Doctor Who has been delivering sci-fi adventures for over 60 years now, but just because it has a long history doesn’t mean it’s always been watchable. In fact, a number of episodes are quite literally unwatchable — 97 episodes from the show’s first six years are now considered lost, victims of the BBC’s protocol of taping over existing programs.
But even within the surviving episodes, Doctor Who didn’t look like the snappy episodic show we see today. For much of its run, Doctor Who’s stories were structured as serials, a single adventure told over multiple episodes. It made for more deliberate pacing, but it also means it’s harder to catch up on the archive. But now, one of the most important serials in all of Doctor Who is getting a new look, perfect to reintroduce modern-day fans to Doctor Who’s strange past.
The BBC recently announced a colorization of “The War Games,” the final adventure of the 2nd Doctor, Patrick Troughton, and the final Doctor Who serial to be filmed in black-and-white. The serial will not only be restored in brilliant color, it will also be re-edited to feature-length — a far more digestible format than the original story told over ten 25-minute episodes, which would clock in over four hours. The new restoration will air on BBC Four December 23, and will be available to stream for U.K. residents on BBC iPlayer. Check out the trailer for the new version below:
“The War Games” follows the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe as they find themselves on a World War I battlefield, but not all is as it seems: the battleground is merely the venue where abducted soldiers from across history are forced to battle under the sadistic eye of a villain known as the War Lord. At the end of the story, the Doctor is apprehended by his home species, the Time Lords, and put on trial for his theft of the TARDIS. His sentence is a forced regeneration, and the Doctor is essentially killed and reborn with a new face: Jon Pertwee, the 3rd Doctor.
It’s not the first time a Doctor Who story has been so meticulously restored: Last year, for the series’ 60th anniversary, the 1st Doctor story “The Daleks” was restored and re-edited, showing the Doctor’s first encounter with his greatest foe.
Doctor Who showrunner Russel T. Davies says this project is part of his bigger plan to revitalize the series’ archives. “From the day I arrived back on Doctor Who, this was the plan,” he told the Doctor Who website. “To colourise old stories and bring them back to life. And on Doctor Who Day itself, it’s great to announce this, celebrating the show’s wonderful heritage with an all-time-classic.”
He also noted his own personal connection to this adventure. “I actually watched this transmit in 1969, at 6 years old, terrified of the Roman soldiers, fascinated by villains with glinting spectacles, and in awe of the Doctor’s brand new origin. Now fans old and new can enjoy it all over again.”
Doctor Who’s archives may prove arduous to work through, but under the care of Russell T. Davies, the man who completely rebooted the series back in 2005, that’s slowly changing. Hopefully, this will become an annual tradition, adding more to the holiday season than just the Christmas special.
