Started 25-DecWe watched the DVD version with info text by Martin Wiggins.
The War Games is epic and classic and familiar. Groundbreaking DW storytelling and an earthquake in the mythos of the history of the show are actually hand in hand here.
It is not a runaround and then the Time Lords turn up in ep10 and then Doctor regenerates.
The characters are well written and the acting is genuine and believable without being earthy and ultra-real.
The situations are full of recognisable (mostly military) tropes and often historical ones with which people are familiar. The stakes are high: the welfare of 1000's of unfortunate, unknowing soldiers being cheated of their lives and liberty is in play.
The loop plots and twists abound in this story. The contrast of familiar with anachronistic is used here in a way that becomes influential throughout the 3rd and 4th Doctor eras.
Every time I've watched this since the wobbly videos of the 80's this has seemed raw and strangely overacted. In this marathon blog context it has seemed to me for the first time since 1973 that it is actually sophisticated and exciting.
The final ep is amazing TV. The performance by Troughton goes from "runaway" to acceptance yet does not miss a beat. He stays in character and does not gurn or make daft jokes that disrespect the story. He owns the screen and eyes are drawn to him in every scene.
MORE TO COME
There is a sense with Patrick Troughton that the timing was slightly wrong. He was an accomplished performer who would have been better in a modern show but was capable in any age.
He left the show with the job not finished. The last year of Doctor Who was a wild ride in the production office. In an interview in the latest DWM Sherwin tells the story about Troughton and Bryant rowing. He does not tell whether he and Troughton saw eye to eye.
It seems as if the idea was put forward in Series 5 to reduce the ep count and go to colour but while those plans were in formulation the basic work of script writing fell over somewhat.
The record of rejected scripts and late submissions between mid 1968 and mid 1969 was little short of alarming. It would not have given relaxed and comfortable people much reassurance let alone insecure and nervy types like Pat Troughton. Series 6 has 3 top 5 serials (two directed by David Maloney, the other by Camfield) and 3 bottom 10 serials (out of 7 candidates!!!)
The viewing figures were tanking fast from solid 7 million the year before to 4 million, even a couple of 3 somethings. But scheduling, weather and competition from Irwin Allen shows on the other channel were factors. In the 2010's DW is still going. None of these other TV shows are.
Why do new Doctors fifty years later cite him as the model for Doctor Who rather than Hartnell?
Is it because of the flexibility he showed? Maybe the notion that slavishly copying the previous incumbent was to be avoided? Certainly it was the idea that the role of Doctor Who is not really acting in that the character is essentially unchanging and unchangeable yet is simultaneously anything you want it to be.
Maybe it's time to read the Michael Troughton biography again....?
Troughton was fond of saying (in the 80's, Fraser Hines still says it) that he loved working on DW and would have stayed there for good if he could have. But I think this may be lazy fantasy. He was a hard bitten pro who knew that his next job depended on not outstaying his welcome or not being shackled to a corpse (at least potentially).
And DW clearly needed to keep changing. In 6 years it had gone from talky, slow moving historicals to anti-war SF fantasy. The pace of change was not about to let up.
After the remarkable ep10 Wendy, Fraser and Pat were gone. So was Peter Bryant. David Maloney would be back but not immediately. Robert Holmes, Terrance Dicks, Derrick Sherwin are all staying... and new boy Barry Letts is about to get a phone call.
ABM Rating 3.82/4.00
LJM Rating 4.55/5.00
SPJ Rating 8.30/10
Link to Cumulative Rankings
No. 4 (out of 50)
Rankings Scoreboard
From Quickflix
ReplyDeleteSome people (who call themselves DW fans) describe this one as overlong and tedious. There's a fascinating narcissism amongst fans. They seem to think that amongst themselves there is some permission to 'hate' on the very series they otherwise profess to enjoy.
Personally I feel this must be a reaction to the discovery that the show they loved and were fascinated by as a small child turns out to seem to be very different when they revisit it as an adult.
My own experience with this DW serial on this front was profoundly different. This was one of the earliest DW's I remember from my earliest childhood where I could read and remember the title.
I must have been 6 or so when it was last on TV in the early 70's in Australia.
When I saw it again as a grown up in the mid 80's, I could see all the flaws. The repetition, the running around, the padding.
I was also aware of the circumstances of the production of this serial. It really was a case of pad this out for 10 weeks 'cause we got nothin' else to film, guys! But this show is an example of DW at it's most eclectic.
The familiar but slightly odd. The scene, which is at first ordinary and recognisable as a thing you may have seen in many movies and TV dramas before, is subverted by a simple and glaring anachronism. This is DW's most formidable, spine tingling ability. For instance, the scenes in episode one and two where the rigmarole of the Doctor and friends being thrust into the desperate, military hell that is the front lines of the First World War. They are dealt with summarily and with brusqueness by an impatient military tribunal. Then the officer presiding retires to his room for a rest and begins to report this occurrence to some evil alien looking overlords on a two way television hidden behind a portrait of the King...... I mean, wow..... this is the sort of thing that makes DW the most fantastic TV show ever in the history of entertainment...... at least in my opinion......
As I often say, if you get it, 10 episodes isn't enough. I don't know what the rest of you must be suffering through if you don't get it......
This set of 10 episodes marked the writing debut for the series for Terrance Dicks. He had been Script Editor or Assistant Script Editor for over a year at that time, a post which he continued to hold throughout the time of the 3rd Doctor Jon Pertwee. He's most famous for adapting nearly 100 DW serials into books in the Target range. As a writer he is a master of the concise but highly descriptive sentence. Try Googling "Terrance Dicks' opening lines" and you'll find out what I mean.....
This is also notable for being Patrick Troughton's last regular appearance as the Doctor, Frazer Hines last regular appearance as Jamie and Wendy Padbury's as Zoe.
The first appearance of the Doctor's own people (apart from one episode in 1965 which could be argued about).
These are the last episodes filmed in Black and White. So this DW has the appeal of being several turning points in the history of DW.
It is also an unforgettable DW story and has been a great favourite of mine.... forever and I see no reason why it should not continue to be. Presented on DVD in the 21st century, of course it's vid-fired (restored original video look) and the sound is extensively remastered also. Ironically, the look of the show on DVD in 2013 is probably much better than the way it was originally seen by most people on dodgy, noisy, 60's and 70's technology tv sets. (Remember what 'rabbit ears' were? And how annoying they were when they didn't work?)
The extras are fascinating and high quality. Recent I heard someone say that the DW dvd's are easily the **best** presented series of archive TV releases there is. That's not a bad call either.....