War Games 4

Running log of thoughts:

2:00: Zoe asks "Who else would have machines like the TARDIS?" and the Doctor responds "Well, there is an answer to that, but I hope... I just hope." Back then, it was cool foreshadowing. Now, it's proof that this serial's actual title is "X Episodes Until the Time Lords Arrive!"

2:30: wow. That's a lot of extras.

3:00: "They're going to fight, Zoe. That's what soldiers are for." Heh.

4:20: that American accent was believable until "South."

5:15: the wall wobbled. It was the barn door so I guess it's acceptable. They did it before in the spaceship, with the plastic walls.

5:45: remember what I said about Yanks not being heroes? Listen to Johnny Reb.

Oh, look, they've been captured, again.

6:40: "If they band together, they will calls trouble." Really? More foreshadowing. Is this script now taking itself seriously?

7:45: Why does the Doctor want to alter the controls now? They're going back to the base...

8:40: they really can't see out of those glasses at all, can they?

9:30: the Reb sounds believable when he's talking slowly...

9:50: Hey, wow! A black hero in 1969! Contrast with Toberman in Tomb of the Cybermen.

10:50: And not only that! But he can resist the hypnosis! Something else Toberman needed the Doctor to do.

11-12: Jamie lost Jennifer and found a horse. How did he lose her??

12:21: Troughton looks hilarious in those glasses.

12:50: They aren't in any sort of recognizable uniform. Does the guard think they're generals from the Great Vaudeville War of 19whatever?

14:00: Rubber suits? What fetish store did they get them from?

15:15: Zoe's panicking. How come no-one else notices?

15:30: So, we have a chair that re-writes memories. All together now: "Did I fall asleep?"

16:22: Whoops. Wait, when was Carstairs ever programmed to think the Doctor was a German spy?

17:18: Huh. Experimentor can't figure it out. Love the Doctor taking control without ever showing any credentials.

19:50: Von Weich stands there and shoots people without seeking cover. And he's supposed to lead people into war?

20:45: Why did the Doctor just take his glasses off??

21:10: Troughton's and Edward Bryshaw's reactions to each other. Dun dun dunnnnn.

21:40: Well, if you want him alive, you probably shouldn't call him a resistance member...?

22:00: Why does Zoe think Carstairs is sane? She saw him get reprogrammed!

Okay, plot moves forward here. The War Chief and the Doctor know each other, there's a resistance, and we're clued in to the fact that the Doctor thinks he knows what's going on. After Episode Three's epic stall, this one seems to move at a lightning pace. Could be all the action surrounding events on Jamie's end, even though, really, his story's just marking time. We can infer that there's a resistance from what the scientist and the War Chief say.

So, to reiterate... why does the Doctor take his glasses off? And also... how does the War Chief recognize the Doctor? We've never met him before, and the general implication of the series up to this point is that all the Doctor's knowledge was gained from adventuring before the first serial (i.e, back when he was William Hartnell).

(Blah blah later on, blah blah, nametag of Rassilon or whatever that allows Time Lords to recognize each other on sight after a moment's hesitation. None of that exists yet. What has been suggested - in Season One - is some sort of very basic psychic link between Susan and her grandfather. Perhaps all Time Lords have it.)

Someone recognized the Doctor. Aside from humans he personally has met in previous adventures (Prof. Travers in The Web of Fear knows him from The Abominable Snowmen, and The Brig knows him in The Invasion from Web of Fear), that's never happened- wait, scratch that. It happened in The War Machines. Isn't that the one where the computer confidently asserted that the character's name was "Dok... Tor... Who?" Anyway, let me rephrase that. Villains - specific villains, not a generic Dalek or Cyberman - haven't known the Doctor before. There is exactly one exception: the Meddling Monk.

If you saw this serial right after The Time Meddler and had no other knowledge of Doctor Who, what conclusion would you draw?