We now come to my second place choice for the best stories of the Second Doctor with his ten-part epic regeneration story, The War Games! None of which are missing, which is a bloody miracle, I think being Troughton’s final episode and possibly the final episode of the show entirely (given how they were not yet given the greenlight on Season 7) awarded it special treatment.

Now I will say that The War Games is not every fan’s cup of tea, as you read correctly, it is ten parts, which is over four hours long!!! So, if you’re not accustomed to Classic Who’s longer length stories then this will likely burn you out. Also, the villain’s plans for conquering the galaxy and why they’re using humans from various historical wars is admittedly silly. I don’t think they’d have got very far with Romans and WWI soldiers against…well…. ANY invading monsters the Doctor’s had to save more advanced humans from!!! Also, how many thousands of soldiers were they prepared to lose in their experiment before deciding to begin their conquest of the galaxy???

It introduces the show’s second antagonistic Time Lord, the War Chief, though it has been suggested he may have been an earlier incarnation of the Master (if not an inspiration for the Master) which they heavily leaned into with the recent colourised version. It is curious that this character has never reappeared in Doctor Who, both the show and Big Finish, not even been mentioned! I know he’s killed in this but since when has that ever stopped a returning villain?

While insanely long, I wouldn’t say that things could’ve been cut from it either, every episode has its purpose and introduces a new piece of the puzzle as the story slowly builds from what starts off as a pure historical to a grand conclusion. Which in itself is what earns this the second place in the Second Doctor’s best. The story finally reveals the name of the Doctor’s species, the Time Lords, a race that the Doctor is desperately afraid of, yet when faced with the impossible task of returning thousands of abducted soldiers home to their correct points in time, the Doctor is left with no choice but to call on his people for help. What follows in part 10 is some of the best 25 minutes of Doctor Who ever made which I have to get into major spoilers for, so you’ve been warned.

The Time Lords with little effort take control of the Doctor’s TARDIS as he attempts to escape and bring him back to his home world (though the name Gallifrey wouldn’t be introduced for another 5 years), a place where up until this point we’d only had fleeting references of but was now becoming a reality onscreen. The Time Lords with the merest thought place a forcefield around the villain’s planet and erase the villains themselves from history. Then for an encore they place the Doctor on trial for breaking their laws of non-interference while sending his companions back home with their memories wiped of ever travelling with him. The Doctor is found guilty and is sentenced to exile on Earth with his knowledge of operating the TARDIS taken away from him, and to make matters worse they sentence his current incarnation to death in the trippiest regeneration the show’s ever done. One thing I loved about the regenerations of Classic Who was each one was different, they were stylised and unique, now in Modern Who they just keep using the same crappy special effect.

This finale is one massive jaw-dropping ending to the Second Doctor’s life and as perfect an introduction to the Time Lords as you can get; all-powerful techno-gods whom the Doctor is powerless and terrified of! It’s just a pity the Time Lords went from 10 to 0 from here on out, becoming so useless and pathetic to the point where anyone can just waltz in and take over/destroy them, including the Doctor, which is exactly what happens over and over again!!! In this story there’s no stupid robes, no overly bureaucratic political nonsense, no presidents, no CIA, no outsiders living in barns, no relying on the Doctor for help, it’s just a race of god-like beings who operate in ways beyond our comprehension. There wouldn’t have even been a Time War with these particular Time Lords! But I have come to accept that that’s just the way things are in the show now and the Time Lords will never reach these heights ever again.

Of course, The War Games has gone on to have a further impact on the Second Doctor’s legacy with the ending showing the Second Doctor begin his regeneration but never showing the full transformation. This would be the first seed of an interesting fan theory that properly grew during Troughton’s two returns in the 80s. First The Five Doctors where he’s travelling alone and mentions Jamie and Zoe being returned home with their memoires wiped (which happened moments before his regeneration) and then The Two Doctors where the Doctor and Jamie are working for the Time Lords when throughout his entire life the Second Doctor was avoiding them like the plague. Now you can put this down to the writers just not having a good memory of the events of the Second Doctor’s life as it had been over a decade ago and there were no repeats. But it paved way for one of the best fan concepts in Doctor Who, an idea that was so popular it even got its own page on the old Doctor Who website, Season 6B. The idea that in the midst of his forced regeneration, the Second Doctor’s execution has halted by the Time Lord secret service who decided to employ him as an agent, with an older Jamie returned to him with his memories restored. Then once his work was finished the secret service wiped his memories and sent him back to his execution. It’s not perfect, but the theory does help make sense of the continuity slip ups in The Five & Two Doctors. Big Finish then decided in 2022 to go all out with this theory with their start to The Second Doctor Adventures with a new series that began with Beyond War Games.

The War Games is one massive finale for the Second Doctor, debatable if it is one of his best as it’s certainly not for everyone, but I’m not exaggerating when I say that final episode is one of Doctor Who’s best content.