Talk:The War Games

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[edit] SIDRAT

Does anyone have the novelisation to hand? I'm sure it gives a different explanation of the acronym from Exodus. Timrollpickering 02:09, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

First I agree with Timrollpickering that the term was used long before Exodus, but, to the best of my knowledge the term is not actually used in the televised story (unless one of you eagle eared wiki Dr Who members can give me the specific episode and time in the episode that it is used so I can double check it AND learn the errors of my way). I first remember seeing it in materials published in the US in the early 80's (it may well have been used earlier in materials published in the UK) and was struck by the fact that when I finally did get to see the omnibus version of the story in the late 80's that it wasn't used. I have the two tape VHS of this story, but, don't know when I will have time to get to it so I won't alter the note about it now. It does need to be double checked and corrected if the current note is in error though.User:MarnetteD | Talk 01:39, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

It's definitely not in the televised story. I don't have the Target novelisation, so I can't say for sure that it's first mentioned there, but this page, which is based on the Target book and gives the expansion of the acronym, suggests that it was indeed first raised in the 1979 novelisation - which also jibes with MarnetteD's recollection of seeing it in the 1980s. But of course a confirmation would be best. --khaosworks (talk • contribs) 02:07, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Checked with a friend who has the novelisation. It's on page 34: "Ten minutes after the group had left the bedroom, General Smythe's Space and Inter-Dimensional Robot All-purpose Transporter, known by its initals SIDRAT rematerialized in the corner and resumed its appearance of a wardrobe." --khaosworks (talk • contribs) 04:48, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping, in their book, Doctor Who: the Discontinuity Guide (Virgin Books, 1995), say, on page 104, "[They] are named SIDRAT only once (in episode seven, when it's pronounced 'side-rat')." I no longer have a video to get the exact timing, but when I did, I watched every story that either came on TV or via video into my hands, with their book at hand, and did confirm its presence and pronounciation, so I'm revising the text here. BTW, I bought a copy of the novelization in the mid-1980s, when I had no idea that any pre-Pertwee era material would ever be broadcast here in the US (I first bought "Day of the Daleks," because here it was numbered 1(?), and then, when I knew what to actually look for, "An Unearthly Child" and this one) and can guarantee you that the word is in it a lot more than once. Ted Watson (talk) 20:41, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

I couldn't find my copy of the DG but with the more detailed info posted by Tbrittreid/Ted Watson (and many thanks for taking the time to do so!) I put on my tape of episode seven. The term is said three minutes (give or take depending on when you set your counter to zero between ep 6 & 7) into episode seven. The War Chief is explaining to the Security Chief why he is having difficulty in tracking our heroes in the "side-rat". As my watching the tape to get this info would be considered WP:OR I won't post this on the main page. Rather, I will leave this message here and we can direct anyone who still has a question about it to the proper moment in the story. Interestingly, the plot summary for episode seven does mention the use of the term SIDRAT at almost the right spot. Having missed this in my numerous times of watching this story I can't tell you how much fun it is to learn something new today - Many thanks again Ted. MarnetteD | Talk 22:28, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Internal links

The internal links that I removed were a result of my misreading those links. Thanks for fixing it, and apologies for the mistake. Brad E. Williams 13:18, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

Also, the internal links for the War Chief, War Lord, Security Chief, and Chief Scientist weren't working properly because "The" wasn't part of their name in the lists of Doctor Who villains and henchmen. I removed the "the" from those links, and they are now working properly. Brad E. Williams 13:25, 10 June 2007 (UTC)