With the Announcement of ‘The Savages’ being animated for this Year, I thought I’d start a Thread for a 60s Writer, who really doesn’t get talked about as much as other Writers from that time, that being Ian Stuart Black.
These days, Black is probably most known as the Writer behind “The Macra Terror”, which is his most beloved Work since being animated. Before that, “The War Machines” was arguably his most famous Work he did for the Show.
Looking at his Stories, all of them have some importance to them (Spoiler Warning for all of them):
‘The Savages’ being Steven’s last Story. ‘The War Machines’ being Dodo’s last, as well as the Introduction of Ben and Polly. And ‘The Macra Terror’ being the first Story with the new Throughton Title Sequence.
Similarly to a Writer like Lucarotti, he also was behind all the Novelizations of his televised work.
What are people’s opinions of his Work? Which do you think is his best work? And which Version of the Macra Terror do you enjoy the most?
- The War Machines
- The Macra Terror
- The Savages
- The War Machines (Target Novel)
- The Macra Terror (Target Novel)
- The Savages (Target Novel)
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I love The War Machines and The Macra Terror!
I haven’t seen The Savages in a long time but I remember liking it.
I haven’t read any of his novelisations… Yet.
Anyway, I really enjoyed his work on Doctor Who, so far.
And yes, The Macra Terror has the best animation. Such a shame about the deleted scene though.
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All three are solid Doctor Who stories. The War Machines is often considered a sort of turning point for the character, firmly establishing the Doctor as a force against evil, something I guess we have Black to thank for. Macra Terror is one I think I like more every time I see it, and the Savages is one of Dodo’s best stories. I’d have loved to see more from him on the show.
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Yeah, same here, all his Stories range from very good to amazing for me!
I’d even argue that this is partially found in The Savages. Black definitely is one who does a lot with the Doctor in all of his Scripts, Macra Terror is in my eyes a Turning Point for Throughton’s Doctor, who basically is fully now established.
Yeah, same here! He certainly does prove himself as somebody who could have done more Stories, even some early Pertwee Stories could perhaps suit his Writing.
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If they had continued with the kind of tone that Season 7 had (which I wish they did), Black could have been perfect for that.
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The War Machines is the proto-UNIT and Earth Invasion story, and a great one.
The Macra Terror is one of the best examples of a “false utopia” trope, and the animation is superb.
And The Savages is severely underrated. It’s one of my favourites from Hartnell’s era. I’m so excited about the upcoming animation and I hope it helps more fans see the true value of that story.
So, in short, Black was a solid writer who left a lasting impact on Doctor Who.
Oh, by the way, Black is also the first writer who wrote two consecutive stories for the show (The Savages and The War Machines).
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Gotta love all the Praise for him, he is certainly a great one, who deserves more flowers under his belt 
Oh true! I am not sure for how long he holds that position as the first and only, but I believe he is a rare case in Classic Doctor Who now that I think about it…
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It happened again with The Face of Evil and The Robots of Death, both by Chris Boucher. So he held the position for almost a decade!
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And the fact that both those stories are by the same author is pretty great, too…
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There’s also David Fisher with The Stones of Blood and The Androids of Tara.
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I like The Macra Terror, and The Savages a lot. I think The War Machines is great, and well done, but it’s a little too “generic” for me to highly praise.
The first two were real sleeper-hits during my watch through.
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War Machines has big machines that smash boxes. I think that makes up for it.
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The War Machines is one of my favourite Hartnell stories. I also remember reading the novelisation where Black gives on the Machines a name and a personality. It’s ever so slightly weird.
The Macra Terror has also always been a great story with Troughton absolutely at the top of his game working with a script which properly makes him the rebel and the agitator.
I’m looking forward to the animated Savages so that I can give that story a bit of a reassess.
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