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

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 26, 2025

At least there's no numbering system involved in this latest "vintage" Doctor Who release from BBC, per the joking comments in my recent Doctor Who: Season One Blu-ray review. This is now the second vintage serial from the long running Doctor Who to be colorized and/or colourized, depending on your location and the attendant spelling regimens, after last year's Doctor Who: The Daleks in Color. Once again the revisionism extends not just to the palette, but to the running time, with War Games being shorn of a similar amount of material like The Daleks was, in order to provide ADHD viewers a more or less 90 minute watch. As even the commentary gets into, that redaction may anger some long time fans of the series and in fact of this particular series, since a lot of material in the middle set of episodes had to be pretty severely edited. The good news for fans is rather late in the production process (like, just a few weeks before supposed final delivery of assets) a short snippet of 16mm film was found in the airplane hangar of the editor (!), so at least a few seconds here and there are sourced from a somewhat better looking element than the bulk of the serial. Colorization technologies have also continued to improve, maybe arguably even since The Daleks, and the palette is also another surprisingly strong point of this transfer.

The War Games is probably inarguably superior to The Daleks, with a story that actually kind of plays like a veritable flip side to that earlier effort, in that the adventure with the First Doctor (William Hartnell) kind of suggested that pacifism, kind of like resistance, is futile, whereas this interesting story makes the probably opposite point courtesy of a convoluted plot that sees fighters from various epochal battles being more or less kidnapped to then cosplay in what might be called virtual versions of their skirmishes, in order to develop a master race of soldiers. Who is doing all this masterminding is a bit of a surprise, and leads to one of this serial's best remembered elements, the introduction of the "managing" Time Lords, who here are tasked with "helping" the Second Doctor "transition" into the Third. This serial also saw the departure of longtime companions Zoe (Wendy Padbury) and Jamie (Frazer Hines).

It's obviously been more than a year since I watched The Daleks, but if memory serves (and it may not), it seems like this serial has been amended a bit more than the earlier one, in terms of interpolated models, animated sequences, and in a kind of cheeky but effective "update", faces of several Doctors well after either Troughton or Jon Pertwee as Troughton argues about what his new version will look like.

Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of BBC with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.33:1. As brief as it may be, the inclusion of the three minutes or so sourced from the almost insanely lately discovered 16mm print gives fleeting moments of increased clarity and a much more organic appearance (contrast screenshot 1, sourced from the 16mm snippet, with all of the other screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review). As with The Daleks, though, the rest of the source material can be pretty highly variable in quality, and as I mentioned in my review of that earlier effort, some of the more highly mottled moments may suggest something like a kinescope source. The biggest plus of this effort, at least for those not averse to revisionism, is the rather adept colo(u)rization, which I'd argue is even more refined and "accurate" looking than in The Daleks. There's some fascinating background information imparted during the commentary on how certain tones were chosen. My score is 3.25.

Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As with the colo(u)rized version of The Daleks, The War Games in Colour features Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 options, both of which may frankly (and understandably) not match current surround sound activity levels, but which noticeably open up all sorts of effects, including the kind of goofy interior clamor in the TARDIS. As with The Daleks, new sound elements have been interpolated, and they're blended seamlessly. New establishing shots and even a newly animated sequence with the TARDIS spinning madly through space offer some clear engagement of the side and rear channels. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Troughton Titles in Colour (HD; 00:34)


• Extended Model Shots (HD; 1:38)


• Model Making (HD; 3:42) is almost like a music video devoted to model building and the filming process(es).


• Chris Hayden Interview with Radio Free Skaro (HD; 5:31) is an amazing Zoom like piece from 2024 wherein original editor Chris Hayden suddenly disclosed he had the snippet of 16mm film in his airplane hangar (because of course he has an airplane hangar).


• Newly Discovered 16mm Film (HD; 3:09) is the complete snippet saved by Hayden, in the original black and white.


• Trailer (HD; 00:51)


• Easter Egg (HD; 00:13)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 00;44)


• Concept Art (HD; 1:43)


• Colour Palettes (HD; 2:27) offers a series of plates with characters and the tones that were used to colorize them.


• Audio Commentary is accessible under the Audio Setup Menu and features Wendy Padbury (Zoe Heriot), Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon), Russell T. Davies (Executive Producer of this version), Benjamin Cook (editor of this version), Rich Tipple (colourization), and Mark Ayres (additional music and sound design and mixing).

Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As is mentioned in the engaging commentary track, The War Games is one of the more fondly remembered serials from the Troughton era, and while fans will probably bemoan the lack of a complete version offered here (as was done with The Daleks), the redaction is relatively artful and the colorization surprisingly effective. Technical merits are variant in the video department, with the source not able to provide consistent detail, though with, as mentioned, good color. Audio is fine, and the supplements enjoyable. With caveats noted, and probably more for devoted Whovians than the general public, The War Games in Colour comes Recommended.