50: The War Games - A Multi-layered Historical, Sci-Fi Historical, Pure Sc-Fi, Teeming With Revelations Worthy Of Troughton's Departure

Written by: Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke

Companions: The Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon, Zoe Heriot.

Monsters/Villains: The War Lords. The War Chief.

Brief Synopsis: The TARDIS arrives in the middle of no man's land during WWI, or does it?

Rating: 10/10.

Well. I don't really have a clue where to start. What an excellent and epic story! I surpose the best compliment I can pay The War Games is that I don't know what or how to write about it. The real genius of this story is it's cleverly multi-layered plot. One can't ignore the massive revelations and their repercussions and also the truly excellent cameo and guest appearances. At ten episodes The War Games feels truly epic, but in a good way unlike say The Dalek's Master Plan. The story was lengthened to ten episodes when a planned story called The Impersonators was cancelled. Many label The War Games as over-long, but I believe that unlike other stories that were lengthened or replacements due to planned story's cancellations, like The Invasion or The Krotons, at ten episodes The War Games works. It doesn't get ponderous and tangential, it thunders along nicely. I am aware that there is much of note in this epic story but I promise I will try to make brevity my boon companion throughout.

Our honorary companions: Lady Jennifer and Lt. Carstairs.

The games begin when the TARDIS lands in the middle of no-man's land in France in WWI. The Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe are nearly killed by a softening barrage, but are aided by a british, female ambulance driver, Lady Jennifer Buckingham (played by then-producer Derrick Sherwin's wife: Jane) and british Lt. Jeremy Carstairs (played by David Savile, who certainly gets my award for best guest appearance). Carstairs and Lady Jennifer take the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe to the British HQ at a chateaux in the French countryside, where they are brought before General Smythe (played evilly by Noel Coleman), and court marshalled. At this point The War Games stands as an excellent, and well detailed WWI historical.

General Smythe.

But then things start to change. Smythe uses a pair of spectacles to influence his subordinate's minds and when he goes into his office, he moves a painting aside and behind it is a very anachronistic video screen. Lady Jennifer and Carstairs both express a concern for their shared memory loss; Buckingham can't remember where her hospital is and Carstairs can't remember names, dates, or how long he's been there. Is shell-shock the answer, or some kind of German gas that effects the mind? So what we once thought was a pure "historical" story has turned into a sci-fi/historical; with aliens or humans-with-a-greater-intelligence meddling with the history of WWI. What an excellent idea! But where will it go next?

The next clue we get it when Jamie forms a brief alliance with his cellmate, a man dressed as a Redcoat soldier who claims to be from 1745. We also get more anachronistic technology when General Smythe departs in a cupboard-like box which has materialised in his office. When Zoe shows them the hidden video screen in Smythe's office Carstairs and Lady Jennifer decide to go against orders and trust the Doctor, and his friends. Whilst escaping in Lady Jennifer's ambulance the group drive off, seem to disappear and then reappear elsewhere, only when the do, they turn to see a Roman charriot rushing towards them. And once again another layer of this intricate story is revealed.

The War Zone Map.

They quickly reverse and return to where they came from. Rather hilariously one extra playing a Roman is so shocked by the disappearance of the Ambulance that he seems to forget to close his mouth for quite some time. The Doctor deduces that they have driven through a barrier to another time zone. He uses a grenade to blow open a safe in Smythe's office and inside they find a map of the different time zones which appear to include: Roman, Greek, Crimean War, First World War, Peninsular War, American Civil War, Mexican Civil War, English Civil War, Thirty-Years War, Boer War, and Russo-Japanese War.

David Garfield as Major Von Weich.

Whilst escaping again they cross into German lines and are captured. The Doctor tries to persuade the German Lieutenant that they are not spies, and even demonstrates the Sonic Screwdriver by removing and replacing a screw from his revolver. In exactly the same way Smythe did, the German Major Von Weich uses a monocle to brainwash his Lieutenant. They manage to escape once more and head for the centre of the map, wherein we discover the next layer of this elaborate plot.

The War Lord Security Force. Mmm... Yes!

Central control is populated by technicians in neutral futuristic clothes (yes, leather, very futuristic) and strange glasses; which are also really silly. These items of clothing are my only two real criticisms of this story's generally superb psychedelic design.

The War Room as it would have appeared in colour.

Smythe is there too and welcomes the arrival of his superior, the mysterious War Chief. Smythe and Von Weich out themselves as aliens as they comment on humanity's nature of loyalty; their species don't ever get given a name on screen so let's call them the War Lords. It soon becomes apparent that they are involved in some sort of war game using models to plot real conflict between the rival armies. In the American Civil War zone, Carstairs attempts to sacrifice himself so the Doctor and his friends can escape into a barn to hide. Inside they witness a large group of soldiers arrive from a tiny craft that seems to work like a TARDIS. The Doctor and Zoe step inside, leaving Jamie and Lady Jennifer behind as it dematerialises.

The SIDRAT. Hmmm isn't that TARDIS backwards.

The Confederate South save Jamie and Lady Jennifer from the Union North, but Major von Weich appears dressed as a Confederate General and orders them to be restrained as spies. Harper, a member of the resistance tries to free Jamie and Lady Jennifer but fails. He seems to know what is really happening, and Von Weich's Monocle doesn't work on him.

The excellent Rudolph Walker as Harper.

Inside the ship, which is bigger on the inside (known as a SIDRAT) the Doctor and Zoe find dozens of soldiers from different periods just standing, entranced; another piece of the puzzle, we perhaps don't know where yet to fit. Eventually they arrive at the Central Control and don the War Lord's odd glasses to go incognito. They are ushered into a lecture, where the War Lords' Chief Scientist reveals that human specimens are removed from their time and placed in an environment that they believe to be their own, were they continue to fight what they believe to be their war. So... It isn't Earth at all. It's some unknown planet where human soldiers from different wars in different times are brought to fight. And it's not a sci-fi/historical after all it's pure science fiction.

They look like the glasses made popular by
Kanye West...

The Chief Scientist also explains that in some cases the specimen's conditioning wares off enabling them to pass through the barriers into the different zones and form resistance groups. The Chief Scientist demonstrates his new conditioning machine on the captured Carstairs. Back in the Barn the resistance (made up from soldiers from different times) arrives and captures Von Weich.

The mysterious War Chief played superbly by Edward Brayshaw.

In the lecture hall the War Chief arrives and the Doctor instantly recognises him, prompting him to run but Zoe is captured and taken for interrogation by the Security Chief, who uses a futuristic lie detector. The War Chief and the Security Chief clearly have a strong rivalry. The War Chief also reveals that he is not of the same species as the War Lords and that without his knowledge the War Games operation would not have been possible. I think it's really funny how the War Lords compartmentalise everything, with separate Chiefs of Science, Security and War. Also everyone seems to have these epic/ridiculous beards, I think the level of beard shows your rank. The more beard the higher up you are. The Chief Scientist even appears to grow a beard from episode to episode.

The Security Chief played creepily by James Bree.

Jamie and the leader of the resistance, Russell step into another SIDRAT capsule and we say goodbye to Lady Jennifer, who stays behind to help the resistances wounded. The SIDRAT arrives at central control but when they emerge, Jamie and Russell are shot down by War Lord Security troops.

Graham Weston as Resistance leader Russell.

In a scene between the Security Chief and the Chief Scientist, the former explains his theory that the War Chief brought the Doctor and his friends here and how his people have the secret of time travel, The Time Lords!!! That's the first time we've head that. Time Lords. It's amazing how many things that will go on to become synonymous with Doctor Who that started right here in The War Games. The Doctor tricks the Chief Scientist and de-processes Carstairs, together they rescue Jamie, who unsurprisingly was not killed and Zoe and Russell escape back to the American Civil War Zone.

A cameo by none other than Troughton's son
David as Private Moor.

Back in the barn, David Troughton... I mean, Private Moor is alone, guarding Von Weich. Moor gives Von Weich back his monocle which he uses to hypnotise Moor into freeing him. Just as he does Zoe, Russell and the other resistance members arrive. Russell fights the reconditioned Moor, and bests him but Von Weich wrestles Russell's gun from him. However Moor comes to Russell's rescue and shoots Von Weich dead.

The Doctor, Jamie and Carstairs try to make their escape in a SIDRAT but the dematerialisation is stopped from outside by the War Chief, who activates the dimensional controls, forcing the inside of the ship to shrink, much like what the Doctor did to the Monk's TARDIS in The Time Meddler. The Doctor emerges from the ship, apparently defeated, but quickly uses a gas valve to deal with his enemies, restores the ship's dimensional interior, locks the controls and departs for the war zone. They cross back to the 1917 zone but are recaptured by Smythe, who decides to kill the Doctor regardless of what his War Lord superiors may want. The Doctor is saved from the firing squad at the last minute once more; this time by the resistance, and Russell kills Smythe. There is a certainly a fair amount of repetition in this story but this works to show the futility and repetitiveness of War.

The War Lord played by Doctor Who Stalwart Phillip Madoc.

The War Lord arrives with the biggest, fullest beard of all, and the War Chief and Security Chief tell him what has happened. The War Lord is played superbly by Phillip Madoc, who portrays him with such calmness, making him so truly terrifying that he doesn't need to shout or get angry to exert his power. A SIDRAT arrives inside the Chateaux and security forces and the Security Chief emerge and recapture the Doctor.

Two time lords.

The Security Chief returns his prisoner and begins to interrogate the Doctor but the War Chief interrupts and reveals that the Doctor is from his same race and that he indeed knows him! We then get a glorious scene where the Doctor talks about stealing a TARDIS and his reasons to leave his home planet. The War Chief also reveals that the point of the War Games are as a testing ground to find the perfect army for a universal conquest by the War Lords, claiming, "man is the most vicious species of all!" I like this in theory but I'm not sure how true it is in the Doctor Who universe. The War Chief also explains that he wants to create a United Galactic Empire. The War Lord agrees to spare the Doctor, but make's the War Chief responsible for him. The War Chief also reveals to the Doctor his intentions to take over as Supreme Galactic Leader; something that he will regret saying later.

Michael Napier-Brown as the Mexican Arturo Villar.

Whilst everyone in the Chateaux is asleep, the Mexican resistance leader Arturo Villar and his bandits arrive and Jamie, and Zoe persuade him to join forces with them. The Resistance set about destroying the War Lords' command and communication units across the zones, to draw out and scatter the aliens security forces all over making them easy targets and diminishing their number. Realising what has happened the Security chief suggests use of the neutron bomb to deal with the situation. The Resistance leaders, Zoe and Jamie gather in the Barn where they are about to destroy another communicator when the Doctor comes up on the screen. He says he's sending a SIDRAT for them, which they enter, but when they arrive at central control the Doctor appears to have betrayed them all as they are surrounded by security forces. Troughton just get's given so much to do in this, he's allowed so many opportunities to flex his various acting muscles.

The Doctor believes the War Chief needs him for some reason, something to do with the SIDRATs. He learns that his concerns are not ill placed when the War Chief explains that the Dimensional flexibility, and remote control operation have only be achieved by shortening each crafts "life span." It's an interesting use of words, "life span," suggesting the machine is actually alive, a feature that will grow stronger and be revisited many times to come, most recently with Idris in the Matt Smith story The Doctor's Wife. The War Chief hasn't solved this problem, the units he brought with him will soon expire and he wants the Doctor's TARDIS.

The Doctor gets the War Lord to believe that he is on his side and can make the conditioning units work more effectively. The Security Chief leaves the Doctor alone with Zoe, Jamie and the resistance leaders and he pretends to reprocess them.

They really don't like each other...

Meanwhile the Security Chief listens to a voice recording of the War Chief telling the Doctor his true plans to take over, remember from earlier. The Security Chief plays the War Chief the recording of his betrayal and has him taken away. Climactically the Doctor, Jamie, Zoe, Carstairs and the rest of the resistance free the War Chief, get some weapons, enter the War Room and kill all the security guards. The War Chief settles the score when he kills the Security Chief.

The War Chief wants to flee but the Doctor won't go until the fighting is stopped and all the people are returned to their own times using the SIDRATs. The War Chief reveals that there are only two SIDRATs left with enough life in them to operate. The Doctor commands the War Chief to order all the fighting in the war zones to be stopped. Realising this is a task to big for him to accomplish alone the Doctor mentally forms a small cube containing all the information of what has happened and a request for help and sends it to his people, the Time Lords.

Writer, Neil Gaiman reused the psychic containers
in his recent story, The Doctor's Wife.

The War Chief tries to escape but is caught by the War Lord who has heard the recording of his betrayal and orders the security troops to kill him. Arturo Villar, Jamie, Russell and Carstairs take out the remaining security forces and hold the War Lord prisoner. The Doctor sends the psychic box to the Time Lords, and with Carstairs (who wants to find Lady Jennifer), Zoe and Jamie returns to the 1917 zone and the TARDIS. They say goodbye to Carstairs and he vanishes, presumably sent back to his own time. And it's here where you'd think this was going to be the end of this epic story but sadly there is one more chapter that cannot be avoided. Our three adventurers run for the TARDIS but are slowed down by the Time Lord's forcefield. What follows is almost as brutal and savage as everything we have just been through in the war zones.

They manage to break the forcefield, enter the TARDIS and dematerialise. The Doctor then tells his companions why he left his home; he ran away because he was bored. He discribes his people as an immensely civilised race, with the power to control their own environments. He explains that they can live forever, barring accidents. He also expresses his annoyance that his people have the secret of space time travel but hardly ever use their great powers; content simply to observe and gather knowledge. He left because he wanted to explore the galaxy and all of time.

The Time Lords.

They try to run but a Time Lord voice echoes inside the TARDIS, and orders the Doctor to return to home. He tries to run again, the controls move on their own and they arrive on the Doctor's home planet. There, they meet a Time Lord who takes them to the trial of the War Lord, where we learn that the survivors have indeed been returned to their time zones on earth. The War Lord refuses to defend himself so one of the Time Lords seems to use some mental power to harmfully force the War Lord to speak. The War Lord is found guilty but somehow a band of his security forces arrive in a SIDRAT and enter the trial. The War Lord threatens Jamie and Zoe and orders the Doctor to take them to their home planet in his TARDIS. The Doctor activates a bright light on the console and runs out with Jamie and Zoe. The Time Lords place a forcefield around the War Lord and his men, pronounce them guilty and cary out their fate, which is to be dematerialised; making it as though they were never alive.

The second Doctor and his most deadly foes.

It is now the Doctor's turn for a trial. The Doctor not only admits he is guilty of interference but that he is proud of it. The Time Lords give the Doctor a 'thought channel' and he shows them some of the beings he has faced, including Quarks, Yeti, Ice Warriors, Cybermen, and Daleks. The Doctor defiantly pleads "All these evils I have fought, while you have done nothing but observe! True, I am guilty of interference. Just as you are guilty of failing to use your great powers to help those in need!"

He is found guilty and Jamie and Zoe are to be returned to their own times. They are allowed to see the Doctor just one last time to say goodbye. There is a real sense that the Doctor is totally resigned to his fate that makes this whole scene even sadder. The departing companions enter a TARDIS and depart forever, with only the memory of their first adventure with the Doctor intact and the rest wiped from their minds. Zoe is back aboard the Wheel and it is so bitter sweet as says "I thought I'd forgotten something important, but it's nothing." She looks back as thought she has forgotten something then heads off, back to work. Jamie is back at Culloden and charges a redcoat, shouting once more "Creag an tuirc!" I've really grown to love the dynamic in the TARDIS at this point, even if Jamie has become less independent in the last few stories. I am sad to be loosing not just my Doctor, but his two closest friends as well.

"Goodbye Jamie. Goodbye Zoe."

The Time Lords accept that that their is evil in the universe that must be fought and that the Doctor still has a part to play in that battle and noting the Doctor's interest in the planet Earth decide to exile him there in the 20st century until they deem proper, and for that period the secret of the TARDIS will be taken from him. The final part of his sentence is that he must charge his appearance once more. They show him options for his new appearance. The Doctor protests and refuses the options as too old, too young, too fat, too thin. The Time Lords tell him the decision will be made for him, he is sent spinning away and we say a tearful farewell to the second Doctor and Patrick Troughton. 

What a way to go. Rescuing so many lives only to be condemned by your own people. Your friends taken away, their minds wiped and then being forced to change your form. Patrick Troughton certainly went out on a bang with this one. And there was me saying I'd try to keep it short. Sorry. I have thoroughly enjoyed The War Games. The excellent guest performances by David Savile, Phillip Madoc, Edward Brayshaw, Noel Coleman, and James Bree are unforgettable. There are so many massive revelations. We learn the name of the Doctor's race, we see his home planet for the first time, and although we don't actually get to see it, the Doctor's form changes once more. The future of the programme wasn't entirely determined at this point and the show runners really upped their game, so that the show would either continue on the back of a great season fanale or at least go out on a bang. Massive respect must go to writers: Malcolm Hulke and a young Terrance Dicks for this truly excellent story.

That is, of course, also the end of season six. It's been a Season with real highs and lows. We met the  rather unimpressive Dominators & their Quarks, the Krotons, and some Space Pirates. And more promisingly witnessed the return of the Ice Warriors, met the War Lords, and some characters in the Land of Fiction. We saw the Cybermen for the last time in a good while, and finally met the Doctor's race, the Time Lords. We said goodbye to two companions and didn't gain any. We saw 37 episodes out of 44, with just 7 missing ones. My favourite story for this season has to be this very adventure, The War Games. My Least favourite is The Krotons. Out of a possible 70 I scored season six 36.5/70. Giving it a rather low average of 52/100, the lowest for a season yet.

I am very sad to be saying goodbye to the man who has become my favourite Doctor, Patrick Troughton, fortunately I happen to know he might just drop back one or three more times in the future. It's like when Zoe asked if they'd ever meet again: "Now, you and I know that time is relative, isn't it?" said the Doctor with a wink in his eye.

Join me next time for Doctor Who in colour, exile, a new direction and a new body. Jon Pertwee is the Doctor in Spearhead From Space...