The War Games

050 – The War Games
Doctor Who serial
The Doctor, Jamie and Lieutenant Carstairs are caught by British soldiers from World War I
Cast
Doctor Patrick Troughton (Second Doctor)
Companions Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon) Wendy Padbury (Zoe Heriot)
Others David Savile — Lt Carstairs Jane Sherwin — Lady Jennifer Buckingham Noel Coleman — General Smythe Richard Steele — Commandant Gorton Terence Bayler — Major Barrington Hubert Rees — Captain Ransom David Valla — Lieutenant Crane Esmond Webb — Sgt Major Burns Brian Forster — Sergeant Willis Pat Gorman — Military Policeman Peter Stanton — Military Chauffeur David Garfield — Von Weich Gregg Palmer — Lieutenant Lucke John Livesey, Bernard Davies — German Soldiers Philip Madoc — War Lord Edward Brayshaw — War Chief James Bree — Security Chief Vernon Dobtcheff — Chief Scientist John Atterbury — Alien Guard Charles Pemberton — Alien Technician Bill Hutchinson — Sgt Thompson Terry Adams — Corporal Riley Leslie Schofield — Leroy Rudolph Walker — Harper Michael Lynch — Spencer Graham Weston — Russell David Troughton — Moor Peter Craze — Du Pont Michael Napier Brown — Arturo Villar Stephen Hubay — Petrov Tony McEwan — Redcoat Bernard Horsfall — First Time Lord Trevor Martin — Second Time Lord Clyde Pollitt — Third Time Lord Clare Jenkins — Tanya Lernov
Production
Directed by	David Maloney
Written by	Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke
Script editor	Terrance Dicks (uncredited)
Produced by	Derrick Sherwin
Executive producer(s)	None
Incidental music composer	Dudley Simpson
Production code	ZZ
Series	Season 6
Length	10 episodes, 25 minutes each
Date started	19 April 1969
Date ended	21 June 1969
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → The Space Pirates Spearhead from Space

The War Games is the seventh and final serial of the sixth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in ten weekly parts from 19 April to 21 June 1969.

In the serial, an unnamed alien race led by the War Lord (Philip Madoc) kidnap and brainwash soldiers from wars throughout Earth's history to fight in war games on another planet as part of the aliens' plot to conquer the galaxy. The time traveller the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and his travelling companions Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines) and Zoe Heriot (Wendy Padbury) form a resistance army to stop this plot and to return the kidnapped soldiers home.

The War Games was the last regular appearance of Troughton as the Doctor and the last serial to be recorded in black and white. It also marks the last regular appearances of Padbury and Hines as companions Zoe and Jamie, and sees both the first naming and first appearance of the Doctor's race, the Time Lords.

Plot

On an alien planet, the Doctor uncovers a diabolical plot to conquer the galaxy with brainwashed soldiers abducted from Earth and forced to fight in simulated environments, reflecting the periods in history whence they were taken. The aliens' aim is to produce a super army from the survivors; to this end, they have been aided by a renegade from the Doctor's own race of the Time Lords, calling himself the War Chief.

Joining forces with rebel soldiers, who have broken their conditioning, the Doctor and his companions foil the plan and stop the fighting. The War Chief is apparently killed when the leader of the aliens, the War Lord, realises he has been plotting against him. But the Doctor admits he needs the help of the Time Lords to return the soldiers to their own times, but in asking, risks capture for his own past crimes, including the theft of the TARDIS. After sending the message he and his companions attempt to evade capture, but are caught.

Having returned the soldiers to Earth, the Time Lords place the War Lord on trial and dematerialise him. They erase Zoe and Jamie's memories of travelling with the Doctor, and return them to the point in time just as they entered the TARDIS. They then place the Doctor on trial for stealing the TARDIS and breaking the rule of non-interference. The Doctor presents a spirited defence, citing his many battles against the evils of the universe. Accepting this defence, the Time Lords announce that his punishment is exile to Earth in the 20th century. He points out he is too well known on Earth, so the Time Lords tell him he will change his appearance, as he has before, and present him with images of four faces. He does not like any of them; he is told a decision has been made. He cries out indignantly as the change is forced upon him.

Production

As the TARDIS crew try to escape the Time Lords in episode 10, brief clips from The Web of Fear and Fury from the Deep are used^[1] to show the TARDIS in locations supposedly out of the Time Lords' reach. A model shot from episode 1 of The Wheel in Space is used after Zoe is sent back to her own time and place by the Time Lords. Since this episode is missing, the shot sampled in The War Games is the only known surviving footage from this episode. Similarly, the shots used from The Highlanders to show Jamie in his own time (which the episode is also missing) and the shots sampled from Fury from the Deep from Episode 1 are also the only surviving footage from those episodes.

Broadcast and reception

The BBC's Audience Research Report showed that The War Games was received positively, though not enthusiastically, by viewers.^[7]

Paul Cornell, Martin Day, and Keith Topping wrote of the serial in The Discontinuity Guide (1995), "It might be six episodes too long, but The War Games is pivotal in the history of Doctor Who. The introduction of the Time Lords ... sees the series lose some of its mystery, but gain a new focus."^[8] In The Television Companion (1998), David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker stated that the serial "gets off to a cracking start", though they noted that "A commonly expressed view is that, after this strong beginning, the story becomes dull and repetitive, picking up again only in the closing stages when the Time Lords are introduced."^[7] They praised the design work of the different war zones, the dialogue, and the conclusion.^[7] In 2009, Radio Times reviewer Patrick Mulkern was positive towards the detailed scripts and the various villains, especially the War Chief.^[9] The A.V. Club reviewer praised the way the serial subverted viewers' expectations of a typical historical story. He noted that there was padding to fill the running time, but felt that it was done well and that it worked better than in The Dalek Invasion of Earth.^[10] He also wrote positively of Madoc's War Lord and Jamie and Zoe's departure, and said that the story purposefully "doesn't resolve neatly or satisfyingly".^[11] Alasdair Wilkins of io9 praised Troughton's performance and the way that it was structured to "constantly [expand] the story's scope", though he admitted there was still padding.^[12] In a 2010 article, Charlie Jane Anders of the same site listed the cliffhanger to the ninth episode — in which the Doctor is forced to summon the Time Lords — as one of the greatest Doctor Who cliffhangers ever.^[13]

A viewing of The War Games, and in particular the character of Jamie McCrimmon, inspired author Diana Gabaldon to set her Outlander series in Jacobite Scotland, and to name its protagonist "Jamie".^[14]

Commercial releases

In print

Doctor Who and the War Games

Author	Malcolm Hulke
Cover artist	John Geary
Series	Doctor Who book: Target novelisations
Release number	70
Publisher	Target Books
Publication date	25 September 1979
ISBN	0-426-20082-9

A novelisation of this serial, written by Malcolm Hulke, was published by Target Books in September 1979, entitled Doctor Who and The War Games.

In January 2011, an audiobook of the novelisation was released, read by David Troughton.^[15]

Home media

The front cover of the UK version of the DVD.

This serial was released in the UK in February 1990 in a two-tape set in episodic form. It was re-released in remastered format in September 2002. Since this VHS re-release, better quality film prints of the story were located at the BFI, and were used for the DVD release which occurred on 6 July 2009.^[16]

The "Regenerations" box set, released on 24 June 2013,^[17] contains The War Games; the serial was released with no special features.

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Second Doctor

• The War Games at BBC Online
• The War Games at Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time (Travel)
• The War Games at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• Doctor Who Locations – The War Games
• Doctor Who Restoration Team – The War Games