(793) Cold War

Todays episode is one that I have been waiting for for quite some time. Amazingly its been 417 episodes since the Ice Warriors last appeared. They last graced the TV screen was on 39 years before todays episode aired or 14,231 days. Steven Moffat was reluctant to bring the Ice Warriors back because he thought that it would give people ammunition when they argue about the rubbish monsters. If anyone could reinvent the Ice Warriors then it would be Mark Gatiss. I’ll save any tension by saying that this is the best story that Mark Gatiss has written.

The Ice Warrior makes his first appearance (of sorts) in the pre-title scene and it happens to a little oink who quite frankly deserved to be throttled by the Ice Warrior. When the titles have finished you start seeing a little bit more of it and I quite liked that because normally we wouldn’t see much of anything. Skaldak is the lone Ice Warrior and the advantage of the Ice Warriors not being around for quite a long time is that it means that Mark Gatiss can do what he likes really and this leads to a great scene where Clara is standing in front of the Skaldak and its revealed that he has left its suit. The way that is moves around the submarine in the darkness picking people off one by one is a great dramatic moment.

There is a nice base under siege feel to the story because it is set on a submarine. Also the fact that the TARDIS disappears means that the Doctor cant do anything quick and clever but has to deal with things there and then. This is quite a refreshing thing as the show tends to have the Doctor jump into the TARDIS to make a quick location jump so here there wasn’t any of that here. In fact after the TARDIS leaves then we don’t see it again. For some reason its relocated to the North Pole.

Casting David Warner in this story was fantastic because he has appeared in numerous Big Finish stories over the years and it felt like he got the thing that he was deserving and that was a part in a TV Doctor Who. Every time he talks it is very entertaining. I was glad that they didn’t go for an overly emotional moment by killing his character off and as a result he was able to be marvellous from start to finish.

A key moment comes when we see what is under the Ice Warrior helmet and it’s a great visual effect. I know that some weren’t so keen on it but I actually thought that it looked quite good and one of the many good things about this story. The Ice Warriors (or just Warrior in this case) was well used and I think that the story could only have worked with just one because it means that we get to see a desperate Ice Warrior.

The performances from Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman were very good but I don’t think that Coleman was a strong as she has been in previous episodes. The relationship between the two is really strong and I am almost forgetting how strong Smith and Gillan were even with Darvill thrown into the mix. This is the third good story in a row and this second half of the season is shaping up to be stronger than the first which I was sort of expecting but still sort of surprised by it. It’s weird to think now that there are just seven episodes left in the Matt Smith era.