When the Tardis lands in the horrors of World War I, the Doctor uncovers a threat spanning galaxies and history itself. But this time, saving the day might doom the Doctor forever.
These are my thoughts on the colourised, re-cut version of the War Games serial released on December 23 2024: https://bw.artemislena.eu/tardis/wiki/The/_War/_Games/_in/Colour/(TV/_story). It had been edited down from 10×25 minute episodes to one 90 minutes special, with new material added in, including score.
Surprisingly enough, the cuts for (much shorter) airtime worked quite well. Some parts of the plot were lost, and people were inexplicably saved from certain pickles to appear unharmed — but that was to be expected. I enjoyed the edit more than I thought I would. There were more exterior shots added than strictly necessary, and I guess they were often used to disguise cuts. They did seem a bit too frequent in the second act, but that could be just my preference.
The colourisation was pretty loyal to the colour film of the time, I thought. Especially for the genre and target audience. Quite bright, but with all the earth tones required for the initial World War One setting. The recovery of 16mm location recordings made some scenes stand out even crisper than they ever looked on screen!
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I did have issues with the hamfisted way the War Chief was retroactively confirmed as an earlier incarnation of the Master, with the much later Saxon Master’s theme inserted into the soundtrack, and a sound effect of a beginning regeneration after the War Chief’s demise. That seemed an unnecessary indulgence of old fanboys’ head canon.
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The reason to race through most of the serial, of course, was to get to the Time Lord trial and the Second Doctor’s regeneration into the Third — canonically eliminating another ambiguity from the Whoniverse that had until now allowed for ample Season 6B theorising.
The trial had some fun, 21st century additions that I rather enjoyed — if you know you know, I’m not going to spoil those — but the added regeneration sequence didn’t just fill a gap where fans’ imaginations had run creative for 55 years. It also gave us an absolutely atrocious CGI rendered closeup shot of “Jon Pertwee”.
Is anybody happier and better off that we have this new end to War Games? I doubt most viewers are more than indifferent to those superfluous, dreary last minutes. And I’ll definitely remember season 6B fonder than I will this ending.
Thoughts, fellow viewers? Did you watch this hour and a half more charitably?
This is really great - thanks for sharing.
I unfortunately don’t have much to add - I haven’t seen either version of “War Games”. I kept thinking I would watch the original over the last few months, but…didn’t.
I don’t think the new versions are (legally) available outside the UK?
Oh, do watch The war games in any form you can! It is a truly well-spun end to Troughton’s (regrettably largely missing) run, and I really encourage everybody to watch it.
I did a quick skip through Classic Who a few years ago, thanks to LegoK9’s guide to essential episodes, and I quickly became a fan of the Second Doctor. So much of what we recognise as the Doctor’s character was formed in that run.
I dislike the animated reconstructions for their lack of artistry and wooden pacing, but for the Troughton/Hines partnership they’re much better than nothing. I’m going to say you haven’t lived until you’ve seen Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines spar on screen. Possibly the best Doctor/companion pairing until Tennant/Tate!
I think you’re right about the legality of watching outside Britain, and I will not comment any further 😉
