The Macra Terror (1967)

The Macra Terror is a story written by Ian Stuart Black who had previously written the slightly dull ‘The Savages’. At this point in the show’s history it’s still under a period of instability. At times I am still thinking about William Hartnell and pining for him to return and fluff the odd line. That said it must have been worst for people watching in 1967. It’s still a period of adjustment for Frazer Hines who is still finding his feet and has to play second fiddle to Ben and Polly. The Macra would of course make a cameo appearance in Gridlock some 41 years so for a lot of people this would be the most that we would ever see after the 1967 episodes were wiped. The setting is a curious one because it seems that it’s a restricted environment with a sort of Butlins. We have a slightly dodgy happy chirpy tune that plays a lot especially at the beginning.

The problem with this story apart from the uneasy feeling of the production and the personnel is that the story is fairly lacking in anything of dramatic interest. Ok there is a Macra that seems to be lurking in the background as you would expect but apart from that there is very little to speak of. I think had I a visual copy of the story then it would be a much better story. Though I think that the Macra isn’t particularly impressive. I think that it’s a major fault considering the story has Macra in the title. What I will say the audio has in its favour is that the cliffhangers are quite good. I did quite like them though that might have something to do with the narration which was constantly impressive.

The regulars are all not on fine form. Troughton is still not being given a script that benefits his acting talents but still manages to get something out of the story. Michael Craze and Anneke Wills are on quite good form and in their penultimate adventure it’s a shame that Anneke Wills reverts back to screaming way too much. Some of the supporting cast are interesting but with them being on audio they do all tend to blend into one. Peter Jeffrey is the best of the rest as the Pilot.

The Macra Terror isnt the worst story ever however neither is it the best and I think that there are things that do work in this story but ultimatley in the annals of Doctor Who history it doesn’t quite rate as highly as other Troughton stories.

The Savages (1966)

The Savages as I learned when watching a documentary on the DVD release of the Mutants was that this story was first called The White Savages. This story is the final adventure of Steven Taylor who left to pursue a career making stuff out of toilet rolls on Blue Peter. It’s also the first time that each episode doesn’t have an individual title. I think that’s a great shame as it always seemed to give something different. This is another story that sadly only exists on audio which is a shame because this story probably would have come across better had we seen it on VHS or DVD. This story has a very clear ‘Never Judge a Book by its cover’ moral message. It’s unfortunate that this story continues the decline in quality after The Daleks Master Plan, it’s not that the performances are bad but its just that the quality isn’t there. It’s partly down to the dynamic of the TARDIS crew. It’s clear that Hartnell didn’t warm to Peter Purves or Jackie Lane in the same way that he did with Carole Ann Ford or William Russell. Jackie Lane was a poor piece of casting because the character of Dodo was flawed from the very beginning and the fact she isn’t given a proper send off in the next story tells you how badly the character was thought of at the time.

The story starts of bizarrely with the Elders being prepared for the Doctor’s arrival. They call him ‘The Traveller from Beyond Time’. The Elders seem to good to be true as they shower the Doctor, Dodo and Steven with gifts and compliments. Though its clear that they are not what they seem. There is an interesting moment when the Doctor is subjected to the energy transfer process and all of the Doctor’s attributes are given to Jano, including his morals. The Elders portray the Savages badly and treat them badly which of course disgusts the Doctor. The Savages were once a highly intellegant race and have been reduced to living outside the city. The story is basically how the Savages fight back against the Elder. Due to the technology reduces the superiority of the Elders and puts them on a level playing field with the Savages.

The exit of Steven is well thought out. He stays behind to lead the reconciled Elders and Savages which seems like a mammoth task. I always found Steven Taylor to be a good character, a good replacement for Ian Chesterton. Apart from the Time Meddler he was always portrayed in a good way and only at times let down by the script. Of the guest actors, I found the performances of Frederick Jaeger as Jano, Ewen Solon as Chal and Peter Thomas as Captain Edel to be ok, not outstanding but ok.

As mentioned earlier there was an ongoing decline at the time of The Savages and it would have been clear to anyone watching the show at the time that change was needed. Ratings had been between 4.8 to 5.6 million whereas in Purves’ debut story they ranged from 7.7 to 8.9 million. Luckily that change would occur in a few stories time. I will say this for The Savages, it does seem to boast some very good sets.

The War Machines (1966)

The War Machines was one of the first William Hartnell adventures that I ever saw as a Doctor Who fan. It was a story that was set in the ‘modern day’. It saw the sudden departure of Dodo Chaplet (Jackie Lane) and the introduction of Ben (Michael Craze) and Polly (Anneke Wills). The story is how computers are connecting with each other which is something that might have sounded far fetched in 1966 but in 2010 it seems like the people involved in Doctor Who were very clever. In fact it was at this time that Dr Kit Pedler (co-creator of the Cybermen) was involved in the show and its stories like this that show how the science was actually making its presence felt in Doctor Who.

The character of Dodo was one that I never warmed to. Even when I first watched this story I found her to be slightly annoying (just watch her in the few episodes of The Celestial Toymaker). She's meant to be a woman who is suppose to embody the 1960's yet when she is in the scenes set in the club she seems like she isn’t use to that sort of environment. To be fair to the character and the actress, she did deserve a much better exit. Being whipped off to a country retreat to recuperate from the hypnotism is all well and good but a simple “Oh Dodo is staying in the country” line is hardly befitting any companion whether you like them or not. It a weird exit on par with the departure of Ben and Polly twelve months later. I thought that Ben and Polly were very good creations. They don’t really suit Hartnell’s Doctor as I think that the last thing he needed was a young and hip companion. The characters don’t seem to be the sort that would meet each other in any other circumstance that being in the same club. Anneke Wills and Michael Craze are very good and even when she was being hypnotised she was very enjoyable. Not believable but enjoyable.

All in all, The War Machines isnt a great Doctor Who story but its ok. The idea of computers linking up and taking over the world is a good one but unfortunatley the WOTAN creations are just rubbish. They too big and too slow. They have ridiculous arms and the smoke that shoots out of just looks silly. I think had they just left the WOTAN ‘robots’ out of the story it would have been a much better adventure. The story bumbles along at a nice pace and its always nice to have a story set in the modern day but it’s one of those stories that doesn’t quite hit the mark.