248 The War Games: Episode Five

EPISODE: The War Games: Episode Five
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 248
STORY NUMBER: 050
TRANSMITTED: 17 May 1969
WRITER: Malcolm Hulke & Terrance Dicks
DIRECTOR: David Maloney
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Derrick Sherwin
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who: The War Games

The Scientist interrupts Carstairs: he pulls the trigger on his gun but finds it empty. Zoe is taken away. In the barn the resistance demand to know where the tunnel is the soldiers are coming out. Jamie explains the soldiers were brought in a machine but isn't believed. One of the resistance tried to shoot Von Weich but is stopped by Harper. Von Weich reaches for the communicator but Jamie stops him showing it to the resistance. The Security Chief interrogates Zoe, not believing she's from the 21st century. She is shown pictures of resistance leaders but doesn't recognise them. The Doctor interrupts the scientist's work on Carstairs, freeing him. They overpower the Scientist and escape. The Security chief tells the War chief that he deduces that Zoe is part of an independent resistance group originating from the 1917 zone. The War Chief is told of the emergency signal Von Weich started to send from the American Civil War Zone. Carstairs and the Doctor free Zoe. They make their way to the landing bay. A capsule materialises in the barn and guards emerge killing Harper but are quickly overcome. The Security Chief is wondering how the War Chief recognised the intruders. The security chief discovers that Zoe has escaped. Jennifer leaves with the resistance to tend to their wounded but Jamie & the leader enter the capsule and are on board when it dematerialises. The Security Chief finds the overpowered scientist. The Security Chief suggests that since Zoe claimed to travel in time perhaps the War Chief is a traitor to them as well as his own people. Hiding in the landing bay, the Doctor, Zoe & Carstairs hear an alarm sound: guards fill the room as a capsule materialises and Jamie & the resistance are shot down.

Lots of information for us in this episode: The War Chief isn't from the same race as the rest of the aliens but he's brought them technology that has made all this possible and is a traitor to his own people. He knows who the Doctor is so we can assume they are renegades from the same race. The War Chief is in charge of the operation but over him is the as yet unseen War Lord who nobody seems particularly keen to get involved in proceedings.

Jamie drops a useful piece of information to those of us watching at home: the travel capsules are green! If you want to see what other elements of the production look like in colour then look at the photo gallery on disc 3 of the Doctor Who: The War Games DVD as there's a few superb colour photos there particularly of the alien base.

More new cast: Spencer, who I presume is the soldier who wants to kill Von Weich, is played by Michael Lynch who'll be back as a Thal politician in David Maloney's 1975 story Genesis of the Daleks. Graham Weston plays Russell, the resistance leader from the Boer War: he's back as De Haan in Planet of Evil. Charles Pemberton was a Cyberman in The Tomb of the Cybermen and is an Alien Technician here. On début in this episode is James Bree as the Security Chief who'll be back as Nefred in Full Circle and the Keeper of the Matrix in the final 2 episodes of The Trial of a Timelord.