Episode One of The War Machines opens with the TARDIS landing in London of 1966, in a wonderful location sequence, with the timeframe established by Dodo noting that the Post Office tower is now finished, but the Doctor senses something evil from it, deciding to investigate. In the tower the Doctor talks to Professor Brett, played well by John Harvey about his machine WOTAN - a super computer that will link up with all the world's computers in four day's time.

Dodo has made friends with Brett's secretary Polly, and the two of them head off to the Inferno night club where they encoutner the sailor Ben Jackson. Anneke Wills and Michael Craze make a good first impression as Polly and Ben, with Anneke giving a Polly a reasonably sophisticated edge, and Michael giving Ben a strong sense of loyalty.

At a press meeting led by Sir Charles Summer fears are raised that WOTAN's creators may gain too much power from the link up, but the wrong thing is feared - WOTAN has developed a mind of its own, and it wants the Doctor... Episode One is an excellent start to The War Machines, full of some wonderful location sequences. The computer linkage idea is one that developed in reality into the Internet, and in the story itself is used well to set up the idea of WOTAN. The London of 1966 is well portrayed, as is the rather chilling sequences of WOTAN assembling its human forces via the telephone.

Dodo returns to the Inferno after being taken over by WOTAN, with her and the Doctor staying with Sir Charles. Inside a warehouse WOTAN is getting some form of machine assembled, which a tramp discovers with fatal consequences, as Episode two begins. Roy Godfrey puts in a wonderful performance in the small but significant role as the tramp, as news reports of the tramp's death once more raises the suspicions of the Doctor.

Strange things are happening to other scientists, and the Doctor manages to overcome WOTAN's attempts to hypnotise him, resulting in a hypnotised Dodo revealing herself. Jackie Lane puts in a brilliant performance in her final episode as Dodo, which makes it a pity that Dodo is written out rather quickly, sent off to her aunt's.

As the fruits of WOTAN's human forces labours is revealed, Polly falls under WOTAN's influence and Ben ends up trapped in the warehouse... Finally the War Machines of the story's title is revealed, with the design for the Machine appearing to be slightly cumbersome, yet very threatening with smashing arms and other deadly weapons.

In Episode Three Ben manages to escape the warehouse thanks to Polly, who may not be as strongly conditioned as WOTAN intended. Ben alerts the Doctor and Sir Charles, and the army invades the warehouse. Director Michael Ferguson has put together some excellently set up battle sequences in this episode, both in studio and on location. The cliffhanger for the episode is one of the best I've seen, as the War Machine advances on a fearless Doctor - well shot, with William Hartnell putting so much into the scene in his facial expression and body language.

Episode four features some interesting touches of reality, using comtemporary television and radio journalists to report on the "London Emergency" within the program, showing London resisdents in the pub. It works really well to make the War Machine threat seem more real. A second War Machine goes on the rampage in London, with Ferguson putting together some interesting looking sequences, such as the attack on a public telephone box and a rather arty shot of the War Machine being shown through a reflection in a puddle of water.

The Doctor captures the second War Machine, reprogramming it to attack WOTAN. The attack on WOTAN works rather well, despite the static nature of WOTAN's central processor. The TARDIS departs London, with two new passengers on board...

As a return to contemporary times, The War Machines works rather well as a story, with the threat coming across rather well. Michael Ferguson's direction is of a high standard throughout the story, with the location work of a high standard. There are some deficiences in the story, such as the War Machine's cumbersome design and some poor acting from some of the extras. Gerald Taylor's vocal work as WOTAN is very effective, a breathly sound, with each word formed individually in isolation from the rest of the speech. Ian Stuart Black's script flows quite well, although some of the smaller parts are quite sketchily characterised. The War Machines will mostly be remembered for being the first "Earth invasion" story, although the origin of the threat is terrestrial; a possible precurser to UNIT era, through the Doctor working with the Army and Dodo's rather rushed and abrupt departure from the series.

7.9/10

Next time: The TARDIS crew get caught up in some smuggling...