Doctor Who THE WAR MACHINES DVD review

[Mikey]

I just seen Doctor Who's THE WAR MACHINES for the first time.

I was surpised how much I liked it.

I'm not a huge fan of the Hartnell years in general, but a few of his stories stand out and I consider classics.
The War Machines is one.

It actually could stand on it's own as a B-movie.

There are some flaws -- including the biggest one -- which is people refering to the Doctor as "Dr Who" in the story
BTW, how did that get past the continuity people ?

It was nice seeing the newly constructed London Post Office Tower as the focal-point of the movie.
It gave The War Machines a bit of a modern or even futuristic feel.

Picture quality varies from very-good to excellent.
Not bad considering where the source material came from.

DVD's extra's are pretty good.
A few long clips from Blue Peter, a documentary on the Post Office Tower, and a THEN AND NOW look at the location shooting.

All in all, a fine DVD.

I highly recommend it --- even to people who aren't big William Hartnell fans.

[Gorn Captain]

I just watched this one a week or so ago.
I agree, it's a good story, a little B-movie indeed.

True, naming him Dr. Who is a pretty lame thing to do.
You also wonder: why the heck did they leave Sailor Boy "unhypnotised" by WOTAN, when all they needed was a phone line (or just kill him like they did the bum)?

All in all, a nice "period piece", and the War Machines themselves looked pretty decent, too.

I'll never be a big Hartnell fan. He doesn't really seem to mind putting his companions in danger, taking his time before doing something. He seems rather "unconcerned".
And his gimmick of reading his lines off cue cards strategically placed around the set is too obvious, once you know of it...

[jds1911a1]

considereing how cheap the BC was about retakes it was necessary for him by that point. his health was already failing by the time War games was shot. if you watch several Hartnell episodes close together from the 3 years you can really see how far he falls. in the first year his flubs were on technical jargon (which even pertwee often flubbed) but by 66 he flubbs any extended speach and most people's names. basically his condition was the 60's version of Alzheimers (Artherlosclerosis of the brain).

[jds1911a1]

oh reveiw wise - not much new compared to the VHS release but there restored/recreated footage for the cencor cut scenes that are lost from the Nigerian prints