In a couple of your recent reviews, you mentioned that in the classic era they would often get too ambitious. That is, they would come up with scripts that called for things that the props department (and/or the special effects department) couldn't create. One of the things about this story that makes it work is that the writers are playing to the BBC's strengths: At the time it was made, historical drama was the BBC's bread and butter. If you went to the props department and told them you need a single spaceship, they'd balk; on the other hand, tell them you need an entire Viking village with 1000 extras in period attire and they'll tell you they've got one sitting in the back lot. Unrelated trivia: This was originally going to be a 6-parter, but one of the 4-parters for the season got cut, and rather than replace it, they just stretched this one out. The fact that they managed to do this without the results feeling like a bunch of filler is, in my opinion, kind of amazing.

This is one of my favourite regeneration stories. Got a standout cast with very menacing villains. It also has a fantastic plot that has a justified ten parts as we understand the interesting details of their plans and I love the time zone aspect to it all. I also love the introduction of the Time Lords and it's tragic and heart breaking seeing the Doctor giving up everything he loves and face the consequences of running away.

The War Lord totally looks like Steve Jobs.

I don’t get the screaming companion stereotype. Barbara, Viki, Sara Kingdom, Polly (maybe), Zoe (I don’t see her as screaming companion at all. She’s an intelligent and well rounded character), Liz Shaw, Jo Grant (changed and adapted over time), Sarah Jane (obviously), Leela, Romana 1 and 2, Tegan (she can be annoying but she isn’t the stereotypical companion), Nysa (again intelligent and doesn’t fit the stereotype) and Ace is obviously a very strong companion. The companions you could call the screaming stereotype are Susan, Victoria, Katarina, Peri and Mel. Both The Krotons and the second half of The mind robber in particular show that Zoe is definitely not the stereotypical companion. In some cases Zoe is more intelligent than the Doctor.

BEST. REGENERATION. EVERRRR!!!!! Srsly... I wish you'd said SOMETHING about that scene... It is SOOOOO well-written and SOOOO wonderfully executed... A TRUE work-of-art to bow out not only an incarnation of The Doctor, but to also bow out the '60s era of Doctor Who, ALMOST bowed-out the SERIES and to also bring to an end the Black-and-White episodes WHOLE HOG! Episode 10 of The War Games STANDS... after MUCH introspection... As my SOLID Number 1 FAVORITE single Classic Who episode for this VERY REASON... :)

I gotta agree with your thing about the time lords. When they came back in End of Time and you hear Ten talking about the horrors of the time war I was terrified of them. When they came back in the 50th I was like “so the almighty time war was timelords and dalek’s shooting at each other in a city, one planet disappears, one fleet gets destroyed and the entire thing is over? That’s dull. Then when they came back at the end of Clara’s run I just couldn’t believe how pathetic they were.

The War Games Title still gives me chills.

If you haven't yet, you should watch The Mind Robber. That's my favorite Troughton series next to this one.

Doctor: "Maybe I should go home, back to my own planet! But I can't - I can't!" - This story we learn why! But he still does - to help those that can't help themselves.

Thank you! Jamie and second are my favourite doctor and companion duo

My favourite Second Doctor story. He certainly went out on a high.

This story was written in a state of panic. The production team lost a few scripts that became unusable so they had no option but to expand this script. It's only due to Malcolm Hulke and Terrance Dicks being good storytellers that it isn't so much of a problem. Initially I went into it with a desire to just see the Time Lords - with that mindset it can only ever been an ordeal to get through but once you get over that and just enjoy the journey, there's a lot to enjoy. It's good simple fun. And Troughton is awesome!

I loved how they used the geometric shapes for the control panels for moving it in and out of different dimensions.

"Captured and have to escape" is one of my biggest problems when watching Classic Who as it's in almost every other story, it's even lampshaded at one point in Frontier In Space which is basically just the Doctor, Jo and even the Master being swapped back and forth between prison cells! One of the best things about the new series is the invention of the Psychic Paper to avoid that because a lot of times it seems like it was just there to pad out the story. I love this story though, especially when they do start to figure out what's going on and meet the War Master. The Time Lords are actually rather terrifying in how powerful they are and it's sad they got turned into jokes as the show went on.

Philip Madoc's performance as The Warlord has got to be up there with the greatest in the shows history. Absolutely nailed it.

Personally I find it more interesting having the Doctor not use a sonic screwdriver, it sees him as a scientist who has to figure out a solution for himself and now we're beginning to lose that in the modern run of the show.

This is my favourite story from the Classics. Throughout all 10 episodes, it never gets boring but just more epic.

Does anybody else come away from this story thinking that the Timelords "killed" the 2nd Doctor? Forcing him to regenerate kinda makes me think that. Troughton is amazing here, he is rapidly becoming one of my favorites. The Enemy of the World is a great 2nd Doctor story also.

Actually, the War Games is 10 parts long, not 12. Only the Daleks' Master Plan was 12 parts. Just sayin' ;) But, yeah, this is one epic AF piece of work. Certainly a pinnacle of 60's DW. Only the War Machines, the Invasion of the Cybermen and the 10th Planet could ever come close. And the Daleks' Master Plan, too, probably, if it wasn't missing. So much legitimately good action and intrigue and it's got that wonderful sense of an actual journey akin to the Chase. Obviously the Doctor's great, Jamie's wonderful, the supporting cast all do their job admirably (BTW one of the rebel soldiers was played by David Troughton, who later came back as the King of Peladon and the professor from Midnight). There's just so much to tell about this story, but you've summed it up pretty neatly in the video. Although, well, I personally really disagree with your opinion about Time Lords and how they're better when they're a mysterious force, but, hey, that's a small thing.

Thanks for not going into splot pacifics from the beginning

I wish they put Classic Who on Netflix. I can't watch it on BritBox because I live in the UK smh.

It really says a lot that when I think of the war games and planet of the spiders I don't even remember War games to be so much longer. And I do remember it being more intriguing. Loved the time Lords and laughed at magnet circuit boards. Good stuff!

Glad you enjoyed it. Definitely a long time favourite of mine, going way back to reading the Target book as a 7 yr old. They basically get captured and escape repeatedly but it's just SO MUCH FUN! And then: Timelords!! Wonderful. I'm far too old for listing favourites nowadays but Jamie was always my top companion. ( I am Scottish though, so ever so slightly biased) Really enjoy your classic Who and Big Finish reviews :) Lovely stuff.

I love this story. It really shows that the Doctor is a good person, willing to sacrifice his freedom to get people home. It shows how heartless the Time Lords are. It's a very enjoyable story, with a very sad ending.

This story has arguably the best companion exit in the history of Doctor Who. I kind of expected you to mention it in the review, but I understand that you wanted to avoid too many spoilers.

I might sound stupid for only recently realizing this and thinking it's news, but one of the Time Lords in this serial returns as the president elect in The Deadly Assassin. I thought that was really cool. During the exchange between the Second and Third Doctor, basically no actor came back as the same character outside of the Brigader himself.

One of the things I don't care for with present day Doctor Who is that the Doctor can now pilot the TARDIS almost effortlessly and almost always goes wherever he wants to. I don't know if this will continue with the new Doctor, but I liked that the Doctor seldom knew where or when he and his companions would end up. That's how they got involved in their adventures in the first place. In "The Doctor's Wife" the 11th Doctor tells Idris/TARDIS that she never took him where he wanted to go, to which she responded that she always took him where he NEEDED to go.

War Games was 10 episode long. I love your reviews.

I've always loved this one. Patrick was such a fun Doctor.

Hi! Nathaniel, I have to agree with you. It was great to see Patrick's son in Midnight episode! Keep up with the excellent work my friend....

Oh! One thing I forgot to mention in my other comment: The War Lord totally looks like Steve Jobs!!! (incidentally, the actor who played him later played the mad scientist in the Brain of Morbius and he also played a few minor parts in DW here and there)

Great review, I also recently watched this for the first time :)

It's not just being in black and white that does these classic episodes good. It's also the simple fact that even when we reach the colorized era, this was still long before the age of large HD screens. Classic Doctor Who, or really most any other classic sci-fi, simply was never meant to be viewed modern hardware. So many of the special effects trickery is actually reliant on the fact that older TVs had much blurry images and lacked the resolution to see the finer details.

This was the first reference to Time Lords. However, Galifrey as the home planet was invented later.

I love, love, love your reviews and your accent too! Plus you're a handsome chap, you've got it all going on!

Great review for a great story!

If you like that the time lords are more mysterious in this story then you should check out the latter half of the seventh doctor's era, the new adventures book Lunbarrow (though, be warned; its not for the less continuity savvy in the Who community) and the big finish audio, Neverland. All those stories are extremely clever and are very enjoyable plus they take risks with Doctor Who cannon and that alone you applaud them for doing.

I could be wrong but I think the sonic screwdriver literally was just a screwdriver that used sound waves to unscrew things when Troughton first had it. I think it was Pertwee who made it do various other things then for Baker it was a tool that could be used to get out of any situation. In Invasion of Time there was a forth wall break when he told the viewers directly that not even the sonic screwdriver would help him. Peter Davison had his destroyed because it was a bit too useful and it never showed up again. Until the modern era when Eccleston had it, must have found a new one during the Time War. They can't be a common item you can just buy from their equivalent of Amazon.

The first Classic Who episode I watched episodes 3-8 do suffer being filler in parts however can’t really pinpoint to which scenes in part. The story really stands out in episode 9&10 when the time lords get mentioned and then appear, completely dwarfing the power of the war lord and causing the doctor to loose his 2 best friends. One of my favorite scenes is in episode 4- when the doctor does realize the time lords may be behind what’s going on and the look on his face shows he is terrified and in denial

Really nice review, it’s always exciting to see people getting into more classic who, especially when they see and articulate things that I didn’t/couldn’t when I first saw them. There are a few cliches that are unfairly targeted at the classic era, such as the ‘rubbish sets’ and the ‘screaming companions.’ I think just like with new who, all eras of the classic era have their ups and downs. I tend to defend the sets and effects because of the era they were made in and the lack of money they had, and once you get into the classics and surrender your disbelief in these things, there’s a certain charm to these limitations and incredible ways they got around them. Yes, there are screaming companions (Victoria from the second doctor’s era and Mel from the seventh are the worst!) but there are also some really strong and interesting female companions, such as Vicki (not to be confused with Victoria), Barbara (who I love!) and Liz Shaw, all of whom are really progressive for their times and when compared with Star Trek etc.. The only thing I don’t like about the War Games is how Troughton ‘hams it up’ during the regeneration, which is surprising after such a heartbreaking and poignant scene where his companions have to forget him (makes me well up every time!). I’m really excited and interested to see what you think of other classic stories, thanks again for another superb video!

The magnets as circuits was hilarious. I loved it the first time I watched this story. I actually recent re-watched it - last month some time - and when people talk about the sonic screwdriver I think about how the Second Doctor used it to take the screw out of the butt of the gun. I also really like Jamie. It's a pity that The Highlanders, the episode where he meets the Doctor, is one of the lost ones and only exists as a reconstruction. Zoe didn't do too much screaming in this story and she did work a lot behind the scenes, so to speak, to help bring all the various rebel groups together to attack the main control centre. She does better in other episodes, like The Invasion, where her eidetic memory and mathematical skills really come to the fore. You're right about black & white hiding a lot of sins. I liked the Time Lord in this one too. They're genuinely scary and I really wanted the Doctor to escape. Sadly, his trial went ahead - though it was nowhere near as extensive as poor Colin Baker's!

I love this episode. A great send off to a great doctor.

i love this story and i watch it quite a bit on dvd(same with The Invasion, Mind Robber, etc) - there is something about the late sixties and dr who that i find most compelling - Jamie and Zoe are really great - a really real top shelf Doctor and companions team - but yeah The War Games goes all out like a magician leading you one way way with a distraction and then comes out of nowhere to kick your ass completely hardcore with how much of a great story it is in the last episodes - this is Classic Dr Who Greatness at its best - i say this gets a ten out of ten - they did good!

IMO this is the greatest Doctor Who story of all time.

A good story and certainly one that can be binge-watched in the modern sense due to its length. All the main cast do a good job, the 2nd Doctor and Jamie relationship is just brilliant and the War Chief is a great role. The security chief grates on me a little with that voice but the War Lord is played by the superb Philip Madoc who always shines in any Doctor Who he's in. It's the first time anyone has referred to the Doctor "McGuyvering" to get out of trouble and I like that shorthand :).

Ps how did you rate the American civil war reenactors esp the failure to communicate Confederate general?

Possible the best regeneration story I've seen so far (Out of; The Tenth Planet, the Doctor Who Movie, Bad Wolf / Parting of the Ways, The End of Time, The Time of the Doctor and Twice Upon a Time). The actual regeneration I'm not too sure on where I'd rank that but it's an incredible final episode in the story and full of heart breaking moments for me. I'm hoping that once you've done reviewed all the regeneration stories you'll do a top ten for regeneration stories, though I suspect that might be a ways of. Or possible a top ten regeneration scene, ignoring the rest of the story?

Best regeneration story ever!

I like the pushing round of magnets on a metal sheet - if it's going to look crap anyway just have fun with it. Dr Who was always best when it embraced its limitations on instead of trying to cover it up.

Any thoughts on the regeneration? (Anyone.) Probably the only time the Doctor didn't directly change into the next actor...

This regeneration made me sad. Patrick Troughton sold me on the regeneraiton. He didn't want to go and he was fighting it, screaming no until it was over. That's how regeneraitons should be: sad, quick, painful. 11 turning to 12 was one of the worst regenerations I've seen...

10 parts. It was this long because two stories planned to end the series fell through at the last minute. It is the second longest Doctor Who stories. The longest is Hartnell's Daleks' Master Plan from season 3, which is 12 parts. The third longest is the Invasion, a Cybermen story from the same season as War Games which is 8 parts.

Jacobite rebellion which alarmed Jamie as he met a Campbell redcoat. >.>

You said it would probably look awful in colour. I've seen high grade colour photos of the command centre sets and they look fantastic. I would love to have seen this story in colour. I think it would have worked.

I watched this all in one sitting on twitched. I couldn't walk away.

Keep in mind that the sonic screwdriver was eliminated during the Peter Davison story "The Visitation." The reason for this was to get rid of the magic wand, if you will, and force the Doctor to make due without an easy cheat. Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy did without during their time as the Doctor, as did Paul McGann in the TV movie. It was only with the revival that the sonic made its reappearance, and the psychic paper was introduced. I suspect this was done because they needed a "cheat" since the stories were to be more compressed. You could hardly spend five minutes of a 45 minute episode with the Doctor figuring out how to open a door and then talk his/her way into the room. In these early appearances of the sonic, it was indeed just a screwdriver. It was only with Jon Pertwee's Doctor Gadget that it became more of a magic wand... for example using it to set off a mine field to make it safe to pass through. Until it was gotten rid of by Jon Nathan-Turner, you'd get Tom Baker saying "not even the sonic screwdriver will of THIS door..." whenever it was convenient to the story. Gee... hadn't planned this to be an essay!

I agree Jamie is amazing

The thing that has to be pointed out is that it's amazing this story came to be considered a classic considering what was going on behind the scenes: this was created in a rush to fill ten episode slots when other scripts failed to work at the last minute. They actually threw this thing together on the fly at the last minute! The repeated capture/escape scenarios were simply because they had to fill the time. That they created a classic is a credit to the creativity of the production staff who were scrambling just to get something to get on the air!

It was 10 parts because it replaced two other stories which were unfilmable (not sure why) so Terrence Dicks recruited Malcolm Hulke to help him fill in the gap.

This has probably the best, most utterly biting line in the whole show; ''The General's not even a human being''.

Where could I watch The mentioned classic episode?

Do you post about which Who episodes you're doing reviews on before you watch? Because it would be fun to watch them before you post, like a book club for Doctor Who episodes. It could get more people familiar with the classic era

How do you watch Classic Who? I don't know where to go to watch Classic Who.

Actually a newsman Gallifreyan makes a lot more sense then in modern who we're almost all gallifreyans look like farmers. And there appears to be barely any technology on the planet. And here they are supposed to be the most sophisticated mofos ever

The plot repetitions are more obvious if one binges the serial. Back in the day, we just had one 20 minute episode (plus credits) to watch per week. That's a different experience (and the intended one).

Talking about how Black + White hides a multiple sins - You should check out Pertwee's Planet of the Daleks.

Hey it's 10 episodes not 12 the only 12 parter is the daleks masterplan

Douglas Adams said exactly the same about Black and White doctor who, specifically 'An Unearthly Child', in that it covererd a multitude of sins and cheap looking sets.

it's 10 (not 12) episodes long because the previous 4 parter got cancelled at the eleventh hour. I think they do a pretty good job filling it out.

He was only 400 years old at this time. So he needed time to think things out.

i WATCHED THiS RECENTLY FOR THE FiRST TiME SiNCE i WAS A KiD AND iT WAS AS AWESOME AS i REMEMBERED. iMAGiNE THEY BROUGHT THE WAR CHiEF BACK. i THiNK THAT'D BE AWESOME. GUESS HE WAS ON HiS LAST REGENERATiON THOU?

love this story

The War Games is a ten parter, but there is not many that are exactly the same length but yeah there are some stories that are 7's, 14's and if you join Frontier in Space with Planet of the Daleks, you end up with the same length of The Daleks Master plan. ☺

Next please do Tomb of The Cybermen

Russell T Davies said in one of the Confidentials that use of the psychic paper cut something like 8 minutes per episode. And boring minutes, because not much would happen while the Doctor was locked up.

Do you know of the whole 'Season 6b' thing? A whole series of events set during or after his story? The lengths fan theory has to go to cover big continuity errors down he line is amazing.

I really like this story. It's strange, but whenever I watch it, it doesn't drag. It goes by quite fast. Like, I'm just putting the disc in and before I know it, I'm already on Part Five. It's a great concept for a story, not to mention the great performance from Phillip Madoc, the War-Lord, and his wonderful henchman, the War Chief. It's really when everything starts going downhill for the villains when it gets great. When the Do tor must call on the Time-Lords. I will admit, it does drag in the middle, around episodes 5 and 6, but Episode 7 comes roaring back in. At first, you think it's just WW1, maybe with an alien threat coming in, but that's until Episode Three, when we find ourselves in the midst of a Roman Invasion. This story feels like the Season finale to Black and White Doctor Who.

As a kid at the time I'm afraid it was way too long and I got bored with it. Just like the cyberman story of the invasion of London. Both stories had their high points but should have been shorter. Patrick Troughton was a fine actor but overall I dont think he got the character quite right and some of the stories were well below par. He was at his best in the Tomb of the Cybermen which is a really good story. Fraser Hines was a decent actor and Jamie is definitely one of the best if not the best companion.

I don’t know how familiar you are with the Robert Holmes stories during the classic era. He was NOTORIOUS for demystifying Time Lord culture. He was the one who gave us the concepts of the Doctor having 2 hearts and Time Lords having thirteen lives (12 regenerations) and other ideas. I hope this helps.

9:42 For some reason, that sounded to me like a very effeminate Mondasian Cyberman.

Try The Trial of a Timelord or Key to Time next. They're also pretty long, given they are entire seasons, but are worth it

Not only have I seen it, but I have seen every episode since. Which makes me really wish I could see some of those missing episodes/stories.

?!? 12 parts? Last time I watched The War Games it was 10 parts! Has the BBC filmed two new episodes and jammed them in there somewhere?

I haven't watched this episode in years

Trial of a time lord is 14 parts but it is broken up a bit.

Nice ✊ !!!

Remember the (Proto) Master makes his debut in this episode.

I thought there were 10 episodes in the war games

Funny thing is this isn't the 2nd Doctor's regeneration story, he has several more adventures with Jamie doing missions for the time lords before he tries to escape his final judgement, only to be dragged to his tardis by reanimated scarecrows which force him to regenerate.

The War Games was a ten part story.

This was a 10 part story not a 12 part story.

Ten part story

I wonder what new who could do to make Gallifrey better again?

Seems like chancellor Goth was the one that sentenced the Doctor. Chancellor Goth will confirm himself as a dick in The deadly assassin >.>

I liked it the first time I saw it, though I think if I watch it again too soon it would start getting boring.

Should have spinned the camera around >.>

I was so glad to see the psychic paper when Who returned. It was one of my abiding memories from watching as a kid. The Doctor being captured during a tense situation, and marched to the HQ/Command Deck.... etc. Convince them he's not the source of their problems, that he can help... and lose half an episode with that on what felt like every other story.... Hell, it was so blatant even Douglas Adams was taking the mickey in Hitchhikers...

It was made longer because a story was scrapped. I'd love to rewatch it, but it's so long.

Could you get a worse second doctor impression?

Trail of a timelord favourite story with the timelords