and incidentally, a happy christmas to all of you at home!

(Review copied from letterboxd)

I'm in two minds about this one. The original War Games is one of my favourite Classic Who serials (I gave it 5 stars on TARDISguide) and Troughton is my favourite Doctor. The colourisation looks very nice; this new version is certainly visually appealing, although was there really any need for the establishing shots of Gallifrey, which wasn't even named in 60s Who?

HOWEVER I have massive problems with the pacing. There are a lot of bizarre, very quick dialogue cuts. I get they had to cut it down, but 90 minutes doesn't feel enough for a story this epic. The music also seemed to be very loud, drowning out the dialogue in parts.

I wouldn't recommend this to someone who hasn't seen the original as a lot of important context is taken out. For instance, Carstairs and Jennifer talking about the gaps in their memory and the weird mist- this is brought up seemingly out of nowhere. The same happens with the sections where the resistance group is assembled; character introductions are left out and you're left wondering where the random Mexican guy came from.

The new regeneration is very well done, although the initial shots of Pertwee are slightly uncanny. This, and the ending as a whole, were the parts I was looking forward to most. It was just as emotional and effective as the original seeing the companion exits.

Overall, I'm glad this was made, as hopefully it'll get more people interested in peak Who, but, if given the choice I would prefer to watch the 10 part original.