Writer: Ian Stuart Black (Idea by Kit Pedler)
Original Broadcast Date: 25 June 1966 - 16 July 1966
It might be just me but by the end of Season 3 I felt Doctor Who felt a bit distant. Steven, the companion left in the previous (missing) episode was a (needless to say a great companion but) a space traveler from the future, and Vicki the preceding companion (who was just as great) was a survivor of a spaceship crash, also from the future. Dodo, while from contemporary (or rather 1960s) London, didn't quite have to characteristics to suit the time period and felt a little out of date. Doctor Who felt a little too far from home, and The War Machines does a fantastic job of grounding the show, bringing in ties to contemporary times, something that had been missing for a large portion since Ian and Barbara's departure.
Arriving in the swinging '60s, Dodo and The Doctor go off to investigate a brand new supercomputer with the ability to think for itself. The supercomputer, WOTAN is a nicely-achieved villain, who genuinely feels quite threatening, with his hypnotic powers. The plot involved contemporary (at the time) London being invaded by WOTAN and his War Machines, the very first of Doctor Who's many earth invasion stories. Because of this, this story feels closer to New Who than any other First Doctor story.
Hartnell is great in this one, showing just how clever The Doctor can be (although watch out for him banging his head on a low ceiling in the fourth episode) and Jackie Lane finally feels at home in her role... That is until she has the worst companion departure in Doctor Who history, involving her going off because of a headache in episode two and then not appearing ever again. Instead a message passed on to The Doctor via Polly, one of the two new companions introduced in this story.
While this is a total bummer (and it didn't fit in with her character at all, previously stating she had nothing to go back to in her old life) her replacements, Ben Jackson, a cockney sailor, and Polly Wright, a spunky secretary, are introduced wonderfully and make a good team, working well with Hartnell's cheeky character.
All in all The War Machines is fantastic, but suffers from a poor exit for a hugely underrated and overlooked companion. Despite this, the introduction of Polly and Ben, two fun new companions, do somewhat make up for this massive disservice to not only the character but to Doctor Who as a whole.
9/10
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