250 The War Games: Episode Seven

EPISODE: The War Games: Episode Seven
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 250
STORY NUMBER: 050
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 31 May 1969
WRITER: Malcolm Hulke & Terrance Dicks
DIRECTOR: David Maloney
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Derrick Sherwin
RATINGS: 4.9 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who: The War Games

"You've caused me a great deal of trouble and embarrassment. Now, I'm afraid, you're going to pay for it with your life!"

Welcome to the Two Hundred and Fiftieth episode of Doctor Who !

The Doctor emerges from the Capsule surrendering, but then throws a smoke bomb, releases the capsule & it's dimensions and returns to the Capsule. Using the stolen control keys he dematerialises the capsule. The War Chief attempts to track the capsule, which he terms a SIDRAT when an alarm sounds informing them of the War Lord's arrival. The War Lord questions the Security Chief on the difficulty while the War Lord admits that's the resistance stole the processing machine. The Doctor, Jamie & Carstairs arrive in the Roman Zone where they were attacked and flee into the time zone barrier. The Security Chief wants to send guards, but the War Chief objects. They argue over the Doctor and his companions with the Security Chief accusing him of plotting to betray them. The War Lord tells them to stop bickering. The Doctor and friends walk into the 1917 zone where they are sighted by sentries which is reported to General Smythe who has a nearby machine gun emplacement fire on them. They are captured by troops and taken to the General's HQ where he sends the Doctor to a firing squad. The War Chief is angry with him and wants to know where the machine has gone. They are rescued by Zoe and the resistance. General Smythe attempts to flee but is killed. The Doctor gains access to the controls for the Zone. The War Lord orders the local Soldiers to attack the château. Using the control system the Doctor places a time zone barrier around the château. The War Lord berates both his underlings and takes personal charge.

Using the captured processing machine the Doctor successfully deprograms a captive prisoner, Du Pont. A SIDRAT materialises in Smythe's room. Guards exit shooting some of the resistance and seizing the Doctor and the machine before dematerialising.

I suppose it's a problem stringing a story out to ten episodes to then have your villains always winning but right up until the end of this episode the aliens are looking a pretty incompetent bunch with their two leaders bickering and at each others throats.

SECURITY CHIEF: Can't you stop them?
WAR CHIEF: He's locked off the controls and taken the master circuit rods. What an ingenious fellow he is.
SECURITY CHIEF: His ingenuity could ruin everything. Alert all time zones!
WAR CHIEF: I suggest we pay particular attention to the 1917 zone.
SECURITY CHIEF: Is that where they are going?
WAR CHIEF: I can't tell for sure. These master circuit rods could guide the machine to any one of the time zones.

So the Doctor's got into control, freed a load of prisoners, nicked the reprocessing machine and done a runner in one of their own travel capsules which he seems to operate very, VERY easily!

JAMIE: Well, where are we going, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Anywhere but the 1917 zone, Jamie.
JAMIE: Are we not going back to Zoe and the Tardis?
DOCTOR: Yes, eventually, but not just now. That's where they'll be looking for us.
CARSTAIRS: What are we going to do then, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Well, we'll go into one of the nearby zones and cross the time zone barrier on foot. Oh! Ah, yes, here we are.

Needless to say that hasn't helped things between the War Chief and the Security Chief:

SECURITY CHIEF: Haven't you traced them yet?
WAR CHIEF: It's impossible to pick them up when the SIDRAT is still moving. I'll pinpoint their position the moment it lands.
SECURITY CHIEF: All time zones are ready to hunt them down as soon as you provide the necessary information.

That's SIDRAT, pronounced Side Rat. SIDRAT is TARDIS spelt backwards.....

JAMIE: Its taking its time, isn't it?
DOCTOR: Yes, Jamie. I probably confused the controls readjusting them in space, in
CARSTAIRS: You've no idea which zone we're going to land in, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Well, no, not really, no.
JAMIE: Oh, just like the Tardis, eh?

They'll get to where they're going with this plot thread eventually, honest they will!

Unfortunately when it couldn't get any worse for the Chiefs, that's just what happens!

SECURITY CHIEF: The War Lord is arriving from the home planet.
WAR CHIEF: He's chosen rather an inconvenient time.
SECURITY CHIEF: I shall go and receive him.
WAR CHIEF: No, I'll receive him. You stay here and supervise the capture of that resistance group.
SECURITY CHIEF: The war Lord will expect me!
WAR CHIEF: The War Lord will expect everything to be running smoothly and under control, which, at the moment it isn't.
SECURITY CHIEF: Keep your eyes on the operations maps! I want to know the moment that capsule arrives in a time zone.

Their boss, the previously unseen War Lord arrives!

WAR LORD: So my information is correct. I've heard disquieting rumours of serious trouble here. Are they true?
SECURITY CHIEF: There have been temporary difficulties.
WAR LORD: But they have been overcome?
SECURITY CHIEF: Almost.
WAR LORD: War Chief. The defective processing machinery, has it been rectified?
WAR CHIEF: Your scientists did get effective machines, but
WAR LORD: But what?
WAR CHIEF: Unfortunately, it was removed by an intruding party of resistance men.
WAR LORD: They penetrated the control area? They just walked in? How?
SECURITY CHIEF: I have the situation under control, War Lord. It is only a matter of time before they are recaptured.
WAR LORD: Then I hope that time is on your side.

The War Lord is played by Philip Madoc, who makes a truly sinister villain.

Earlier this season he'd appeared in David Maloney's The Krotons where he played Eelek.

He's remembered for playing Doctor Solon in The Brain of Morbius but I think the War Lord is probably his best role. He also has a less prominent role as Fenner in the Power of Kroll.

Prior to his first appearance in the TV series he's been in Daleks - Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D., the second Doctor Who film, as Brockley and one of my earliest Doctor Who memories is of him being exterminated in the shed.

He's been in loads of television including UFO as Straker's ex wife's new partner in A Question Of Priorities and the first episode of Space: 1999, Breakaway, as Koenig's predecessor Commander Gorski. I recently saw him in Midsomer Murders playing Barnaby's former (Welsh) DCI in The Axeman Cometh, a barking episode involving a rock group. But not half as barking as Country Matters is! Those are just the ones off the top of my head: checking IMDB also found me an Out of This World, as George Mathias in Target Generation, five roles in The Avengers, another UFO as Captain Steven in Destruction, The Sweeney as Det. Supt. Pettiford in Golden Fleece, Porridge as Williams in Disturbing the Peace and Survivors as Max Kershaw in The Chosen.

He's got a talent for playing German officers and in this role he can be seen in one of the most repeated clips on television. He plays the commanding officer of the U-Boat crew captured by the Walmington-on-Sea home guard in the Dad's Army episode "The Deadly Attachment".

A special feature about Philip Madoc's career can be found on the Power of Kroll disc in the Key To Time DVD boxset. He died on 5th March 2012.

WAR CHIEF: They're escaping again. Moving back to the time zone barrier. Our processed Roman legions won't be able to follow them there.
SECURITY CHIEF: Then we will send in my security guards from the control centre.
WAR CHIEF: No, not again. We are carrying out a delicately controlled operation. The presence of guards in the time zones could stretch he credulity of the processed humans. It would be most dangerous.
SECURITY CHIEF: It will be even more dangerous if we allow this Doctor to remain alive.
WAR CHIEF: Have you looked for this space time machine of theirs?
SECURITY CHIEF: What use is that to us?
WAR CHIEF: They will no doubt try to return to it. That's where we should be looking for them. It's a simple enough conclusion. You might even have reached it yourself.
SECURITY CHIEF: I have reached a number of conclusions about you and about this man, the Doctor.
WAR CHIEF: Indeed? Then perhaps you'd like to share them with us?
SECURITY CHIEF: This Doctor arrived here on this planet we have chosen for the war games. He brought with him companions who have not been subjected to our mental processing.
WAR CHIEF: A fact you tried to conceal.
SECURITY CHIEF: They came in a space time machine. The secret of space time travel is known only to you and to your people.
WAR CHIEF: And I brought that secret here.
SECURITY CHIEF: You have shown us how to operate these machines, but not how to construct them. These people were summoned by one who is in league with his own kind, plotting to betray us!
WAR CHIEF: You cannot produce one single atom of proof!
SECURITY CHIEF: The accumulation of evidence is overwhelming!
WAR LORD: That's enough! That's enough from both of you. Now, I am tired of this eternal bickering. Your inability to work together is endangering our whole plan. You have a choice. Co-operate or be replaced.

The War Lord's patience with his bickering underlings doesn't last long:

SECURITY CHIEF: So much for your armies of processed humans.
WAR CHIEF: Smythe should have destroyed the machine.
SECURITY CHIEF: We should have sent in my security guards.
WAR CHIEF: And ruin the entire experiment?
WAR LORD: The Security Chief is right. You have failed. And your leadership of the security forces has hardly been spectacularly successful. I will take charge of the whole situation. Now listen carefully, this is what I plan to do.

With that their superior steps in, takes charge and suddenly everything goes swimmingly. The Doctor is captured and the machine retrieved.

A couple more familiar faces here: Since we're back in the 1917 zone General Smythe, played by Noel Coleman, returns. He was in the first three episodes of the story and is unseen since. He's accompanied by Sgt. Major Burns, played by Esmond Webb, who was in the first episode.

SMYTHE: You've caused me a great deal of trouble.
DOCTOR: Good, I'm very glad to hear it. I suppose you're going to subject us to another one of your farcical courts martial?
SMYTHE: In your case, that won't be necessary. You have already been condemned to death.
DOCTOR: And what about my friends?
SMYTHE: They will be given the chance to redeem themselves, in the most dangerous sector of the front line.
DOCTOR: After some more of your mental processing, I suppose?
SMYTHE: They will have the opportunity of making the supreme sacrifice for their King and country.
CARSTAIRS: You can drop all that nonsense. We know what's going on.
SMYTHE: Do you, Carstairs?
CARSTAIRS: Yes. This isn't the war. We're not even on our own planet. Do you realise that, Sergeant Major? This General of yours isn't even a human being.
SMYTHE: The prisoner is delirious, Sergeant Major. He's talking nonsense.
BURNS: Yes, sir, delirious, sir. Talking nonsense, sir.
CARSTAIRS: Listen to me, Sergeant Major!
SMYTHE: It's no use, Carstairs. Nothing you say will have any effect. Sergeant Major, prepare a firing squad.
BURNS: Sir! DOCTOR: Do you have the authority to have me killed?
SMYTHE: I don't need any authority.
DOCTOR: Your alien superiors will want to question me.
SMYTHE: You've caused me a great deal of trouble and embarrassment. Now, I'm afraid, you're going to pay for it with your life!
DOCTOR: So you're simply being malicious!
SMYTHE: Revenge can be very satisfying.
BURNS: Firing party ready, sir!
SMYTHE: Take him away!

Smythe's attempts to have his revenge on The Doctor, even claiming he's dead before the firing squad do their job, don't go well with his superiors though:

SMYTHE: Smythe, 1917 zone. I have recaptured three of the escaped prisoners.
WAR CHIEF: Excellent! I want them sent here immediately.
SMYTHE: Unfortunately one of them is already dead.
WAR CHIEF: Which one?
SMYTHE: The one that calls himself the Doctor. He was shot trying to escape.
WAR CHIEF: Did you recover the machine?
SMYTHE: Machine?
WAR CHIEF: Didn't you receive your instructions? They took with them the new processing machine. It must be recovered!
SMYTHE: Yes, of course I will.
WAR CHIEF: Don't fail us, Smythe. The War Lord is here and he doesn't like failures.

He meets his end shortly after, but the fate of Sgt Major Burns goes unrecorded. There's no sign at all of Hubert Rees' Captain Ransom, also seen in the 1917 segments in earlier episodes. Sent to the front line as punishment for his part in The Doctor & company's escape?

The reprogrammed soldier Du Pont is Peter Craze, formerly of The Space Museum (I know you've tried your best to forget it) and brother of actor Michael Craze, who played former companion Able Seaman Ben Jackson in the late First Doctor & early Second Doctor stories. He would make a further appearance in the series in The Nightmare of Eden as Costa plus two Blake's 7 appearances as Prell in Seek-Locate-Destroy and Servalan's Assistant in Sand. He's also in The Professionals episode Heroes as the Security Man.

Derek Calder plays an Alien Technician / British Soldier in this episode and returns as a Time Lord Technician in episode 10. He was previously Scientist Pete Baker in The Moonbase. By an odd coincidence Resistance Man Robin Scott was also in The Moonbase playing Scientist Charlie Wise! Another Resistance Man Joe Santo returns for Warriors' Gate as a Tharil and also appears in the Blake's 7 episode Deliverance as a Scavenger. IMDB thinks he appears 4 times in Doomwatch playing a man in The Islanders, In the Dark, High Mountain & Enquiry. He goes on to appear in Moonbase 3 as José in View of a Dead Planet and Fawlty Towers as the Laundry Van Driver's Mate in The Kipper and the Corpse.

British Soldier Tony Starr later becomes a Dalek Operator in Planet of the Daleks (are you sure IMDB?), Resurrection of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks & Remembrance of the Daleks. Finally Machine Gunner Hein Viljoen is in UFO as SHADO Mobile 1 Personnel in Computer Affair