Doctor Who has regenerated many times over its 60+ year lifespan and today it continues to entertain and surprise fans. Last year, the BBC announced that ‘The Daleks’, the story that introduced audiences to the evil and powerful Daleks in 1963/64, would be broadcast in a condensed, colourised version to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the programme.
Following the success of this story, it was inevitable that another would undergo such treatment with ‘The War Games’ being announced last month as the next story from the 1960s to be colourised. Unlike ‘The Daleks’, which was only the second story of the programme to be released, ‘The War Games’ is the sixth season’s final story and includes the departure of the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton), companions Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines) and Zoe Heriot (Wendy Padbury) and the departure of black and white from the programme itself.
This is a dramatic 10-part story and whilst it includes the aforementioned departures, it also introduces us to the Time Lords (named on-screen for the first time), the War Chief (who may or may not be The Master) and the news that The Doctor was to be sent to Earth as punishment for break Time Lord laws (something that would play a major part of Jon Pertwee’s era as The Doctor).
So did this updated version of the story work? In a word…yes! Although difficult to cut a four-hour runtime down to an hour and 30 minutes, the story manages to retain its sense of drama and intensity, making it very easy to watch. I was shocked by how quick the story went by, especially compared to my first experience of the original story which did go on a bit longer than I felt necessary!
What makes this version of the ‘The War Games’ work is that you can feel that love and attention was given to the story from the production team. Examples of this can be seen right from the very beginning with the story opening with a classic BBC ident and announcement, a lovely touch and one that I’m sure many fans appreciated. Much like modern Who, the story opens not with the title sequence, but with the TARDIS landing in a war zone. Re-editing the opening to have the TARDIS team enter the story before the title sequence sets this story out on the right foot and captures your attention immediately.
The initial 30 minutes flies by, allowing us to quickly learn that soldiers from numerous wars in time are being captured and put into time zones to fight each other. This leads to the reveal of the War Lords who are planning to create an army from these captured soldiers in order to conquer the galaxy.
It’s at this time in the story that the pace moves quickly, and perhaps too quickly! Similarly to ‘The Daleks’ last year, it feels like there are moments that deserve to be given some more time, and room to breathe. But we aren’t given that. Conversations are cut quickly, and music overpowers moments that perhaps would’ve been better in silence as it was in the original. Occasionally, cuts are very noticeable and did take me out of the story. One example of this is when an American Civil War soldier attacks the ambulance that the TARDIS team are travelling in. Lieutenant Carstairs, one of the captured soldiers who work with The Doctor, jumps out of the back of the ambulance onto some grass next to it and shoots back at the American soldier. Two shots later Carstairs is in the front seat of the ambulance when I thought he had been left behind (some quick checking and in the original version, we do see Carstairs run to the front of the ambulance and get into the front seat). Whilst not the biggest flaw, it’s things like this that break my immersion and make me wonder why those extra few seconds couldn’t have been included.
Before moving on to some of the mind-blowing additions to this story, I have to talk about the colourisation itself. This felt much more improved from ‘The Daleks’ which itself was very impressive. Whether it’s the difference in cameras between 1963 and 1969 or the colourisation process itself, the final outcome was one that seldom seemed edited. The story lends itself to this as many of the locations aren’t overtly bright and colourful. That’s what makes the second half of this story really pop as the central HQ building is filled with colour and patterns, cleverly offsetting the grim and grounded locations showcased earlier in the story. Characters such as The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe, a very strong trio at this stage of production, are only aided by this use of colour which brings their characters to life further.
And now to what I think most fans were in anticipation of. The War Chief. As far as I can remember, there have been discussions about The War Chief being a previous reincarnation of The Master, a renegade Time Lord and one of The Doctor’s biggest foes. Whilst never being officially confirmed in the programme, The War Chief feels like the inspiration for the character. So what did this version of ‘The War Games’ do? Well they pretty much all but spelt it out that The War Chief is indeed a previous incarnation of ‘The Master’! This is when the music stood out for the right reasons as The Master’s theme from his return in 2007 played when The Doctor and The War Chief first meet and this is used throughout the remainder of the story. It also appears that stings/motifs from The Master’s first introduction to the programme in 1971 are also used, making it more obvious that these two characters are one. The final big hint comes from the ‘death’ of The War Chief. As his body is being dragged out of shot by the guards, we hear the familiar regeneration effects that we know so well from modern Who. I’m sure this will be a major talking point within the community!
Moving towards the end of the story, and following the always devastating departures of Jamie and Zoe, The Doctor stands trial in front of the Time Lords for his interference in events through time and space. Following some nice uses of clips from previous serials, The Doctor is punished for his actions and exiled to Earth, but not before he has the option to choose his new appearance as he is being forced to regenerate. Unlike the original which had random faces brought up on-screen, The Doctor now has choices of several future incarnations including the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th Doctors. Whilst I found this jarring, it was entertaining and quite funny to see Patrick Troughton call Peter Capaldi too old and David Tennant too thin!
The story would have ended with the Second Doctor’s cries as he falls into the darkness, about to regenerate but once again, this version decides to go down a different route. Jacob Booth, aka ‘The Confession Dial’ on YouTube, created a three minute video in 2023 which included the regeneration of the Second Doctor to the Third and included the TARDIS landing on Earth. This is an extremely well made video, so well made in fact that Jacob was contacted by Phil Collinson (Doctor Who producer) and asked if this video could be used as part of ‘The War Games’! It’s fantastic to see collaboration between fans and the Doctor Who production team and it makes for a very satisfying finale to this story, which ends with Jon Pertwee exiting the TARDIS and the credits (in Jon Pertwee’s signature style) being played.
I will need to watch this story again as I’m sure I’ve missed some other interesting elements here but I will happily do so as it was a joy to see! My true hope is that this enables more fans to engage with Classic Who stories whilst giving others a new way to watch a beloved story. The release of this story is timely as Season 7 of Doctor Who: The Collection has recently been announced, meaning that ‘The War Games in Colour’ will make for a perfect introduction to Season 7 with Jon Pertwee (I’m sure many will watch ‘The War Games’ and ‘Spearhead from Space’ back to back)!
Classic Who is getting lots of love at the moment and I look forward to seeing that continue into 2025 as we await Ncuti Gatwa’s upcoming second season of Doctor Who!
