Doctor Who/Recap/S6/E07 The War Games



"All these evils I have fought, while you have done nothing but observe! True, I am guilty of interference. Just as you are guilty of failing to use your great powers to help those in need!"

- The Doctor defends himself before the Time Lords.

A race known only as "The Aliens" have kidnapped a number of soldiers from Earth's history, brainwashed them and set them to fighting in a series of wargames. The survivors will be made into an army capable of conquering the galaxy. They are aided by the War Chief, whom the Doctor recognises as being one of his own race, and who has provided the Aliens with SIDRATs for transport purposes. However, the War Chief plans to double-cross the Aliens and seize power himself.

When the Aliens' commander, the War Lord, learns of the War Chief's treachery, he has him shot. Meanwhile, the Doctor and friends have managed to gather a band of human resistance fighters, shaken off the control of the Aliens and stop the wargames. However, he can't return all the surviving soldiers to their right places, so he calls on his own people, the Time Lords, for help.

They arrive and the Doctor is instantly put on trial for violating one of the Time Lords' prime directives - noninterference in other races' history. The Doctor argues that he has always done good, but to no avail. He is sentenced to exile on Earth, while Jamie and Zoe are returned to their own times, just before they met the Doctor, with their memories wiped. The Doctor is additionally informed that he must change his appearance again...

The final episode of this adventure is quite significant. As well as ushering in a new Doctor, and a new era in the show with budget-dictated Earthbound exile, this was the first time that the Doctor's race had been named, and that the reason for the Doctor's fugitive status had been explored. This is also the only time during the show's initial run that the Doctor and all of his companions changed at the same time. It wouldn't happen again for another forty years.

With 10 parts totaling about 4 hours run time, this is the second longest serial (third if you count Season 23 as one whole) behind The Daleks' Master Plan.

It can be watched here.

Tropes
"Doctor: Jamie, I need to pick this lock.
 * All There Is to Know About "The Crying Game": It's the end of an era in many ways, and the first appearance of the Time Lords... but that's only at the end of a very long story which explores a war mystery and a conspiracy. Unfortunately, it now tends to be seen as loads of episodes of messing around before the Time Lords show up.
 * Army of the Ages
 * Bandito: Arturo Villar.
 * Call Back

Jamie: Oh with a tuning fork?"

"Jamie: Lady Jennifer I don't think you should come.
 * Comforting Comforter: Jamie, to a sleeping Zoe.
 * Dastardly Whiplash: The War Chief is a traditionalist, at least as far as his grooming habits go.
 * Downer Ending
 * Early Installment Weirdness: When told he must sacrifice one regeneration, the Doctor's only concern is what he'll look like in his next life. This looks very strange to those who watched David Tennant's Tear Jerker of a regeneration. Unless he's stalling for time...
 * Character Development. Coupled with the fact that at least the Time Lords, and the potential for rescue still existed when Two forced to regenerate and exiled.
 * Enemy Mine: The Resistance includes soldiers from opposing sides, starting with Jamie and the Redcoat.
 * Five-Bad Band
 * The Big Bad: The War Lord
 * The Dragon: The War Chief
 * The Brute: Smythe / The Security Chief
 * The Evil Genius: The Chief Scientist
 * The Dark Chick: NA
 * Glasses Pull: How General Smythe exerts Mind Control over his inferiors. His German/Confederate equivalent uses a Monocle Pull.
 * Grand Finale: For the Patrick Troughton era.
 * Harsher in Hindsight: At the time, the concept of Regeneration really wasn't as fleshed out as it is now. At the time, the Time Lords were just making the Doctor 'change his appearance' in preparation for his exile. Now, it's more or less the Time Lords killing The Doctor (In the sense of forcing him to use one of his 12 regenerations) before they exile him.
 * Hoist By His Own Petard: The Doctor uses these exact words of the scientist whom he turns the processing machine on.
 * Insignificant Little Blue Planet - Lampshaded by the Time Lords.
 * Large Ham: A few characters get moments. The Security Chief would be a Ham if he ever figured out that he wasn't a Dalek. Villar is a textbook Ham.
 * Mind Control
 * Mistaken for Spies: systematically, by every single group of people they meet.
 * The Nth Doctor
 * Oh Crap
 * Our Doors Are Different: The Security Chief's door is designed to evoke a guillotine blade.
 * Refuge in Audacity: The Doctor pretends to be a prison inspector from the ministry.
 * Sdrawkcab Name: SIDRAT. The novelisation gives us a Backronym: They're Sidereal Interdimensional Robot All-purpose Transporters.
 * Slouch of Villainy: The War Lord. The War Chief tries to imitate it.
 * Starter Villain: Smythe acts as the main antagoinst for the first few episodes before his superiors reveal themselves.
 * Stay in The Kitchen:

Lady Jennifer: Because I'm a woman?

Jamie: Yea... No! Err... Well, in a way yes."


 * Arturo refuses to listen to anything Zoe says and mocks Jamie for "listening to a woman".
 * Stock Episode Titles: 14 uses
 * Tap On the Head: Zoe takes out the sergeant with a vase of flowers. Unlike most uses, however, the Doctor checks to make sure he's okay afterwards.
 * Values Dissonance: In-story, between the soldiers from each different time zone.
 * The Walls Are Closing In: Done to the occupants of a SIDRAT (including the Doctor).
 * Wham Episode
 * What Happened to The Mouse?: Lady Jennifer disappears about halfway through. Later, Lieutenant Carstairs says he wants to look for her, but he disappears (in a more literal sense) before he can. Word of God on the DVD commentary says