The War Games, Patrick Troughton’s swansong as The Doctor, has had a re-edit. The vintage Doctor Who favourite is heading to iPlayer.
One of the most intriguing projects to emerge from Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary celebrations last year was the colourisation of the second ever serial The Daleks, which was re-edited down from six episodes to a 75 minute feature. The show split opinion amongst hardcore fans, but the general consensus seemed to be anything that encourages new and younger viewers to engage with classic Doctor Who should be encouraged.
Here we are at the 61st anniversary, and the BBC has announced that The War Games has been given the same treatment.
Patrick Troughton’s swansong runs to a whopping ten episodes at a total length of 250 minutes, written by Malcolm Hulke and Terrance Dicks.
The new colourisation has edited the story down to a tight 90 minute feature. The synopsis reads as follows:
Originally aired in 1969, The War Games marked the end of an era for the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton), following him and his companions Zoe and Jamie as they land in a battlefield that appears to be a World War I military zone—but all is not as it seems. They soon discover that soldiers from different historical periods have been abducted and are being manipulated in a cruel game. As they work to uncover the mystery behind the War Lord and his twisted experiments, the Doctor faces one of his most difficult challenges.
Read more: Doctor Who in the 1960s | The William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton years
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the new production is this nugget of information:
The episode will also feature the Second Doctor’s never-before-seen regeneration into the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee).
Quite how this has been achieved has not yet been revealed, although the press release does say that there will be “recovered footage not seen since the original broadcast”. Is there brand new regeneration footage never seen? Has it been done using AI? Or, and this is admittedly the most unlikely scenario, have they gone the Adventure In Space And Time route, Reece Shearsmith regenerating into Mark Gatiss?
We won’t have long to wait to find out. The War Games will be broadcast on BBC Four on 23rd December before being available as part of the Whoniverse collection on BBC iPlayer.
Watch the trailer below:
