Day 124 — May 4th 2021
The War Games Episodes One and Two
The War Games — Episode One
Picture the scene; it’s the summer of 2005. You’re Beautiful is number one in the charts. Doctor Who is riding a wave of popularity thanks to the success of Christopher Eccleston’s year in the TARDIS. And I’ve found my interest in the series has gone from ‘yeah, it’s pretty cool’ to ‘this is the best show in the world’.
In the middle of this there was an event on the coast in Norfolk. In my head it was a full-scale Doctor Who convention, but I’m not sure that was actually the case. Colin Baker was there, though, and I was keen to get his autograph despite having not actually seen any of his stories at that point. All the same, it was a real life genuine Doctor Who!
As if that wasn’t exciting enough, there was a stall selling old Doctor Who VHS tapes. I already owned a few, purchased via mail order from the adverts in Doctor Who Magazine over the previous few months. This was different, though. No waiting, I could choose a story and take it straight home to watch. Perfect. The only question; which one?
I agonised over the choice for ages, occasionally wandering off from the stall and then circling back to take another look. And then I spotted it. It sounds silly to say that I can still picture the exact moment I spotted a specific VHS tape, but I honestly can. It’s clearer in my mind than most memories. Sat on a shelf at the back of the stall was the Time Lord collection — a set of VHS tapes including The Three Doctors, The Deadly Assassin… and The War Games.
I’d read somewhere that they were saving the DVD of Troughton’s final story until 2009 so it could be released as a 40th anniversary treat (which turned out to be the case), and in the summer of 2005 that felt like a lifetime away. I was desperate to own that VHS set, even though it cost far more than I had on me that day. A friend loaned me the money in the end and I sat down that night to watch The War Games feeling like it was the single most important Doctor Who story I was ever going to see.
That was 16 years ago, and still when I think of The War Games I find myself treated to a proper rush of nostalgia, remembering that feeling of seeing it for the first time. There’s not many stories that have that effect on me, but this one does.
It helps that sitting down to watch it today I remember just how brilliant it is. Coming after three days of the deathly dull Space Pirates makes it fly even higher. We’re somewhere real here, with dirt and danger and some real weight. And you know you’re in for a treat right from the opening moments. I’ve not been the biggest fan of Derek Martinus in this marathon so far, but when the camera pans across a muddy battlefield to see a reflection of the TARDIS materialise in a puddle I realise just why everyone praises his work so highly.
I also remember how much I enjoy Doctor Who taking trips into history. We think of the Troughton era as having The Highlanders and not much else in this area (The Abominable Snowmen always slips under my radar) but this episode alone proves that they’re still absolutely capable of creating something gripping with all the trappings of the past. And I love the way Doctor Who describes their location in time and space to his friends;
‘We’re back in history, Jamie. One of the most terrible times on the planet Earth.’
We get to spend the first ten minutes or so of this story thinking it’s a straight historical, like the ones the series used to do. We’ve got action and excitement (the explosions that reign down on our heroes are more exciting than anything that’s happened to them in the last three stories, and they look fantastic) and then they turn the tables on us by introducing the idea that something is wrong when General Smythe reveals a hidden television set in his office.
But the story doesn’t change gears from there. We don’t suddenly switch to silly costumes and bland science fiction settings, but rather carry on with the gritty realism of the past, and somehow the episode just keeps getting better from there. All the pieces are put into place so carefully — the hypnotising spectacles, the careful brainwashing of the ‘goodies’ in the guest cast — and culminate in the court marshal scene.
I’d entirely forgotten about that bit. As clearly as I can recall seeing that VHS sitting on a shelf all those years ago, the story only survives in my mind as fragments, just like any other story. I’m amazed that it hadn’t lodged in my mind more firmly, though, because I genuinely think this might be the best scene we’ve had in Doctor Who so far. The tension is at maximum, and you genuinely feel like all hope is lost. Going into this story knowing that it’s Patrick Troughton’s final outing makes the stakes all the higher.
And I think you can tell that he’s brought his A-game for one last go. I was disappointed in The Space Pirates to find myself criticising Troughton’s choices in his performance. He didn’t seem to be giving it the level he usually does, and I think that helped to make that story not quite as good as usual. He’s having the opposite effect here, and when he shouts back at Smythe it’s incredibly powerful, and he’s as full of energy as he’s ever been;
General Smythe: ‘The court finds you guilty of espionage. For a crime of this magnitude there is only one penalty.’
Doctor Who: ‘But this is ridiculous! You know all the evidence has been twisted against us! Tell them!’
General Smythe: ‘The witnesses have given their evidence. The court has reached it’s verdict. If you’ve nothing further to say, sentence will be passed.’
Doctor Who: ‘I most certainly have something further to say! This is all just a mockery! I demand the right to appeal to a higher authority!’
General Smythe: ‘There is no right of appeal. You will be executed at dawn tomorrow. Take him away, Sergeant Major!’
As if that weren’t enough they continue to give him new things to do. I love the moment when he’s escorted back to the cells alone, separated from his friends. ‘I don’t want to leave you, Doctor,’ says Zoe, and Doctor Who gives her a gentle kiss on the forehead. I think this is the first time we’ve ever seen the character kiss anyone, and it feels all the more tender and special coming in the wake of his blistering tirade at an enemy only minutes before. If Troughton had been a bit bored by the script to The Space Pirates, he’s clearly more taken with this, and rightly so.
I can’t believe how much is packed in to these 24 minutes. After six episodes where everything moves at a glacial pace, this is going at a breakneck speed. We’ve arrived in the First World War, been ambushed by German Soldiers, escaped, investigated the trenches, been taken to the General, had a court marshal, and then Zoe gets to mount a rescue attempt for her friend before he’s tied up before a firing squad… and we hear a gun fire before the closing titles kick in! I bet kids watching this in 1969 but have been exhausted by the end — and gagging for the week to fly past so they could watch the next episode. At least I get to move straight on!
It should come as no surprise after all that that I’m giving this one a full 10/10. Simply one of the greatest episodes of Doctor Who ever produced, and that’s not just my nostalgia talking.
One last thing to note for this episode — photographs from production give us a rare glimpse at Wendy Padbury’s real hair, without the hairpiece she wore as Zoe. Every so often I mention that and people seem surprised to discover that it’s not all her real hair we’re seeing on screen. Indeed, there’s a shot from the episode that matches up surprisingly well, so gives us a really clear look at how she appeared both on and off camera.
The War Games — Episode Two
There’s something really gorgeous about the shots of our regulars on the farm here, even if it is as part of a firing squad. It doesn’t look unlike the farm I grew up on — and indeed still lived on when I first saw this story — which might help account for some of the magic this holds for me. It’s just like with The Invasion — there’s something so appealing about seeing Doctor Who and his friends in real locations like this which you just don’t get from spaceship corridors in BBC studios. Give me a hundred settings like this over those any day.
This episode doesn’t let up the pace from the opener at all, and I’m finding myself really impressed with the way that they keep seeding in new ideas and letting the story build up using them. Having presented us with a fairly straight historical adventure so far (Save from Smythe’s tele screen and hypo-glasses), we’re suddenly given a British Redcoat early in today’s episode, who things he’s in 1745. He introduces the idea of the mist to us;
Jamie: ‘Look, you must try and remember!’
Redcoat: ‘I’ve told you. I was fighting up in the Highlands, I got lost and I don’t. There was this mist. It came down all round me. The next thing I knew, everything was different.’
A few scenes later we pick up the story with Lady Jennifer and Carstairs, who are also remembering an encounter with some strange mist and rationalising it as best they can;
Lady Jennifer: ‘I was driving through a forest and all of a sudden there was a strange sort of mist. Fog. And then I was in a field dressing station looking after some wounded soldiers…’
Carstairs: ‘Hmm. Loss of memory?’
Lady Jennifer: ‘But isn’t it strange that you should to be suffering from it too?’
Carstairs: ‘Mist!’
Lady Jennifer: ‘What about it?’
Carstairs: ‘I wonder, could it be some kind of new gas? If perhaps the Germans have invented a new type of poison gas, one that affects our minds.’
The mystery of the mist is allowed to build and develop slowly across the episode. It’s not particularly foregrounded, they don’t go out of their way to make you realise how important it is, but then in the cliffhanger they give us a look at the mist first hand… only to come out the other side and find ourselves face-to-face with a battalion of Romans! That’s another strong cliffhanger there.
If I’ve one complaint, I think to location used for the Romans is too similar to the one we’ve just left. Our heroes make a couple of comments about it being a nicer place and there not being any explosions, but I think it looks like they’ve not moved at all, which somewhat spoils the illusion. That’s just me nitpicking, though, because in the moment it’s the most exciting thing ever!
Elsewhere, Troughton continues to be on sparkling form. He’s almost always incredible, but it’s as though he’s decided to really step up the game for his final outing. The scene in which he breaks into the military prison and bluffs his way through the whole situation is fantastic, and I think it might be up there in my ‘top five’ Troughton moments of all time.
I also love that scene being brought to a close with Zoe smashing a vase of flowers over a poor soldier’s head when Doctor Who’s bluster starts to wear thin — it’s such a simple solution, but it works so well!
Maloney’s direction continues to impress here, too, and I’m particularly keen on the reveal of that our heroes have been seen on the TV screen. Video calls have been something of a staple in the Troughton era — I think they appear in more stories than they don’t — but this is probably the best example we’ve had. It’s fabulously sinister, and the series has never looked more 1984. I’m not ashamed to say I skipped back 20 seconds on BritBox to watch it again.
An 8/10.
