The War Games - Episode 9

It’s strange to think that I’m on the penultimate episode of the Troughton era. It’s weird to think that I started watching episode one of ‘The Power of the Daleks’ back on September 27 that it was going to be a tough job more because of the missing episodes but I knew that there were some classic stories coming along so it was worth enduring ‘The Abominable Snowmen’ and ‘The Dominators’ when there were stories such as ‘The Invasion’ and ‘The Tomb of the Cybermen’ to enjoy. In fact whilst I have enjoyed ‘The War Games’ in the past I feel like I am enjoying ‘The War Games’ more than I was expecting.

The Doctor starts the episode having turned against his friends but its nice how he got the resistance there they wouldn’t be around when the neutron bomb went off. It’s a typically Doctor like thing to do as he has a plan to save his friends but just doesn’t have a time to tell them. There an interesting moment between the Doctor and the War Chief when they talk about the SIDRAT’s.

Shorting the life-span of the SIDRAT is an impossible problem and it’s one that the War Chief hasn’t been able to solve the problem. Though as the episode progresses it’s the least of his problems as the Security Chief has evidence about his treachery and uses secret recordings to topple him.

I thought it was a shame when the Security Chief was killed as he was a very good character but the only thing that made his death worth while is that it was the War Chief that did it and that seemed like a nice end to their rivalry. Despite getting one over on the Security Chief, the War Chief didn’t escape his own death as he is killed by the guards of the War Lord. Philip Madoc is back on form in this episode as he has a coldness that seemed to be missing in the previous episode.

When we say goodbye to Carstairs it’s a sad moment because I’ve quite liked him and feel like he became the fourth member of the TARDIS. David Saville has been consistently reliable and whilst he might have come across as a bit of posh soldier but actually he’s worked well with the regulars and hasn’t put a foot wrong for the entire nine episodes that he has appeared.

Due to the fact that the SIDRAT’s aren’t totally reliable this forces the Doctor to call the Timelords and this is the first time that he says that this is the name of his people. Quite a historic moment in Doctor Who I think.  The Doctor uses a box to send information to the Timelords and this would be used again in a Matt Smith episode. Patrick Troughton is very good again in this episode as the Doctor has to try and outrun the Timelords. Both Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury are good in this episode but their performances are somewhat overshadowed by Troughton.

This is the first goodbye that we get between the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe but it doesn’t have the emotional depth so its quickly ended and this leads to the cliffhanger which is another cracking one because its done in slow motion and this is suppose to illustrate the Timelords influence and the last shot is of the Doctor trying to get the key in the TARDIS. It’s a very good episode as it effectively ends this part of the story. The resistance are going to be sent back to their own time-zones and we are going to get the Timelords and the end is about arrive. I have a feeling that the Troughton era is going to end on a high note.