Directed by David Maloney
Main Cast-
The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
Jamie - Frazer Hines
Zoe - Wendy Padbury
Main Guest Cast-
The War Lord - Philip Madoc
The War Chief - Edward Brayshaw
The Security Chief - James Bree
Lieutenant Carstairs - David Savile
Lady Jennifer Buckingham - Jane Sherwin
Russell - Graham Weston
Synopsis-
The Doctor and his companions arrive in no-man's land in between the British and German trenches in Northern France during World War One. However, things aren't quite what they seem. Surprised to find civilians in no-man's land, the British troops report this to their general. The general orders The Doctor and his companions to be taken to his headquarters.
While on their way to the general's headquarters, The Doctor and his companions meet Lt. Carstairs and Lady Jennifer Buckingham, an ambulance driver. Both are having trouble remembering things, such as how long they've been at the front and where the hospital is located.
It turns out that this isn't France in 1917, but an alien planet with several war zones from different times and eras. The humans have been brought to the aliens planet by the War Lord and his assistant the War Chief. The War Lord and the War Chief are using the War Games to learn and train soldiers that they intend to use to conquer the galaxy.
The War Chief, as it turns out, is another renegade Time Lord. The Security Chief doesn't trust the War Chief, and is distrustful of the arrival of The Doctor. The War Lord eventually arrives from the aliens' home world and forces the War Chief and the Security Chief to work together, despite their mutual distrust and hatred for each other.
Lt. Carstairs and Lady Jennifer join up with The Doctor and his companions. They make contact with the resistance in the American Civil War zone, and the resistance leader Russell. The resistance is made up of fighters from each war zone who have shaken off the effects of the hypnotization process.
The Doctor hatches a plan to attack the video communication devices that are located in each war zone. This will draw out the security troops, leaving the command zone defenseless. This plan works, but The Doctor is captured and forced to trick the resistance leaders into traveling to the command zone, where they are captured.
The Doctor and the resistance fighters eventually free themselves, and capture the War Chief. The War Chief agrees to help the resistance fighters to escape the command zone, but they are caught by the Security Chief and some of his guards. The War Chief kills the Security Chief and the resistance fighters make their way to the landing area, where they can make their way back to the war zones via the time machines built by the War Chief. However, they are captured by the War Lord, who kills the War Chief.
The Time Lords, however, have been summoned by The Doctor. The Doctor has done so, because while he has promised to send everyone back home after the defeat of the War Lord, the War Chief's time machines are no longer operational.
The Time Lords prevent The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe from escaping on the Tardis. The surviving soldiers are sent home by the Time Lords, and the War Lord is put on trial. The War Lord is found guilty. The War Lord's homeworld is placed inside an impenetrable forcefield, while The War Lord himself is dematerialized into nothingness.
Jamie and Zoe are sent back to their own times, with their memories of traveling with the Doctor erased. The Doctor, after his own trial, is sentenced to live on 20th century Earth with his knowledge on how to operate the Tardis wiped from his mind. The Doctor is also forced to undergo his second regeneration.
Review-
The War Games marks the end of several eras. It's the end of the Second Doctor's time on the show, as Patrick Troughton and his co-stars Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury had decided to leave at the end of this series/season. It also marks the end of the black and white era, as the next series/season would be broadcast in color.
The War Chief is a Time Lord, and his double dealing with The War Lord proves fatal. I did find it interesting that the War Chief did not regenerate after being shot.
Indeed, the whole concept of regeneration isn't fully explained, just as it wasn't in the Tenth Planet. Why does The Doctor regenerate, and not the War Chief? It's never made clear in the episode, though I highly suspect the the War Chief's fate has been dealt with in spin-off media.
The Doctor is told that he can choose what he will look like after his regeneration, but isn't satisfied with any of the choices presented to him. This concept that a Time Lord can choose his/her looks via regeneration would be explored yet again with Romana.
The War Games does suffer from some padding in the middle episodes, but that's probably to be expected considering that it's ten episodes long. But this is a great send-off for the Second Doctor and his companions, which is something we never really got with the First Doctor.
