The War Games Episode One

The one where the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe are court martialed...

I'll be totally transparent from the off: The War Games is my joint favourite Doctor Who story of all time, so reviewing it for this blog is something of a poisoned chalice. I intend to stay as open-minded and impartial as possible because being a Doctor Who fan can sometimes mean watching things with rose-tinted spectacles. I'm going to leave the specs off and judge this epic ten-parter as I find it critically. And I cannot wait...!

The overwhelming feeling I have after watching the first episode is how unrelentingly grim it all is. After a lovely, inventive shot of the TARDIS materialising reflected in a puddle, David Maloney's direction starts full-pelt and barely lets up, and in the first four minutes alone we witness a barrage of bombs, acres of mud, an abduction, and the rat-a-tat-tat of machine gun fire. It's not long before our heroes find themselves holed up in a World War One trench close to enemy lines, apparently not far from Ypres. Writers Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke certainly get the story started with a literal bang!

The combination of Hulke and Dicks' pacing, Maloney's direction and the choice of location - the boggy, grimy Sheepcote rubbish tip - makes these opening moments an affecting experience, adequately getting across an idea of how utterly depressing, dispiriting and dangerous the battlefields of the Great War were.

But, rather tantalisingly, not all is as it seems as we witness British General Smythe retire to his quarters, only to reveal a futuristic communications device hidden behind a portrait on the wall which is very much not a part of 1917. Already the audience knows something is amiss and this is no straightforward historical adventure. Smythe refers to the "1917 Zone" and requests "5,000 specimens". It's early days, but this chap is obviously not human!

A quick mention for Roger Cheveley's set design work too, which in this one episode alone comprises the British battlefield trench base, the British chateau HQ (including Smythe's quarters), and a jail cell. There's great attention to detail by Cheveley too, such as the graffiti on the back wall at the chateau proclaiming a common phrase from the time: "Roll on death, demob's too far away". Nick Bullen's costumes all look perfectly accurate and authentic too, and I'm a particular fan of Jamie's new black jacket (which I recently learnt from Frazer Hines's Twitter feed is actually the one worn by Packer in The Invasion!).

There's some gentle characterisation for the British soldiers too, especially Sergeant Major Burns, who marches his civilian prisoners around as if they're military personnel ("There's no need to keep shouting at us, you know!" snaps Zoe!). Noel Coleman's General Smythe is already a dastardly villain, who seems able to hypnotise people into thinking whatever he wants using his bottle-bottom spectacles.

Worryingly, Smythe uses these hypnotic powers to convince Captain Ransom and Major Barrington that the TARDIS crew are all guilty of either espionage or desertion, without a shred of evidence against them. The rigged court martial is very frustrating to watch, as we witness Smythe's corruption sentence our heroes to various fates. It's a further example of The War Games's grit that by the eighteenth minute, the Doctor has been sentenced to be executed at dawn, Zoe is to be given 10 years of penal servitude in prison, and Jamie is to be sent to a military barracks awaiting another court martial for apparent desertion from his highland regiment! The three of them really are in a pickle.

There's a lovely moment where the Doctor kisses Zoe on the forehead and says "Goodbye, my dear" as he is led away to his cell, a rare example of the Doctor and his companion sharing a tender moment (common in the 21st century, but not so much in the classic run). But the Doctor is already suspicious because nothing seems right, which is why he attempts to quiz Burns about how long he's been on the Front. Burns's memory of past events and dates appears vague, as they do for Carstairs and Jennifer, so we know straightaway that people's recollections are being tampered with. Coupled with Smythe's ability to alter people's perceptions, and his regular disappearing trick, and it all points to this apparent visit to war-torn 1917 being far more than it first appears...

The cliffhanger is startlingly grim for teatime Saturday telly, with the Doctor apparently being shot dead by a firing squad. The last image we see is of Patrick Troughton's face screwed up in pain or agony, and this lasting moment is just as horrific for younger viewers as the cliffhanger to part 3 of The Deadly Assassin that Mary Whitehouse got so het-up about. There is an argument in Whitehouse's favour to say that leaving younger Doctor Who viewers with the image of the Doctor drowning was too strong (producer Philip Hinchcliffe certainly agreed), but to show the Doctor apparently being executed by firing squad is equally as horrific, in my opinion. There's absolutely nothing to suggest he is not dead, and 50 years later, I reckon it's still one of Doctor Who's most shocking cliffhangers.

The War Games episode 1 is as grim as Doctor Who can get, and puts the viewer on edge very early on, suggesting that this is a very dangerous world the TARDIS has landed in, and one in which our heroes could well suffer...

First broadcast: April 19th, 1969

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Malcolm Hulke and Terrance Dicks's clever pacing throws action and intrigue into the mix early on. It's impossible not to want to see episode 2 after all this!
The Bad: The cliffhanger is a tad strong for younger viewers, even today.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

NEXT TIME: Episode Two...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode Two; Episode Three; Episode Four; Episode Five; Episode Six; Episode Seven; Episode Eight; Episode Nine; Episode Ten

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-war-games.html

The War Games is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-War-Games-DVD/dp/B002ATVD8W.