The War Games - Episode 10

The Doctor is caught and put on trial by his own people. the Time Lords. It's a rather bittersweet episode, with some touching moments. The Doctor saying goodbye to Jamie and Zoe is quite moving. It's sad to see Jamie go, especially, as he's been with the Second Doctor since Patrick's second story (which sadly no longer exists). Patrick is superb, as always... even though he needs a haircut. The Time Lords are impressive, they can raise forcefields and everything. The cathedral organ music is a great touch, bringing majesty to the world of the Time Lords. The bit at the very end with the Doctor being forced to regenerate is handled well, although a touch silly. Patrick gurning and swirling is a bit goofy.

As a whole, the story was very entertaining, though a bit long. However, its length never really felt unnecessarily padded. It always flowed really well. I think that also added to the epic feel to the whole thing. The revelations of the Doctor's background were handled very well. Thumbs up for this one.

And so, the Patrick Troughton era of Doctor Who comes to an end. We've spent some quality time with him, and some of the best stories of the series' whole history (The Tomb of the Cybermen, The Evil of the Daleks) are found here. Patrick is excellent as the Doctor, he immediately jumped into the part and never looked back. I'm sad to see him go. Having watched all his surviving episodes in order really my opinion of him, which was already very very high, jump even further up. Even in the direst of stories (The Dominators, anyone?), you could always rely on the Doctor to be entertaining. If I were to pick one favorite Second Doctor adventure, I would have to go with The Tomb of the Cybermen. Classic monsters, classic Doctor, classic setting. Great stuff!

Next time features not only the new Doctor, Jon Pertwee, but also something that would change the look of the series forever. The Doctor begins his exile on Earth in glorious COLOUR!