Doctor Who‘s Latest Classic Colorization Made Some Wild Additions

When the BBC aired aspecial , colorized editof “ The Daleks ” to celebrateDoctor Who‘s sixtieth anniversary last year , aside from the genuine edit down to a abbreviated runtime , the serial was largely left as - is , aside froma cute trailerat the end to rag the next 60 year of adventures in time and infinite . With its second take — this meter on Patrick Troughton ’s iconic departure as the Second Doctor in“The War Games”—things got very different . Verydifferent .

vent on BBC 4 in the UK sooner this calendar week , the peculiar colorized TV motion-picture show take onDoctor Who‘s last black - and - white story — taking a four - minute saga and trim back it down to just 90 minutes — took the opportunity to thread in answer to questionsWhofans have had for years at this point , creating something of an insane checklist of pointed references and acknowledgements to the show ’s future that are now , in some way , definitive part ofDoctor Who‘s ever - develop continuity . Here ’s three of the big pinch and changes added to the proceeding .

The War Chief and the Master

Arguably the large hypothesis diddle with , “ The War Games ” in colour made in exceptional one link between the original narrative andDoctor Who‘s contiguous future much more explicit : that one of the series ’s major opponent , the War Chief , was none other than an incarnation of the Master himself . Throughout the War Chief ’s appearances in the colorization , the newly update soundtrack contain contemporaryWhocomposer Murray Gold ’s iconic“Master Vainglorious ” theme — and when the War Chief is execute by the Time Lords upon their arriver in the culmination of “ The War Games , ” you’re able to even briefly get word the telltale sound ofDoctor Who‘s modern regeneration SFX as his body is being dragged forth .

While it was always established in the original story that the War Chief was a renegade Time Lord , for eld ancillary stuff and novelizations have kick around back and forth over the estimation that he is an early embodiment of the Time Lord that would eventually take on the drapery of Master ( the implication now being that he did so ab initio with Roger Delgado ’s incarnation of the graphic symbol ) . Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke , who write “ The War Games , ” went on to take down in their ownDoctor WhoTarget installment novelizations that the Master and the Doctor were the only renegade Time Lords to ever flee Gallifrey with their own TARDIS , implying that the War Chief and the Master were , indeed , one and the same . But subsequently original novel as part of the VirginNew Adventuresbooks would also treat the War Chief as a distinct role , one who survived the events of “ The War Games ” and would eventually regenerate into different incarnations , as would Big Finish audio dramas that established earlier avatar of the Master separate from the War Chief .

The Trial and the Faces of the Doctor

Once particularly random alteration in the flood tide of the story comes during the Time Lords ’ trial of the Doctor . After concluding in understanding with the Doctor that there were many peril across the universe worth confronting in spite of their non - intervention policies ( embellished here from the master with extra cartridge holder from otherDoctor Whostories ) , the Time Lords still choose to punish the Doctor with deportation on Earth and a forced re-formation , offer up the Doctor several choices of potential visage . However , in the colorization , these face — all of which the Doctor still refuses for various reasons — are no longer just random unknown identity . Instead , the Doctor is offer the prospect to reform into the faces of several of their future incarnations beyond the third Doctor , as the Time Lords project images thatweknow are in fact the Twelfth ( rejected as “ too old ” ) , 10th ( “ too skinny ” ) , Thirteenth ( “ too youthful ” ) , and Eleventh ( simply described as “ that wo n’t do at all ! ” ) doctor .

This one is a especially uncanny addition , considering there was n’t really any particularly theorization or desire that these faces had a particular link to the Doctor beyond the Time Lords offer them up to him in the moment . It ’s not likeDoctor Whohasn’t explored the idea of the physician have incarnations beyond ones we were already familiar with — we’ve had plenty of examples from the notorious expression glimpse in “ The Brains of Morbius ” to contemporaryWho‘s addition of incarnations like John Hurt ’s “ War Doctor ” between the 8th and Ninth Doctors , or Jo Martin ’s “ Fugitive Doctor ” and other incarnations prior to William Hartnell ’s Doctor . But it ’s a fishy joke in the moment that the Doctor has fiddling desire to have any of several face we know they eventually end up with later on on in life .

The Second Doctor’s Regeneration (and UNIT Dating)

“ The War Games ” colorization climax with an almost completely new addition , using rotoscoped footage of Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee ’s doctor to establish the literal moment of the second Doctor ’s regeneration . Here , after the trippy succession of the medico ’s look contorting across a faint nihility from the original series , the action cuts to inside the TARDIS , where , sitting in a chair as he hears flash of his departed companions , the Doctor braces himself as he glow with regenerative vigour , transform into his next incarnation . As we recently cover , the 2nd Doctor ’s off - screen regeneration has been covered in other ancillary cloth outside of the show itself ( no Time Lord - sanctioned scarecrow executing squad this fourth dimension , alas ) , but now the moment itself has been brought in logical argument with portraying of positive feedback as find out inDoctor Who‘s modern geological era , for good or sorry .

But that canonization is n’t the only fannish nod the new scene makes . As the fresh regenerated Doctor hitch to seewhenexactly he ’s down — before we cut to Pertwee ’s first view from “ Spearhead From Space , ” collapsing out of the TARDIS into the Oxley Woods — the TARDIS ’ display briefly flitter back and forth between the years 1970 and 1980 . This in and of itself is a nod towards another long - runningDoctor Whofan hypothesis , the so - called “ UNIT Dating Controversy . ” Although many of the Third Doctor ’s dangerous undertaking seem to be contemporary to their broadcast in the early seventies , two mentions of day of the month surrounding the life history of one of his closest ally , Alistair Gordon Lethbridge - Stewart — the 1968 Second Doctor story “ The Invasion , ” which establishes the existence of UNIT and promoted Lethbridge - Stewart to his famous rank of Brigadier , which is set around 1979 ; and the 1983 Fifth Doctor story “ Mawdryn Undead , ” which states that Lethbridge - Stewart retired from UNIT in 1976 — confound persistence into disarray .

There ’s been several attempts to at least acknowledge , if not exactly fix , the comprehend continuity misplay over the years across both the television show itself as well as other tie-in - in metier ( Doctor Whoat the metre , for the most part , for the most part treated the Third Doctor ’s clip on Earth as taking place in a similar timeframe to its programme ) , so while this is n’t the first time there ’s been nods on - screen to the controversy , it ’s the first time in a while we ’ve see it explicitly addressed , even if the answer is , hilariously , to have the TARDIS throw its metaphorical hands up in confusion .

Doctor Who War Games In Color

© BBC

What Do These Changes Mean forDoctor Who?

At least in the case of both tale adapted so far so far , the colorizations are not the only path to get these serials — both the original variant of “ The Daleks ” and “ The War Games ” are available on physical mediaand streaming at this stage , so despite the “ check ” this late colorization has brought with it , anyone who wants to see the original stories sans - embellishment can do so .

While on the control surface a lot of these changes and “ retcons ” are minor in the grand strategy of things , the fact that the scope of these colorizations has quickly grown between “ The Daleks ” and “ The War Games ” beyond decorative ornamentation and condensation paints an challenging picture for what future colorizations could tweak , as each new colorization work with it an endeavour to make even more connections acrossDoctor Who‘s vast , and often contradictory , continuity . Just what stories could come next — and what change could come with them — remains to be seen . As always withDoctor Who , metre will enjoin .

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Doctor Who War Games War Chief