DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 47th MEET-UP - THE WAR GAMES (PARTS 1-5)

Sunday 29th November 2015

Hello my little Cherubic Angels!

Well we gathered around Mark's house for the last Patrick Troughton story - but as it's a lonnnnnnnnnng one we decided to do this one over two meet-ups!  Also, as it was the last one, we had Gavin join us again!  It was the first time he had joined us since we started recording our thoughts!  Here's how it went....

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MJ: "So here we are once again!  This is the LAST Patrick Troughton story!"
*Ooooo's from the other guys*
MJ: "And this story always seems to go down pretty well...with me!"
*laughs*
MJ: "So yes we're here to watch the last Troughton story, but we're splitting it into two - giggerty - sessions as ten episodes is too long for any person - "
Leigh: "Sane person."
MJ: "Err, yes, sane person.  Although I've done it - though I'm not sane!"
Leigh: "Exactly!"
MJ: "So what do you expect from 'The War Games' Shaun?"
Shaun: "I dunno, war games?"
MJ: "Leigh?"
Leigh: "Matthew Broderick."
*sniggering*
MJ: "Jason?"
Jason: "Well I've already seen these ones, so I'm not going to say!"
MJ: "But I thought you said you'd only seen part of it?"
Jason: "Yes, but I've seen these first ones!"
MJ: "Okay and Mark, what do you expect from 'The War Games'?"
Mark: "Erm, a super computer playing Tic-Tac-Toe."
MJ: "Ahh a zuper computer playing Tic-Tac-Toe - I can't even say 'super' today!  Isn't 'Tic-Tac-Toe' American for 'Noughts and Crosses'?"
Mark: "Yeah!"
MJ: "Bloomin' Americans with their 'Oregano' for 'Oregano' - you know 'Oregano' and 'Oregano' written down's gonna be rubbish!"
*Laughter*
Leigh: "Yes you're right!  Similarly 'Aluminium' and 'Aluminium'!"
MJ: "Yes although 'Colour' and 'Color' is different!  They do say -" *puts on rubbish New York accent* "Col-OR!  Come on, for God's sake - why I oughta - color!!  Matthew Broderick - dey da woist!"
Shaun: "Me and Mark had a conversation the other week and we weren't sure, with the start of the next Doctor are we bang into colour or does Pertwee have a few black and white episodes and THEN into colour?"
MJ: "Bang into colour!  It was straight onto BBC2 and straight into colour I believe it was at the time."
Jason: "It would be great if we had a regeneration and it suddenly went colour."
*Laughter*
Mark: "It would but he just falls out of the TARDIS is what I've seen."
MJ: "Yeah, well we're now going to watch Part 1 of" *put on gruff, scary voice* "'THE WAR GAMES'!  I don't know why I did that - oh no we can't start as we're waiting for Gavin!  And he's here!  Hey Gavin have you been here since we've started recording it?"
Gavin: "I haven't no!"
MJ: "Oooo so you're a recordy-virgin!"
Gavin: "Yes this will be a whole new venture!"
MJ: *Singing to the tune of 'A Whole New World'* "'A whole newwwwww venture!'  Okay we're going to watch 'The War Games - which don't have Matthew Broderick in as we decided beforehand!"
Jason: "Well we didn't decide, him not being born was probably a good thing!"
Leigh: "You can't say that him not being born was a good thing!"
Jason: "No not ever!  I meant he wasn't born when this story was made!"
Shaun: "I don't think the world would be a worse place if Matthew Broderick had never been born!"
Leigh: "What about 'Godzilla'!?"
Shaun: "That was awful!  I'll give him 'The Lion King'!  Oh I quite like 'Ferris Bueller'."
Mark: "Everyone likes 'Ferris Bueller'!"
Shaun: "That's quite true!  Everyone does like 'Ferris Bueller' - okay I take it back!  Matthew Broderick may live another day!  I no longer regret his birth!"
MJ: "I'd like to see what Ferris Bueller does on his day ON!  That's gotta be a sequel?"
Mark: *Laughing* "There is actually talk of a sequel!"
Jason: "There isn't, but that film 'Election' where he plays a teacher - a lot of people said that THAT was a sequel to it - but it's not."
Shaun: "Is the character's name 'Ferris Bueller'?  If not then it's not a sequel!"
Jason: "I know but a lot of people said it was."
Mark: "Godzilla was the sequel."
*Laughter*
MJ: "Okay let's press play...."

 Photo 1:

Leigh, Mark (holding the DVD Cover),
Jason (holding the sign),
Shaun and Gavin around Mark's house. 

EPISODE 1 GETS WATCHED.... 

MJ: "So the first episode gone - Oooo!  What did you think of that then?  Pretty intriguing?"
Mark: "No."
MJ: "Oh. Fair enough"
*Leigh laughs*
Shaun: "Hey it was all right!  In the World War that's not been done before.  There was the guy with the hypnotic glasses - like 'The Demon Headmaster'."
MJ: "Yes I liked him - nicely sinister!  And it was the unfairness of it!  The Doctor, Zoe and Jamie haven't done anything!  Oi!  Leave them alone!  They've landed in the middle of World War 1 in a TARDIS!"
Jason: "I think someone else is behind it."
MJ: "Yeah?"
Shaun: "Yeah perhaps some kind of men... who are cyber-ish?  Perhaps?"
*Laughter*Jason: "Mayhaps!"
MJ: "Mayhaps!  Mayhaps NOT!  We shall see in" *singing* "'Doctor Whooooooooooooo - Part Twoooooooooooo!'  Ha that rhymes!"

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EPISODE 2 GETS WATCHED.... 

MJ: "That was the end of Episode 2 and we've just gone into Roman times now!  Or something - or some shit!  It's quite bonkers so far!"
Jason: "I don't know what's going on!"
Mark: "Some kind of game of war...."

Shaun: "Yeah!"
MJ: "Hmmm, a game of war, yes....  But are you enjoying it thus far?"
Mark: "It's alright."

MJ: "It's alright.  Hah!  Well we've had two parts and we've not gotten to the second part and gone 'Oh God!  They're in a corridor'!"

Mark: "Yeah they haven't had to spend an episode traversing a canyon so...."
MJ: "That's true....yet!"
Mark: "Yes, yet!"
MJ: "Well there are ten episodes - although we're only watching five.  Are you enjoying it over there Gavin?"

Gavin: "Yep!"
MJ: "Yep...." *pause* "Well this will be an informative little one to type up!"
*laughter*

Mark: "What's happened?  It's quite slow moving."
Jason: "I don't think it's slow moving!"
MJ: "No I don't it's slow either!"

Jason: "I been quite enduring -"
Leigh: "Enduring?!"

*laughter*

Jason: "ENJOYING, as always, the pointless bureaucracy of the whole thing - always like that!"
Leigh: "I want to know more about the shovels!"

*laughter*
Mark: "And where they have gone!"

MJ: "Yeah they couldn't believe it - there's some shovels that have disappeared and that's a real big issue back in World War One!"

Shaun: "A HUNDRED, MJ!"
MJ: "Sorry, a HUNDRED!"
Leigh: "Yeah not just 'SOME'!"

MJ: *laughing* "Ahh that was good!"
Leigh: "Do you think we'll EVER find out what happened to the shovels?"

MJ: *sighing* "Ohh I don't know!"

Mark: "Maybe it will explain the whole mystery!"

MJ: "Maybe it will be like modern Doctor Who and we'll find out later in the season, it'll be an important part - or NEXT season!"
Mark: "By the time Tom Baker turns up..."
Shaun: "Steven Moffatt will explain it next week!" (the finale of the latest season of NEW Doctor Who would be on next week!)

Jason: "So who was the sniper at the beginning who saved the Doctor?  Was that some random bloke that happened to be there?"

Shaun: "We've already decided that was Hitler and that's how he joined the Nazis!"
Gavin: "Wasn't it the Red Coat?"
Shaun: "No.  Well, I don't think so..."

Jason: "Well that would be a better explanation - I'd be fine with that!"
MJ: "Oh yeah we never found out did we?  Just someone shot - "
Leigh: "- Why would it be Hitler!?  This is World War 1"
MJ: "Yeah, but we've just seen Romans, so...."

Jason: "Maybe it's a re-enactment society?"
MJ: "Or we're in a theme park."
Shaun: "It's a Waxwork World!"

*laughter*

MJ: *Kryten (from Red Dwarf) impression* "Wax Droids??!"

Jason: "Caligula will turn up in a minute!"
MJ: "'You are an impudent fool!'  Actually we'll have some interesting scenes involving a horse!  Well with that we're onto Part 3!"

Photo 2:

Leigh, Mark (holding the DVD Cover),
Jason (holding the sign),
MJ and Gavin around Mark's house. 

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EPISODE 3 GETS WATCHED.... 

Leigh: "A purple carrot would still be pining for the fjords!"
MJ: "A purple carrot Leigh has decided, is called a 'Parrot!' - remember that!  So episode 3 and our intrepid travelers have gone off in what we've called the "Re-TARDIS"!  So there we go and we've left them in the American Civil War Zone at the moment."
Mark: "And they're doing a Skill Challenge!"
Leigh: "Next will be the Aztec Zone!"
MJ: *Laughs* "Yes we think this is Doctor Who and the Crystal Maze!  We've got the bald guy who can say:" *put on German voice to mimic Captain von Weich (who has a fancy monocle to hypnotize people!)* 'OK follow me!  Zis is a two minute game!  Mother!'  If he brings out a harmonica we'll know it's true!  Very good so far though!" 
Mark: "I'm still enjoying it." 
MJ: "Yeah, yeah.  It doesn't seem to be dragging."

Jason: "I don't know what's going on!"
MJ: "Yeah that's the trouble with this old Doctor Who - so confusing! *reads titles and sees Terrance Dicks name* "Haha, 'Dicks'!"
*Mark giggles*
MJ: "Episode 4!  We'll join you after this....."

Photo 3:

Leigh (holding the sign), part of Mark, Jason

 and Gavin around Mark's house.

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EPISODE 4 GETS WATCHED....

MJ: "End of the next episode and it ends with Carstairs, who's partly hypnotised, wanting to empty his pistol all over Zoe and it's not a good thing!  She looks horrified!" *Laughs* "Any thoughts on that?  We got to see Patrick Trueman from Eastenders with a Jamaicany-Americany accent thing!  It didn't FULLY work but was quite fun!"
Mark: "It was fine in context - he's probably an ex slave.  I was terribly disappointed there was no lynching!" 
*laughter*

MJ: "But seriously had you gotten that far through the serial before Jason?"
Jason: "No.  I don't recognise any of that futury-stuff!"
MJ: "Is that good?"
Jason: "Well it's good that I haven't gotten that far!"

MJ: "Hah!  I like the German creepy guy (Captain von Weich) putting on a weird American accent as well - he's a bad man - I don't like him!"Jason: "He plays bad - he's bald, got a scar - "

Shaun & Leigh: "And a monocle!"Mark: "I like the glasses.
"MJ: "The glasses are very good!"

Mark: "I want some of them."
MJ: *puts on the strange voice of the Chief Scientist behind the War Games* "I like the man who's doing the demonstration!  I don't think you understand what's going on here - oh no!" *normal voice* "You can tell he's an alien as that's an alien voice!"
*Leigh laughs* 
MJ: "Those glasses he wears are great - well, great AND crap at the same time!"Mark: "Equally crap as they are great."MJ: "Anything else that's stuck out so far, I can't think!"

Shaun: "Well, we've watched four episodes so far, right?"
*General agreement* 
Shaun: "So we're four episodes in, unless there's an ENORMOUS plot twist I can't see how this is clinging on for another six episodes?"

Jason: "Well what happens is that they escape, get re-captured, escape, get re-captured..."
Shaun: "Well we've already seen that four times!  It's not royally bad I just wonder where it's going to go!"Jason: "But who are these people?"MJ: "Yeah!  I think you're wrapping up the mystery." 
Shaun: "But will that take another three and a half hours?"

Gavin: "I'm getting slightly confused by all the characters that keep coming from different time periods."
Shaun: "Yeah?"
Gavin: "Especially when they arrived at the end like the rebels, some in Civil War clothes and someone else in - "Shaun: "Yeah they're the guys who've broken free!  But they only have the clothes they have from their own period."

Gavin: "Oh I see!"
Shaun: "So they're a rag-tag band of guys!" 
Jason: "I like all that - it seems fine!" 
MJ: "Yeah!"
Shaun: "Oh yeah I'm good with the whole premise!" 
Jason: "If it keeps expanding and revealing new stuff then it's fine - but if it turns out that it's these guys just playing War Games with people from Earth it's a bit boring."

MJ: "If these episodes had been about the Doctor being captured in The

Military Zone - the First World War Zone - and then getting out, then being re-captured, then getting out, then being re-captured then THAT may have become tedious and a very typical episode, but as they're going to different places and getting captured by different people!" *Laughs*Jason: "The way I thought it was going to go was they would have one war one week and then the next part would be a different war - "

Shaun: "- That's what I was thinking as well!  But no, he's in the Future Zone..."

MJ: *Laughs* "The Industrial Zone!"
Shaun: "He's been captured there!"

Jason: "We did the Aztecs with the first Doctor."
MJ: "Oh we did, yeah - has he got a crystal yet?!  I don't think he has..."
*Laughter*

MJ: "So now we're now watching the last part of today..."

Photo 4: 

Jason (holding the sign),
Shaun and Gavin around Mark's house.

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EPISODE 5 GETS WATCHED....

MJ: "So there we go - that's the end of Part Five and Jamie has been killed!"
Mark: "Or stunned."

MJ: "Yes."
Shaun: "Almost certainly stunned."

MJ: "Almost certainly - what do you mean?  There's five episodes left where CLEARLY he won't be in them!  Anyway that's the mid-end of 'The War Machines' - sorry!  'The War GAMES'!  So that was good - did you enjoy that one Mark?"
Mark: "Yeah... but until the next five...they must change the setting 'cos, as Shaun said earlier, I don't see how they can stretch this out for five more episodes in THAT setting."

MJ: "Yes, I suppose."
Mark: "I mean they've already teased us with the War Lord - I assume they move to another planet where he's at?"
Shaun: "I'm guessing by the way Michael's being a bit cagey about it that's NOT what happens and they just keep getting captured!"
*Laughter*

Mark: "I hope not, is what I'm saying!"
Shaun: "It could start dragging horribly."

MJ: "I will tell you that, for me, even though there are bits that seem filler, they don't FEEL like filler when I've watched this before."
Shaun: "I mean the episodes are basically looping - but it's nice to have different settings for each one.  That's fine."
MJ: "That's right."
Shaun: "It's quite entertaining, the costumes are nice, the guards are all morons as always - "
MJ: "Yeah."
Shaun: "- and there's some internal bickering of management!"

Mark: "I don't feel there's been enough internal management bickering -"
Shaun: "- Oh we've got five more episodes!!  I mean one episode is entirely them bickering!  Just the two of them in a room, bickering!"
MJ: "So who's the guy the War Chief is bickering with?  The one who doesn't like ANYTHING the War Chief is doing?"
Shaun: "The Head of Security."

MJ: "Oh yeah the Head of Security."

Leigh: "The WAR Head of Security!!"
MJ: "Oh yes!  EVERYTHING has to have 'War' in front of it!  So it amazes me that the Doctor hasn't called himself 'The War Doctor' now and then John Hurt will suddenly appear in it!  Ooops, spoilers!"

Jason: "I am hoping that in the last episode they all get captured and locked in a cupboard and it's like 'Ooo we've got nothing to get out of here with - oh there's a load of shovels!'"

*Laughter*

MJ: "A hundred shovels!"

Shaun: "Maybe the aliens plan all along is to get a large supply of shovels!"

Mark: "Yeah that was their plan from the start."

Shaun: "In the future they can change memories but they just cannot figure out how to manufacture a decent shovel!  It's ridiculous!"

*Laughter*

Photo 5: 

Jason (holding the sign) around Mark's house.

Jason: "That's why they came here!"
Shaun: "There's no steel on their planet so..."
Jason: "It's all metal floors."
Shaun: "That's aluminium, that's rubbish for using as a shovel!"
Mark: "Aloo-min-um."
Shaun: "It's not 'Aloo-min-um' it's 'Aluminium'!"
MJ: "Aloo-min-um."

Mark: "That's another joke that won't work written down!"

MJ: "Yes 'Aloo-min-um' doesn't work, no.  Although I will transcribe it as 'A-loo-min-um' - are you enjoying this Future MJ who's listening back to this?! (Future MJ is actually enjoying this - his typing-hands are tired though!)

So yup, we had the Sonic Screwdriver again!"
Shaun: "And it drove screws!"
MJ: "It did!"
Mark: "It was used as a screwdriver - nothing else!"

MJ: "And we had yer man from, erm, 'Eastenders' - who got killed off -"
Jason: "And 'The Thin Blue Line'!"

MJ: *Laughs* "'The Thin Blue Line' as well!"

Mark: "'The Thin Blue Line'!"
Leigh: "No one remembers 'The Thin Blue Line'!"

Jason: "I do!"

Shaun: "I vaguely remember it had the guy from 'Gimme, Gimme, Gimme' and Rowan Atkinson - and was terrible!"
MJ: "Habeeb!!"

Leigh: "It was terrible!"
Jason: "MJ quotes it every day to me!"

Shaun: "Rowan Atkinson not doing Blackadder rarely works well!"
MJ: "It was written by Ben Elton - oh...."
Shaun: "Yeah and wasn't Blackadder, so same rule applies."

MJ: "He needed that Richard Cursh - Cursisht - a blah blah blah, Miss Moneypenny!  So there you go!"

Mark: "There you go."

MJ: "I can't speak today!  So yes, well..."
Shaun: "I'm sure this recording will prove otherwise!"
MJ: "Yes, when you read it transcribed I shall be eloquent!  My speech shall be beautiful!  So not much else to say - do we mark it out of 10 for this one?"
Mark: "We should wait until the end of it all."
Shaun: "No, we should mark it out of 5!"
*Leigh laughs*
MJ: "Good idea!"
Leigh: "That's a stupid idea!"

*Shaun laughs*

MJ: "Well we could do - what would you give it out of 5?"
Jason: "4 and a half - I'm enjoying it."
MJ: "Jason's 4 and a half - what say you Mr. Leigh?"
Leigh: "7!"
Jason: "Cor you ARE enjoying it!"
*Laughter*

Shaun: "I'm just hoping for the extra work - cos when we watch the rest he's going to have to add each of our scores together!"

MJ: "I'm going 5 out of 5 - I really enjoyed that one."
Shaun: "Wow!  This is, thus far, perfect?"
MJ: "It is!"
Shaun: "It could not be better!?"
MJ: "Well course it could be better - then I'd give it 6!
Shaun: "Well then you can't score it 5 out of 5!"
MJ: "I really like it!"
Shaun: "You need a gradient of 4 if there's room for improvement - at the very least!"

MJ: "Would you give it 4 then?"
Shaun: "I'd give it 4 - it's quite entertaining."
MJ: "What about you Mark?"
Mark: "Yeah I'm happy with 4 - but Leigh likes it the most!"

MJ: "So they will have to be bolstered up to 5?"
Mark: "This is his favourite episode EVER of Doctor Who - actually!"

Shaun: "He thinks it's actually BEYOND perfect - with the scale we've set in place!"
Mark: "I was expecting those sort of scores for Sylvester McCoy!"
Gavin: "I'll give it 4 as well!  I would give it 4 and a half but I take your point about what are we going to make of the next five episodes!"

MJ: "But I must say in just HALF a story we've had MORE imaginative storytelling and more action in it than we have in many other single stories that have 5 parts or 6 or 4 parts even!"

Shaun: "Yeah there's a lot of variety in this one!"
MJ: "There is!"
Gavin: "Good sets as well in this one!"
MJ: "Good sets, nice characters as well.  I do like the War people."
Shaun: "I like Carstairs - a man who is neither a car nor stairs - not a combination of the two!
*MJ Laughs*
MJ: "What's the woman called? You know, Bitch-Nurse Woman?
Shaun: "Erm Lady Jane."
Jason: " 'Bitch Nurse'???"

*Laughter*
MJ: "I know, sorry I just forgot her name!"
Shaun: "She's been NOTHING but nice!!?"
MJ: "I like her!  I just thought I'd be - "
Jason: " 'Yeah, I like her - Bitch Nurse!' "
MJ: *puts on Bloke-ish voice* "Well she's a Bird, ain't she?!' "
Leigh: "Is your wife just called Bitch-Wife?!"
MJ: "Look we also had 'Bitch-Zoe', whom I like - a lot!" *Growls* "Erm has there been any other women in it?  I don't think there have been any."

Mark: "No."
MJ: "We haven't seen whatsisname anymore, erm, Red Dwarf Cat Priest, Field Marshall whatsit - "
Shaun: "No but they've gone away from that area."

Leigh: "Yeah but the German one was still in it."
Shaun: "Yeah but he was head of one faction of the American Civil War - we didn't see the head of the other faction."

Jason: "I like that they keep revealing higher and higher authorities."
MJ: "Yeah, they're gonna end up with -"
Jason: "- God."
MJ: "God, yes!"
All: "The War God!"
MJ: "Yes, the War God - the God of War.  Wow - he's going to be some Norse thing!  I think we had that in the new series."
Mark: "Yes we did."

MJ: "Spoilers!"
Shaun: "Spoilers IF you've seen several weeks ago, ACTUAL Doctor Who as it's playing on TV that MAY be a spoiler - but there was some shit Vikings!"
Mark: "It's good they still make this thing in the future!"

MJ: "I don't know what this future thing is at all!  I've heard some rumors of Worzel Gummidge being in it at some point but that's as far as I know!"
Shaun: "I had to try and explain Worzel Gummidge to someone the other day and I had a real job!  It's about a Scarecrow that comes to life and is having an affair with a woman."

Mark: "And he changes his head."

Jason: "She's not a real woman!" 

Shaun: "She's not even a real woman!" 

MJ: "No she's a dummy.  They used to have them at fetes and they actually were called 'Aunt Sallys' weren't they?  Or something."
Shaun: "I know she was called Aunt Sally - that's why I thought there was an affair!"

MJ: "I thought they were called something - there's some name for them but they had them at fairs and stuff, I believe."

Mark: "An incestuous affair!"
Shaun: "Well I know it wasn't HIS Aunt Sally!  Look I don't know Worzel Gummidge very well - I think THAT has been established!"
MJ: "Look we're going off subject here!  I think I'll leave the final word to Gavin."
Gavin: "Call it a day shall we?"
MJ: "Indeed.  Bye-bye!"

Photo 6:

Mark (holding the DVD Cover) around his house.
Eyes closed as ever!

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So all in all it was a fun one!  I look forward to the next one which we hope to watch before Christmas!  And then it'll be all colour in the new year!

So until next time I shall return, yes I shall return!
MJ
02/12/15