DR WHO:WAR GAMES COLOURIZATION

[jim244]

Patrick Troughtons' last story,a ten episodes marathon,condensed into one and a half hrs with added sound effects,cgi,colour etc
What did you think?

[DavidKW]

Saw this and loved this. Colour works so well and much more watchable in shortened form than the epic 10 episode adventure originally shown in 1969 monochrome.

Must add Zoe looked gorgeous all with her amazing self-cleansing raincoat. Was covered in black stains in one scene, then next pristine! Out of this world!

[DavidKW]

The original War Games ending up originally as ten episodes due to some production problems. Some un-used ideas and scripts had to used up in a hurry, and writers Malcolm Hulke and Terrance Dicks were not even sure that Doctor Who would be returning. It was losing viewers badly and BBC were poised to axe the series. The writers had to make things up as they went along. They were informed that the series would be coming back by the time they'd come up with a conclusion, but Troughon'r replacement had not yet been cast, hence the regeneration scene on the Doctor's head just disappearing.

They were also informed that the series would return with a shorter series and massively cut budget. Fortunately Dicks had been wanting to do stories set on earth and to bring in a certain Brigadier who'd appeared in 2 earlier adventures. All fell into place very well...

[starscape]

Why only one vote? I can go for 3 to 8. It's hardly mutually exclusive for Pertwee to be different, and not for Smith being in the original (why just pick on Jodie?).

It skipped around a little too much. An extra 20 minutes would have been a masterpiece but it was still fantastic and great fun. Let us have more!

[jim244]

Saw this and loved this. Colour works so well and much more watchable in shortened form than the epic 10 episode adventure originally shown in 1969 monochrome.

Must add Zoe looked gorgeous all with her amazing self-cleansing raincoat. Was covered in black stains in one scene, then next pristine! Out of this world!

Congrats for noticing the self cleansing rain coat!!!
I massively enjoyed it but found it slightly rushed and thought it needed an additional twenty minutes.
I will always prefer the original but loved what they did with it and found it to be absolutely fantastic.

[jim244]

The original War Games ending up originally as ten episodes due to some production problems. Some un-used ideas and scripts had to used up in a hurry, and writers Malcolm Hulke and Terrance Dicks were not even sure that Doctor Who would be returning. It was losing viewers badly and BBC were poised to axe the series. The writers had to make things up as they went along. They were informed that the series would be coming back by the time they'd come up with a conclusion, but Troughon'r replacement had not yet been cast, hence the regeneration scene on the Doctor's head just disappearing.

They were also informed that the series would return with a shorter series and massively cut budget. Fortunately Dicks had been wanting to do stories set on earth and to bring in a certain Brigadier who'd appeared in 2 earlier adventures. All fell into place very well...

Just to add to this:
1) The series was absolutely massive in the Hartnell years and the funny thing is people tend to forget this.
Troughton has been retconned as one of the best Doctors ever, at the time many people saw him as a fool compared to Hartnells' version and 13 million viewers under Hartnell became 4 million under Troughton.
Very similar to Sylvester McCoy compared to Tom Baker (although, obviously, Sylv did not directly follow Baker, at least not that one).

2) Whilst you are correct in saying that the BBC did decide to continue the series, it was very much the case that the next series may be the last one.

[jim244]

Why only one vote? I can go for 3 to 8. It's hardly mutually exclusive for Pertwee to be different, and not for Smith being in the original (why just pick on Jodie?).

It skipped around a little too much. An extra 20 minutes would have been a masterpiece but it was still fantastic and great fun. Let us have more!

Hi Starscape.
1) You are correct that many future Drs were featured and I said Jodie.Why?
Because the Tennant they featured was the tenth, not the fourteenth Dr, therefore I mentioned Jodie as she was the most current Dr shown in the scene where Troughton is shown many alternative faces.
I did not mention him, nor Smith, nor Capaldi as I was joking about them bringing new Drs in to the scene and Jodie had been the newest Doctor featured.
It is certainly not my habit to "pick on" anyone, I mention Jodie out of respect for being the newest Dr featured in the scene.

2) As for why only 1 vote.....Erm no idea.I just thought that if it is a poll people would vote once. Please feel free to copy the poll and post with many vote options.It wasn't an important consideration for me.

3) Glad we both agree that an extra 20 minutes would have improved it.
I loved it and also loved last years The Daleks.
I did find it slightly jarring though and it could have been better with some extra allocated minutes.
HOWEVER:I loved it and salute the powers that be for making it and look forward to next years Dalek Invasion of Earth.

[DavidKW]

I do remember reading that Jon Pertwee's first season was the make or break season for Doctor Who. Also the writers had nothing to lose on revolutionising the show with earthbound stories. Thankfully the viewing figures picked up considerably and people loved the show's new format.

It also helped that Jon Pertwee was far more accessible and much more at ease to promote the series than his predecessors.

[jim244]

I do remember reading that Jon Pertwee's first season was the make or break season for Doctor Who. Also the writers had nothing to lose on revolutionising the show with earthbound stories. Thankfully the viewing figures picked up considerably and people loved the show's new format.

It also helped that Jon Pertwee was far more accessible and much more at ease to promote the series than his predecessors.

Completely correct David and just to add, it was a lot cheaper to do Earth stories.
Viewing figures are funny as in reality Pertwee, Hartnell, Both Bakers and initially Davidson (although figures fell) were the most popular original Drs and yet Patrick Troughton and Sylvester McCoy are seen by many modern fans as being the best portrayals.
Growing up through the seventies, all I can tell you is that Jon Pertwees' era was very popular with adults as well as children and therefore reached a new demographic.
This was continued by Tom Baker throughout his first 4 seasons but the Tv show then became more centered towards a younger audience and never really recovered.
There are some wonderful Sylvester Mccoy, Colin Baker and Peter Davison stories.
And I think Davison was actually a great portrayal of the Doctor.
But then I also love a lot of Trial of a Timelord.
So what do I know???
I just remember Dr Who in the seventies was shown after the football and had pretty girls in short skirts and frankly that worked.

[SID]

I liked it but agree that it would have been better with extra time added.

I also liked the inference that the War Chief was an early incarnation of the Master.

However, rather than seeing Patrick Troughton's Doctor fully regenerating into Jon Pertwee; it would have been interesting if Troughton had changed into Jo Martin.

[jim244]

I liked it but agree that it would have been better with extra time added.

I also liked the inference that the War Chief was an early incarnation of the Master.

However, rather than seeing Patrick Troughton's Doctor fully regenerating into Jon Pertwee; it would have been interesting if Troughton had changed into Jo Martin.

Now THAT would indeed have been interesting !!!!!
Brilliant idea and wish it had happened !!!!!!