Doctor Who and the War Games

"This process of elimination, in which all those who fail shall die, will be called the War Games."

Writer: Malcolm Hulke
Format: Novel
Released: September 1979
Series: Target 70

Featuring: Second Doctor, Jamie, Zoe

Synopsis

Mud, barbed wire, the smell of death... The year was 1917 and the TARDIS had materialised on the Western Front during the First World War.

Or had it? For very soon the Doctor found himself pursued by the soldiers of Ancient Rome; and then he and his companions were reliving the American Civil War of 1863. And was this really Earth, or just a mock-up created by the War Lords?

As Doctor Who solves the mystery, he has to admit he is faced with an evil of such magnitude that he cannot combat it on his own - he has to call for the help of his own people, the Time Lords.

So, for the first time, it is revealed who is Doctor Who - a maverick Time Lord who 'borrowed' the TARDIS without permission. By appealing to the Time Lords he gives away his position in Time and Space. Thus comes about the Trial of Doctor Who...

Verdict

Doctor Who and the War Games was a wonderful novelisation of my all time favourite Doctor Who story and it was the only choice when it came to blogging my 1000th entry. I never imagined that I would persist this much and this far with my blog when I started back in 2013 but here I am four years later with four digits worth of entries! That is quite mind boggling to me, especially considering the sheer amount of stories I have yet to blog. There really does seem to be an endless catalogue of Doctor Who stories out there, across numerous formats. I was tempted to re-watch this story but considering I was yet to read the Target novelisation I thought that would be more beneficial as a whole. I thoroughly enjoyed the read as expected and it was just wonderful to have the story fresh in my mind once again. It is just superb from start to finish. I love History so all of the numerous time zones depicting a different war from the past is a stunning idea and one that I just adored. We had the primary focus being on the First World War which was good but then we also had characters from the Second Jacobite Rebellion, the American Civil War and the Boer War. This is just fantastic and I loved the idea of soldiers from all of these wars eventually coming together and forming an army of resistance to thwart the plans of the War Lords and their hopes to conquer the galaxy. They were an intriguing race but the relationship between the War Chief and the Security Chief was probably of more interest throughout the story, especially once we learned that the former was of the same race as the Doctor. This story is obviously a monumental one in that it introduces the Time Lords, the Doctor's species. The hints given about them during the early stages of the book were good and the Doctor being familiar with the technology was very good. I must say though, I thought the synopsis of this novelisation was awful as it basically tells you everything that happens. That is not what you want to know prior to reading a book! The SIDRATs was a very clever take on travelling through time and space and I liked how they weren't overly powerful or reliable which gave them a clear distinction from the TARDIS. Carstairs and Lady Jennifer were terrific characters and I'm glad their quality was captured in the novelisation, as was the evilness of General Smythe. I really liked him. I was quite surprised by how short this book was at just over 140 pages long due to it being broadcast in ten parts. It wasn't much longer than your usual novelisation and that made for a very fast pace. I did hope for a little extra when it came to the Time Lords forcing the Doctor to change his appearance and given that the novelisation was released a decade after the story broadcast, I don't see why it couldn't be referred to as a regeneration. I think Malcolm Hulke followed the script too literally but it certainly didn't take away from the story. I don't think anything could because I just hold it in such high regard. The deaths of the Security and War Chiefs are quite sudden and this novelisation also made me realise how sudden the Doctor's goodbyes to Jamie and Zoe were. The emotion behind their departure wasn't quite captured in the book and I thought the Doctor's trial was rushed but the story as a whole still remains my favourite. The book is excellent and despite the story being my all time favourite, this is not my favourite Target novelisation. Overall though, an incredible story and the only one worthy of being #1000.

Rating: 10/10