Latest / A Hamster With a Blunt Penknife - a Doctor Who Commentary podcast / Talks to 2/3rds of The Polis Box about Lee's choice of The War Machines (4/4)

Transcript

Talks to 2/3rds of The Polis Box about Lee's choice of The War Machines (4/4) · A Hamster With a Blunt Penknife - a Doctor Who Commentary podcast

0:00
Welcome back to A Hamster with a Blump and Knife, the Doctor Who
0:03
commentary podcast. I am still here today and
0:08
flirting outrageously with two of the hottest men in Doctor Who
0:13
fandom. Why are you laughing?
0:18
It's just amusing. I'm just amused.
0:21
Look, I'm almost married to you, all right?
0:23
And I'm. Of course, yeah.
0:24
Yeah. True.
0:24
True. I'm going to ask him at the end
0:26
of the. Night Very easy for yourself in
0:27
a vegetable medium. No, the visual medium is there.
0:33
Go check out the Polish box. All right, I'm here today with
0:39
the glorious Lee and the fabulous Cam from the Polish
0:43
Box, and we're here to talk about the War Machines Episode
0:49
4. And so far it has been a rip
0:52
roaring delight, an absolute favorite of Lee's.
0:55
A total revelation to Cam. Yeah.
1:02
A man of many words, and I know I've always loved this one.
1:08
Thus far you have been treated to glorious trivia from Lee as
1:13
ever startling observations from Cam.
1:17
And I've been here as well. Boys.
1:21
Are you having fun? I am indeed.
1:24
Oh, Cam's gone quiet. Yes, it's been great.
1:26
Oh, good. We might have a little Wi-Fi lag
1:30
there. Either that or he's the most
1:31
thoughtful man I've ever met in my life.
1:35
This is not a treat for us. This is a bit of a treat for us
1:38
though, because it means we can drop the ACT for an evening
1:41
because normally at least one of us has to see things.
1:44
We don't mean about Doctor Who on an average episode of the
1:46
police box, but it's but on a safe space.
1:49
Here we can just see how much we enjoy things.
1:52
We can be utterly truthful. It's been a refreshing
1:55
experience for us a week. I mean, given the the current
1:59
episodes I'm putting out somebody's saying fuck you,
2:01
Jeremy Bentham on a regular occasion.
2:03
This is an open field, mate. Say whatever you want.
2:06
I'll put it. I'll put it all out.
2:08
I don't edit a thing. Oh good man.
2:11
What I'm hope I'm hoping is I haven't scared the two of you
2:14
away and I'm going to entice you back to talk about another story
2:17
at a later date. That'll be cool.
2:19
I'll enjoy that. I'll enjoy that.
2:21
Oh. Absolutely, yeah.
2:22
Well, thank goodness. You know where we?
2:24
Are that time. He jumped straight in that time.
2:26
Gave me an answer. But until no.
2:30
No, no, no. Before we make that date, let's
2:33
watch episode four of The War Machines, which I think we
2:38
alluded to earlier. Lee.
2:41
There are some similarities, bizarrely, with Russell T Davis,
2:46
Doctor Who. In this episode.
2:49
But we'll discuss them when we get there.
2:52
Somebody do me the honours and counters in.
2:54
Oh, you go Cam, do the numbers. I can if you want to.
2:57
All right. OK.
2:58
From 5, from 5, yeah. Honestly, you choose however
3:03
many that you'll do 100, you do 100.
3:07
Establish it up till 11, so anywhere from there.
3:12
We'll go from 5:00. We'll go OK 5432 1.
3:18
Off we go, I was about to say in talking about in space, but
3:21
we're just sort of hanging around on my.
3:24
Yeah, off we go into Titan benefits over here.
3:25
Talking of similarities, though, this whole thing's very Skynet,
3:28
isn't it? A computer decides humanity's
3:31
gone as far as it goes, and it sends machines back to clean up
3:35
the human race. Also influential.
3:37
This is influential influence. Hollywood, in fact.
3:41
The war machines. There's no Terminator.
3:42
There you go. And the war machines?
3:45
Skynet would be able to do that over a 56 K modem though.
3:50
With spinning tape, it would be easy.
3:53
With Mark Rahayo in there, Man oh man, world domination.
3:58
This is a really good shot actually for a cliffhanger look
4:00
at this this is. I like this.
4:02
And they're saying like, no, the grenades aren't working.
4:04
It's unstoppable and Harlow's just there, right his face.
4:10
Challenge accepted. The subtitle there just said
4:15
Wombat Missiles. Is that a thing?
4:19
And I couldn't. I think it's something of, oh, I
4:22
can't remember the exact. It's a ballistic antique.
4:25
I was going to say. Something Tank.
4:27
It's definitely, definitely stands for someone.
4:29
It's definitely not coming, but can't remember exactly what name
4:32
so. What's the Doctor on a dead Sir
4:34
here, because he seems to be out of control.
4:36
The thing. Yeah, well, we've had a hand,
4:38
scans it. Down like start firing small
4:40
furry animals at them. Oh, look, here we are.
4:42
We're at the Rover's return. Coronation Street.
4:47
I see all that on the last episode of Queer Mass in the
4:49
pit, but kids friendly just before all the trauma and the
4:53
hair. So here we go.
4:55
This is what we're talking about.
4:57
Go. On go on.
4:58
No. No, no, after you.
5:01
Well, this is what we're alluding to earlier on about
5:02
Russell T Davis. I mean, this is the first
5:04
example of a real world person, a newscaster and Doctor Who.
5:08
So you always see that's further on down the line where I could
5:10
draw a line from Kenneth Kendall all the way up to Hugh Edwards
5:15
and fear us, It's Cam's face. Yeah, comes some of the
5:19
dimension of that episode. With clothes on, I hope.
5:26
Don't know, but he's kicking about you telling Big Stadium by
5:29
himself. He knows what he's getting up
5:30
to. But it does.
5:31
It does suggest a scale to this doesn't it?
5:33
That where where that somebody, a real life newscaster, is
5:38
warning the people of England, you know, stay at home.
5:41
The war machines are on the streets.
5:43
They did the same trick later on because I think the War machines
5:45
is belt down Charlotte Place and it bumps into the car.
5:52
It focuses on the car radio and that's Dwight Wiley is doing the
5:55
voice of the announcer. There's an actual BBC announcer
5:57
at the time. So I think, I think this, I
6:00
think the director asked for, you know, actual real world
6:03
figures to be in this episode to heighten the realism of it.
6:06
So yes, I've got 2 for the price of one, yeah.
6:10
I do think that's that's great. I think that's Ferguson again
6:12
saying let's, let's let's really sell this as a threat, you know?
6:17
I think it's specially requested date widely for that Camille.
6:21
Imagine if someone just turned on at that moment where the news
6:25
reader was going. You know, stay at home, deadly
6:27
tanks are on the streets. What's going on?
6:31
We're going to have Ghost Watch all over again.
6:33
I. Was going to.
6:35
I was going to go further back and see War of the Worlds, but
6:37
yeah, you've got Ghost Watch, yeah?
6:40
I mean, I think War of the Worlds was a more dramatic
6:42
version of that. A little bit, yeah.
6:44
Yeah, we did. Of Orson.
6:45
Orson Welles didn't make Ghost watch.
6:48
I like I said the ghost watch invading.
6:52
This is William Hartnell and Silhouette walking towards the
6:54
camera Going round and round the garden goes the teddy bear.
7:01
I don't know why, right? Even though that's really stagey
7:03
Ghost Watch, there is something a bit unnerving about it.
7:07
I don't know if it's like those cats screaming.
7:10
Still, even now though, when you watch it back, you kind of like
7:13
there is an element of even though it's obviously a drama,
7:16
it's like it's still fucking really well done.
7:20
I thought, I thought, if it's well done enough, I don't know.
7:22
Sarah Green's acting is good enough to convince me on
7:24
transmission that a genuine haunting is going on on the
7:28
television. Craig Charles.
7:31
Been in there, though. Awesome work.
7:34
A genius, I think. Yeah, especially he's playing
7:37
the part of the cynic as well and taking always a joke, yeah.
7:41
It's great anyway, this to the war machines.
7:44
Yeah, but it's all nights I thought we'll be here, you know.
7:48
Anyone got any trivial War of the Worlds?
7:51
Enough to watch. Let's watch this.
7:55
Talking about traumatic daily though, I mean and the last.
7:57
One back to Doctor Who. You're talking about traumatic
8:03
telly. A lot of this episode got caught
8:04
from the Australia, New Zealand versions for the censors.
8:08
I mean, as a clip in the previous episode, but the
8:12
professor fella, Karate drops a guy in the back of the neck
8:15
that's been taken out of the overseas once.
8:18
But over here, Blue Peter has shown a war machine going down
8:22
the street and just gassing a guy and a policeman and a phone
8:26
box. You know, it's like, yeah, we'll
8:27
show the kids that. That's totally fine, you know?
8:29
And Valerie will be a long later on to show you how to make your
8:32
own bubbling corpse out of household items.
8:34
The. Australians were made out of
8:37
Stoner stuff than us, you know. Yeah.
8:41
Obviously not. I mean have you seen some of
8:43
some of the stuff that ended up on that Lost in time set that
8:47
was taken out for the by the Australian census is pretty
8:50
graphic. There's like stabbings from the
8:53
smugglers and things like that but someone being chopped, I
8:56
mean how delicate are these children?
9:03
So what, You're saying what, most of this episode was lost?
9:07
I about it's all lost at one point, but there are certain
9:11
things that have been taken out. There's quite a few sensor clips
9:13
in this. I mean, even things like the war
9:16
machine shooting the jet of sort of CO2, the fight extension I've
9:21
sold, just faced that was cut out.
9:23
That was considered too much for the kids.
9:26
And it's probably the mildest thing in this, isn't it?
9:28
It's just a jet of air hitting somebody.
9:31
You don't see anything graphic. There's not any kind of wailing
9:33
and screaming. But no had to come out.
9:36
Cameron, will you do me a favour then, please?
9:38
We know you're of sort of a nervous disposition, so if you
9:41
do see anything that you considered a bit too graphic,
9:44
then we'll let us know and we'll just assume that was something
9:47
that was excised by the Australian censors, OK?
9:53
I don't think he got that, you know.
9:54
Can you hear me all right? It's about he's really
9:57
traumatised by what you see. So I'm getting.
10:00
I'm getting into this. I'm getting into this.
10:02
So what was that? If you see anything on the
10:06
screen that traumatises you, will you let us know please?
10:09
I'll let you know. I'll let you know.
10:10
I'll put behind, I thought. He could be a little sweet down
10:14
there, but. That's the.
10:15
Episode No No. No, no, no.
10:19
We'll put an action like number at the end of the episode.
10:21
It'll be fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:24
Show me on the teddy bear where the war machine touched you.
10:26
What? The hell does that?
10:29
Machine have against that that phone box, it just went out to a
10:32
phone box and just shot it just. Don't like on and on and a side
10:36
and the street in real life right now is a lovely Italian at
10:39
the bottom of the street. Anybody's going to on a real
10:44
location, John. There's a nice Italian, can't
10:47
remember what it's called but Bob, but actually we've just
10:48
seen very nice, you tell. Me.
10:51
There's an Italian on in the episode that's still there now
10:55
I. Don't know if it's there at the
10:57
time. It looks as it looks as maybe,
11:00
but right now there is a nice Italian restaurant.
11:03
It's very, very good there, so. You're just providing culinary
11:06
stop offs for anyone that might choose to go and visit the.
11:09
Locations obviously to do this grand.
11:12
You're such a thoughtful man, Leigh, honestly.
11:15
Going to the restaurant recommendations of Doctor Who.
11:20
There's a lovely tea room, you know, in Didcot where they
11:22
filmed the Android invasion. Oh, right.
11:25
Yeah, they do a marvellous roast there.
11:28
He's a nice puppet as well. As you know, you see the two
11:31
people running away there, then the spinning bicycle wheel.
11:34
I'm assuming someone's been knocked over and murdered and
11:37
now he's going for a pair of dustbins.
11:39
I mean, it's chaos on the streets.
11:40
But that's a really good set of shorts, isn't it?
11:42
That's not something you're going to get from anybody else
11:44
at this year of Doctor Who, so I would like to say that.
11:48
Even though I am saying a lot of these things with a slightly
11:51
sarcastic tone, my compliments are absolutely genuine.
11:56
Well, it's a certain brand of Doctor Who, isn't it?
11:58
It's it's terror on the streets. Yeah.
12:01
The the Yeti on the loo in Tooting Beck.
12:03
It's that thing I've just done on a great scale.
12:07
We're going to get a nice show in a minute.
12:08
The War Machine heading for the Post office tower, which I just
12:11
love that show because I'm a big fan of that building.
12:13
Anyway, that's a fantastic construction.
12:16
And yes, I'm deliberately avoiding seeing as an impressive
12:18
erection on this podcast. Please do, just in case I say to
12:22
you, but such a great building and it just fits so seamlessly
12:28
in there to do the Doctor Who I mean.
12:30
I'm going to use a non rude word.
12:33
It's such a behemoth. Certain parts of London, you
12:36
just can't miss it, can you? The Post Office tower.
12:38
Is it still the Post office tower?
12:40
I think it's still technically BT Tower, I think it's still
12:45
I've done the still operation was at the base for British
12:47
Telecom, it was about 10 years ago.
12:49
BT Tower is it not? Yeah, yeah.
12:51
If I if I face down and you're spider man some to some degree.
12:54
But like I've been, yeah, it's just such a still person
12:57
building, because yeah. People don't really have
12:59
landlines anymore. Today I.
13:03
Think they've got all strings for boys?
13:04
Well, but. Someone check their shares
13:07
quickly now watch this camp now. He's he's basically designing
13:14
his boxing ring now. And they're going to lure the
13:18
war. Machine in and then complete the
13:21
ring. OK, here's the cops.
13:24
Well, this is very cute. You're advised to stay off the
13:26
streets. COVID has come.
13:29
COVID has come. Oh my God, it's WrestleMania
13:35
here. We go.
13:37
That is a good, good question. I'd like to ask you, Lee,
13:41
because this is the first of its kind contemporary sort of the
13:45
armies involved. There's a big threat.
13:49
It's, I think it's nationwide here, not really worldwide, it's
13:52
nationwide. Why this one then?
13:57
Because why not any of those Pearl wee classics?
14:00
Why not remembrance of the dialects?
14:02
Why not? Why the war machines?
14:04
I don't know. I mean, it's just something
14:06
about it. I mean, like I said then back in
14:08
episode one, I'm a sucker for things that are filmed, the
14:11
location and especially 1960s London.
14:13
So that's going to fit somebody. All The Avengers Adam Adamant
14:16
Lives Epocris file. It's just my bag.
14:20
So it just encapsulates all these different things for me.
14:22
That's and it's a cracking episode as well.
14:25
It's a good story, but yeah, it's just good one to have is
14:27
your favorite dog episode. Probably in a very, very small
14:31
group of people that would count as so.
14:34
But yeah, it just takes lots of boxes from and it's been in Poly
14:37
as well. They're just great.
14:38
So small. Group but very wise people, I
14:42
think. I'm not going to argue with you
14:49
talking of talking of Poly, actually.
14:52
Sorry, sorry, Joe, when you go. No.
14:54
Well, I was going to talk with Ben.
14:55
So we're both on the right direction.
14:56
Go on. That's going to say, but have
15:00
you heard the story about Polly's edition or the audition
15:03
scene they wrote for Polly? And we're doing the casting
15:07
right? So the set up for Polly's
15:08
audition scene involved all the actresses having to pretend to
15:12
take a long distance telephone call.
15:14
Now, given the international flavour of this episode, where
15:18
do you think that long distance call originated from?
15:21
If you were to take a guess, where would you think it would
15:24
be coming from? Well.
15:26
Like, well, like an international.
15:28
I don't know France. Yeah.
15:32
Yeah, I bet you think it'd be something like Monte Carlo, the
15:35
Seashells, Singapore, some exotic like that, right?
15:39
Well, it was. Abu Dhabi Where?
15:43
It was Bundy, right? And I've been to Dundee a few
15:50
times and it can be suggested it's like kind of our planet,
15:53
but you know. It is.
15:56
Even a bit higher than Dundee. You got a Was that on the info
16:00
text? Yeah, you've got to love that.
16:02
There's a document somewhere that actually has that
16:04
information on it. You know, for them to have found
16:07
and put on there. I'll tell you more, though.
16:09
If they had cast Polly's been from Dundee, she'd be the one
16:11
batter and flashing that nightclub.
16:14
I mean, honestly you guys, you feel like you're a whole world
16:17
away sometimes. Oh, I love this look, He's
16:19
trapped the war machine inside inside the ring.
16:22
And then he does his sort of plays with his ring, if you
16:26
pardon the public. Nobody's sort of playful, you
16:30
know? He goes one of the things.
16:34
Lift up is huge. It's great.
16:39
Take. For William Hartnell Smackdown.
16:43
The the scene that you talked about earlier about the war
16:47
machine going towards the post office tower.
16:49
Yeah. That's an effect shot though,
16:51
isn't it? No, that's on location.
16:55
They've speed it up slightly because this prop is so slow and
16:58
lumbering. So you can you notice it's a
16:59
little bit speed up in the film, but yeah, well that.
17:03
Was like acso shot there. That was a studio machine.
17:07
No, you're there is one. A little bit later there's a war
17:10
machine that goes towards the post.
17:13
So the ones actually this one here, the dispatch used to go
17:16
and take care of Votan. Yeah, you're right.
17:17
It's a back projection slate, but.
17:19
It looks great I think. It's a Rosen St. gate.
17:22
Yeah, I don't have actually if I messed up, but it goes to the
17:26
post officer, maybe I. Don't know It's it's right at
17:29
the end of the story. It's right.
17:30
Because. It goes in there, doesn't it?
17:33
And just blows the shit out of Votan.
17:35
That's how the story ends. I mean all this.
17:38
The Doctor never would. Balls.
17:40
I mean, he's the one that programs this war machine to bar
17:43
through the tower and just take it.
17:45
Anybody that stands in its way, regardless, you know, whether
17:48
they've have no evil intent or they've just been hypnotized
17:50
against their wills like that. Off you come in the worst I.
17:54
Mean, He figured it was just going to take out the
17:56
calculator, but unfortunately it took out about 50 pedestrians
18:00
along the way. It's got no regard for the
18:03
safety of Margaret Halo, is he? No.
18:05
It's a monster. Yeah.
18:07
Oh my God. I hope they took her out of
18:08
there. Can you imagine?
18:09
They they really do blow the shit out of it.
18:12
I'm still in here. Hello.
18:13
You said you said she had a long and successful career in Doctor
18:18
Who, right? She bring the hutch last minute
18:22
thing. Oh, that's quite a nice way of,
18:27
you know, using their own machines against them.
18:31
Yeah, yeah. Clever idea.
18:32
Ben Jackson. Oh my God, you are the most
18:35
fuckable man in Doctor Who. I mean, he's wearing a tank top.
18:41
I mean, if we, you and all of us were travelling in the TARDIS,
18:44
we'd be all right with this bums, wouldn't we?
18:45
We'd be fine. Be well, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
18:49
Be fine. Have any?
18:50
Just drop. Me off?
18:52
Have any of you read Annika Wils autobiography?
18:55
No, no, no. Can't tell how it is scandalous.
18:58
Please pick it up and have a read there right now.
19:01
I watched a very boring version of Doctor Dolittle the other day
19:06
with Rex Harrison in it. Right.
19:08
I don't know if you've seen that version.
19:09
It had a giant snail at the end and he flew into London on an
19:13
enormous moth. I mean, I don't know what they
19:15
were smoking, but anyway, one of his Co stars in that that he was
19:19
apparently incredibly racist to throughout the entire production
19:24
was one of Annika Wills ex squeezes.
19:26
While we were reading it, my offer off went, I'll swear she
19:29
was fucking that man and grabbed off her autobiography off the
19:32
shelf. And it turns out that the the
19:36
fella who plays Rex Harrisons is the first person to give Annika
19:40
Wills an orgasm. There's some trivia for.
19:43
You. There you go.
19:44
Do you know, Do you know what? Just listen, God, to everything
19:46
I've said in the episodes. Now that is the winner right
19:49
there. She just don't get that in.
19:51
The text in beautiful detail in her book.
19:55
Not too much. There's a lot of detail in.
19:59
I mean, I think she wanted to sell some copies, yeah. 50
20:04
Shades of War Machine. Now this is what you're talking
20:06
about. Look at it.
20:07
This is it. This is the one.
20:09
I love the little flashing lights on the front.
20:10
It's just it completes the. Whole thing.
20:13
Oh yeah. Wowzers there?
20:16
You go racing. It pans up to the post office.
20:18
There you go. And you know, sometimes you can
20:20
really tell things are speed up. Actually that just looked like
20:23
it was going very fast. Yeah, oh.
20:28
Unfortunately now the backdrop of this taxi is always gone now.
20:33
But yeah, that was sort of wobbling about a bit, yeah.
20:36
It's the same part and projections, yeah.
20:40
Here he goes. She makes it just hard to walk
20:42
in with two plates of soup. Yeah, I mean, look at that.
20:45
Come on. So.
20:47
Clearly they in, you know, to do the shots in Fitzroy Square, to
20:50
do the aerial shots over London and things like that.
20:53
They found somewhere very high, haven't they, to go?
20:56
Into. That's the top of the centre
20:57
point building they use. I knew you would know that.
21:01
Because the original plan was if they were going to go up into
21:03
the top of the telecom tower, but because it only recently
21:07
just opened, they just said no, you can't do that, we're too
21:10
busy. So yeah, that's the top of the
21:12
Centre Point building just off Oxford Road, at least for that.
21:15
Well, I think they chose. We're just.
21:18
Attacking Polly. Well.
21:20
No, he's trying to. This is what?
21:22
I mean, he's trying to get around there.
21:26
It's a very confusing man. Cam, what is that little man
21:30
Crimson up to right now? Oh, not Crimson, Leave Crimson
21:34
alone. Oh no, that blasted today.
21:37
I think he made it all the way to episode 4 Dead.
21:41
Shot in the arse, there he goes. Oh, dead.
21:44
But you know that? Do you remember the death?
21:46
By Lynx Africa, it's. Miserable, isn't it?
21:52
That smell. So many people at work use Lynx,
21:57
reusing, you know, our Christmas presents to go back to the
22:01
aeroshots just for a second that that opening shot of the TARDIS
22:05
materialising, you know, from above and then zoom into the
22:08
square. I think it's one of the best
22:11
ever in the in the run, including the new series.
22:15
It's one of the most stylish, and it's in 66.
22:19
It says like the stall for the episode, though, doesn't it?
22:21
If you open up a shot like that, you're going to have to make
22:23
sure that you follow that up. I can't remember if there's a a
22:27
similar one when they take off, so I'll have a look in a minute.
22:30
All I remember is those two people that look very perturbed.
22:32
They look straight at the camera and then they walk on.
22:34
Do you remember those two? People, yeah, it's very.
22:37
Weird. Let's all the panoramic show as
22:41
well though, because it's in the British Museum and also once in
22:44
the square. Lovely.
22:47
What are they going to do now with all that?
22:48
Look at the state of vote hand. Here we go.
22:53
Dildos not coming mate. No, she's gone.
22:58
What has he been waiting there for?
23:03
Like. She's been gone for days.
23:06
You just wait inside, wouldn't you?
23:08
Well, you weren't, yeah. You know, no in the cold and the
23:11
wet. But he's got a vodka in his
23:15
pocket to keep on one. You'll be all right.
23:17
I know they didn't get very long together, the three of them.
23:19
I do think that's a it's a combo that really works the first
23:22
stops of Ben and Polly. And that story.
23:24
Yeah. Yeah, I.
23:26
Haven't done the smugglers for quite some time, so I'll take
23:29
your word on that one, she says. She's feeling much better.
23:31
She'd like to stay in. London This is a really good
23:33
dog. I enjoyed doing The Smugglers.
23:35
I love. I love her sort of face.
23:37
It pulls there. I'd love after all I've done.
23:40
I take her through time and space and this is thanks I get.
23:46
She honestly was right to soccer.
23:48
Her contract was over. All right, see, that's in the
23:51
studio there. Look, but that's that's nicely
23:53
done I think. OK.
23:54
That period. And that's just great.
23:56
Don't go in the box. Don't go in the box.
23:59
Go in the box and look at the lovely look she gives him when
24:02
she says, oh, I've got the key. Yeah, there you go, the Royal
24:06
Navy pepped off in the Timbers space.
24:09
No, he wants, he's like, oh, my ship's going in 5 minutes.
24:12
Come on, they should pick up on that.
24:16
And the spaceless ones, actually, I don't think they do.
24:19
Now, are we going to do a long? Oh no, it's a medium.
24:21
Shot Oh, still takes in Bedford Square, though, so, you know,
24:25
not entirely bad. Which is?
24:27
Gorgeous. Off we go into the future.
24:29
Look, these two randos, What the hell?
24:31
Oh, well, now, did you follow the end of that, Cam?
24:38
You was watching it very intensely.
24:41
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was, I was getting into that.
24:43
Yeah. It's it's to the point where I I
24:44
wouldn't mind watching that as I say sort of as it was intended,
24:49
you know, you know, properly on my telly and everything.
24:54
Some people might suggest that, you know, watching our story for
24:57
the first time, alongside two people commentating about it, is
25:01
an act of madness. Possible, yeah.
25:06
No comment. Here we are.
25:07
I've done it now on cover. Some people that have heard your
25:12
opinions on the Polish box have also said those are acts of
25:15
madness too. So at least you're consistent.
25:20
Well lads, OK, now we've watched the thing, the experience and
25:25
the the newbie. To this I'll need three reasons
25:28
each and I'm going to give 32. So we'll go round in a circle.
25:32
We'll start with Lee, then Cam, then me.
25:36
Three reasons a piece as to recommend The War Game, The war
25:40
games, anything. The war machines.
25:42
Lee Right. Number one, it's Doctor Who
25:46
doing something that's never done before.
25:48
It's the first ever visit to contemporary Earth.
25:51
It's done with bags of style. The direction is fantastic.
25:56
And PC second point, Ben and Polly.
26:01
There's no two better companions in the 60s and those two, they
26:04
work really well throughout this episode.
26:05
There's loads of chemistry between them.
26:07
They carry the non dog to bits of a plum and free.
26:14
It's like I said earlier on, it really is William Hartnell's
26:17
last stand, his last hurrah. He's got good bits and smugglers
26:21
but good bits of the 10 planets. But that's as a Hartnell Dr. As
26:25
we know for one last time given it is all facing down a war
26:29
machine. Just great.
26:32
If it ended a Hartnell, you're there.
26:33
Perfect. Fitting finale.
26:35
But yeah, War machines, my favorite loads.
26:39
They recommended it, but those are my main 3.
26:42
Well, I'm sold, but what about you, Cam?
26:45
Well, from watching it tonight, what three reasons.
26:48
It's a cracking representation of 1960s London, as Lee was
26:51
saying, If that was his bag, you know, And going back there, I
26:54
found out it was quite a good thing for it to have.
26:58
It is very prescient to today's debate about artificial
27:03
intelligence and how far that's going.
27:05
I found that as well. You know, we could have a
27:07
computer program try to take over the world and attack things
27:09
and attack the human race. And it was still quite APC story
27:15
I thought was directed really, really well.
27:17
It kind of belted along a fair old rate, You know, it was, it
27:19
was very, very watchable even in how we're watching it tonight,
27:22
even with the you guys commentating over the top of it.
27:24
Well, that's three more brilliant reasons.
27:26
God damn it, you've guys have left me with nothing.
27:28
I'm left with the drinks. OK.
27:32
Number one though, I think it sets the blueprint for
27:35
contemporary adventures going ahead, and I don't think it's
27:40
bested for some time. I think it probably is bested a
27:44
couple of times in the Pelwee era when they got really
27:46
comfortable with what they were doing.
27:49
Maybe in like season 7, but as like a shock to the system at
27:55
the end of season three, which let's be honest, I've had no
27:59
formula whatsoever. We've had a 12 part dialect
28:02
story, we've had a comedy western, we've had a trip into,
28:05
you know, surrealism and party games, we've had a morality play
28:10
on the planet of the savages, and now we're doing the swinging
28:13
60s. I mean, anyone who's looking for
28:14
sort of continuity in the 60s must be baffled in the extreme.
28:20
Yeah, you're right the way it is Doctor Who Future proofing
28:23
itself, isn't it? I mean, no.
28:24
Spearhead from space takes all deployed, that's all This is
28:27
when it went down to Earth and a bit of the invasion done it
28:30
before that. But that sets the template.
28:32
This is Doctor Who ensured future.
28:38
And. Because let's not forget it was
28:40
always in shaky ground during the 1960s and they only got
28:43
cancelled in Harlem. Yeah, it's true.
28:46
It's true. I mean I think there was a,
28:48
there was a ratings boost when Trouton came in and the sidemen
28:51
as well, I think they started edging around 8 million again.
28:55
Yeah, so, So he sort of get it found its audience again.
28:57
But yeah, you're right. Towards the end of three, they
28:59
were getting 4 or 5 million viewers per episodes, where just
29:03
a season back they were getting 10 to 13 million viewers.
29:07
So people were on. So I think it was a savvy move,
29:11
a savvy move doing the contemporary stories and an even
29:14
savvy move bringing in, as you said, the audience
29:16
identification figures in in Ben and Polly.
29:19
That's reason number one. Reason number 20, someone's got
29:24
to say it. Jackie Lane's last story as
29:27
Dodo, and even though she is summarily executed somewhere in
29:32
episode 2, I think it's the only attempt ever to make her feel
29:39
like a person. Where she goes, oh, I want to go
29:42
clubbing, you know, and I want to go and have a laugh.
29:44
And then we're after she. She's like, Oh yeah, I was just
29:47
going to hanging out with some friends.
29:48
It's like the one time when Dodo feels like a fucking human
29:51
being, which is quite nice, just as I got rid of it.
29:54
You're right, she didn't have a chance really to to bed herself
29:57
in. But I think Jackie Dade always
29:59
acquits herself well with what she's given to do, and she does
30:02
that here as well. If you're only the person that
30:05
pulls off the the Hypno acting the best, actually just on the
30:10
sort of just just a little bit to the left of how she normally
30:12
plays it, it's a safe place to be.
30:15
And the last thing is going to be Joe.
30:18
It's a bit of a left field choice, but I want to compliment
30:22
the editing of the action sequences because I'm not sure I
30:27
can do that very often in the 1960s.
30:29
Maybe The Web of Fear and the Invasion, and that's about it.
30:32
And this is the first stab at doing that sort of a thing, and
30:37
I think it's a real success. Like I said, I was sitting there
30:39
watching this afternoon, really impressed that this came out in
30:42
1966 and it's paced kind of like an action sequence would be now,
30:48
you know, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, death shot, corpse, you
30:52
know, swinging around chains, more corpses.
30:56
Really impressive. Michael Ferguson was hell of a
30:59
find and I remember doing a bit of research on him in the past.
31:03
He was never at work. This was a man who knew that to
31:06
direct television and cheaply as well, but make it look
31:10
expensive. So that's another reason.
31:12
To that's no surprise. Rain applauded.
31:15
It's down on the war machines, fellas.
31:19
Thank you so much for coming here tonight, for your trivia,
31:25
for your ignorance, it has been an absolution.
31:30
No problem, I provide that all the time.
31:33
Are both in equal measure on the post box.
31:35
Anytime you want more of that, Yes, yes, yes, that's a stock
31:38
and trades. One more quick mention of your
31:40
show, though. You're covering series 10 next,
31:44
is that right? You see, he's 10 in New Money,
31:47
Yeah, So we're doing his last piece.
31:49
And that's kicking off what in August?
31:52
So we come back for our summer special on July the 4th and then
31:57
we start the trial Series 10 the four night after that.
31:59
So series 10 begins at 9, go on for the 18th of July.
32:06
But yeah, 4th of July back back, yeah.
32:09
And I already know, I don't know, everyone's coming on that
32:11
season. You always get brilliant guests.
32:13
But I know a couple of names that are coming on, including
32:16
myself and Rod Brown from my very own Strictly Come Hamster.
32:21
Yeah, and that. Promises to be a fiery contest.
32:24
Indeed, there's a reason to wait both of you on the same episode,
32:28
and that's why. You won't be disappointed for
32:31
now. Thank you very much for your
32:33
time. It's been an absolute pleasure.
32:35
It's been our pleasure for have a great time.