I don’t just mean that. There always seems to be some British official.. usually a “Sir Charles”, sometimes a Sir something else, behind all the politics in modern episodes.
Sp: Oh, come on, it’s Britain.
Sc: So, Wotan refers to the Doctor as “Doctor Who.”
H: You have hit, my friend, on the nub of a long fan discussion regarding this story.
P: But, that was already explained by mind reading.
H: The question is that he’s referred to by name as “Doctor Who.”
A: My thought is that whoever wrote this episode was not really paying attention to canon.
H: And the script editor missed it.
Sc: Isn’t Peter Cushing in the movie “Doctor Who?” Maybe the writer saw the movie? And I guess the other thing I would say is that once again we see a theme of machines verses humans in Doctor Who.
K: And not the last time we will see that in Doctor Who.
H: Yeah, there’s definitely the idea in Doctor Who that technology as a tool is a good thing, but giving technology power is a bad thing.
R: It’s spooooky.
K: No, it’s Spoo… Being hypnotized by Mister Mother <referring to the antics on the sofa>
A: I really enjoyed it. It seemed to have a lot of energy. I liked the switching back and forth between the bar and whatever the scientists were doing.
Sc: I liked it.
Sp: I really liked the pace, how fast they introduced the concept and ran with it. But don’t look at it too closely, they did kind of gloss over the moral implications of what they were doing. “This computer can talk to all other computers. It will make things faster and do things better.” “But, what if it doesn’t need humans?” “Oh, um… err… whoopsadoodle! It’ll be fine.”
M: <still hypnotized> I un-der-stand… <seriously> It was a setup solid episode. I enjoyed Hartnell’s acting in it. There were a lot of dialog flubs all over the place, which made it feel like maybe it wasn’t rehearsed enough. But maybe that was part of what made it good.
P: Well, first of all I thought the picture quality was greatly improved.
K: Yeah, they moved.
P: It was really high quality camera work as well.
K: It was a DVD re-master.
P: Well, that explains that.
K: Nice.
P: Secondly. They definitely cut the budget on music. I think the only music we heard was right at the beginning.
H: And the “generic pop music #5” in the Inferno club.
Sc: Yeah, the Beatles and the Stones both would have been really big at the time.
P: Also, I think the plot was predictable to us. I don’t know if it would have been to the original viewers. But it’s fairly predictable to see this story ramp right up to see the story line up with like the Terminator. I think I was more impressed with the picture quality and better overall quality of the recording.
K: DVD re-master.
P: Well yeah, now I know.
A: At this point I’ve seen this story done enough times I have to think the way to defeat the computer is to ask it “Why?”
P: Good point, prisoner #6.
H: I’m not a number, I’m a free man!
Sc: Oh no, you’re not.
R: I don’t know, I prefer defeating computers by asking them to come up with a word that rhymes with Orange.
A: Or silver.
K: There probably is one in another language.
Sc: Blancmange.
Sp: Now I see why they had to get rid of Steven in the last series. He would have sussed this out in two minutes and been all “Dodo no!” and punch the computer.
R: I don’t know, remember the climax of the Savages where Dodo said “I don’t think we should go down the obviously trapped corridor, because I think there could be a trap in it.” And Steven was like “oh no, it’s fine.”
K: But Steven’s from the future. He would guess the computer thing. Maybe… Anyway, I wasn’t really looking forward to seeing this one since I’ve seen it relatively recently. So, meh.
H: I was impressed with just how much stuff happened in this episode and how much was setup. I know what’s going to happen, but I’m interested in seeing how it’s going to feel how it plays out in the context of how we are watching the story. Because I don’t remember how much of the setup happened in this first episode. And I’m looking forward to more Ben and Polly, as I really like them.
K: I like the way Ben may be continuing with Ian and Steven’s roles as “The Man of Action!”
M: There’s been a progression. They’ve been trading them in for more actiony companions.
Sp: And they keep getting more action-y and less tall. And if they continue on that progression they’ll just end up with some angry bar dwarf.
M: Or perhaps a robot dog with a laser nose.
H: Nah, they’d never do something that silly.
Sp: Master? Bring it!
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