The War Games: | ||
 | ep 1 – | As the sergeant-major leads the Doctor back into his cell after the court-martial, you can hear a mysterious voice on the soundtrack saying something like "There they are"! Who says this? It certainly doesn't appear to be any of the on-screen characters. |
 | ep 2 – | The Doctor is in a tree with Zoe, and he's looking through a mini-telescope at some troop movements. However, when the scene switches back to the Doctor and Zoe, the picture is still cropped into a circle for a brief moment. |
| ep 2 – | When the Doctor examines Jamie's entry in the prison register, he says he's "the latest arrival". So what about the Redcoat who arrived after Jamie, then? |
| ep 2,3 – | At the cliffhanger, Jamie points off-screen to some Romans who are supposedly charging along the road towards them, but we then see the same footage of Romans charging across a field as we saw a moment earlier! |
| ep 3 – | The ambulance reverses away from the charging Romans, but when it reappears in the 1917 zone it is travelling forwards. |
| ep 3 – | When the Doctor uses explosives to break into General Smythe's safe, the explosion happens and the safe door pops open while the fuse is still burning. |
| ep 4 – | When Lady Jennifer and Jamie are interrogated, the scene starts with all the actors frozen for a second before they start acting — obviously the vision mixer cut to that particular camera too early. |
| ep 4 – | After the Confederate officer tells his captives they are "dangerous Yankee spies" and moves away, you can hear a very audible voice on the soundtrack (presumably the director or a production assistant). |
| ep 4 – | As the scientist sets up the processing machine on Carstairs, he accidentally knocks part of the machine off. It clatters onto the floor, but he blithely ignores this and carries on. |
| ep 5 – | Carstairs has another run-in with the processing machine, when the Doctor convinces the scientist to deprocess him. This time, as the scientist attempts to position the two plate-like halves of the machine on either side of his head, we see that Carstairs is sitting up too high to allow the plates to move past his shoulders. Not to worry, though — despite supposedly being catatonic, Carstairs obligingly slumps down in his chair so that the machine can be positioned correctly. |
| ep 6 – | The fight with the guards in the landing area leaves something to be desired in the area of realism. At one point, Carstairs makes merely the motion of a throw and the guard he's "fighting" immediately falls off the ramp and onto the floor, unconscious. |
| ep 6 – | The Doctor tells Zoe that he is setting the SIDRAT to send them back to the 1917 zone, but they end up in the American Civil War zone instead. No one remarks on this discrepancy. |
| ep 7 – | The footage of the Romans charging is obviously recycled from the earlier episodes. |
| ep 7 – | Russell manages to kill Smythe despite the fact that his gun is obviously not aimed anywhere near him (a consequence of him slipping slightly as he comes through the door). |
| ep 7 – | As the Doctor comes into Smythe's room, the camera shows a little too much of the background — the top edge of the set is briefly visible. |
| ep 7 – | When the War Lord intervenes in the argument between the War Chief and the Security Chief, watch the guard behind him. He was apparently caught unprepared when the scene started, as we see him quietly put his goggles on and assume a pose of "at attention" like his fellow guard — all in full view of the camera! |
| ep 7,8 – | The cliffhanger and reprise don't match — observe the order in which the Doctor, Security Chief and guards file into the SIDRAT in both episodes. Also, the episode 8 reprise shows the rebels doing quite a lot of shooting at the guards, whereas in episode 7 for some reason they don't fire a shot as the Doctor is kidnapped in front of them. |
| ep 8 – | Zoe has supposedly memorised the names and faces of the resistance leaders, yet she doesn't know who the Mexican Villar is. |
| ep 8 – | The map of the time zones that Zoe and the others use to chart the Resistance activities doesn't match the action of the story — for example, the 1917 zone and the Roman zone are shown as being far apart, whereas episode 2 established that they are adjacent. |
| ep 9 – | A slip from the Doctor, immediately corrected, provides some unintended humour which undermines a dramatic scene, as he tells the War Chief, "Do you really think I'd take part in your disgusting steam... scheme?" |
| ep 9 – | The fight in the war room where the Security Chief is attacked and killed is made hilarious by the flimsiness of the curved consoles around the sides of the room, which distort like foam rubber when people press buttons on them or fall against them. Also, when the Security Chief dies, he collapses against one of the low dividing walls around the edge of the room, which wobbles badly. |
| ep 9 – | When the Doctor prepares his report for the Time Lords, he places the six tiles on the floor in a circular pattern, before starting his meditation. However, we then see a shot of the tiles in an unfolded-cube pattern, before they start moving and assembling themselves into a box. |
| ep 10 – | Struggling to enter the TARDIS, the Doctor asks Jamie and Zoe to help him with the key. But then we see him successfully open the door simply by pushing on it. |
| ep 10 – | As the War Lord's guards burst into the courtroom, they brush against one of the free-standing wall panels and make it wobble visibly. |
| ep 10 – | The Time Lord prosecutor asks the Doctor, "Do you admit that these actions were justified?" I'm not sure what word he should have said ("allege," perhaps?), but "admit" certainly isn't right. |