Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour

[GreatUncleBaal]

Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour Blu-ray

Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour Blu-ray Steelbook


"Originally aired in 1969, The War Games marked the end of an era for the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton), following him and his companions Zoe and Jamie as they land in a battlefield that appears to be a World War I military zone-but all is not as it seems. They soon discover that soldiers from different historical periods have been abducted and are being manipulated in a cruel game. As they work to uncover the mystery behind the War Lord and his twisted experiments, the Doctor faces one of his most difficult challenges. For the first time, these original episodes have been meticulously colourised and enhanced with updated visual effects edited into a new, 90-minute feature-length experience. With updated sound and a new score, this version of The War Games offers both fans and newcomers even more ways to watch the much-loved classic story. In addition, the episode will also feature the Second Doctor's never-before-seen regeneration into the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee), alongside recovered footage not seen since the original broadcast. This release also includes the original ten episodes in black & white as they were first broadcast, plus all special features from the previous release. "


Listing on HMV

https://hmv.com/Store/Film-TV/Blu-ra...lour-Steelbook

[Deadend45]

Colourised SD.... I would write a 'new low for the bbc' but its not.

[GreatUncleBaal]

The idea of a 90 minute War Games, fills me with dread,
colourised more so.

[Lea74]

This airs tonight on BBC Four at 9:00 pm and later on iplayer.

[SoundableObject]

Sadly the fact that it is 4 discs indicates that they have followed the previous release in just including the previous DVDs, even on the BR version.

[drterror666]

I think the argument is that early Doctor Who had a lot of filler to pad out the episodes (which is true), so they've chopped all that out and left the main story (hopefully) intact. I can see how hardcore Whovians may be disgusted by this act of heresy. I'm saving my thoughts until after I've watched it.

[GreatUncleBaal]

Originally Posted by drterror666

I think the argument is that early Doctor Who had a lot of filler to pad out the episodes (which is true), so they've chopped all that out and left the main story (hopefully) intact. I can see how hardcore Whovians may be disgusted by this act of heresy. I'm saving my thoughts until after I've watched it.

It's definitely true, war games has a fair amount of filler, although even with all those episodes it's far from the worst,
but 90 minutes, is just bananas

[CouncilSpectre]

Originally Posted by drterror666

I think the argument is that early Doctor Who had a lot of filler to pad out the episodes (which is true), so they've chopped all that out and left the main story (hopefully) intact. I can see how hardcore Whovians may be disgusted by this act of heresy. I'm saving my thoughts until after I've watched it.

Originally Posted by GreatUncleBaal

It's definitely true, war games has a fair amount of filler, although even with all those episodes it's far from the worst,
but 90 minutes, is just bananas

This is a fair point. THE DALEKS for example, is way too long at 7 episodes, there's plenty of filler for sure. That said, the colourised cut-down is IMO far too short. 174 minutes down to 75 minutes is too aggressive. Granted there's multiple credits/recaps etc in that 174 minutes, but there's nowhere near 100 minutes' worth, and even if you remove some filler/padding it should still be 90+ minutes.

I am not against the colourisation of classic episodes, providing we still get the full original B&W versions in the "collection" boxsets, but the huge edits are much more of a concern for me.

[Deadend45]

Originally Posted by drterror666

I think the argument is that early Doctor Who had a lot of filler to pad out the episodes (which is true), so they've chopped all that out and left the main story (hopefully) intact.

You can make that claim for anything ever made. One person's story is one ignoramus's 'filler'.

[OABJYU]

Well I'm 66 yrs of age and watched the Doc for Hartnell to Eccleston.
I thought it was VERY GOOD!

[wabrit]

I enjoyed the cut down edition a lot - it wasn't perfect by any means. The colourisation was fine, although some of the CGI was a bit iffy. There was one modification near the end (which I won't spoil) that made me laugh out loud.

[drterror666]

OK, so I've watched it now. I'll admit now that I've never seen the full, episodic version of The War Games, so, even though I know what the story is, this was the first time I've seen it. I thought that the gist of the story was there, but some of the editing was done with a hatchet. The flow of parts of the story was all over the place with stuff just happening sometimes. For example, there was a bit at the beginning when Zoe opens the picture frame to reveal the televisual device. How did she know it was there? I'm guessing she saw something in the episodic version that wasn't kept in the 90 minute edit. The final part, which segued into Spearhed From Space, was interesting, but was it really necessary?

So, it was OK, but I'd probably like to watch the full ten episodes to see everything I missed.

[The Hornets]

Was surprisingly good. A few jarring edits but did flow pretty well.

Thought the colour was similar to some of the Pertwee’s where they’ve had to work with only black & white telerecordings and NTSC video colour.

Agree thought the end was pretty poor with the CGI, one shot which was obviously new and also think some of the regeneration was modern faked.

[TwinCitiesBluFan]

Having seen this now, I can say I enjoyed it - I think the edit worked better than last year's The Daleks and the color was also solid. The music choices overall felt too "modern" again (too loud, too frequent, and too off-brand for a late-60s Doctor Who story), but I know the whole point of these colorizations is to appeal to modern audiences, so I hope they do!

I'll be happy to add this to my physical media collection, especially as editor Ben Cook confirmed it will have "some new, very special" extras. Other than a making-of for the colorization work, I'm very intrigued at what those features may be!

[Deciazulado]

Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour Blu-ray

Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour Blu-ray Steelbook

[Dalekbuster523Bluray]

I love how this is getting a physical release. The colourised version is the best way to watch The War Games IMO.

[pferreira]

I heard it was terrible.

[Megazeti]

I love reading the fact 1 possible date is December 2025 pretty bizarre if that was correct, so in the meantime I've got a dailymotion upload to put up with.

[Grazey1]

Originally Posted by Megazeti

I love reading the fact 1 possible date is December 2025 pretty bizarre if that was correct, so in the meantime I've got a dailymotion upload to put up with.

That’s a placeholder date. It will be out long before then

[Mattmck99]

Artwork and details:

This particular release includes the extended 96-minute version and also includes the original ten episodes in black & white as they were first broadcast plus all special features from the previous release.

• Bonus Footage
• Commentary: Russell T Davies (executive producer), Frazer Hines (actor), Wendy Padbury (actor), Benjamin Cook (writer), Rich Tipple (colourisation artist) and Mark Ayres (composer)
• Documentaries: 'Model Shots'; 'Model-Making’
• Image Gallery
• Interviews: Chris Hayden (editor)
• Full newly discovered 16mm film footage
• Easter egg: 'What a Stupid Fool YOU Are'
• Colour palettes
• Concept art
• Trailers