2.22: The War Games, episodes six to ten
In which we finally find out who the Doctor really is.
Broadcast: May-June 1969
Watched: November 2019
The War Games, Episode Six
“...the Time Lords!” First time we hear the name, no?
Interesting that there are no WW2 soldiers in this- too recent I assume – but it uses some of the iconography (resistance cells, etc).
The Security chief gives a very strange performance. The War Chief really has that Delgado/Ainley look going on doesn’t he.
The bit with the brain patterns uses some very odd effects
Love the Private Moore subplot. Didn’t realise it was Troughton fils. [Patrick’s son David, who’ll later be in The Curse of Peladon and Midnight.]
The alien troops are idiots who are fooled by people crouching behind things in plain sight.
The cliffhanger with the shrinking room is amazing.
The War Games, Episode Seven
“The War Lord!” Uhoh, daddy’s home. All these titles are very camp, aren’t they? Also the way the camera pulls back from the War Chief and Security Chief to reveal they’re having a screaming row while everyone awkwardly ignores them is bloody hilarious.
Sort of love the way the Romans are just mental.
I like the way Smythe is so pissed at the Doctor he wants him dead, orders or no. It’s not massively clear what’s meant to be happening in the scene where the resistance takes the chateau. The battle scene is a proper “only Doctor Who can do this” moment.
The War Games, Episode Eight
Jamie’s pride at being left in charge is oddly touching. His ironic sexism is a bit annoying. I kind of like the fact he needs Zoe whispering to him, Cyrano style, to actually do the job..
The scene between the War Chief and the Doctor is absolutely fantastic. Love the way it hints at an origin story without spelling anything out. Also, the War Chief’s “so you see, vee are not all barbarians” routine.
The fact the resistance plan means attacking innocent soldiers – and so is like every other war ever – feels a bit under exploited. Although the discussion of dropping the neutron bomb feels like a logical end point.
Incidentally... It’s a very western idea of which wars matter, isn’t it? No Taiping Rebellion zone or owt.
The Doctor’s apparent betrayal is a proper WTF of a cliffhanger. And the fact the War Chief is one of the Doctor’s own people creates just enough doubt to make it hit home. Reminds me of the fake regeneration at the end of Stolen Earth.
The War Games, Episode Nine
Something strangely touching about Jamie’s “What’s happening?” Like he doesn’t even understand that the Doctor could have betrayed him. Villar being too stupid to fake it is hilarious.
Hines is brilliant in the pretending to be brainwashed scene. Shows the audience that he’s faking without letting on to the War Chief.
This is a very influential story isn’t it? Just structurally, the “start small, pull back to reveal something bigger” is a great trick to escalate the stakes and dramatically justify why the Doctor dies in this one (see also Bad/Parting, World/Falls). Also the War Chief’s “why don’t we just leave” bit is basically repeated by the Master(s) in Falls.
Oh! Also the Doctor sacrifices himself to get everybody home? There’s some rhyming with Time of the Doctor too probably.
Anyway, the build up to the Time Lords is very well done. “They’re coming”, the way they’re clearly powerful but entirely off screen...
Okay, next up is episode 253. Last one of the decade. Let’s do this.
The War Games, Episode Ten
Is this the first time we see the TARDIS fly? Or is this from Fury 1 maybe? [It is.]
I do like the way they keep making it look like the regulars will get out of this... but then, no, not this time. Again, it raises the stakes.
Am I right in thinking that this was before anyone in the UK had seen Star Trek? Only, here the Time Lords seem very Vulcan – the hair, the seriousness, the power.
The portrayal of the Time Lords as not evil, but having a different morality, is very well done. Also I don’t think it actually contradicts what we see later – Deadly Assassin is a rewrite of assumptions, not a contradiction of the text. Except maybe the regeneration limit thing.
Pleasingly, this clip from episode 253 of Doctor Who is 2 mins 53 seconds long.
Wasn’t moved by the companions being sent home, sorry. It’s nicely done, I just never quite bought into this team as actual people in the way I did with Ian & Barbara. I like the subtle way the Doctor is more upset to lose Jamie, who he’s known for ages, than Zoe, who’s been around about 20 minutes.
There’s some dramatic irony in the way the Doctor’s punishment is “Okay, go enjoy the universe – will this bit do?” It’s the “Forcing a kid to smoke 30 cigarettes back to back” trick.
It is quite clever in a way how this story takes a solution to a production problem and makes it not just a plot point but a sort of statement about the Doctor’s origins and character. They could have just done “ooh the TARDIS is broken” but they do this instead.
Anyway, that was the ‘60s. Quite pleased with myself for getting this far, since I spent six weeks stuck on The sodding Dead Planet.
I have a theory that Douglas Adams was profoundly influenced by season 6. In "The Dominators", we have a planet of rubbish aliens who are invaded by aliens who are even more rubbish (and rubbish robot sidekicks). "The Invasion" has rubbish alien invaders (plus the computer and the Cyber-Controller). "The Krotons" has rubbish aliens ruled by aliens who are even more rubbish. Even the twin suns seems an oddly Adamsian touch somehow. "The Seeds of Death" has rubbish alien invaders. The picaresque form and literary references of "The Mind Robber" plus the Master of Fiction as a secret ruler of the world. "The Space Pirates", well, OK, I guess there must be something of Holmes's witty dialogue in there somewhere (I have only seen the one existing episode). But "The War Games" also has something of Adams in the gradual revelation of the layers of mystery and in the tragic absurdity of the soldiers being forced to fight on in their Earthly conflicts unknowingly on an alien planet.
When I was very young, pouring over the Tenth Anniversary Special, I thought that if four episodes were good, 8 or 10 or 12(!) must be even better. It's a pity we don't have more of "The Dalek Masterplan", but there's nothing to suggest it's terribly good. "The Invasion" is probably the best Cyberman story and I was delighted by "The War Games" on my marathon. I feared a dull trudge, but I should have had faith in Hulke and Dick. It really is very engaging, even if it did get the lowest ratings of the 60s (which suggests contemporary audiences did tire of it). What's interesting, a point raised by Miles/Wood in "About Time", is that the story is a conclusion. You can argue whether the series that began in January 1970 is actually a different show that just happens to have the same name (that's obviously false, in the end, in hindsight, for many reasons), but if "Doctor Who" had ended in June 1969, it would have *ended* with a very satisfactory resolution of its nearly six-year arc and an answer to "the first question, the oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight" (OK, a partial one). I often wonder how "Doctor Who" would have been remembered now if it had ended here. I suspect as that weird black and white thing those Dalek film were derived from.