Celebrating Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary: 50 Pivotal Story Arcs

By Nicole Dawn Emrikson /

18. The War Games 6.35-6.44

Advertisement
This serial starts out explosively, with the Doctor and his current crew dropped in the middle of what appears to be World War I. The first episode of the lot seems our heroes captured, dragged into one-sided military trial, imprisoned, and the Doctor ultimately shot at by a firing squad. It also sets up a plot involving mind control and a mysterious fog. The fog plot thickens (pardon the pun) when Jamie discovers someone else out of their own time, and one of the locals starts remembering that something strange is going on. Strewn throughout this massive story is one of my favourite one-off characters ever in Lady Jennifer. She is brilliant. There are some good bits of fun in the form of silly glasses technology, and a classic hypnodisc paint treatment, embedded in what is honestly a pretty realistic, slightly dreary war story. The first and last part of this one are definitely a must if you do not have four hours to see the whole thing through, though the layers involved in these War Games keep most of it highly entertaining. This is also a chance to see this Doctor behaving especially seriously, which affects his characterisation overall. That does not even include the biggest surprise still waiting at the end once the Time Lords get involved, which shows us why the Doctor does not ask for help more often.

17. The Three Doctors 10.1-10.4

The Three Doctors is a truly fun serial primarily due to the lovely banter between Doctors, the combination of respect and disdain he has for his alternate selves. I think the idea of the Time Lords bringing his selves together for help was a nice touch, even if they do look especially silly sitting helplessly by at those computer banks. The driving force in this serial is a character named Omega. He is generally responsible for Time Lords' sciences and abilities because he is credited with harnessing the power of time itself. Omega ends up being an incredibly likeable, even if terribly ruthless villain. We get a true sense of the Doctor's reverence for what he believed was a fallen Time Lord. It is clear that Omega was a mythic figure and respected hero for many children of Gallifrey, which makes his attitude of bitter abandonment truly heart-wrenching. The lesson of the serial becomes a case of 'don't meet your heroes' for the Doctor. The knowledge of Gallifrey and the way things work is of interest, though they really groundbreaking part of this one is knowing that it is possible to pluck past incarnations of the Doctor together if more than one is needed.