Episode #50 : The War Games

"All these evils I have fought, while you have done nothing but observe! True, I am guilty of interference. Just as you are guilty of failing to use your great powers to help those in need!"

Episode 50:   The War Games.
Companions: The 2nd Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot.
Air Date:        Ten episodes. 19th April to 21st June 1969.

The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe arrive on an unnamed planet. At first believing themselves in the midst of World War I, they realise it to be one of many War Zones overseen by the War Lords, who have kidnapped large numbers of human soldiers in order to create an army to conquer the galaxy. Infiltrating the control base, the Doctor discovers that the War Chief is also a Time Lord. The creeping realisation sets in that the Doctor cannot solve this problem alone, and that his days of wandering may be at an end.

This is the final story for the second incarnation of the Doctor, barring the three one off episodes in the future. It is a shame that at ten episodes it is by far too long and all rather dull because of it. Only at the end when we get our first look at the Times Lords does the interest factor once again come back. Very disappointing.

At the end of the story, when the villainous War Chief and the War Lords have been dealt with by the Time Lords, the Doctor is put on trial for his interference in galactic events. Other than the War Chief and the Monk this is the first time we get a look at the Doctors own people and what they are like. After defending himself in their court, it is decided that he is doing good in the universe and will be sent back in exile to the Earth with no knowledge of how to fly the TARDIS, and the Time Lords force him to regenerate.

As for Zoe and Jaime, they are both sent back to where the Doctor picked them up but the Time Lords wipe their memories of the time they spent with the Doctor. I find this curious as they don't do this to any of his other companions past or future.

Over his time on screen, Patrick Troughton plays a very different Doctor to William Hartnell. I just don't find him a particularly good actor, though he does seem better in later appearances with his future incarnations. Some of it I put down to 1960's production values with black and white television.