WATCH ALONG | CLASSIC DOCTOR WHO | 6x43 | The War Games: Episode 9
Added 2023-06-28 14:00:12 +0000 UTCA Few Notes:
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*****
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Comments
Keep in mind the Tardis was only able to travel to random times and places, so the Doctor needed the Timelords to get the other people back to their own times
Malcolm Wolf
2023-06-28 14:53:35 +0000 UTCThe War Games is quite simply the perfect end to 60s Who and the peak of classic Who as a whole. It's my favourite story of classic Who and my second favourite overall behind only The Waters of Mars, I love it. On to the third Doctor and season 7 now! The best season/series in the show’s entire history. I can’t wait! Interested to know how you'll handle the show now that every episode from this point onwards exists and the seasons themselves have been drastically shortened, basically halved in length? Will you still have us vote for which stories to watch or will you simply watch them all now? I think it would be better if you just watched them all now because the show starts to do more focused character arcs and character development between each story, but it's up to you.
Azmat Mahmood
2023-06-28 14:16:55 +0000 UTCIt's also made abundantly clear why the Doctor left Gallifrey. The Doctor’s mantra has always been the importance of free will and making up your own mind, a theme that the writers came back to time and again in stories like ‘The Macra Terror’, ‘The Evil of the Daleks’ and ‘Fury From the Deep’. The Time Lords rule of non-interference (which, interestingly, is shown to be pretty easily altered later on…) sits in direct contrast to the Doctor's beliefs and it makes sense that he wouldn't bow to their ridiculous rules because the Doctor has always been shown to be an anarchist. He's learned through his travelling around the universe and people like Ian and Barbara the importance of standing up against the evils of the universe and fighting them. All of this ties in perfectly with the Doctor’s character and gives great reasons and explanations for why he left Gallifrey and why he now doesn't ever want to return. This story does a great job of setting up the conflict between the Time Lords and the Doctor because it immediately establishes their morals and beliefs as being diametrically opposed. This is also why it’s very appropriate that this Doctor’s era, which has been defined by big scary monsters and otherworldly threats, comes to an end at the hands of a corrupt, oppressive system instead. The Doctor’s greatest fear isn’t being killed by a Cyberman or Dalek, it’s his freedom being stripped away and becoming a part of the system instead of being an individual. All of this also gives the second Doctor a great final speech explaining why he does what he does. It's a great character defining moment and it's fitting the second Doctor goes out as defiant as possible. The Time Lords somewhat relenting and allowing the Doctor to be in exile on Earth to fight off any threats is pretty interesting too. The fact that they allowed this is pretty suspicious imo. With how quickly they changed their mind, I honestly don’t think they ever intended to keep the Doctor as a prisoner at all. The trial was simply a PR stunt, a show of power and a way to keep up the pretence that they don’t want to interfere. It says a lot about them that they’ll allow the Doctor to interfere with history, as long they’re in control. The Time Lords are immediately established as corrupt, unprincipled and self-serving. It’s no spoiler to say that all of this will be explored in more detail by the show in the years to come. No matter their true intentions, forcing the Doctor to regenerate again is an incredibly bleak way for this story and era to end. The viewers are given no reassurances; they simply watch the Doctor drift away into a black void screaming in absolute terror. They had to wait six whole months to find out the answers to all their questions, by far the longest gap between episodes up to this point. I love the bravery the writers showed in doing it like this because it ensured the second Doctor’s tragic fate had maximum impact. With all that being said, the Doctor’s fate isn’t entirely unjustified. The Doctor always turns up and stops the immediate crisis, sometimes by any means possible. This Doctor isn’t above lying and manipulating people around him to ensure things go his way (perhaps he’s more like the Time Lords than he cares to admit…). Most of the time they do and he saves the day, but then just leaves. Often without even saying a goodbye. He never bothers to deal with the aftermaths. Here he’s forced to do so and he fails. Spectacularly. He’s left with no choice other than to call in the very people he’s been running away from all this time. This story exposes the Doctor’s greatest failing up to this point, failing to take responsibility for his actions and always running away instead. The Time Lords definitely have ulterior motives for grounding the Doctor on Earth, but I think it also serves as an important lesson for the Doctor and a wake up call for him that maybe he needs to change his ways. In some ways, it oddly feels like the Doctor deserves the punishments he gets. I mean, the way he loses almost proves the Time Lords right that he shouldn’t interfere and that if he must, he needs a guiding hand from them as help.
Azmat Mahmood
2023-06-28 14:13:18 +0000 UTCI also love how this story's main plot concludes, only for the entire thing to dovetail into a completely separate story, and yet it still fits and feels like a natural progression. The war games section of this story concludes very satisfyingly with all of the people we've got to know taking over the aliens' base. It has a really wonderful underdogs win the day vibe to it. I also love how this story is a reversal of the traditional base under siege stories you find in the second Doctor’s era, with the Doctor and the resistance acting as the invading force to the aliens' base this time. Quite a fitting send off to this era I think. The War Chief and the Security Chief's arc was great too. The way the SC caught out the WC was great and made all the scenes of them bickering actually mean something. I always rooted for the WC over the SC though, I think it's because the WC was an outsider and the SC was the status quo. SC was also all cold, emotionless logic (exemplified by the way he spoke), while the WC had a magnetic charisma about him. The WC and SC were a great double act because they contrasted each other so starkly. What I also love is how the story's tone changes from the feeling of triumph over the war games ending to the Doctor having to call in the Time Lords. You couldn't ask for a better introduction to them than this. They're genuinely intimidating here with their God like powers (which they rarely ever use, which opens up some interesting questions around religion that I don't care to get into at this time...) and the fear the Doctor has in trying to escape from them really sells them as a proper threat. Then the way they deal with the War Lord and all his people is seriously frightening too. Not to mention what they do to poor old Jamie and Zoe… All of the reveals we get about the Doctor's backstory are also a very satisfying pay-off to six seasons of build-up. We've had hints before, the Doctor saying he and Susan are exiled from their own planet in 'An Unearthly Child' and then saying he can never go back home at the end of 'The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve'. There's also when he tells Polly that she's lucky she's got back home because he never has at the end of 'The Faceless Ones' and then in the very next story he tells Victoria that he might take everyone back to his own planet if the Daleks win. There’s also the bit in ‘The Mind Robber’, when Gulliver says the Master has accused the Doctor of treason and the Doctor responds with “treason again. Really”. In hindsight you could argue that he’s referring to the Time Lords there. I love the way they re-contextualise the Doctor's travels over the last six seasons as constantly being on the run from the Time Lords and it actually makes sense and fits with what has come before! This is the way to do ret cons, take the characters to interesting new places, but still make the changes fit in with what’s already been established. There’s a more recent, canon shifting alteration that could’ve learned a thing or two from what was done in this story….
Azmat Mahmood
2023-06-28 14:07:47 +0000 UTC'The War Games' is an absolute classic and I love it. One of the many things I love about this story is how all the different villains have their own distinct personalities and motivations. It adds depth and texture to the story. The verbal sparring and conflict between the War Chief and the Security Chief is the prime example of this. I also really like how the villains on the ground (Smythe and Von Weich) represent the classic snivelling baddies you would get in most stories and then as the story goes on the villains become smarter, but somehow even creepier and more unnerving. I think this contrast makes the higher level villains (particularly the War Lord) seem that much more important. Unlike their subordinates, they can see the bigger picture and are above the petty behaviour guys like Smythe were prone to. They're operating on a higher plane and everyone else are literally just pawns on a chess board to them. I also love the way this story builds up the War Lord by simply mentioning him, it gave him an air of authority without him even being on screen yet and when he finally does appear, he doesn't disappoint. Phillip Madoc gives one of the best villainous performances in Doctor Who history. His cold and calculated demeanour is chilling and the velvety, hushed tones he speaks with give him an air of absolute authority without him rarely raising his voice. The aliens' perspective and their motivation for staging these war games is also interesting. Their belief is that humans are vicious and war like and given our history, they're not entirely wrong. However, there are definitely objectively more vicious and war like species like Daleks and Ice Warriors, why didn't they stage the war games with one of them? Well, it goes without saying that they wouldn't be very easy to control and manipulate. Humans certainly are on the other hand. Humans are probably the only species that are both vicious and war like and easy enough to manipulate, we're perfect guinea pigs for their experiments. It's also interesting though how the writers show the other side and contrast the aliens' perspective with the resistance to show that our vicious and war like characteristics don't define us. That the reason for all the bloodshed and killing throughout our history is more that we're unpredictable and never come together, unless we're fighting for a common cause and enemy. The resistance is the perfect allegory for this, all these different soldiers kidnapped from all these time zones being manipulated into fighting simulated wars, forced to put their differences aside and band together to take down the people who have wronged them. It also shows that class is more important than nationalism because all those soldiers put aside their loyalties to their flag to take down the privileged overlords that had manipulated and used them, which is a very bold anti nationalism and anti war message. In fact, this entire story is an anti-war message. People in power have started wars for all sorts of ridiculous reasons, not thinking about the consequences for the people that have to fight in them. They play with people's lives like it's all just a game, just like the war games the aliens are staging in this story is all quite literally just a game. Considering this story was broadcast during the Vietnam war, it's certainly a very interesting and timely theme to explore. The aliens' perspective may be that humans are vicious and war like, but I think it's interesting and really clever and great writing that the writers didn't necessarily expect us to fully agree with that statement.
Azmat Mahmood
2023-06-28 14:05:52 +0000 UTC
