BBB7 - Doctor Who and the Silurians 7

The closing scene of this episode is a stunning look into the early relationship between The Doctor and The Brigadier and how adversarial it was. Far removed from the chummy friendship of the later Pertwee years, coupled with the increasing ineptitude of the Brigadier and UNIT, the early days of UNIT are clearly their most influential days, as evidenced by the fact that the Brigadier directly contradicts The Doctor's wishes.

There are many conflicts within Doctor Who and the Silurians - humans vs Silurians, humans vs humans, The Doctor vs humans, Silurian vs Silurian - but the main victor at the very end is the Brigadier. His main goal is not to eliminate the Silurians directly, but to maintain the security of the Wenley Moor complex and, by extension, humanity itself. By blowing up the Silurian base, he succeeds in his mission. The Silurians obviously fail, as their goals of either co-existence with, or dominance of, the humans (depending on which Silurian is in command at the time) are also thwarted by not only the Brigadier's actions, but in their inability to settle on a common goal. The biggest loser out of all of this, though (you know, of those who are actually alive by the end of the story), is The Doctor. Not only did he fail to achieve a peace between the humans and the Silurians today, he failed to convince anyone that a peace could be achieved several years in the future once the Silurians were revived again. It's the first time we really see The Doctor fail, and it's not something we see very often again.

The relative success of this story is mostly down to Malcolm Hulke's writing, but also due to Jon Pertwee's performance as the main peacemaker. Pertwee settled into the role of The Doctor remarkably quick, perhaps quicker than any other actor portraying The Doctor. However, thanks to a couple production mishaps outlined earlier (music, costumes), and a general stiffness about the production as a whole, Doctor Who and the Silurians probably isn't as good as it can be, and is easily my least favourite story of Season 7. Which means, probably, that it could very well be my fourth favourite Jon Pertwee era story...

BBB6 - Doctor Who and the Silurians 6

The introduction of the plague released by the Silurians is a stroke of genius, giving the story a new thrust and doing its best to justify the seven-episode length of this serial. There are some genuinely horrific scenes of characters succumbing to the plague and dying, particularly those involving Masters and Dr. Lawrence.

Unfortunately, some of the least exciting television or film to watch is that of scientists and the like working hard to cure a plague. It happened in Doctor Who once before in The Sensorites, where the portrayal of The Doctor working hard to solve the poisoned water problem was achieved through a musical montage with several dissolves thrown in for good measure. In this episode, we see every aspect of The Doctor's efforts, including several good shots of him preparing slides, adjust magnification on the microscope, and so forth. Exhilarating. While it might not have been that much fun to watch, biology teachers around England at the time were delighted, and were no doubt greeted by a few more attentive students at Monday morning's classes.

Another less successful aspect about this story is the Silurians themselves. Despite an impressive head design, the join between headpiece and body is quite apparent (glaringly, in some scenes), but the most annoying quality about the Silurians is their movements when they are speaking. There's only a minimal amount of "lip" movement that the costumes provide, so, instead, the actor inside each Silurian costume has to bob his head back and forth to indicate when he is speaking. I think the actor playing the Young Silurian must have given himself whiplash by the end of Episode Six...

BBB5 - Doctor Who and the Silurians 5

Let's take some time to properly salute Carey Blyton, composer of the worst incidental music in Doctor Who history. He worked on three stories, and all three were tragic misses. We'll have time to carve up his work for his later stories when it comes time to review them, but at least his work does improve with each successive story.

Well, it seems like it improves after Silurians, but then, how could it not? Carey Blyton's score for Doctor Who and the Silurians gets my vote for worst music score in history. In the scenes set in the caves, any potential atmosphere and tension are completely ruined by Blyton's inappropriately jaunty score. For the sound that often accompanies the Silurians, Blyton chose a medieval instrument called a crumhorn. When used in the score, the crumhorn sounds like what you would get if you used a ball peen hammer to drive a kazoo into the circuit board of a Moog synthesizer.

The vast majority of the music in this story (apart from the admittedly lovely bit of music played over the introductory scene of Squire's farm) is, quite frankly, embarrassing. I wouldn't feel comfortable in showing this story to an outsider because I know that the music would grate and take that person's attention away from the well written story it is trying to enhance. The music annoyed me when I first saw this 20 years ago, and it is the main reason why this story sits so low in my list of favourites today.

Which is a shame because this has been a very good story thus far.

BBB4 - Doctor Who and the Silurians 4

Two of my favourite things about Jon Pertwee's Doctor are seen in this episode. The first is his compassion. His reaction to the advancing Silurian at the resolution of the cliffhanger is not to attack the reptile in self defence (Venusian aikido had yet to make its presence felt in the series), but to extend the hand of friendship. True, The Doctor has always done this (sometimes less overtly than other times), but rarely has he done so in such apparently dire circumstances.

Conversely, Pertwee's Doctor does not suffer fools gladly, and often considers government officials to be in that category. His utter indignation to Masters, the Private Under Secretary from the Ministry, is beautiful. When Masters inquires of The Doctor, "May I ask just who you are?", to which The Doctor snaps back, "You may ask!".* Later in the same scene, The Doctor and The Brigadier have an argument, after which The Brigadier storms out. The adversarial relationship between the two is at its best here, and appears to only get more tense as these episodes go on.

The scenes that feature The Doctor trying to argue with the Brigadier to strive for a peaceful solution regarding the Silurians is echoed by the similar arguments that are occurring between the two Silurians in the cave. I'll get into this aspect of the story later, but suffice it to say that Malcolm Hulke, the writer of this story, begins to come into his own with this story.

*A similar exchange also occurs in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, also written by Malcolm Hulke. Read about what I think of how the scene was played in that story later, though...

BBB3 - Doctor Who and the Silurians 3

It's rare that we, the viewers, watch the proceedings in Doctor Who through the eyes of The Doctor himself, but this episode is an example of such a thing happening. The only person who had a really good look at a Silurian was Squire, the farmer, and he was killed shortly afterward. The second person who encounters a Silurian is Liz Shaw, the companion, who manages to survive a swat from her attacker to tell the tall to The Doctor later on. The first time that we see the Silurian is at the end of this episode, when The Doctor also sees it for the first time.

True, it makes for a more dramatic cliffhanger to have both The Doctor endangered and to have the main monster unveiled, but it also signals a change in emphasis in the programme. After years of The Doctor being the alien outsider, his exile on Earth is proving to have an effect on his uniqueness as his character is humanized more and more.

This episode also pulls off a bold maneuver by killing off who looks to be a major character, Dr. Quinn, less than halfway through the story. Quinn's death is necessary for the story because it shows the extreme result of a confrontation with a Silurian. The wounded Silurian has attacked Major Baker, Squire, and Liz out of defence, so it would have been easier for The Doctor to convince The Brigadier and Dr. Lawrence that the creatures were only acting in self defence, and were not hostile by nature. The killing of Quinn opens the door to many questions about the Silurians and what they will do to the humans, and The Doctor, in the episodes to come.

BBB2 - Doctor Who and the Silurians 2

There's some fantastic use of POV shots of the wounded monster in this episode as director Timothy Combe does his best to taunt and tease the viewer about what it looks like. We only have the reactions of others who are encountering the monster to go on, and, if these encounters are anything like Squire, the farmer, experienced, then this monster is very strange and dangerous indeed.

Given that Fulton Mackay was offered, but turned down, the role of the Fourth Doctor in 1974, I'm always intrigued to watch this story to try and get some hint of how he might have portrayed the character. To be honest, I'm not sure what producer Barry Letts saw in him for the role, but he's terrific in this story, and we find out that Mackay's Dr. Quinn has struck a bargain with the strange race of monsters who are behind the power failures at Wenley Moor. Quinn's boss is Dr. Lawrence, who is played by Peter Miles, who is always so good in anything he appears in that he'll deserve another entry later.

Speaking of Barry Letts, this story marks his debut as producer. While one can't credit him with commissioning the story from writer Malcolm Hulke (Letts only joined the production after the location footage had been shot), he can be credited, at least, with one thing that has always tickled me in just the right way. Have a look at the end credits and how each credit screen changes on the beat of the theme music. That was completely intentional and all because of Letts, and it the credits would be done this way for the rest of the classic series's run. Letts would be responsible for a great deal over the course of his time on Doctor Who, but this little touch has always been one of my favourites.

BBB1 - Doctor Who and the Silurians 1

The first scene featuring The Doctor in this episode is one of him fixing up his new car, Bessie. Bessie would become the de facto replacement for the TARDIS during the first half of the Pertwee era, performing the necessary function of moving The Doctor from place to place, but also displaying some fantastic technology that proves useful in sticky situations. In that respect, Bessie also serves the automobile version of the Sonic Screwdriver.

Taking into account where the relationship between The Doctor and the Brigadier would go in the years to come, it's fascinating to see how it starts in this episode. The Doctor, for one of the few times during his exile, isn't preoccupied with trying to break the Time Lords' hold over him and his TARDIS. Instead, he's quite willing to answer to (with some initial reluctance) the Brigadier's beckon call to come down to the Wenley Moor research station. The Brigadier is already in charge of the situation at Wenley Moor, and is merely calling The Doctor in to assist in matters. Still, there is some great indignant acting from Pertwee as he wanders off while Dr. Lawrence briefs everyone on the situation upon The Doctor's arrival. Here is a Doctor who has accepted his lot and his forced stay on Earth, but he by no means likes it.

And, although I thought Spearhead From Space looked fantastic on film, somehow the look of studio scenes shot on videotape just feels like Doctor Who...

AAA4 - Spearhead From Space 4

This episode sees another phase in the birth of the Pertwee era - that of action (not yet provided by HAVOC). It also sees, for really the first time in the show's history, innocent civilians bearing the brunt of alien invasions in the now famous sequence where Autons disguised as shop window dummies relentlessly mow down people waiting for the bus. First it was scaring off children from wanting to ride the London Underground in The Web of Fear, now taking the bus is a life-or-death prospect. What did Doctor Who have against public transit?

The sequence also shows that Autons have no honour. Their first mass of victims, after dispensing with a police officer, are those folks at the bus stop - a non-threatening bunch if ever there was one, yet most of them get shot from behind in the back. If the Sontarans and the Autons ever got into a skirmish, the Autons would probably win, but the Sontarans would probably claim victory in their final breaths on the fact that they held the moral high ground.

The shop window dummy attack sequence isn't the only action seen in the episode, though, as several UNIT soldiers meet their explosive end via Auton hand-guns in a battle outside the factory. With all the death and explosions, Spearhead From Space is a shocking change from the prim and proper Doctor Who we've come to know and love, but, with all of it shot on film, isn't necessarily representative of what was to come, either. That doesn't make it any less entertaining, though.

AAA3 - Spearhead From Space 3

The Doctor-UNIT alliance unofficially begins in this episode, with The Doctor making use of his TARDIS homing device (never to be referenced in t his form again) to work his way back to UNIT headquarters, meeting Liz Shaw, and getting to work on analyzing the shattered remains of an Auton sphere. He also tries, and fails, to fly away in the TARDIS for the first time, but certainly not the last. Robert Holmes adds another chapter to the enduring legacy of The Doctor here, too. In addition to giving The Doctor a second heart in the previous episode, Holmes also introduces the concept of post-regenerative amnesia, which has been a feature of most of the subsequent regenerations seen since then.

Let's take time to mourn two aspects of Doctor Who that appear in this story but seldom do again afterwards. One - the jazzy score by Dudley Simpson. This story sees the penultimate Simpson score before his transition to de facto full time composer on Doctor Who, which, unfortunately and coincidentally, saddled him with an awful synthesizer for him to work on exclusively for Season 8, after which his scores never really did recover. Whereas Simpson's scores had a sameness to them for most of his time on the show after this, his Season 6 and 7 scores are remarkable in their uniqueness.

The other thing that we see in this story but rarely again are agile monsters. The Autons are seen to run at quite a clip, either in retreat or in pursuit of their target. It might be the fact that this story is shot entirely on location and therefore there's actual room for them to be able to run long distances than the confines of BBC Television Centre would allow. Whatever the reason, just think of all the slow, lumbering aliens in the years to come after this that somehow managed to catch up with their prey, and remember a time when you literally had to run for your life to escape an alien threat.

AAA2 - Spearhead From Space 2

Jon Pertwee had already been a comedic actor for much of his career prior to his role as The Doctor, and it was widely assumed that he would continue in that vein for his portrayal of the now exiled wandering traveler. In Episode Two, Pertwee plies his trade in a memorable sequence where he sneaks out of the hospital. In retrospect, this is really the first and last balls out (if you'll forgive the phrase...) comedy sequence in the Pertwee era. Well, the only funny one, at the very least.

I have always loved the Seeleys, who clearly don't love each other. I still howl at the scene where Meg Seeley is admonishing her husband Sam about his trunk and his shady past. Sam barks back, "Go get me some grub, woman! I'm hungry!" Meg retorts, "You watch your mouth!", but she still goes to prepare him food. This is one of the strengths of Robert Holmes's writing which really starts to manifest itself in this story. Little character touches like this scene are wonderful to watch, and go a long way into fleshing out the believability of the characters and, thus, the plausibility of the story being told. Meg's throwaway line to Sam ("You've not been thieving again, have you?") says much about Sam's past, and how untrustworthy a character he is in regards to his hoarding of one of the Nestene spheres ("Thunderballs, I calls 'em!").

This episode also contains one of the all time chilling cliffhangers, shot to perfection by director Derek Martinus. I still get goosebumps when I see that Auton slowly start to move, and then step away from the rest of his stationary mates to threaten Ransome. The sound effects for the Auton's handgun are also evocative, and I'm ever so pleased that they continued to use them in the new series' premiere episode in 2005.

AAA1 - Spearhead From Space 1

Doctor Who...in colour!

Just as The War Games was a full stop finale to all that was 1960s Doctor Who, Spearhead From Space is such a massive reboot of the series look and format that it is scarcely recognizable from the black and white era that came before it. New Doctor, new companion, new format, new titles, and, of course, in colour. This story is also a massive cheat.

When I first saw this story back in 1990, it came after having watched, in order, from the early Tom Baker era all the way through until the end of the Sylvester McCoy era. Then, the local PBS station started back at the beginning, which, in their eyes, was the Jon Pertwee era. I was amazed at the look of the programme. The fact that a union strike forced this story to be shot entirely on location was both a blessing and a curse. Let's set the record straight about this story, particularly Episode One - it looks fantastic. This is a fleeting glimpse at what Doctor Who could be if it was made as a film series instead of in front of a multi-camera setup in a crowded BBC TV studio. Alas, we would never see this look again in the classic series.

Other things that will become familiar to us - The Doctor and UNIT - are lightly introduced in this episode, with the identity of the new Doctor being kept deliberately vague until we, along with The Brigadier, the only other person, apart from the viewer, who should be able recognize him, see his face for the first time midway through the episode. In what is becoming typical Robert Holmes fashion, the writer is much more keen to (and quite good at) setting up the story and introducing the vast array of characters that will flesh out the plot before The Doctor and his soon to be new UNIT friends get themselves involved.

A superb start to the 1970s.

ZZ10 - The War Games 10

The War Games is about as finite an end to an era if ever there was one. It's the last Patrick Troughton story, it's the last story for Jamie and Zoe, it's the last story of the 1960s, it's the last story made and broadcast in black and white, and it's the last story made when seasons in Doctor Who were around 40 episodes long. Even the production code, ZZ, reflects this. The biggest ending portrayed in this story, though, is the loss of innocence in this six-year-old programme.

Now, I love the films Jaws and Star Wars to bits, both of which came at the tail end of what many consider (including myself) to be the greatest era of films (circa 1967-circa 1977) in the history of cinema. Both films aren't necessarily similar to other classic films of the era (Dog Day Afternoon, All The President's Men, The Godfather, etc.), but both are definitely of that era. What troubles me about both films, first Jaws, and then, to prove it wasn't a fluke, Star Wars, was what came afterward. Never again would movies be made in the same way again. Those who made films in the post-Star Wars era could not do so based solely on creating art or making an entertaining picture as they would be forced to, or would choose to, take the financial success of Jaws and Star Wars into account when deciding if their film was worthy of being made. Thus, while I think both Jaws and Star Wars are two of the greatest films of our time, and there have been several films made since then that also warrant such lofty praise, I lament what came after Star Wars every time I see it.

I can't help but feel the same way sometimes about that which followed The War Games. While, in my opinion, the best years of Who were still ahead of it, The War Games marks a fundamental change in Doctor Who. The events and the outcome of this story have been directly or, more commonly, indirectly referred to in every story made since then. Before The War Games, The Doctor was a free agent, independent of any outside influence. After The War Games, The Doctor would never travel freely again. Forced into exile on Earth for Seasons 7-9, he was still explicitly or discreetly sent on missions by the Time Lords. Even after The Doctor was granted a reprieve, the Time Lords still, on occasion, would enlist him for special missions. Later stories were set on Gallifrey, other renegade Time Lords were often featured in stories, and, in the continuity happy 1980s, the Time Lords were almost like family. Even in the new series, although the Time Lords are all extinct (bar one. Or two.), they are always on The Doctor's mind. They have always been on The Doctor's mind.

If the innocence and carefree wandering had to come to an end, though, then what better story to do so than The War Games? The ideas and concepts of this story are perhaps the biggest ever perceived - new series not excluded. The War Games is a grand finale worthy of Russell T Davies (but concluded in much more satisfying fashion), but it's also a story that has aged remarkably well. Contemporary audiences had obviously grown tired with the notion of space travel, and were switching off Doctor Who in record numbers. Watching The War Games today, knowing in hindsight was to come after it, it's easy to get lost in the story, to not have to wait ten weeks to see the entire story as a whole.

This story was a remarkable achievement for all involved, and, being Terrance Dicks's first credited writing contribution in the Doctor Who universe, more than makes up for all the speed written Target novelizations of the 1970s and 1980s. It is superbly directed and acted, as well, and let's Patrick Troughton go out on a creative high rarely accorded to any other Doctor. It also forms a second tent pole almost as tall as that of Troughton's debut story, The Power of the Daleks, but the other stories that occurred between the two were by no means inferior. The Patrick Troughton era, while perhaps not achieving as many absolute peaks as other Doctor's eras, is quite simply the most consistently excellent stretch of stories in Doctor Who history.

As I did after the William Hartnell era, here's my picks for Troughton's time:

Best Story : The Power of the Daleks
Worst Story : The Underwater Menace
Favourite Story : The War Games

The stage is yours, Jon Pertwee...

ZZ9 - The War Games 9

This episode could be even more monumental than Episode Eight. The events depicted here are simply epic. It's interesting, though, to see how close to complete collapse the War Lord's plans are. He certainly never let on beforehand at how few guards were at his disposal, nor how many functioning time machines they had left.

Finally, when The Doctor and the Resistance have defeated the War Lord, the flood of events that have always threatened to overcome The Doctor finally does so, and The Doctor is forced to call the Time Lords for help. Both he and the War Chief know that they will surely be punished severely for not only their part in this incident, but as a whole for their lifestyles since they left their home planet. Kudos to Edward Brayshaw as the War Chief, especially in this episode, but for his performance as a whole during this story. When The Doctor is about to contact the Time Lords, it's Brayshaw's reaction, having to be restrained by guards, that tells you things are very serious indeed. Smooth, suave, a killer beard, and one of the more memorable (and longest) death screams in Doctor Who history, the War Chief will be remembered as one of the show's greatest villains.

This episode also features a relatively well shot and performed fight sequence, Lieutenant Carstairs returning with The Doctor to find Lady Jennifer, and the impending arrival of the Time Lords. It seems the Troughton era is about to end at the same level of excellence as when it began.

ZZ8 - The War Games 8

Ever since that thrilling instance in Episode Four when the War Chief recognizes The Doctor (and, more alarmingly, The Doctor realizes that he's been recognized), we have been waiting on pins and needles for the inevitable second meeting between the two foes. Early in Episode Eight, we finally get that meeting. And it doesn't disappoint.

We learn more about The Doctor in the course of that two-minute scene than we ever have in the previous six years of watching Doctor Who. The War Chief and The Doctor used to be Time Lords, The Doctor stole his TARDIS, and both men, while renegades, were clearly on opposite sides of the fence. I have seldom watched a scene in Doctor Who more intently than this one. It's a tragic shame that contemporary viewers didn't agree. With viewing figures of less than four million, this was one of the least watched episodes in the history of the classic series.

The action on the resistance front also ramps up considerably in this episode, as a grand resistance army is brought together, sets about taking over every time zone control centre, and is has the War Lord and his minions thinking of resorting to a neutron bomb to solve the problem. People who chastise The War Games for being slow-paced, dull, and boring are people who haven't given this story its due. Eight episodes in, and I don't want it to end.

ZZ7 - The War Games 7

Just when you think the first six episodes of The War Games have been some of the most gripping examples of 1960s Doctor Who, Philip Madoc turns up as the War Lord in Episode Seven and takes control of the situation - rarely raising his voice, often standing in the background, but always surveying the situation, and always in command.

My favourite scene in this episode occurs when the War Chief and the Security Chief are arguing in the War Room over whose fault it is that the Resistance army have managed to steal the processing machine. In the background, the War Lord is casually moving pieces around on the planning board, seemingly oblivious to the argument in front of him, before he suddenly interjects, assesses equal portions of blame to both Chiefs, then states that he will now handle the situation. Minutes later, both The Doctor and the processing machine are captured, thanks to the War Lord's quick action.

The way that The War Games keeps adding and subtracting heroes and villains (and, after five episodes, adding General Smythe back into the mix) is remarkable. The fact that the main villain of the piece, the War Lord, makes his first appearance more than two-thirds of the way into the story, is testament to that. Terrance Dicks has often said that he is not a fan of this, his own script, written with Malcolm Hulke. After seven episodes, (and having not heard his own comments on it on the (as yet released in North America) DVD box set), I hope his opinions on his work have changed.

ZZ6 - The War Games 6

Who would have thought that someone called Vernon Dobtcheff, with his back turned to camera, would be the person to deliver one of the most important lines in Doctor Who history? but that's just what happens a couple minutes into Episode Six when Dobtcheff's Chief Scientist and the Security Chief are discussing the War Chief (that's a lotta chiefs). The Security Chief surmises that The Doctor and his time traveling friends were involved because of the influence of the War Chief and "his people". This leads the Chief Scientist to ask, "Are you suggesting he's bringing in his own people? The Time Lords?"

Time Lords. For the first time ever, The Doctor's race has a name, and the focus of the programme has never been the same since. Up until The War Games, The Doctor has never had a definite background to fall back on. Oh sure, there have been hints and mentions of a time before we met him in that scrapyard in 1963, but this is the first definite proof that The Doctor had a home, but, for some reason, left it to travel the universe on his own.

More nuggets of The Doctor's past are surely to be revealed in the episodes to come as The Doctor's past catches up with him. And why haven't I mention the War Chief's beard yet? Quite clearly the coolest facial hair in the history of the programme.

ZZ5 - The War Games 5

The Chief Scientist, as played by Vernon Dobtcheff, is a very gullible fellow. The Doctor manages to dupe him on a couple of occasions into thinking his intentions are legitimate. The Chief Scientist is also very weird, but I'll put this down mostly to Dobtcheff's unique countenance and vocal delivery.

The building rivalry, bordering on mutual hatred, between the War Chief and the Security Chief is fascinating to watch. Kind of like in The Dominators, where the strife between the two main antagonists almost caused their plans to grind to a halt while both Rago and Toba slugged it out amidst a sea of disembodied Quarks, so too do the plans of the (as yet unseen) War Lord threaten to be stamped out by the incessant bickering of these two. I'm also a fan of the War Chief's medallion. At first I thought it was just a piece of decoration, but, in this episode, it his hinted at as a source of his power.

This is the last episode for Lady Jennifer. A lesser story would have killed her off after she had outlived her usefulness in the story. But the budding, prim and proper romance between her and Lieutenant Carstairs in this story thus far has been very sweet, and I'm glad to see that the good Lady is kept out of harm's way for the duration of the story.

Throughout the course of the Chronic Hysteresis, I've tried to watch one, maybe two episodes, then write reviews about them. However, The War Games is becoming like a good book. I just can't put it down. I watched four episodes in a row on an early Saturday morning instead of sleeping in, and I had to stop myself from watching a fifth. Who knew that ten-part episodes could be so damned good?

ZZ4 - The War Games 4

Things already seem to be just a little bit too big in scope and scale for The Doctor to handle during the first three episodes of The War Games. There is an epic feel to proceedings never seen up to this point in the programme's history. And then things ramp up considerably with about three minutes left in the episode.

The moment where The Doctor (who has conveniently lifted his visor to allow for his face to be visible) and the War Chief recognize each other is one of the most chilling and exhilarating scenes in Doctor Who history. The sheer look of terror in The Doctor's eyes is remarkable; there is clearly a past between the two characters. A past that The Doctor has no wish to revisit. The scene also adds much to the mystery of the War Chief and his history with The Doctor. How do they know each other? Why does it appear that The Doctor fears the War Chief so much? Of course, for those who have seen the story as a whole know the answer by now, but for viewers who first saw this episode air in the spring of 1969, it must have triggered a thousand questions about their hero, The Doctor, with an unknown past.

We also see the inside of one of the capsules that are seen to load and unload squadrons of soldiers in the various different time zones. Surprise - it's bigger on the inside than on the outside! The Doctor reacts at this as if he's something like this before. Could he be referring to the Daleks' dimensionally transcendental time machine as seen in The Chase? (No, we know he's not...)

ZZ3 - The War Games 3

The War Chief makes his first appearance in this episode, and we also get our first real look at the headquarters of those behind the war games. The sets seen in this episode are terrific. The eyeglasses that all the non-essential employees wear are a little less so. How anyone can see through the tiny crosses in the glasses is beyond me. And what's the separation in rank that has some workers wear glasses with several vertical slits? They seem to be able to see more than those who have to wear the other glasses, but they have a lower rank. Hmm...

The War Chief is a brilliant creation. It's made clear that he isn't one of the beings who run the war games, but he's there as a freelancer. After hearing of The Doctor (not by name) and that he and his friends claim to be time travelers, he wonders to himself (in a rare instance on Doctor Who of a voiceover to represent inner monologue) who they could be. Each of the first two episodes had a "hook" to keep the viewer riveted to the story. The mystery of the War Chief and his possible connection with time travel is this episode's hook.

There's not a great deal of incident in this episode, although The Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe are captured for a brief time by the Germans. Though there are a lot of capture/escape/recapture sequences thus far in The War Games, each instance, at least, has something interesting come about because of it.

ZZ2 - The War Games 2

One thing that General Smythe should employ is a lock for the door to his room. In the last episode, someone almost walked in on Smythe communicating with headquarters via the futuristic videophone in his office. In this episode, he has to put the spooky hypno-specs on to convince Ransom has seen nothing and that Smythe is away at an important meeting, after Ransom walks in on Smythe about to enter a strange, alien box. Smythe - just lock the door next time and neither of these things would have happened!

From the start of this story, it feels as if the entire world wants to capture and kill The Doctor and his friends, so one can't hope but feel a little bit warm and fuzzy whenever they get the tiniest bit of help from anyone - Lady Jennifer, Lieutenant Carstairs, even the redcoat, Jamie's natural enemy, who is seen in two scenes during Jamie's failed escape attempt. The odds are against our heroes, and they need all the help they can get.

Lady Jennifer and Carstairs are finally convinced of the details of the strange situation that they're in when they break through their conditioning and see General Smythe's communication unit. This story seems to have at least one of these magical little moments that propel the story along just a little bit at a time. After two episodes, The War Games is deliberately paced, but contains just enough action to warrant continued watching.