Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour main backdrop
Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour main poster

Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour

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5.8/10 • 4

2024-12-231h 30m

Science FictionDramaAdventure

The final black and white adventure returns in full colour!

The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe arrive on an unnamed planet. At first believing themselves in the midst of World War I, they realise it to be one of many War Zones overseen by the War Lords, who have kidnapped large numbers of human soldiers to form the greatest army the universe has ever seen. At the helm of this plot is the War Chief, another renegade Time Lord like the Doctor. The creeping realisation sets in that the Doctor cannot solve this problem alone, and that his days of wandering may be at an end...

Directors
David Maloney
Writters
Malcolm Hulke, Terrance Dicks
Editors
Malcolm Hulke, Terrance Dicks, Benjamin Cook

Top Billed Cast

View Credits
  1. Patrick Troughton

    Patrick Troughton

    The Doctor (2) (archive footage)

  2. Frazer Hines

    Frazer Hines

    Jamie McCrimmon (archive footage)

  3. Wendy Padbury

    Wendy Padbury

    Zoe Heriot (archive footage)

  4. David Savile

    David Savile

    Lt Carstairs (archive footage)

  5. Jane Sherwin

    Jane Sherwin

    Lady Jennifer (archive footage)

  6. Edward Brayshaw

    Edward Brayshaw

    War Chief (archive footage)

  7. Philip Madoc

    Philip Madoc

    War Lord (archive footage)

  8. Bernard Horsfall

    Bernard Horsfall

    First Time Lord (archive footage)

  9. Trevor Martin

    Trevor Martin

    Second Time Lord (archive footage)

Reviews1

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DanTheMan2150AD Avatar

DanTheMan2150AD

Mar 26, 2025

1/10

Oh boy, I knew The War Games in Colour was going to be rough from the moment they announced the runtime, but I didn't know it could go this wrong so fast... with every. passing. minute. Benjamin Cook, I hope you never get to edit one of these ever again. Stay away—far away. I re-watched The War Games only the other day just to remind myself how good the original serial is; The War Games in Colour just amplifies everything wrong with The Daleks in Colour and becomes a truly sour viewing experience. Granted, I can't fault the guys who did the colourisation, some of the choices are utterly tremendous (minus that one moment where the picture inexplicably becomes black and white for a second) but the moment-to-moment editing is completely borked beyond belief utterly destroying any sense of tension, atmosphere or thematic relevance the original serial had in spades. I will say that Mark Ayres' music this time around was a little better, but still very ill-fitting. The original cues from Dudley Simpson are thankfully still here but they get drowned out by a metric cacophony overlaying noises. The kicker for me however, was the use of The Master’s theme for The War Chief, that’s completely unacceptable. The new effects are a huge mixed bag, the new establishing shots of the locations are nice but the big CG “Earth” opening is rough and, of course, the "new" regeneration being the big one is the most egregious, it’s not terribly done but feels so out of place due to the use of the NuWho orange fire effects. The cast is extremely ill-served by Ben Cook's hacksaw approach to editing, Philip Modac's War Lord is basically a passing cameo which annoyed me so much, also wtf did they do to his eyes?! Like I've said a few times in the past, I'm all for seeing Old Who with a new coat of paint, but The War Games in Colour is the wrong way to go about it, it’s utterly barbaric and a total misrepresentation of the original serials' greatness, it’s only saving grace is the colourisation. It started relatively alright but fell to pieces very quickly, Ben Cook should never cook again.

Media

  • Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour poster
  • Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour poster
  • Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour poster
  • Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour poster
  • Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour poster
  • Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour poster
  • Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour poster
  • Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour poster
  • Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
time traveltardis