Classic Who: The War Machines

[strange_complex]

I’ve been slack on the Classic Who front for a fair old time - I blame the BBC for making too many new shows that I’ve wanted to write about instead! But a weekend at home has given me the chance to fill in another slot in my viewing of the Hartnell era

Comments

[strange_complex]

It's strange as well how rarely Doctor Who has managed to strike a reasonable balance in this matter. The Hartnell era avoided contemporary Earth like the plague (for the reasons swisstone mentions above), and The War Machines makes that seem like a shame, because it's actually rather good. On the other hand, the Pertwee era badly overdid it - and I think you're right that New Who has rather gone that way as well.

Your comment also makes me wonder how much weight we should give to the difference between actually landing on an alien planet, and landing on a space-ship or space-station of some kind. For example, you're right that the Ninth Doctor era was heavily Earth-bound, but how significant is it that four episodes are actually set on space stations orbiting future versions of the Earth (Platform One in The End of the World and Satellite 5 in The Long Game and the final two-parter)?

It seems that that was as alien as RTD dared to go at the time, but there were plenty of voices complaining that it wasn't alien enough. And it's also a debate which is now being voiced within the script, e.g. in Amy's complaint of "You promised me a planet!" after one trip to a space-station and one to the past. I guess there are just variable levels of alien-ness, is all - another one being unrecognisably-futuristic versions of the Earth, as in New Earth and Gridlock.

Anyway, it looks like RTD got bolder about 'properly' alien settings as he went along, hence Donna's experiences. So hopefully the same will be true as Moffat as he gets his feet under the table.