I've now been a Doctor Who fan for something like 21 years. I can't single out the exact point I became a fan, because the process was gradual, but it would've started around fall of 1992. It was definitely in the leadup to the 30th anniversary with that cool altered diamond logo.
In that time, I don't think any single story's reputation has improved in the collective eyes of fandom as much as The War Games. In the early nineties it was still more or less considered a bloated monstrosity; a 6-parter painfully stretched to 10 episodes only from sheer necessity. Now it's held in very high regard, and considered on of the finest epics Doctor Who ever produced. Somehow I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle. I am on record as stating David Maloney is my favorite Who director, so it's got that going for it before I even begin.
It's been years since I've sat down and really watched The War Games, and never in context. Season 6 has been a nice surprise; it's much better than it's reputation as being somewhat dour in tone and creatively out of ideas. (Actually, that description neatly summarizes my opinion of Season 11, but let's not burn bridges before we get to them). The Mind Robber and The Invasion are two excellent back-to-back stories, and The Seeds of Death is just a level below them. There's nothing great about The Krotons but nothing wrong about it either; it's perfectly average Doctor Who. The Space Pirates has a bad reputation but since I've (mostly) only watching extant stories during this marathon, the only part I viewed was episode 2, and I've always rather liked Milo Clancey and his broken, newfangled solar toaster. That just leaves The Dominators, which admittedly is pretty dour and uncreative.
As I get ready to depart the Troughton era I will say that, despite Season 6 being better than it's reputation, I didn't like it has much as the Hartnell era. Patrick Troughton has gathered this reputation as being the first "real" Doctor off which all future Doctors are at least partially based, but the truth is that during this marathon I often found the Second Doctor lacking. Certainly he's nowhere near as compassionate as the First Doctor. For example at one point in The Invasion Jaime is actually shot, and the Doctor sort of shrugs it off once he learns he's going to live. If such a thing had happened to Ian, the First Doctor wound be shitting kittens worrying if his friend was okay. It's a moment that didn't sit well with me.
But, again, there's so much I didn't see, especially from the almost totally missing Season 4. Before this marathon, if you had asked me what were the Missing Stories I'd most want to see, I'd have answered with the great epics of Season 3, like The Dalek Masterplan or The Massacre of St Batholomew's Eve. Now, I really want stuff from the early Troughton era, so we could see this mischievous character develop. Power of the Daleks, certainly, but also The Highlanders and, The Macra Terror and, God help us, The Underwater Menace. Thankfully, that last one does have another episode coming, and I have a gut feeling it's going to improve that story's reputation somewhat.
Which brings us full circle. Didn't mean to go on quite so long, but I think the caffeine kicked in and these are some thoughts that have been bouncing around my head of late. It's going to take me the better part of a week to watch The War Games. Will is be great? Will it be dull? Will it just be a really long but otherwise unremarkable Doctor Who story? I look forward to finding out.
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