Gavin WintersThe War Games: on paper this could have been a disaster. A ten-part epic, four hours long, with no popular antagonists like the Daleks or Cybermen? But it’s paced out perfectly and never feels overlong or like any episode is just filler. A fitting end for Troughton. #DoctorWho
Sydney Newman may have created #DoctorWho, but here Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke start to solidify the mythology of the show and lay the groundwork for, well, everything that comes after. For me, The War Games is the central story around which the whole history of Who pivots.
Carstairs and Lady Jennifer are good supporting characters, who have a slight Ian and Barbara vibe to them. Appropriate as we round off the 1960s. #DoctorWho
Throughout this story Jamie is wearing the black shirt he obviously nicked off Packer’s still-smouldering corpse after the events of The Invasion. What a vulture! 😆 #DoctorWho
The seething, bitchy hatred between the War Chief and Security Chief that escalates throughout The War Games is always very funny to watch. Put your handbags away, gentlemen! #DoctorWho
The first mention of the Time Lords, and in such a casual throwaway manner.
The SIDRATs are also briefly named, without ever expounding on the acronym (Space and Inter-time Directional Robot All-purpose Transporter, nerdy fact-fans!) #DoctorWho
The Time Lords have never, ever, seemed more powerful and godlike than when their arrival is heralded by a howling wind in the cliffhanger to episode nine. #DoctorWho
At least the Time Lords gave the Second Doctor a choice of faces before he regenerated… #DoctorWho
“Oh, he’s too old!”
“Is this the best you can do? I’ve never seen such an incredible bunch!” #DoctorWho
And now for the very worst thing the Time Lords have ever done… ERASING JAMIE AND ZOE’S MEMORIES! 🤬 Oh, and forcibly regenerating the Doctor too of course… #DoctorWho
BASTARDS
The end of Troughton, Jamie and Zoe… and with them the end of the 1960s and the black-and-white era… always feels a bit like the end of the show’s “innocent” era, with things never being quite the same again. 😕
Next up: Colour! Flares! The 70s! #DoctorWho
Spearhead From Space: my eyes! It’s in colour! 😵💫
The whiplash you feel going from B&W telerecordings to this - colour film, in HD on Blu-Ray… and that’s without even mentioning the huge format changes within the show itself. #DoctorWho
Using a trick that would still be done by showrunners decades later, a familiar face (the Brig!) is brought back to ease the transition into the new era.
And what a version of the character this is: intelligent, capable, non-sceptical…if only they’d kept him this way #DoctorWho
It’s often been said, but imagine if Twitter/the internet/organised fandom had been around back then… the outrage over this totally revamped, almost unrecognisable version of the show would have been spectacular. “Pertwee? Not My Doctor!”, etc. #DoctorWho
Pertwee in the hospital shower… the closest we ever come to seeing the Doctor’s arse crack…😵
And the tattoo! I’ll go with the fan-canon that it’s the mark of an exiled Time Lord. 😜 #DoctorWho
That factory premises has only just cleaned up all the dead Cybermen and now it’s littered with deactivated Autons. #DoctorWho
The Silurians: a rare example of them making a bit of effort with cave floor sets and doing them as realistically as possible, given the budget - rocks, dirt, uneven surfaces, even the odd pool of water. Unlike the smooth studio floors you’d sometimes see in the 80s. #DoctorWho
Bit repetitive to have two stories in a row where a husband and wife living in a rustic countryside cottage are threatened by an otherworldly visitor. #DoctorWho
They sort of wrote themselves into a corner with the idea that anyone witnessing a Silurian goes mad and starts drawing palaeolithic cave art. The story couldn’t progress much if that kept happening, so it’s quietly dropped once Liz and Major Baker see them. #DoctorWho
I love Pertwee being a massive pain-in-the-arse to Doctor Quinn as he pokes his nose round his cottage. 😄 #DoctorWho
Peter Miles’ combover in this story is phenomenal in its audacity.
Amazing how it had all miraculously grown back by the time of Genesis Of The Daleks… 👀 #DoctorWho
For the first time, Pertwee’s Doctor claims to be “thousands of years” old. Remembering bits of the Timeless Child era? #DoctorWho
A 53-year-old scene that has no relevance to the modern world at all. Nope. No Siree… #DoctorWho
The scenes of the virus outbreak across London would be impressive in their realism if done in #DoctorWho today, never mind 1970.
When the ticket inspector in the station faints, I still don’t know if those are extras or genuine (bemused) members of the public bustling past him.
The Ambassadors… (TWANG!) …Of Death: (that’s it’s official name, don’t argue.)
This is the epitome of the idea season 7 is a grittier, more adult take on #DoctorWho. So many layers of conspiracy and double-crossing and mystery. Not one to watch and only pay half-attention to.
What’s going on here? Bizarre new TARDIS interior or just a room in UNIT HQ the Doctor’s managed to get the console into? #DoctorWho
The crew of the Space Centre are all wearing quasi-futuristic uniforms, makes it look very Troughton-era.
The Doctor is *fantastically* rude to Cornish when he barges in and arrogantly takes over. Honestly, who could blame Cornish if he told him to go f*** himself! #DoctorWho
They get their money’s worth from the HAVOC stunt team with that brilliant fight scene in episode 1. It’s one thing to see UNIT fighting Cybermen or whatever, but a shootout with grubby 70s thugs in a warehouse makes it look like something from The Sweeney. #DoctorWho
“Simple transmigration of object”, says the Doctor, after making a whole magnetic tape reel magically disappear and re-appear. Why the hell has he never used that skill before… or since?? #DoctorWho
Some good editing in this story, like the creepy reveal of the blue-faced alien to Liz, which is shot like something from a horror film.
And the cliffhanger to episode six, with the quick cuts of Carrington pointing his gun at the Doctor. #DoctorWho
Overall I’ve really enjoyed Ambassadors Of Death on this rewatch. It could maybe lose some of the twists and turns to be a couple of episodes shorter, but there’s an attempt at realism and an attention to detail which you never really get again in later UNIT stories. #DoctorWho
Tom Truszkowski@gavinwinters Ambassadors of Death is definitely one of my favorite UNIT stories. Even in the edited together movie format black & white version I taped off PBS probably 30+ years ago! (Though I have the color DVD now.)