It Feels Like This Season, Doctor Who Is Dealing With The Fundamental Rules Changing. It Was Strictly

I'm watching the edited version of the War Games (it's on BBC4 right now and my parents wanted to see it), so, have some thoughts.

I'm normally a bit iffy on colourisation but this is genuinely very well done. The titles are gorgeous.

Squishing it into 90 mins makes the opening very zippy. The pace feels a shade too quick if anything.

It also gets a bit weird when the cliffhanger is turned into continuous action.

This is despite the fact that they only cut about 10 mins of episode one.

They drink a lot of tea in the War Games but it comes across as even more when you cut out of the non-tea-drinking bits.

OK, there's some very fun editing around the redcoat and Buckingham remembering the mist coming down. (Dare I say possibly an improvement on the original?)

But then it goes back to feeling too zippy, but least because episode 3 is brutally cut. Very little of it left.

Gah, I'm trying to like this, because it's clearly been lovingly made and the colourisation is genuinely superb, but the grinding relentlessness of the War Games has been replaced by rattling through the plot at a frenzied pace and it's not really working for me.

Ooh, Murray Gold's Master theme has been added over the War Chief's appearance. Not sure how I feel about that, but it's certainly an interesting choice.

They've dealt with the cliffhanger issue at the end of episode 4 by taking it out entirely.

The little added CGI bits are not hugely successful - they look oddly plasticky. Which is a bit disappointing, because have I mentioned how good the colourisation is?

It's taken my dad until the episode six cliffhanger to note the place where the original cliffhanger was.

(My mum has given up because she doesn't like how much fighting there is. Not sure if the original edit would have been any better on that score.)

Episodes 6 and 7 are so thoroughly chopped up that it's tricky to trace the original storyline. It's neatly done but it's not really the War Games any more.

More of the Master's theme when the War Chief admits to knowing the Doctor.

My dad comments that this bit seems like it was inspired by the Prisoner (which he also watched when it first aired).

It feels a bit weird when it switches from Murray Gold to 1960s incidental music.

This really centres the War Chief et al over the rest of the storyline.

"Complete loyalty and devotion" - oh, Jamie. This loses a lot of character beats in favour of the Time Lord-centric storyline, but not all of them.

Oof, their last desperate attempt to escape is still just as grim and desperate in the edit. Like there's still part of me wondering if they might somehow get away this time.

There are new Who-style images of Gallifrey on the view screen.

"Is the next episode The Trial of a Time Lord?" asks my dad, who has seen all of Doctor Who, but mostly not very recently.

The middle bit of episode 10 is cut, which means that I can watch the ending without crying for once.

Lots of establishing shots of Gallifrey.

The too old/too young/too thin shows a series of New Who Doctors. Not entirely sure how I feel about that choice either.

And it ends with the Doctor regenerating in the TARDIS - again, New Who style - before the date ticks back and forth erratically between 1970 and 1980, a joke that will appeal to a small number of people that includes me, and finally the very opening scene of Spearhead from Space.

I think if you accept the premise that a 90-min version of the War Games could be done, it's about as good as it could be. A few of the choices make it pretty clear that this is primarily for a New Who audience - particularly that it becomes a very Time Lord-centric story - not really for existing fans of the War Games.

Still, I wasn't expecting to love the colourisation as much as I did, and it made me wish I could watch a colourised version of all 10 episodes.

truly fifteen is the first doctor where i understand why everyone can't help but fall in love with them. like. their strange and earnest rizz is off the charts.

imagine youre going to your job as an actor and your roommate's mysterious brother shows up to play your (thirsty) archenemy

The dw fandom is so vast and thr vibes are so different that modern who fans are like "top 10 theories about how the TIME WAR made Satan bible afraid" and wilderness years fans are sweating in a corner frantically trying to connect uncle winky's wonderland to faction paradox with red string on a giant conspiracy board

✨Cursed✨

But also.... daily reminder

is donna properly aware that the doctor doesn't always regenerate into david tennant or

Looking forward to this special

average doctor who poll: who would be the greatest serial killer? innocent classic who companion or well-known nuwho side character who happens to own a knife? every single reblog is #innocent classic who companion literally #becomes a serial killer in their spinoff series I Am Become A Serial Killer #which clearly none of you have read or you wouldn't be voting nuwho. nuwho side character is winning by a 68% margin

that leela doesn't understand the phrase "chronic hysteresis" but does know what a time loop is implies to me that gallifreyan has scientific/non-scientific doublets somewhat akin to the latinate/germanic doublets in english. thus, leela knows damn well what the gallifreyan for time loop is, but romana using specific scientific vocabulary throws her off because it's not core vocabulary and she's simply never heard the term before