Doctor Who Retro Review: ‘The War Games’ Episode 10
By James Aggas
The Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe are captured by the Time Lords in ‘The War Games’. (Credit: bbc.co.uk)
It’s the end of an era and everything changes, as we reach the final episode of ‘The War Games’.
*** This review contains spoilers. ***
For our review of Doctor Who’s ‘The War Games’ Episode Nine, click here.
So this is it. The big one. Possibly one of the most important single episodes in the history of Doctor Who since ‘The Daleks.’
The episode begins with the Second Doctor desperate to escape the Time Lords. As the TARDIS journeys across time and space in an effort to evade them, the Doctor finally reveals why he left his home world in the first place.
"“I was bored.”"
Over four and a half decades later, I still think that was a perfectly valid reason for him to leave. I know that we’ve had the new explanation of the Hybrid in Series Nine, and that the Doctor was scared of it, but in my opinion, the Hybrid didn’t feel big enough to replace the original reason. I’ll go into considerably more detail later in another article about why the Hybrid didn’t quite work for me. For now, however, the following explanation is a perfectly decent one on its own: The Doctor had been frustrated by the fact that, with as much power as his race had, they rarely actually did anything with it. This is especially appropriate, as it still avoids revealing too much about the circumstances under which he and Susan left.
After a short time of running as far as they can, the Time Lords find the TARDIS crew anyway and bring them to Gallifrey (interestingly, not actually named in the story, and in fact not named for another few years). Once again, the look of pure and utter defeat emerges on the Doctor’s face, and it’s still terribly sad to see.
Some loose ends are tied up from the main plot of ‘The War Games,’ specifically with the trial of the War Lord. The sheer power of the Time Lords has never been clearer than in these scenes. First, with one look, they put him in intense pain just to get him to speak.
Then, once sentence has passed — and after he tries to make an escape and fails — a force field surrounds both the War Lord and his entire home planet, while he is dematerialized as though he never existed. Even this early in the series, while the Time Lords don’t want to involve themselves in the affairs of others, it’s clear that when they do, they mean business.
Then comes the time for the Doctor’s trial. This might just be one of Patrick Troughton’s greatest moments in the role. We see his Doctor standing against his own race and defending himself, using his knowledge, his experience, and his strong sense of justice (with maybe just a little bit of wit and humour thrown in). When the Time Lords ask him if he admits to the charges he’s been given, he gives, quite simply, the best response to it:
"“I not only admit them: I am proud of them!”"
Before the Time Lords pass their sentence, Jamie and Zoe convince the Doctor to try and escape one last time. They reach the TARDIS… and then are immediately blocked by a force field. The Doctor knows already – there’s no more running for any of them, certainly not together, as the Time Lords prepare to send the companions home.
They all say goodbye to one another, which would be emotional enough by itself, especially with Jamie, who had been there for the Second Doctor since almost the very beginning… and then it’s revealed that the Time Lords had made both companions almost completely forget about their travels with the Doctor. They were taken back to their own times, just after they would’ve left with the Doctor, remembering their first adventure, but nothing more.
As far as companion exits go, it’s one of the most memorable and tragic of the entire series. Particularly in the case of Jamie, who grew and developed so much with the Doctor. Earlier in ‘The War Games,’ back in Episode 2, he reluctantly worked with a Redcoat to escape from prison. In his last scene, he’s waving a sword around, ready to kill a Redcoat in battle. Even while he’s defending himself, I think it does say a lot about how much he had changed with the Doctor, and how much he had lost by the end.
(Editor’s Note: It certainly makes one think of what happened to Donna Noble, as well as the Doctor in regards to Clara Oswald.)
Next: Page 2: Regeneration
The Second Doctor regenerates in ‘The War Games’. (Credit: avclub.com)
As for the Doctor, he hears what punishment the Time Lords will give him. At first, it sounds like good news – they acknowledge that there is evil out in the universe that must be fought, and the Doctor is the best person to do it. They also acknowledge that Earth in particular seems to be constantly under threat. So the Time Lords decide that it would be best to send the Doctor back there… in exile, trapped on one planet in one time, with the knowledge of the TARDIS taken from him.
As if all that wasn’t punishment enough, they also decide that, as part of the sentence, he should change once more. Again, this is one of those moments that would’ve been harsh enough for viewers back on its original broadcast, but is considerably harsher now in hindsight. While regeneration arguably isn’t quite the same as “death,” we know that it’s at least very close to it. The Doctor may keep his memories and even his very soul, but his current face, personality, and everything unique to that incarnation will be destroyed. The Time Lords, in one single instance, essentially execute the Doctor — or at least, a version of him — while taking away his freedom. It’s not the harshest sentence they could’ve given him, but it’s definitely close.
I’ve mentioned before how great the cliffhangers are in ‘The War Games,’ but the one for its final episode is easily the very best – the Doctor beginning to regenerate and sent to Earth while screaming at the Time Lords. One line he says particularly stands out for me:
"“YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME!”"
It’s an incredibly dark and bleak ending to an amazing and epic serial, and it works so well. It gives the Second Doctor, frankly, a brilliant ending to his journey. It’s dark, horrifying, and heartbreaking all at once. It’s a huge sacrifice that he makes to do the right thing by making sure that hundreds of abducted humans are sent home, and he pays such a huge price for it. But while it’s a great ending for the Second Doctor, it also sets things up for future seasons, letting us know that the series is about to change in a big way.
We don’t even see the actual change, as even the identity of the next Doctor is a cliffhanger. While I can see this would be a problem if done in a regeneration story now, here, this early in the series, it just feels completely right. In fact, the ending has a lot of elements that probably shouldn’t work — including a feeling of nothing but total uncertainty for what’s next, without even the slightest reassurance that the Doctor will be OK after his regeneration — but it’s an ending that totally works.
Next: Doctor Who Magazine Devotes Entire Issue to Tom Baker