The Doctor Summons the Time Lords | The War Games | Doctor Who

The TARDIS arrives on a planet where a race known only as the Aliens have gathered soldiers from a number of different wars in Earth's history, brainwashed them and put them to battle. Subscribe: bbc.in/Subscri...
Their aim is to form an invincible army from the survivors and use this to take over the galaxy.
Classic clip from The War Games, first shown in 1969.
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[@jaycie586]

The War Chief's reaction is chilling, really makes the Time Lords seem like such an imposing, almost terrifying force

[@jarredstuart6943]

2nd doctor is so much fun, shame that most episodes are lost

[@drwhokid4129]

I. Anger

[@riderfan215]

jarred stuart I know. Ben and Polly are the companions I'm most interested in and there's almost nothing of them left

[@riderfan215]

Yeah, and Ben and Polly got the worst of it

[@Alpha121198]

MaddoxProductions1 I hope one day they manage to get most of them back together.

[@crispendaysh3401]

jarred stuart i

[@StainedGlassDemon]

The War Games is one of my favorite Doctor Who stories. So much brilliance and even at 10 episodes it rarely feels like it drags on. Episodes 9 and 10 gave me chills.

[@Ditto-js1or]

Imagine how annoying it must be to be a timelord and get constant messages that the doctor has messed up bad

[@its-morbintime]

"Oh tell me about it, here I am in the middle of my lunch break when all of a sudden I get a phone call from The Doctor saying The TARDIS has accidentally exploded and now he's in a world of fiction being hunted by Medusa heads and evil superheroes and the only help he's got was from Rapunzel and Gulliver from Gulliver's Travels and can we help him out...I hate Thursdays" (for those that have no idea what I'm talking about, watch The Mind Robber).

[@charliegamage8862]

MaddoxProductions1 I had one asking me for some help on.....*looks at a note book* mares ... I don't know what to do with him... give him his help or just give him a samwitch and a cup of tea he likes

[@iceoriental123]

Imagine what it must be like now, after the War. "Hello, this is Gallifrey. What, the Doctor? Mondas? And the Master? Alright, we'll get help." "The Doctor's issues again?" "Yeah, we got to send in the Celestial Intervention Agency to fix the issue." "Uhh...the Agency was destroyed by us in the Time War." "Darn. Well, let's use the Web of Time to rectify the situation then!" "The Web of Time is nearly totally destroyed. They've given the order. The Web of Time must be repaired before any usage of it can be allowed." "Maybe we can get a BattleTARDIS or WarTARDIS out to sort the issue?" "Umm...they've all been destroyed in the Time War." "Then what can we do?" "I dunno. Get a drink maybe?" "Alright."

[@MrPaulmorris7777]

Yeah, one message, how annoying.

[@DarthRushy]

Has anyone else noticed how connected the Hartnell and Troughton incarnations are? Troughton's frightened and moody behavior in this story is a nice subtle hint towards his earlier self. The haughty, self-important Time Lords here seem to be the origin of the First Doctor's behavior. The contrast between the mellowed Second Doctor and the Time Lords is just amazing. Great story.

[@Alpha121198]

DarthRushy That's kind of what I love about the First Doctor. When Ian and Barbara first entered the TARDIS they were on the presence of a very different man, by the end of his first incarnation he was a drastically changed individual (before regeneration). His compassion passed on to his subsequent selves, and I love him for that! If I had to rank Doctors from favorite to least favorite I know Hartnell's Dr. Who would be in the top 5.

[@DarthRushy]

Alpha121198 I know, right?! The First Doctor is basically a traditional, if slightly(and increasingly) eccentric Time Lord, someone you can actually imagine growing up on Gallifrey. Hartnell is immensely underappreciated.

[@p.a.wholock6532]

That's really interesting as I was just about to comment how connected/similar Troughton's incarnation was to the THIRD Doctor- They really did a great job connecting all the Doctors from one to the next, maintaining that he was still the same man.

[@redjirachi1]

They're only one regeneration apart, after all. 2's the first to have experienced a change

[@porschefoster999]

Hartnell and Troughton are my favourites

[@DarthRushy]

The cliffhanger to this episode was just brilliant. "We must get away!" - The Second Doctor.

[@MIMadDogsHC]

it's so cool to see that even nearly 50 years ago and the story hadn't been as developed as now, it is still feels like it could air today.

[@KimPossibleShockwave]

The Timelords back then were basically eldritch-like. It's when they were began to be fleshed out during Pertwee's run that they became more familiar.

[@zacmumblethunder7466]

@@KimPossibleShockwave Deadly Assassin ruined them for me. All mystery, all dignity gone. Just a bunch of bickering middle management types with dustbin lid collars.

[@KimPossibleShockwave]

@@zacmumblethunder7466 Yeah, it was a bit of a jarring design direction change.

[@thunderspark1536]

@@zacmumblethunder7466 Honestly that's how most of the richest and strongest are. Arrogant dumbasses who coaxed there through family ties. Look at elon musk for example.

[@m4str8brun50]

@@zacmumblethunder7466 I agree, although I think Lawrence Miles adjusted this in the books, so much so that I prefer to believe that for us they are like that, but for the other Dimensions, they are Observing Gods who know everything, Unconsciously or not. (This explains how in the books they are so mystical and grand, while on TV they are so idiotic, corrupt and political. They are different perspectives of the same People, Which cannot be seen with a single perception or interpretation of them, as they are much greater than our perceptions)

[@ironjoker101]

"It's a box, Jaimie."

[@yuria_nihilisten]

"I know, I can see that."

[@parallian9563]

@@yuria_nihilisten "It's very special sort of box it now contains all the information what's been going on here and an appeal for help"

[@FeralWarmonger]

@@parallian9563 "Help? Who from?"

[@TheMoonRover]

@@FeralWarmonger "The Time Lords?"

[@darkspyro3671]

@@TheMoonRover "Yes Zoe"

[@f1since08]

0:28 Such a heartbreaking turn from the Doctor to face Jamie and Zoe, knowing his time with them is over.

[@scrmepal]

The Troughton era was a great period in DW history...........and it is truly tragic that some of the best stories will probably never be found in ther entirety. I also never understood why the BBC never recorded the Troughton era in colour as well.....i mean ITV were recording all their top shows in colour from the mid 60's.

[@Alpha121198]

scrmepal I couldn't care less about the color, but if I had a genie you bet I'd wish all of the missing Doctor Who episodes were recovered.

[@AubreySciFi]

I imagine it was money concerns that caused the wait for Who to go to color in the 70's. The 1960's color shows on ITV were higher budgeted productions shot totally on film, and BBC was still doing the Film for location and video in studio deal which they continued right through the 70's even after they switched to color.

[@MoniqueFromPlymouth]

@@AubreySciFi | I think the BBC themselves did not go to color until 1970, maybe 1969 at the earliest. I always thought the film for location, video in studio style was an odd way to make a show. When they made "Spearhead from Space" using all-film, that would have been the move to make for Who to leave videotape behind. Even in the '80s they could have done all-film starting with Season 17 when John Nathan-Turner did his full makeover for the show.

[@vullord666]

Honestly, I preferred it in black and white. Early color tv just looks... worse (to me). When the technology for high definition tv just wasn’t there, being able to see less details made for a better experience for me. Plus everything in black and white just has this certain charm that went away with color. The OG twilight zone just wouldn’t be as good if the episodes were filmed in color, even if it was with today’s definition and quality (btw there’s a free hint for CBS the next time they want to try and recreate the shows original success).

[@TheSuperbigben10]

The doctor knew he wouldn't win and the time lords would finally get him it's the defeatist attitude that Patrick troughton did brilliantly in this story

[@SantomPh]

the War Chief looks more Master-like than the Master

[@AlchemistOfNirnroot]

He isn't the Master, but as someone mentioned he could be the Time Meddler.

[@rmilrta]

But some people say the Monk could be the Master.

[@craigevans4694]

He was part of the Deca,that little group at the academy.Funny most of them ended up as renegades.

[@danielwilliamson6180]

The War Chief is just another Time Lord.

[@fellowcitizen]

The War Che

[@TakeNoteOfThat]

The terror the Time Lords invoke in the War Chief just highlights the sacrifice Two makes. Just to get people home.

[@MaddoxProductions1]

I love Season 6, but I can never really bring myself to rewatch it. Just seeing Jamie and Zoe together and having so much fun with the Doctor makes me sad that they would soon have their memory erased of almost all of it.

[@raydarable]

If you count the comics and Big Finish, they do regain their memory.

[@samsummers664]

Just listen to fear to of the daleks

[@SantomPh]

the erasure was not permanent- the Sixth Doctor actually has an adventure with him

[@raydarable]

@Jerry D. Metz Good point.

[@Joey15811]

​@@raydarabletales of the tardis which RTD confirmed is cannon

[@TheZacrificer]

1:34 is that like the time lord box thingy in the doctor's wife ("I've got mail!")

[@TheCursedMoonWolf]

+Lord Lister1106 It's the same thing from the Doctor's Wife. They reused the idea from the War Games.

[@mcmadnessgaming9796]

1:03 First Time The Word "Time Lord" is mentioned in all of Doctor Who

[@mcmadnessgaming9796]

1:01

[@Ocsttiac]

Not true. It's used by one of the war scientists in Episode 6 of this serial, 3 episodes prior.

[@IG7799-c4u]

I don't think they used the word 'Time Lord' though.

[@mr.barcode3186]

Yes they did. The security chief and that scientist guy were talking about how the Doctor had turned up on their planet, and the scientist said: "Are you suggesting he's bringing in his own people, the Time Lords?" That is the first time the phrase 'Time Lord' is mentioned. But in all honesty I wish they'd kept the name reveal for this scene. It's just so much more powerful to hear the Doctor say it.

[@IG7799-c4u]

Just re-watched it, and it seems you're correct. And yeah, I think the reveal would have worked best here, instead of just casually using the word like in the scientists case.

[@ma22hewb74]

Wow. Still holds up now!

[@Nejidabest]

Gosh the more clips I see the more I want to watch all the Classic Doctors

[@Alpha121198]

Thien Thuan Tran And it sucks because of how much of Hartnell's and Troughton's runs are missing!

[@deuce5546]

(Palpatine voice) Dew it

[@zacmumblethunder7466]

@Yeah Boi The audios are excellent.

[@TakeNoteOfThat]

The show lasted 26 years initially for a reason. The classic Doctors are aces

[@CastellanSpandex]

"It's a box, Jamie." Hilarious! I could watch Troughton read shopping lists and never get bored. Wonderful!

[@johngurnhill4633]

I am glad this isn't missing episode great episode

[@DrZaius75]

The picture quality on this video is incredible. Good job to whoever handled the transfer.

[@DoctorRedivivus]

Just like the Monk the War Chief reveals something about the Doctor himself as a person who doesn't wish to conform to the norms of Time Lord society. In his first recorded adventure, in his first incarnation, the Doctor wasn't really interested in helping others, only in satisfying his own wish to explore the universe on own his terms. It's his prolonged exposure to human contact that slowly changes him into someone who 'makes people better'.

[@bowtiesarecool91011]

Actually, he got into the Second Doctor while watching The Tomb of the Cybermen sometime AFTER he was cast as the Eleventh Doctor. He called Steven Moffat in the middle of the night to rave about it, and it is what inspired his costume, particularly the bow tie.

[@geistycat4532]

I re-watched this the other day. It really is a superb story. Particular shout out to Philip Madoc's performance as the War Lord too. Sometimes Doctor Who does get some dodgy extras and leads, but Madoc's War Lord is genuinely one of the most stand-out guest performances in the show's history in my opinion. Absolutely nailed the character and stole every scene he was in.

[@danielredmond6101]

+Geisty Cat He was adept as Solon in The Brain of Morbius too.

[@geistycat4532]

+Daniel Redmond Yep. Another good performance. He was on fire in this one, though. The character was so much better for being understated and played straight too. The War Games with a big bad ya boo villain or even a gentleman villain like Kevin Stoney would not have worked as well.

[@Inthatgoodway]

it mentions the timelords for the first time. I took a break halfway through david tennants doctor to go back to the original stories. made me appreciate the doctor so much more

[@rassilontdavros3004]

I'm about to start watching this story for the first time tonight. Madoc's always a good sign- loved him as Solon in Morbius. He really should've been the Master at some point, and when I first watched Morbius my mother kept asking if I was sure Solon wasn't him. And speaking of who is and who isn't the Master, let the War Chief Identity Debate begin!

[@geistycat4532]

RassilonTDavros Hope you enjoy it! I honestly think it's my #1 serial. It's certainly in my top 5. :3

[@donmccullen1973]

Well he did not summon the Time Lords...just yet. He only created the physic box that contains his report for the Time Lords. Still love how the box starts out as sorts flat cards.

[@tomnorton4277]

The Time Lords lose their menace after this story but I don't think that's a bad thing. It's a never meet your heroes (or villains) situation and to be fair, Timothy Dalton brought back some of that menace when he played Rassilon in the revived series.

[@jplegend98]

If argue they still have the mystique and menace in the 3 doctors amd genisis of the daleks. Its the deadly assasin where they lose it for me.

[@plantainsame2049]

I mean, am I opinion these guys Aren't all that menacing take away their technology And they looked like they regenerate From a stiff breeze

[@travisoliver6741]

​​@@plantainsame2049The real problem of the Time Lords, and indeed all of Doctor Who, is that the show has pretty much always had a budget of five dollars and some shoestring. No one looks as intimidating as their actual concepts and intentions are. The Time Lords are higher-dimensional beings that are immune to temporal shenanigans, can perceive beings like Cthulhu and Yog-Sothoth, have brains like a hyperspace, can catch things going at infinite speeds, have true forms that look like Astel from Elden Ring, and a half a hundred other weird traits. A pretty famous point made by RTD is that the show could have an unlimited budget, and the Time War would never look like how he wanted it to. _Gods and Monsters_ has an amazing dialogue between the Doctor and Fenric, showcasing the scale these figures operate at: _Fenric: I told you, we are in hell. Your future, your present, your past, your time is meaningless, Time Lord. Look out of my keep and you will see in the sky red, red, because the stars in the newborn sky are so close together that there is neither day or night._ _Doctor: What do you mean, newborn? How far back are we?_ _Fenric: To me, Doctor, your universe is less than a millionth of a second old. In the blink of my undying eye it will be the burst bubble. All of your future, all of your past, the whole of your reality, we Elder Gods perceive it as no more than you perceive a single speck of dust. To us your everything is nothing. There is nothing here… _*_but_*_ us._ Do note that the Doctor defeats Fenric, and has done it several times. How exactly are you supposed to portray something like this in any meaningful way?

[@TheOnComingStorm121]

See... This annoys me for one simple reason. Why were the Time Lords never as intimidating as they were in this story. After War Games with each appearance they became less and less powerful and threatening. Personally I wish they'd kept the Doctor constantly on the run from the Time Lords, that've been much more interesting than him constantly going back to Gallifrey to do odd jobs for them.

[@aronpuma5962]

Well, you'll have to ask Robert Holmes. He wrote The Deadly Assassin, which is the biggest show of Gallifreyan culture we have (not including the Trial of a Timelord arc, which... well, it was envisioned by Robert Holmes, though he died in the middle of it, and well, that is one of the biggest messes and debatablely the worst season in Doctor Who history)

[@jplegend98]

Aron puma the big finnish audios expecially the earlyer ones do a great job at making the time lords a threat again (for the most part)

[@Jotari]

I'm pretty cool with the Time Lords devolving in later series. It's made very clear that the power is all still there, it just isn't used due to social stagnation which is a very believable thing. Plus in general there's more plots you can get out of it. An all powerful and intimidating force is certainly a nice thing and I'm very glad it's the way they were depicted here, but I just feel like it would struggle to maintain an interesting existence in a show that ended up running for decades.

[@michaelmartin1644]

I Agree this really annoys me to see the time lords so weak in the new series using guns and acting like stupid soldiers, i like them when they looked like goth people, people that had so much power they swore not to interfere and only watch from the distance.

[@riderfan215]

End of Time Rassilon is pretty terrifying.

[@2930hardy]

The time lord was intimidating and powerful in this story. Look at what happened to the war lord and his men. They was erased out of existence by the time lord at the end of this story

[@Joey15811]

They were time locked before that was a thing and it was asif they never existed

[@stephenmurphy2212]

One of those little boxes appeared in The Doctor's Wife, am I right?

[@tvguideondemand]

*Clap* *clap* *clap*

[@HomicidalPandaHD]

Stephen Murphy WAS THAT WHAT IT WAS? :O

[@rmilrta]

Yes.

[@ken9691]

S

[@Iangardner09]

Yes.

[@MrSimplydashing]

They used the same box idea in the Doctor's Wife, cool!

[@aronpuma5962]

Not just the same box idea, they are hypercubes, it is the same technology. Neil Gaiman when writing the Doctor's Wife did his homework.

[@Futures_End]

I want the job where watching Doctor Who is 'homework'

[@Chrisindapurplehouse]

I do! Can you imagine? "Tonight your assignment is to watch at least five of the best episodes of Doctor Who and tomorrow you have to talk about what you watched around the watercooler. No excuses this time, like a werewolf ate the Doctor."

[@lesigh1749]

You know he could have waited until he was back at the TARDIS, sat right outside the door and done this, and then escaped before they arrived. But no, he calls the Time Lords 10 minutes and several miles away, and only just gets caught in the last twenty yards before he reaches his ship. Silly doctor.

[@EditedAF987]

Even if he did that, the Timelords would probably still track him down due to them knowing where he had just been. Remember, the 1st Doctor was extremely panicked about letting Ian and Barbara go because he was worried that they would talk about him to someone, so maybe all the Timelords would need was just a record of where he had last been and then they could trace his steps and catch up to him.

[@lesigh1749]

@@EditedAF987 Well possibl;y, but it would have at least given him a better head start.

[@azurerainbow4637]

The Doctor had to call the Time Lords asking them to help him return so many soldiers from Earth's different time zones back to where they belong. He's not powerful enough to do it alone & he had to risk being sent home by them to face for interfering in the Universe's affairs.

[@lepimond4605]

Of course he wasn't powerful enough to do that, he didn't even know how to fly the TARDIS to your needed destination back in the time

[@fireflygaming8764]

Not only home, but the full on threat of getting wiped from existence.

[@crazinventorirl]

I appreciate the era where he was just a regular guy.

[@TakeNoteOfThat]

For the first time, the Doctor couldn’t just defeat the baddie and nip off quietly in the TARDIS. He was finally brought to “justice” when he first accepted responsibility for the aftermath.

[@finewinematt]

Incredible serial! Maybe my favorite Doctor Who story.

[@brichards71993]

i agree. i usually don't like the really long ones. the invasion was pretty good but i didn't like the daleks' master plan at all. to be fair it's probably because of the 9 missing episodes, but this one was really good.

[@PaulMichaels2010]

Pat was amazing

[@nerox2006x]

I always thought the War Chief, was the Master..... It seems that the Master was modeled after him....

[@azurerainbow4637]

The Doctor never thought to see the day when he had to tell people outside his own planet that he‘s a Time Lord when he had to call them for help sending many soldiers from Earth‘s different times back because it was too difficult for him to do it alone.

[@bluestripetiger]

What wonderful quality on this clip---the black and white looks sharp not washed out or soft/blurry, there is a clear distinction between black,white,and shades of gray. In addition there are no artifacts such as small scratches etc. Years ago when i watched the few complete black and white eps of the 1st and 2nd docs on public television the eps did not look this nice.It looks to me as if this clip was remastered. I would gladly buy a bbc bluray box set of existing complete hartnell/troughton adventures if the episodes looked as good as this clip.

[@pacitticlubjohnny2238]

this is when the timelords were actually cool

[@IG7799-c4u]

When they were actually impressive visually and mentally. You can really get a sense of their power in Episode 9 & 10 of this story. They don't get a better appearance to date! Which is bloody ridiculous. Goes to show you don't need big guns or weaponry to seem intimidating.

[@travisoliver6741]

​@Valdaur I feel like people sleep on the Time Lords as portrayed in the Three Doctors. Omega, through his own will, controlled a literal antimatter Universe despite not existing as anything more than his will. He also seemed confident enough that the Doctor, who by this point was portrayed as just a standard Time Lord, could do the same thing as him (Although he wasn't aware of the corrosion). When we cut to the actual Time Lord command, they are basically staving off the destruction of the Universe by Omega, and they have enough juice to break the laws of time to bring multiple Doctors together. The War Games is their best portrayal simply because of how mysterious they were, and how dominant their position was. But the Three Doctors, especially with context from later stories, showcased their power even in times of crisis.

[@YasonYou]

Patrick was such a good actor

[@stephenhall6595]

The War Chief said to the Doctor you may have changed your appearance but I still know who you are. The War Chief had of course met the Doctor before when the Doctor was in his Original Hartnell Body.

[@johntaylor6345]

Currently watching the war games on DVD in black and white. I've just finished watching episode 6 and spotted Patrick Troughton's son David Troughton who plays Moor in the story. I'm wondering if he will appear in the colour version on December 23rd ?

[@cort_tempered]

"It's a box, Jamie" Stupidly hilarious lol

[@MrPonytron]

Troughton was so wonderful

[@aerelyamirart]

Jamie: What is that? Doctor: It's a box, Jamie. Jamie: I know that. Doctor: It's a special kind of box. xD

[@Xehanort4]

Many have even theorized that the War Chief might be a past incarnation of the Master.

[@Zoras88]

Everyone's the same when they have to ask their parents for help.

[@azurerainbow4637]

It took a long time for the Doctor to tell traveling companions outside his own race to tell them that he's a Time Lord.

[@illuminatusds]

I love the fact that the War Chief is also Mr Meaker form Rentaghost. That just kills me every time. I half expect Timothy Claypole to turn up at any second

[@LaurenceDavidJones]

War Lord, War Chief..and now maybe, the Minister of War mentioned in Before The Flood?

[@Eltonlaleham]

+Laurie Jones A shame Pat neve rhad a proper regeneration scene

[@Luke63517]

"It's a box Jamie" The 2nd doctor's personality summed up in four words.

[@CammojoDragon97]

Troughton was a fab doctor, you can see why Matt Smith's performance was inspired by him

[@SuperHitman55]

Patrick Troughton is my favourite class Doctor, and Matt Smith is my favourite new Who Doctor

[@azurerainbow4637]

The Doctor had felt some more strain later when he had to send the box to the Time Lords about the War Lord who kidnapped soldiers from diferent wars in Earth‘s history with the War Chief‘s aid and knew that his people will know his location and take him home to stand trial after returning the kidnapped soldiers back to their own times on Earth.

[@Eltonlaleham]

This story could have been the finale of Dr Who, at one point and had that been the case Dr Who would never have gone into colour and I would never have seen Dr Who.

[@mauricehayden8835]

You hardly think this is where the idea of a stasis cube came from?

[@CallumMcPherson]

Patrick Troughton is so much like Matt Smith in this scene. Or rather, Matt Smith is so much like Patrick Troughton! I could imagine this scene - the dialogue, the line delivery - unfolding in pretty much exactly the same way with the Eleventh Doctor.

[@geoffolehane]

This is one of my favorite Dr. Who scenes.

[@MoopyHedgehog]

god these clips kill me ;__; now i want to see the rest of the episode

[@realMrVent]

Two is one of my favorite doctors. He had more humor and understanding than One, he met the Cybermen and he wasn't as ruthless as One.

[@TakeNoteOfThat]

What? Two: tried to kill, not defeat, the Great Intelligence. He destroyed an entire fleet of Ice Warriors. He engineered a Dalek civil war to destroy them for good. He basically told Tobias Vaughn that yes, you’re probably gonna be executed once this is Cybermen thing is all over, but suck it up…He allowed his friends to think he was a ruthless, murderous dictator, and interrogated them for several minutes just to prove a point. Two was every bit as ruthless, scheming, manipulative, and dark as Seven any day

[@mautemny3301]

Please make this available to stream on some platform. I've been dying to see this episode, but the dvd is 99 dollars online and unavailable in stores! People need to see this!!!!

[@archive9796]

Maybe try Dailymotion

[@mautemny3301]

Macleanium I have, but currently Dailymotion only has the 7 minute parts and not the full episode, and I feel guilty for not buying the actual release.

[@archive9796]

Maybe try ITunes ? You might have to buy it but I doubt it will be $99

[@RobbieHarston]

If you have a multi-region DVD player, you could get the UK DVD. That DVD is only £6.

[@archive9796]

Rebirth Major and buying a multi region DVD player will save you in the long time

[@jcortese3300]

This is an absolutely brilliant story. Wrenching, but brilliant.

[@KendrixTermina]

And of course, he gets executed for his trouble...

[@azurerainbow4637]

Is was a good thing that the Time Lords didn't know the Doctor's location when he formed the special box that contained information about many soldiers from Earth's different wars that were kidnapped from their own times by aliens with help from the War Chief. It had to be sent after it was made for them to find the Doctor and help him with this difficult task before they took him back home to face his trial later on.

[@somebuddyX]

Creepy disconcerting music. Awesome.

[@coolwalterbennett7805]

1:08 he said the funny line

[@kopitarrules]

Agreed this was always one of my favourite ones growing up. It like the Hartnell story Dalek Masterplan, and a few others which escape me at the moment, was a ten part story. All together almost five hours long. And well worth it, imho.

[@babaracus9583]

2's regeneration is the saddest to me because he knew what summoning the timelords would mean for him and his friends but he does it because it's the only way

[@richardgregory3684]

Yes, he knows what it will mean for himself, the loss of his freedom, the very thing he escaped to have in the first place. But he does it because it is the right thing to do. The Doctor's speech at his trial is magnificent - but lots of the Second Doctor's understated manner is. Probably hs best line ever is "There are some corners of the universe that have bred the most terrible things. Things which act against everything we believe in. They must be fought".

[@babaracus9583]

@@richardgregory3684 yeah his understated manner about this us something I really admire about him especially compared to more modern doctors like Tennant who moaned about regeneration a lot

[@richardgregory3684]

@@babaracus9583 I found all the shouting, the hearts on my sleeves expositional emoting a colossal bore. There's a wonderful scene in Tomb of the Cybermen wher the Doctor comforts Victoria who is grieving over her father (killed by the Daleks in the previous story). The Doctor just says that she will find the memeory becomes bearable in time, and that like himself , she won't forget her loves ones...but they will sleep in her mind, unless she wants to remember them. Or indeed the incredibly moving regeneration scene for Pertwee. He really did look like he was dying from radiation; collapses on the floor. Sarah Jane says "Please...don't die". To which the Doctor replies "I had to face my fear. More important than just going on living. A tear, Sarah-Jane? Remember, whilst there's life, there's...." before expiring (only for Cho-Je to appear as another timelord and to trigger the regeneration). So understated, yet so moving (still brings a lump to my throat now...I cried buckets as a kid!). Contrast with Tenant spending half an hour paying a visit to pretty much everyone whilst not looking like dying from radiation at all, and then a whole lot of blubbing about not wanting to die in a speech that went on forever.

[@babaracus9583]

@@richardgregory3684 yeah 2 and 3 are some of the most underrated doctors in my opinion. 3 has that great moment where he has to say goodbye to Joe for the last time in the Green Death

[@richardgregory3684]

@@babaracus9583 Oh yeah, that is so sad. Where the Doctor deliberately excuses himself from the celebrations after drinking his champagne, and then drives off in Bessie into the dark. It totally underlines the fact that he is an alien, an outsider in his lonely exile. I always thought that it showed the Doctor didn;t really want to make geneuine friendships, as he knew that his human friends would always want to return to their own lives one day. And that they had such short lives compared to his too - there are plenty of stories about how immortality would be a curse, as you knew you would watch everyone you loved grow old and die. The classic series could be impressively deep. Not hard to imagine how Doctor Karen would behave in that scene.

[@wleon4068]

'Jamie' went on to star in the old 'Emmerdale Farm', on ITV, from years ago.

[@murilocoelhopa]

" I've got an email ;D"

[@aarothewanderer5549]

That was awesome episode!

[@IG7799-c4u]

Indeed. It's so underrated as well in my opinion. I suppose people just get put off by it's length in run-time and don't bother watching it.

[@icemachine79]

If you watch the rest of this episode you'll see that when Jamie has his memory wiped and is returned to 1746 Scotland he is in fact wearing the philabeg. He didn't wear a kilt until his second story, The Underwater Menace. Maybe that's the only piece of clothing the Doctor had in the TARDIS wardrobe that Jamie recognized. He certainly wouldn't have put on a pair of trews.

[@SantomPh]

stramayne he didn't see them when they actually aired of course, but there are so many ways to watch it these days, from KZbin to DVDs and of course being the actor playing the Doctor he had access to the BBC archives so he could research himself. They may have also been showing the old episodes on some cable channel as well....

[@donder91]

Was this the first time the time lords where named?

[@orgixvi3620]

They were named in an earlier episode, but now is when the Doctor calls them in

[@richardmacdougall7812]

It was in this serial that the Time Lords were named for the first time. An episode or two before this scene. So for all intents and purposes, yes.

[@orgixvi3620]

Yes they were

[@DarthRushy]

orgixvi3 No they weren't. This was their first serial.

[@richardmacdougall7812]

Again, if orgixvi3 is referring to an earlier episode IN THIS SERIAL, then he is correct. This is not the EXACT SCENE where the words "Time Lord" are spoken for the first time.

[@kellyu.2587]

Thank you! :)

[@thomasstevens2746]

I swear most of a doctor's last episode is amazing

[@chrisrogers8111]

Yes 1 2 3 4 doctors are gteat and 12th doctor also brilliant

[@BloggerfromDownUnder]

This one is a classic, I recommend it.

[@Cybermat47]

0:37 that German has one fine helmet.

[@stramayne]

Matt's parents showed him old DVD episodes of the 2nd Doctor growing up? Hmm, were they available that many years ago?

[@azurerainbow4637]

It was good seeing the evil renegade Time Lord being told to do as he's told by 1 of the Earth soldiers that he & the War Lord had kidnapped before the Doctor called the Time Lords for help and that he was afraid that he would get so severely punished for his unspeakable acts.

[@LordZontar]

Every appearance of the Time Lords post-"Deadly Assassin" has utterly failed to take the implications the Time Lords represent - as seen in "The War Games" - into account. Their science alone should make them untouchable to any other race in the physical universe excepting those that have or are near attaining virtually godlike powers themselves. To be certain, it was a good idea on Robert Holmes' part to depict a Time Lord culture that had stagnated after several million years of near-absolute power. But even at that, every other race not on their level of development should be little more than ants in comparison, whom the Time Lords - even at their most decadent - could crush just by accident, without even noticing. What are the Daleks or the Sontarans against a culture that can customise stars, blow up any planet anywhere just by pressing a button or move whole solar systems anywhere they want to? Making the Daleks the Big Enemy that challenged the Time Lords for universal supremacy in the Time War was just dumb. That challenger should have either been a race of Lovecraftian eldritch horrors or a renegade faction of Time Lords philosophically opposed on a most fundamental basis to the old order on Gallifrey and seeking to displace it either to remake the universe in their image or to destroy it in an ultimate expression of nihilism. Instead, ever since "The Deadly Assassin", the Time Lords have been made more and more ridiculous to the point where it's hard to even take them seriously anymore.

[@kingcrimson1467]

LordZontar Agreed, I absolutely agree. "The Last Great Time War" is just a rip off from the War in Heaven, which is the real Time war with the real Time Lords with satisfying enemies. It basically complies all the ideas you just said featuring a destructive faction of the Time Lords who basically exist as beings who completing defy all Time Lord culture and a mysterious enemy. This enemy is so mysterious we have absolutely no idea of what it even is! The daleks are small fry compared to the time lords

[@qdllc]

This is a hard issue. The Time Lords seem almost "god like" in power, but there's limits of what they can do. Granted, the issue of "paradox" is a common problem with time travel, so there are some things of which even Time Lords can't meddle. I see The Great Time War as an inevitable conflict as the Daleks and the Time Lords may have time lines that are irrevocably intertwined. Otherwise, they could have "time looped" Skaro before their creation and spared the universe of their evil. My take is that Time Lords do not interfere with the greater universe unless they deem it necessary. However, by the time they realized the Daleks were a threat, it was too late to intervene and eliminate them. They are content to sit on Gallifrey and do what they do....no longer growing or evolving or interacting with the greater universe. It's a key factor in why the Doctor (and his TARDIS) wanted to run away and see the universe. It's like most all Time Lords are content to have nothing more than a library of books on what's out there as compared to going out to actually see and experience it. In Family of Blood, how the Doctor deals with the aliens who were hunting him is frightening. Clearly, a Time Lord has knowledge and power that makes him/her extremely powerful and dangerous, but the Doctor never before resorted to using it against a foe. Makes you wonder if the Doctor was running away from more than just the boredom of life on Gallifrey. Indeed, this implies that even the Master is limited in what he allows himself to do...perhaps because he doesn't want the Time Lords swooping in and taking him away for trying to mess too much with the universe.

[@cameroncaws8506]

Now the Master can casually wipe them out because he's having a bad day. Doctor Who was better when the Time Lords were untouchable and the Doctor could never hope to fight them.

[@julieeverett7442]

theres still the osirians and the black and white guardians, they have even more power, the time lords are NOT the ultimate force

[@cameroncaws8506]

@@julieeverett7442 Sure they weren't the most powerful but compared to the Doctor and the Master its supposed to be a landslide.

[@omegaaverenger112]

I first saw(listened) Philip Madoc in Master, I didn't know he was in OldWho!

[@omegaaverenger112]

Cryer24597 Aw, that's ace! I really should try them out, Philip seems like such a good actor.

[@MacJaxonManOfAction]

+Cryer24597 And he's in The Krotons, too.

[@hungrydragonvsfrightendhob7799]

The first appearance of the Time Lord communication qubes, just like the one eleven recived forty years later.

[@itskevinjustkevin]

1:43 it maaaagggiiiicccc ✨️✨️

[@MozWorld]

The war chief looks a bit like the old master

[@richardgregory3684]

It's interesting how the Doctor doesn;t really use Time Lords as a name, more of a description. This is obvious in his inflection - he say "the time _lords_ - my own people" The Tiem Lords were so, so much better when they were virtually unnown, pretyt much godlike and didn't (or hardly ever) interfered. The mystery and remoteness of them made them more interesting. The more we knew and visitted them, the less we relied on our imagination, and more on the way they cuold be presented with the show's limitted budgets. The budget and effects were simply not up to fully realising the original concept of the remote, godlike and majestic Gallifreyans. And by the time we reached New Who, they'd aready screwed the Gallifreyans up hopelessly. They were much better being a race that _could_ wipe out the Daleks effortnlessly, but were aloof, uninterested and didn;t interfere. Rather than fighting the Daleks and losing.

[@zacmumblethunder7466]

Deadly Assassin started the rot on Time Lords as far as I'm concerned. It turned them into a squabbling minor government ministry.

[@timreuscher492]

I'm very greatful the PBS picked up this show back in the 80s and 90s. I love British programming, and there's not a lot of it shown here in the states. We also occasionally get some Canadian shows too. I use to watch The Royal Canadian Air Farce in the late 90s.

[@rangers199487]

Agreed. We actually got Doctor Who broadcasts here in NYC in the late 1970s on WOR TV Ch. 9. That is how i became a fan, particularly because of Tom Baker. Great show back in the day!

[@touringosprey2833]

“I’ve got mail”

[@anegg1369]

This regeneration was disturbing to watch live.

[@julieeverett7442]

well he was effectively executed

[@azurerainbow4637]

Jamie,Zoe & those soldiers from Earth's different wars were surprised to see The Doctor making a box by the power of his mind to send help from The Time Lords and that he took a big risk after what The War Chief said what they'll do to them if he calls them.

[@Dannyboy2k6]

Matt Smith said in an interview that he was brought up watching Pat Troughton

[@azurerainbow4637]

Does You Tube have the entire 10-part Doctor Who story The War Games,which is not only the 2nd Doctor's last adventure but also the last one shown in black & white?

[@DCdabest]

Remember those cubes from the "House" episode of Doctor Who, the contained all the distress signals of the wrecked Tardis's? They must have gotten the idea from this scene.

[@pressureworks]

Towards the end of the War Games, The TimeLords put a force field around the planet the aggressors came from. In the Dr Who reboot, Gallifrey was (supposed to be) destroyed. But in the Day of the Doctor, we learned that Gallifrey stands. Through all that, would the force field still surround that planet ?

[@yellowpete79]

I remember in 2005 I thought the same thing, it would be good if they did a new era story where they are waging war again on the universe due to the forcefield collapsing due to the time War.

[@dimitrius-r5sgamingchannel388]

I think the planet was dematerialised, so the forcefield was no longer needed.

[@pressureworks]

@@dimitrius-r5sgamingchannel388 no at the end of war games a forcefield encircled the planet no other mentioned was ever made in future episodes

[@10tonhamster]

Mr Meaker is in a bit of a grump.

[@KirbyCrossing]

He's great in The Omen.

[@Yetaxa]

A Trial of a Time Lord isn't really a single story though. The majority of it is everyone in the court room watching the Doctor's adventures (three of them, to be precise) on a large screen

[@EHH246]

Nice stop motion.

[@fab42355]

That's the way life feels now 😕 😞 😌 😕

[@nickmullerITFC78]

This was a class episode loved the war games 🚜🚜

[@lauraboiocchi4666]

Sorry but Jamie was always very nice to look at but during this serial he looked just * chef's kiss *

[@SonicUndergroundLOL]

The very first appearance of the hypercube :)