CLASSIC Doctor Who Essential

[Antilles]

Okay dokey, here we go with a major milestone story.

 

1. It was a whopping 10 episodes long, thats almost the same time it takes to show an entire series these days, imagine waiting that long back then hehe!

 

2. It was the last of the purely Black & White stories.

 

3. And the final story for Patrick Troughton.

 

Heres the plot to get you going....

 

The TARDIS arrives on a planet where a race known only as the Aliens have gathered soldiers from a number of different wars in Earth's history, brainwashed them and put them to battle. Their aim is to form an invincible army from the survivors and use this to take over the galaxy.

 

The War Lord is assisted by a Security Chief and a War Chief, the latter of whom the Doctor quickly recognises as a member of his own race, the Time Lords. The War Chief has provided the Aliens with the time vessels, SIDRATs, that are essential to their scheme; but he secretly plans to double-cross them and seize power for himself.

 

When the War Lord learns of the War Chief's duplicity he has him shot down by guards. By this time, however, the Doctor, aided by a band of human resistance fighters who have shaken off the Aliens' control, has already managed to put a stop to the war games. Unfortunately he has no way of returning all the human soldiers to their proper times and places and so has to call on the Time Lords for help.

 

Having thus revealed his position to them, he is taken prisoner, placed on trial for the crime of interfering in the affairs of other races and subsequently sentenced to a period of exile on Earth. Jamie and Zoe, meanwhile, are sent back to their own respective points of origin. Before being dispatched to begin his exile, the Doctor is told that he must again take on a new appearance...

 

End of plot, thanks BBC!

 

Whenever I decide to watch this story, I never seem to manage it in one sitting, usually over a few nights. Although back in 1990 when it came to VHS I think I did manage to sit through the most of it. So damn long.

 

I love World War 2 and World War 1 stories and I definitely enjoyed both the B&W and Colour remake of 'All Quiet On The Western Front' so this made the early episodes easy to watch as its based mostly around the trenches of The Somme (me thinks). At first were led to believe were back on Earth but in hind-sight it eerily resembles something we hear about in the 5 Doctors, the Death Zone. Aliens with the technology to capture warriors from different time zones and place them in replicas of their own battlefields. I knew it wouldnt take long for the Doc to figure out what was going on, and reveal the true menace. Fantastic to finally hear about his own race, and get to know what theyre called for the first time, another milestone I guess hehe! TIMELORDS! Pretty catchy name huh! I dont know about anyone else but you really feel for the Doctor when his own people capture him and banish him to Earth to stop him interfering. It almost makes you want to become anti-establishment yourself! Down with politicians and all that!

Also a shame about Jamie and Zoe having their memories erased and sent back to the point in time before they met the Doctor, imagine having all those adventures and then never knowing about them. AH well, although they do meet up again in the 5 Doctors (Death Zone again, hmmm) but not sure if the Doctor realises (or just my memory) but if they were sent back in time before they met the Doctor (Troughton) and Troughtons body was still running round his time stream (un-regenerated) how did they know who he was and why werent they with him because they were companions up until his regeneration, I dont think it could have been 'before' he met the 2 companions as he knew who they were.....

 

My Head Hurts!

 

Any 'Eastenders' fans may instantly recognise the coloured American Civil War soldier named Harper, he hasnt changed much in 40 years. Rudolph Walker who plays Patrick Truman in the current running soap. Hes a little greyer round the gills but I recognised him straight off.

 

So, there we have it, a thoroughly enjoyable story, a mixture of action, adventure and futuristic sci-fi effects (BBC style of course) and not forgetting the TARDIS style machines, apparently they were called SIDRATS, anyone verify that? Popped out of my menory, not sure if it was mentioned in show or I read it in an old DWM mag.

 

Hope you enjoyed this one, and for those who are new to the show, were moving into modern technology with colour TV, a new action hero dandy Doctor, first encounter with the Autons, the Master, Sea Devils, Colour Daleks, Giant Maggots and Giant Spiders.....youll love it!

 

Dematerialises......VWORRP...VWORRP!

 

[Potato]

I love the War Games!!!! They are called SIDRATS according to the novelization. I usually pop it in when I'm sick and have nothing but time, so I can watch it all at once. The Five Doctors problem mentioned above is all Eric Saward's fault and is one of the reasons I think he was a lousy script editor (that and the "I'm taking my ball and going home" stunt he pulled when he and JNT disagreed over Trial of a Time Lord).

 

Oh, Jamie and Zoe are returned to the point at which they left with all memories except thier first adventure with the Doctor erased. This means that Zoe remembers the Doctor and Jamie and battling the Cybermen while Jamie remembers being rescued from slavery by the Doctor, Ben and Polly.

[Pella]

I, too loved this story. For me it was the best of all of Patrick Troughton's stories. B/W works well here rather than colour, especially in the earlier episodes. It added a depth of atmoshere, a starkness that represented the horror of WW1 very well. Each of the time periods were handled pretty well but the WW1 scenes steal the show completely.

 

I loved that we see another renegade Time Lord. The War Chief makes an excellent foil for the Doctor and really highlights the Doctor's philosophy. The War Chief is also very Macavellian, making alliances, betraying them, putting himself in a position of kingmaker to the War Lord. His devious ways are very reminicent of the Master - a sort of proto Master if you like.

 

Phillip Madoc too, puts in an excellent performance as the War Lord. Calm and Collected all the way through, only showing any real emotion when he is sentenced by the Time Lords. He protrays a man divorced from humanity (a neccesary attitude when you think of the experiment he performing) very well - cold and calculating.

 

The real star of the show, however, is Patrick Troughton. He gives his finest performance here and later on steals every scene. From the moment he realises that the threat is to great to deal with himself, his acting is pure poetry. Watch him go through fear, reluctance and resignation as he decides to bring in the Time Lords to sort everything out. And yet even faced with the inevitable still fights on to save his companions and escape from the then unamed Gallifrey.

 

And then of course there is the scene where the Time Lords force him to choose a new body - pure magic.

 

 

my tuppence worth anyway.

[drken]

This was actually the first patrick troughten story I saw. I thought the story was very interesting, and I liked pat instantaly, but you could tell the series was more geared towards a younger audiance, and the special effects were bad. The other timelord in it seemed to be a prototype of the master. It was a very good fairwell to troughten was really the end of an era for Doctor Who.

[Antilles]

Its always an end of an era for each Doctor in a way, well....maybe apart from Colin Baker, he didnt even turn up for his regeneration hehe! Not sure if Eccleston stayed long enough to have an 'era' but I guess he done okay, he certainly helped bring the series back to life and thats all that matters!

 

Potato, are you going to start off the colour stories, or shall i carry on, Im easy!

[drken]

Yes, but there is a huge difference between these stories and everything that followed with jon pertwee, and I don't just mean in color.

[Antilles]

Oh yeah thats true, even the early Pertwee compared to later stuff is completely different, perhaps the producers I dunno. The early stories with Liz Shaw were like a completely different show, I mean the console being taken OUT of the TARDIS? What was that!

[Potato]

Its always an end of an era for each Doctor in a way, well....maybe apart from Colin Baker, he didnt even turn up for his regeneration hehe! Not sure if Eccleston stayed long enough to have an 'era' but I guess he done okay, he certainly helped bring the series back to life and thats all that matters!

 

Potato, are you going to start off the colour stories, or shall i carry on, Im easy!

 

You go ahead. Maybe we can switch off when we get later on down the road. I'm rather overworked at the moment.

[Antilles]

Aye no problem. I enjoy doing em, just didnt want to pull the rug completely under your feet since youve been carrying the load for the last 6 months during my hiatus. Spearhead from Space --> coming shortly then.

[Fenriswolf]

Just PM me and let me know when you need one pinned and so on.

 

As for Pertwee, his era introduced Roger Delgado so I have to say I do have a soft spot for that Dr. Who.

 

Troughton however does steal War Games to be honest, his sense of humour, his ability to achieve a wide variety of emotions is a testament to the man's skill as an actor and jester.