Doctor: Ace have you no sense of occasion? Ace: No.

We need compilation of all Doctor Who anti war speeches, it would be so epic to see them all together.

I love that he just walks straight through the sword fight XD

That look in 7's eyes when he says "he died over a thousand years ago" - facing his enemy but still with some form of compassion. Sylvester and Jean Marsh are wonderful here, and Morgaine's reaction to Arthur's death is a very touching moment.

I don't know which part I like more. The Doctor tipping his hat as he calmly walks through a sword fight, or Ace's absolute joy from watching an explosion.

Great stuff from Sylvester here. Impassioned, authoritative and the absolute voice of reason at a time when the world had gone mad. The Doctor was very much needed then - as always.

She was a great villain because there was an element of empathy there. McCoy was my doctor of the old era and I remember being enthralled by Battlefield. Even had a crush on Ancelyn!

"A child looks up into the sky, his eyes turn to cinders - no more tears, only ashes!" It's a shame that the scene is so awkwardly blocked and shot, as that is genuinely one of the most sincerely impactful anti-war statements I can think of. Fun fact: This scene was actually the one full sequence written (for the show itself) by Andrew Cartmel, who acted as the script editor but never actually wrote a story himself, until Big Finish that is.

And to think, hundreds of years later... he would come to face a decision to do something much, much more terrifying!

Jean Marsh as Morgaine is one of the five loveliest classic Doctor Who villainesses. The other four are: Susan Engel as Vivian Fay, Rosalind Lloyd as Queen Xanxia, Lynda Baron as Captain Wrack and Kate O’Mara as the Rani.

Sophie Aldred and Sylvester McCoy were a perfect team. This was one of my favorite episodes of the entire McCoy era...especially with the return of The Brigadier.

One of my favourite episodes of Doctor Who and one of the very first I ever watched. The scene which The Doctor makes the speech to Morgaine about nuclear war and The Doctor telling Morgaine the truth that King Arthur is dead 1:35 - 3:48 Fantastic acting by Sylvester McCoy and Jean Marsh.

People like to focus on the dark, manipulative side of the Seventh Doctor, but no one seems to talk about how he's also one of the most moral Doctors. He is strongly anti-war, and always advocates for peace. I always got the sense that he also learned not to use Ace as a pawn as well, after Ghostlight and The Curse of Fenric. There is also a strong loyalty and friendship between both of them. Yes, he's the chess master who's seven steps ahead of everyone else, but he'll still always choose life over death.

1:18 Gentlemen.

Sylvester and Sophie at the end was simply precious

It literally looks like they're fighting outside their own trailers.

The doctor just walking past casualy why they fight 😂

I feel as though Jean Marsh should have played one of the Carronites

lol i love when people are like “dr who didn’t USED to be PoLiTiCaL” like have we been watching the same show bro???

This monologue is an incredible piece of writing and masterfully performances by Sylvester McCoy and reacted by Jean Marsh beautifully.

...and in 2015, Capaldi would do another great speech on war...

I really enjoyed that speech. I want his collection now. Hope it comes to the states soon.

Battlefield isn't one of my favourites, but I always appreciated the charming blend between historical knights with swords and armour, led by a medieval sorceress, in a world full of guns and nuclear weapons. Oh, and the Brigadier popping silver caps into a world-destroying demon with a handgun like a boss. I do like Morgaine as a villain though. Always have a soft-spot for antagonists with a sense of honour that aren't just farting around twirling a moustache at people.

Beautiful speech

Wouldn’t be great if we had an episode of DW that linked in some way to this one? Like the Great Intelligence with 11.

This era.... 💓💓

What's not to love about ace and 7th doctor

Please tag anyone u know that think doctor who wasnt about lessons and humanity messing up

And 7 just said this out of the top of his dead, it didn’t happen 14 times like in another story. Also the main baddie actually has an agenda, hopes, views and a reason why

Battlefield, definitely my favourite McCoy era story, and a strong contender for my favourite Doctor Who story.

“Series 12 is too political” “Doctor Who never used to be this political” ah....yeah it was

Remember when the doctor had real mystery to himself. The doctor uses to fear outer gods, felt like he could lose the day. Now a days the doctor is the outer god who walks on the inside. If that makes sense.

lovely video

awesome video

Very well put indeed.

So nice acted! Such a nice story.

His cane questions me

Why do they always transport missiles fully armed and fueled in Doctor Who?

I wish they would tell story of arther that proceeded this

Great job

Love the look of the spaceship

1:18 LOL

I do love that this story is won by the Doctor just explaining what nuclear weapons do to the antagonist. She's like "I'm evil, but I'm not _that_ evil".

Sylvester at his finest

Now THIS is how you add a political theme into an episode.

Being back Susan and Ian please! :)

I love ace so much

I know it's too much to ask but, Can someone please write the speech? My natal language it's Spanish and I don't quite understand what he is saying. I love Doctor Who speeches.

Doctor Who was really getting back to the best here but the BBC didn’t want it

doctor who is great

What’s the music that plays during the sword fight called?

Now, to be fair to all the people arguing that Dr Who has always been political... and those are *somewhat* wrong, given that Dr Who tended to pass on conventional morality to children, rather than "cutting edge" morality... The King Arthur "Battlefield" story brought us Brigadier Bambairah (this is how it was pronounced - I'm not sure how it was spelt), a replacement for the original Brigadier *who is both a woman, and black*. Which is almost as radical as a black woman playing Dr Who herself today, and this was over 30 years earlier. It's far more daring than a speech about how nuclear weapons are bad. As an 8 year old, I was suspicious at first, but actually the 2nd Brigadier was so likeable that I was quickly won over. I suppose she's now one of my favourite Dr Who memories. Had Dr Who continued she could well have been a recurring character. Here are two things to like about Brigadier Bambaira: firstly, she's a ballsy character, belligerent yet benign, just impatiently trying to get a job done in bewildering circumstances. She's funny, strong and highly charged. The sum of what I'm trying to say here is that she's pretty watchable (not every character is). The second thing about her is that she's a positive addition, rather than a replacement. The show introduces a black female commanding officer and leaves it pretty much at that. We don't dwell on it or get speeches about how it's better. The men around her don't demonstrate that males are always incompetent. Introducing a new, modern, female officer didn't mean that the show had turned against the Leighbridge-Stewart character, who himself came back and was given the chance to do something terribly heroic to save the world.

Amazing speech. Got in my nerves But the music.... Oh god!

Wicked!

They need to make a follow up story on this!! Would be great to see that! Maybe an opportunity for a multidoc story as well

My favourite doctor 🧡

the idea of nuclear war truly terrifies me, mainly because there are enough nukes on this planet to wipe out humanity several times over. its madness to think letting one of those things off the chain will do anything other than kill a lot of people.

I’ve never actually watched Doctor Who, and this was so confusing.

Wow, the actress that played "Morgaine" was in the movie "Willow". Cool clip. 😁👍

I loved Battlefield!

Production values are so cheap but the writing is so good.

The letter survived but not the body? How?

Doctor who has always been political and I love it so much

Joan regenerated into Sara Kingdom and then into Morgaine................stopping off along the way to marry Jon Pertwee!

Fans: can't wait for the season finale! BBC: but hey look at these videos that we just put up few days prior to the finale! they are NOT connected to the finale at all! Fans: Sure Jan

Ace was yum.

Top notch acting on "Where is the king" If that actor still has a career i would be surprised.

No sense beating a dead horse.

Personally I don’t see how being vaporised by a fireball the temperature of the centre of the sun is honourable

(1:17) Me when my friends or parents are fighting and I can't be arsed to join in.

People saying this is a one-up on people complaining about politicisation. This isn't the same thing at all. The Doctor is appealing to Morgaine's sense of honour, and telling her that what she is doing is dishonourable and is merely killing for the sake of killing. It's not a generic speech about being against nuclear war, even though it can apply to anyone who thinks nuclear war is the answer to anything.

When he yells "tell me" it reminds me of 11 when he screams

my only question is why in the BBC they refer to each doctor who season as a series while in the USA tv shows have seasons?

Yo, Ace was kinda thick in this episode. 🤔

So tell me again how Doctor Who has gotten too political nowadays.

It's A Shame That Doctor Who Was Slowly Starting To Deteriorate During Colin Baker And Sylvester McCoy's Era But We Know Why Because The Television Networks At The Time Became Used To Producing Soap Dramas And Reality TV Shows That's How The Series Got Axed For 16 Years.

He just walks through two men sword fighting without a care. It's no wonder he got shot to death in a gang war.

I like 7

Back when Doctor Who was good ♥

if this episode was a 13th doctor episode and this scene was exactly the same people would be calling it too political

So where are those people whining about how Chibnall has "politicized" Doctor Who? As you can see, Doctor Who has always been that way. Maybe y'all are just mad that it's not a white male being political at you, but is now a woman, a Middle Eastern lady and a black dude, as well as the white guy. I know, I know... "No, of course not, you feminazi!! WEEHHH!!" But think about it. Just THINK. Either you didn't know anything about Classic Who and were just speaking out of ignorance of the show's past, which is fine. However, now you know better, and you should probably STFU now. OR...you do know about Classic Who, and there's a reason why a political message only bothers you *now* when it doesn't in Classic Who. There has to be a reason. And you can't say it's because it was more subtle in Classic Who, because as you can see, it wasn't. At all. It was just as blatant and in-your-face as it is now. So ask yourself why it only bothers you now, but you'll excuse me if I don't hold my breath.

The Incidental music in this era was awful.

Tossing my two cents in: please don’t mistake universal messages of compassion and acceptance from Classic Who for pandering and tokenism in (some, not all of) the New Who stories. There’s a huge difference between creating stories that portray the human condition which organically represent societal ideals and slap-dashing together a barely there narrative to hit as many boxes as possible on a bingo card. Write stories about people for people, not to push a specific agenda. The moralizations will be inherent in the ways in which well-thought characters react to situations both incredible and commonplace.

Man old acting always feel so fake... idk why. Is it because they were doing studio emotion? I’ve never seen the pre 9th doctor shows but this has piqued my interest

“Oh my god so politically correct stop pushing an agenda” I’m sure that’s what the modern day complainers say about these classic episodes too.... I imagine so... I can’t imagine they’re hypocrites or something

This is how to use political for story not how Current Who is doing. Its too obvious and shove down the throat.

Is this back when doctor who wasn't political or left wing?

The acting is porn tier

This speech is pure cringe. Anderw Carmel patting himself on the back

I was like 30something when this aired, and I thought the entire show had turned really bad and cheesy, still think that now. I hated all the trends of the late 1980s that were put into the show.

But... But Doctor Who only became political in 2017!

How to destroy an franchise in two seasons... just put Chib-looser on the job..

Wow he was a terrible doctor.

WORST... nevermind.... 70s crap.

I wish they can use that phase to Putin.

lovely video