Settings: The War Machines

The last serial of the third season is another one available to watch in its original form. Fan opinion tends to divide between ‘middling’ and ‘good’, which is a positive for the Hartnell era. It’s significant in being the first full-length story with a contemporary setting where the protagonists can interact with the people around them. Naturally, this makes for a different type of story than space opera sci-fi or most time-travel games. Moreover, it’s one where the focus is not on the setting, since that’s merely today’s world (or what was today’s world at the time of broadcast). Although this will become more common later, this is the only instance in the Hartnell era, so let’s see how that affects things.

Where & When

The date is specifically stated: the main story takes place between the 12th and 14th July 1966, with the brief final scene six days later, on the 20th. The action is almost entirely confined to the West End of central London, from Bloomsbury to Fitzrovia. 

Settings: The Savages

After a brief respite, we’re back to stories that are entirely missing again, with another piece of relatively high-concept science fiction. The opinion of those who have watched the fan restorations or listened to the soundtrack is generally not positive. This may be because of the time spent building up the setting, and how long it takes to get to the action, and, as always, it’s worth noting that there are dissenting voices that find it a worthy story. This may improve now that the soundtrack has been animated and, in any event, something that’s strong on setting is a perfect fit for what I’m doing here…

Where & When

The story is set on an unnamed human colony world in the “far future”. With no other reference points, it’s impossible to say just how far into the future this is, or, for that matter, whether the planet is in our own galaxy or another. A common interpretation among fans is that it is set after the destruction of Earth, perhaps thousands or millions of years after The End of the World, but that’s merely a guess.