Doctor Who Christmas Special The Husbands of River Song

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Alex Kingston, Christmas, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Christmas Special, Douglas Mackinnon, Greg Davies, King Hydroflax, Matt Lucas, Nardole, Peter Capaldi, River Song, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The Husband's Of River Song

Doctor Who Christmas Special 2015

The Husbands of River Song

Review by Paul Bowler

Time and space is decked out with plenty of exciting festive action and surprises in The Husbands of River Song. Welcome to Christmas Day 5343 on the snowbound human colony world of Mendorax, where the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) is trying to avoid Christmas, but when the Time Lord’s help is sought by Will Nardole (Matt Lucas) for a medical emergency on a crashed spaceship the Doctor finds himself reunited with his old flame, River Song (Alex Kingston)! However, instead of River always being one step ahead of the Doctor like she usually is, the tables are turned as – much to the Doctor’s surprise and amusement – for some inexplicable reason River Song doesn’t seem to recognise him!

Soon the Doctor gets recruited by River Song and together they embark on a frenetic chase across the galaxy! Sonic Screwdriver and Sonic Trowels are the order of the day, as the Doctor discovers River has enraged her latest husband, the warrior King Hydroflax (Greg Davies), by trying to steal a priceless diamond (which also just happens to be lodged inside his brains!), but now his giant robotic body guard is after them and out-of-control! Can the Doctor save the day in time for Christmas, and will River Song figure out who he is? It’s a seasonal adventure that will take them to a starliner full of intergalactic villains, on a voyage through space, where everything will be revealed as they reach a destination which the Doctor has been trying to avoid for some time…

Yes, its that most wonderful time of the year again, Christmas, and the 2015 Doctor Who Christmas special: The Husbands of River Song, written by Doctor Who show runner Steven Moffat and Directed by Douglas McKinnon (The Sontaran Stratagem & The Poison Sky, The Power of Three, Cold War, Listen, Time Heist, and Flatline), is packed with lots of comedy high jinks, romance, adventure, and excitement to enjoy as the Time Lord is finally reunited with River Song at long last for this Christmas special.

Having hoped to avoid Christmas this year, the Doctor has shut himself away in the TARDIS following the dramatic departure of Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) in the 2015 season finale: Hell Bent, but the Time Lord quickly finds there’s no escape from comedy antlers, Christmas carols, or festive cheer this year, especially with his long-lost wife River Song around! Peter Capaldi is as fabulous as ever in this special episode. The Doctor had to endure some pretty dark moments over the course of series 9, but that level of intensity can’t last forever, and it is Christmas after all, so it’s nice to see Capaldi playing a lighter side to the Doctor’s character for once as the Time Lord embarks on this fun filled adventure with River Song.

Having been mistakenly recruited by River’s little helper Nardole, a brilliantly fun, yet quietly understated role for Matt Lucas, the Doctor quickly discovers that his archaeologist wife professor River Song is now married to the megalomaniac cyborg King Hydroflax played by Greg Davies (star of Man Down, Cuckoo, and the Inbetweeners). Greg Davies is wickedly good as the blustering infinite majesty King Hydroflax of the Final Cluster, and his gigantic lumbering robotic alter-ego is brilliantly realised on screen. River has had the Doctor brought here believing him to be a surgeon, as her husband King Hydroflax is dying, but it soon becomes clear its all part of River’s plan to acquire the precious diamond that has become wedged inside the kings brain. The fun really begins when King Hydroflax’s head gets separated from his body, stuffed inside a bag, and the Doctor and River team-up and go on the run with it with the robot bodyguard in hot pursuit.

Alex Kingston is back as River Song in this Christmas special. When we last saw River in The Name of The Doctor (2013) she was a ghost, it seemed at the time like it would be her final story, however, it turns out The Husbands of River Song is not only set before that episode but it also takes place after the events of 2012’s The Angels Take Manhattan. River’s character really shines in this episode, Alex Kingston gives a wonderful performance, its great fun to see River teaming up with the Doctor again, especially as she doesn’t know who he really is for much of the episode (she believes the Doctor can only have the 12 faces she familiar with), and the chemistry between Kingston’s flirtatious River Song and Capaldi’s brilliant Doctor is an absolute joy to behold.

After being teleported to safety by another of her significant others, Ramone (Philip Rhys), River decides to steal the Doctor’s TARDIS. This leads to a hilariously staged entrance to the TARDIS for Capaldi as the Doctor gets his own “its bigger on the inside!” moment, as River takes the TARDIS and sets course to complete their mission. But because Hydroflax’s head and body are separated, the time machines safeguards won’t allow it to dematerialise. With River’s associates losing their heads in all the chaos, the robot manages to use their knowledge to find the TARDIS and force its way inside, but before it can attack their journey across time and space resumes and brings them to the starliner Harmony and Redemtion packed with aliens. The madcap heist plot does begin to skitter off the rails here a little bit, especially when River’s friend Flemming (Rowan Polonski) betrays them and lets the robot bodyguard out of the ships hold as the deal with Scratch (Robert Curtis) turns sour, but Capaldi and Kingston soon get things back on track as the timely foreknowledge of a meteor strike builds to a lovely emotional scene where River finally recognises the Doctor at last.

There are some nice timey-wimey threads of continuity running throughout this story that pertain to virtually every episode River has appeared in. Those that really stand out were the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it glimpse of a fez, River’s wallet contains a snapshot of every Doctor, except Capaldi’s of course, the scene where River’s diary gets read out serves up a veritable treasure trove of continuity references, there’s a very special – and significant – Christmas present for River as well, and the beautiful ending with the Doctor and River gazing out at the view of The Singing Towers of Darillum (a particularly important place for both of them first mentioned in the 2008 story The Forest of the Dead ) brings River’s story full circle in the most magical way imaginable.

Steven Moffat has crafted a glittering seasonal box of delights with this Doctor Who Christmas special. The Husbands of River Song is bursting with festive fun and jokes, the sets and effects looks stunning as well, even the title sequence gets a dusting of snow especially for the holiday season, and director Douglas McKinnon ensures that the pace of this exciting roller coaster ride never lets up for a moment. But it’s the chemistry between Peter Capaldi and Alex Kingston and lighter tone of this Christmas episode that makes it feel extra special. The Doctor and River Song have a terrific adventure together here, there are plenty of laughs, there’s even a few tears as well as their uncanny timey-wimey relationship is key to the moving denouement, and it all adds up to a fantastically uplifting Christmas treat! Happy Christmas sweetie!

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Doctor Who Flatline Review

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Christopher Fairbank, Clara Oswald, Danny, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Flatline, Doctor Who Series Eight, Douglas Mackinnon, Jamie Mathieson, Jenna Coleman, Jovian Wade, Matt Bardock, Peter Capaldi, Rigsy, Samuel Anderson, TARDIS, The 12th Doctor, The Boneless

Flatline

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers]

Strange alien creatures from another dimension, unknown even to the Doctor, are stalking a Bristol council estate and horrifically flattening their victims into the walls. When the TARDIS begins to shrink, trapping the Doctor inside, Clara must continue investigating without him. Separated from the Doctor, Clara uncovers a terrifying menace from a 2D dimension, entities that are breaking through into our reality. But how can you hide from a multi-dimensional enemy when even the walls cannot protect you? With people depending on her and the Doctor trapped, Clara must face a horror that exists beyond all human perception…

Flatline, the ninth episode of series eight, is written by Jamie Matheson (who also wrote Mummy on the Orient Express) and Directed by Line of Duty’s Douglas Mackinnon (Listen & Time Heist). This dark, menacing, and visually imaginative episode sees the Doctor and Clara confronted with the most uncanny aliens they’ve ever faced. Flatline really challenges the Doctor, he’s never encountered anything like this before, while Clara must take charge of the situation and find a way to deal with the multi-dimensional entities terrorising the estate – and the Doctor’s dimensionally transcendental predicament means he can’t help her.

Instead of returning Clara home the Doctor finds the TARDIS has materialised in Bristol. When forces begin leaching at external dimensions of the TARDIS, causing the time machine to shrink with the Doctor still inside, Clara has to take over. Using a special earpiece so the Doctor can follow events via her optic nerve, Clara essentially becomes the Doctor’s eyes and ears, with the TARDIS in her handbag, the psychic paper, and the sonic screwdriver at her disposal. Clara befriends graffiti artist Rigsy (Big School’s Joivan Wade), who is doing community service in the area, and learns about the mural in a pedestrian tunnel for the people that have gone missing.

Peter Capaldi is on fine form as the 12th Doctor in Flatline. It always makes for an interesting story when the Doctor is slightly in the dark about what’s going on, and with the Time Lord stuck inside the TARDIS for the majority of the episode he becomes completely reliant on Clara’s “Doctor Oswald” – which leads to some great banter between them when their roles effectively become reversed for the duration of this adventure. Jenna Coleman is also excellent in this episode as Clara, who is teamed with Joivan Wade‘s graffiti artist Rigsy in Flatline, and they both prove their worth against the dimensionally transcendental foes.

In a brilliantly spooky scene, Clara and Rigsy visit the home of Mr Heath, the first reported disappearance, where PC Forest (Jessica Hayles) becomes the entities next victim. Trapped in the same room where PC Forest’s nervous system is now imprinted on the wall, things are complicated even further when Clara receives an impromptu phone call from Danny (Samuel Anderson) as she’s trying to escape with Rigsy before the creatures can reach them. It also become apparent to the Doctor that Clara has been lying to him about Danny being ok with her continued adventures in the TARDIS, something the Time Lord is quick to point out to her.

The Doctor believes the forces dragging people into the walls are conducting experiments on their victims, testing, and dissecting them in order to better understand the three dimensions of our reality. When the entities start emerging from the mural in the pedestrian tunnel, wearing grotesque images of the people they’ve killed as camouflage, Clara, Rigsy, and the survivors from the council work party, Fenton (Auf Wiedersehen, Pet star Christopher Fairbank), Al (former Casualty actor Matt Bardock), and George (Raj Bajaj), flee to a train repair yard where the Doctor attempts to communicate with the aliens, but they are attacked again and forced to use the old disused Brunswick Line to escape.

This isn’t the first time the TARDIS has been affected by strange dimensional forces. In the 1964 story, Planet of the Giants, the 1st Doctor and his companions, along with the TARDIS, were all miniaturised to the size of an inch. The 2nd Doctor and Jamie had to evacuate the TARDIS in The Wheel in Space (1968) when a malfunction in the fluid link forced the Doctor to remove the Time Vector Generator, a special rod that makes the TARDIS dimensionally transcendental, which then caused the TARDIS interior to shrink rapidly. Mirroring the 12th Doctor’s predicament in Flatline, the TARDIS also shrank with the 4th Doctor still inside it in Logopolis (1981), when the calculations to fix the Chameleon Circuit were maliciously altered by the Master.

The monsters in Flatline are the Boneless, creatures that exist beyond the normal range of human perception, they are also able to shrink the exterior dimensions of the TARDIS and drain the time machines energy supplies. These bizarre multi-dimensional beings, so strange they even confuse the TARDIS, exist in the walls and can turn somehow humans into static two dimensional images, which they then use to emerge into our reality as horrifying three dimensional caricatures of their victims. I thought the special effects used here for the Boneless were utterly superb, the way the creatures moved was so inhuman, and I really liked how the story didn’t reveal everything about them – ensuring they remain chillingly mysterious and unexplained.

Finding their escape routes in the train tunnels have been flattened into two dimensions, things don’t look good for Clara and the others, especially when the creatures become three dimensional beings and begin hunting them down. The Doctor manages to provide Clara and her companions with a device to restore dimensions to get past one of the flattened doors, but in the confusion the miniature TARDIS gets accidentally knocked down a shaft, where it lands on another railway line. Using a brilliant “Adams Family” style plan to get the TARDIS clear of the oncoming train, the Doctor places the TARDIS into siege mode. After stopping the train and using it to ram the entities to buy them some more time, Clara and her friends, now joined by train driver Bill (James Quinn), must find a way to defeat this intangible menace. But with the Boneless closing in and life support failing inside the TARDIS, time is running out for them and the Doctor.

I really liked how Clara devised a plan with Rigsy to strike back at the Boneless by using his artwork, she manages to turn their enemies energies against them while also providing the TARDIS the energy it needs to return to its normal size. Peter Capaldi is superb during the final confrontation between the Doctor and the Boneless, Capaldi’s speech as he deals with these monsters is absolutely riveting, and sends shivers down the spine.

Flatline is another great story from Jamie Matheson, and he creates a really intriguing and highly original menace for this exciting episode. Even though Flatline is a Doctor-lite episode, Matheson has cleverly structured the plot around this, and the result, with Clara taking on the Doctor’s role, works really well. There are some very intense and scary scenes in Flatline, especially when the killer graffiti comes to life, and the impeccable Direction by Douglas Mackinnon keeps the action and suspense building at a cracking pace. With his innovative style, excellent pacing, and superb use of special effects, Douglas Mackinnon’s work on this eighth series of Doctor Who has been exceptional, and I sincerely hope he Directs more episodes in the future.

Flatline was a really, tense, and exciting episode. Featuring excellent performances from Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman, together with a good supporting cast of characters, and frightening monsters, Flatline is a real highlight of the eighth series. The stories conclusion was a little bit rushed, but overall I found Flatline to be a highly enjoyable adventure, and the coda with the mysterious Missy (Michelle Gomez) hinted that she’s has been keeping a very close eye on Clara indeed…

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Doctor Who Time Heist Review

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12th Doctor, Clara Oswald, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Series 8, Douglas Mackinnon, Jenna Coleman, Jonathan Bailey, KeelyHawes, Mrs Delphox, Peter Capaldi, Pippa Bennett Warner, Psi, Saibra, Steve Thompson, Steven Moffat, The Bank of Karabraxos, The Teller, Time Heist

Time Heist

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers]

Presented with a task he cannot refuse, the Doctor becomes a bank robber, and brings together a team of talented criminals to rob the most dangerous bank in the galaxy. With the help of a mutant shape shifter and computer-enhanced human, the Doctor and Clara must find a way to get past the advanced security within the Bank of Karabraxos, controlled by the villainous Ms Delphox, where the Doctor and his team soon encounter the Teller: a fearsome telepathic creature of unimaginable power that can detect guilt…

Time Heist plunges the Doctor and Clara into an adventure where time travel and bank heist collide in this fifth episode of series eight, co-written by Stephen Thompson and Steven Moffat. Having brought us The Curse of the Black Spot (2011) and Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, Stephen Thompson latest offering is an exciting high-concept adventure that combines Doctor Who with Ocean’s 11 and a hint of Mission Impossible, as the Doctor and his team attempt to beak into the most highly guarded bank in the cosmos.

Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman are once more on great form in this episode as the Doctor visits Clara while she’s getting ready for a date with Danny, when a surprise phone call to the TARDIS suddenly finds them awakening on another world – their memories erased by memory worms (creatures first seen in the 2012 Christmas Special: The Snowmen). The Doctor and Clara have little choice but to accept their mission from the mysterious Architect to rob the Bank of Karabraxos, together with their fellow team members: the beautiful shape-shifter Saibra (Pippa Bennett-Warner) and cyber-augmented computer hacker Psi (Jonathan Bailey).

All movement on this planet is monitored, even the air is regulated. The Bank of Karabraxos also has the ultimate security system, the terrifying mind-reading alien: The Teller. The Doctor and his team have some protection from the creatures power because their memories have been wiped, but with no idea how to carry out the heist they‘ve been hired to perform, they must rely on a series of briefcases left by the Architect to guide them. Once the Doctor and his team manage to get into the Deposit Booth, their presence is detected, putting the mission and their lives in jeopardy. The ruthless head of security at the bank, Ms Delphox (Keeley Hawes), is determined to stop the Doctor’s gang and keep the impregnable banks secrets and its reputation secure.

Time Heist is an involving and action-packed story from writer Stephen Thompson. The clever use of time travel to rob a bank is really inspired, complex, exciting, and with a fascinating central premise, the real highlight of Time Heist is seeing the Doctor working with a team of professional criminals to break into the Bank of Karabraxos. The scene where Psi attempt to distract the Teller features the hacker accessing a colourful array of computerised mug shots: where we see a Teripletil (originally seen in the 1982 story the Visitation), a Slitheen (aliens that have featured in a number of new Doctor Who and Sarah Jane Adventures), a Sensorite (last seen 1964‘s The Sensorites), Androvax and the Trickster (both from the Sara Jane Adventures), Captain John Heart (James Masters) who appeared in Torchwood’s second season, an Ice Warrior of the same design seen in Cold War (2013), the Gunslinger from A Town Called Mercy (2012), and Absalom Daak (the Dalek Killer) a popular character from the Doctor Who comic strips.

Capaldi’s 12th Doctor is at his grouchy, disagreeable best in Time Heist, he’s far less user-friendly than his predecessor, and seems almost frustrated at times by his team’s inability to keep up with him – which makes him that little bit more dangerous and unpredictable. Pippa Bennett-Warner is great as the shape-shifter Saibra, she even gets to impersonate Clara at one point, and Jonathan Bailey is also really good as computer wiz-kid Psi. The scene were Psi brings the Doctor to task about his “professional detachment” is another superb moment. Jenna Coleman also has plenty to do in Time Heist, she’s an integral part of the Doctor’s team, and because their memories get erased it leads to really some fun banter between them during the episode.

Using a dimensional shift bomb the Doctor and his fellow bank robbers descend to the service level, where they uncover the horrific fate of those who have dared to cheat the bank. With security closing in, the teams escape route inadvertently leads them into frightening encounters with the Teller, where first Saibra, and then later once Ms Delphox has unleashed the Teller to track them down, Psi, valiantly sacrifice themselves using the exit strategy provided for them by the Architect. After this deadly game of cat and mouse with the Teller, a solar storm begins battering the planet, allowing the Doctor and Clara the chance they need to finally break into the vault and use the code from the last case to find the things that their team most wanted to find in all the universe.

Keely Hawes gives a brilliant performances as Ms Delphox, the wickedly evil head of security at the Bank of Karabraxos, with her deadly golden armoured guards and icy-cool charm, she makes a perfect adversary for the Doctor. The way Mrs Delphox deals with a customer who is trying to swindle the bank is quite horrific, and she’s prepared to do whatever it takes to stop the Doctor his and team from reaching the vault.

After trying to locate the contents of the Private Vault the Doctor and Clara are captured and Ms Delphox orders her guards to dispose of them. The guards are actually Saibra and Psi in disguise; it seems the disintegrator “exit strategy” devices given to them by the Architect were really teleports to a ship hidden in orbit. The Doctor gives them the items they found in the vault as payment for their mission, Saibra has the gene suppressant antidote she wanted to cure her mutation and Psi receives the neophyte circuit to restore his memories.

With the solar storm sweeping the planet, the Doctor and his allies gain access to the Private Vault, where the Director of the Bank is revealed as Madame Karabraxos. She has used numerous clones of herself to control her own security, of which Mrs Delphox was just one of many, and it quickly becomes apparent that Madame Karabraxos has no qualms about “firing”, quite literally, any clones that fail her. A sudden flash of inspiration inspires the Doctor to give Madame Karabraxos the phone number for the TARDIS on a scrap of paper as she gathers her valuables, revealing he is a time traveller, before asking her to call him should she ever have any regrets as she departs. The Teller arrives and the Doctor willingly allows the creature to scan his mind, unblocking his memories, revealing the Doctor was really the Architect and shows the Time Lord how he set up the whole heist and planted all of the cases to enable his team to reach their goal.

The Teller (Ross Mullan) is an alien being whose telepathic powers have been subverted and slaved to Ms Delphox’s will in order to provide the Bank of Karabraxos with the most ingenious and impregnable security system in the universe. This creature has awesome powers, and even the Doctor has never encountered anything quite like it before. The way it locks onto a persons mind to wipe it completely, feasting on their memories before turning their brain to “soup”, leaving them alive but in a state far worse than death, is very unsettling. We discover that the Teller is not the last of its kind as Ms Delphox claimed, and that the Doctor has orchestrated the entire heist to free another member of the Teller’s species, a female that’s been imprisoned in the Private Vault by Madame Karabraxos as a bargaining chip to ensure the Teller’s complete obedience to the Bank of Karabraxos. The Doctor helps both aliens and uses the TARDIS to take them to a planet where they can live together in peace and solitude, free from the mental traffic of the universe.

Time Heist is a fast-paced Sci-Fi crime-caper from Stephen Thompson and Steven Moffat, the story makes great use of its diverse cast of characters, Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman are excellent as the Doctor and Clara, I really like how their characters interact with Saibra and Psi, lets hope they return to work with the Doctor again one day. It’s also ingenious how the phone call from the elderly Madame Karabraxos instigates the whole adventure, and the Doctor being jealous about Danny was priceless. Time Heist is the second story directed by Douglas Mackinnon for Peter Capaldi’s debut season, and just as he did with Listen, Mackinnon’s stylish use of striking and innovative visuals, together with the stunning CGI vistas featuring the bank, really enhances the story, capturing the heist vibe perfectly, to make Time Heist a thoroughly enjoyable and exciting adventure.

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Doctor Who Cold War : Review

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Clara, Cold War, David Warner, Doctor Who, Douglas Mackinnon, Dr Who, Dr Who Season 7, Ice Warriors, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Liam Cunningham, Mark Gatiss, Mars, Matt Smith, Professor Grisenko, Skaldak, Submarine, TARDIS, The Doctor

Cold War

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers]

The Ice Warriors are amongst the most popular monsters ever seen in Doctor Who. Ever since they first battled the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) in The Ice Warriors (1967) and The Seeds of Death (1969), and then later the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) in The Curse of Peladon (1972) and The Monster of Peladon (1974), fans have been eagerly awaiting the day when the Martian warriors from Mars would return to menace the Doctor again. Now at long last the Ice Warriors are back, in a fantastic story by Mark Gatiss, to face the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) and his new assistant Clara Oswald (Jenna-Louise Coleman) in the eagerly anticipated episode – Cold War.

When the Doctor and Clara’s trip to Vegas doesn’t go according to plan they suddenly find themselves on a Soviet submarine which is rapidly sinking to the bottom of the ocean at the North Pole. After the TARDIS Hostile Action Displacement System causes the ship to dematerialise, leaving them stranded, the Doctor realises they have arrived during the cold war in 1983, at the height of the tensions between the worlds two power blocks. The submarine and her crew are returning from a top secret expedition to the North Pole where they discovered a creature frozen in the ice; an Ice Warriors that he been dormant for over five thousand years. Now it has escaped and is making its way though the submarine, where it confronts the Doctor, but a crewmember sneaks up behind the Ice Warrior and disabled it with a cattle prod.

Now that the Ice Warrior is chained up the Doctor explains that the Ice Warrior is Grand Marshal Skaldak, one of the greatest warriors of the Martian race. Clara volunteers to negotiate with the Skaldic, but she is horrified when it becomes apparent that the Martian has escaped from its armoured shell, and is now prowling the ship in its natural form! Later when Skaldak attacks Professor Grisenko and Clara, the Doctor and Captain Zhukov rush to help them. But the Martian has used the tense standoff to summon his armour, and once he is back inside it, the Ice Warrior storms the bridge and takes control of the submarines nuclear missiles. Skaldak knows his distress call will never be answered, his people are no more, but he can still avenge his race and bring this planets cold war to a final end…

Clara Oswald’s first adventure into the past is fraught with danger as she has to learn to cope quickly as events begin to spiral out of control on the submarine. This is another important episode for Clara as it helps to clarify her role as the new companion, by placing her in situations that reinforce the programmes basic concepts, such as the TARDIS translation matrix. In fact, this is the third time that writer Mark Gatiss has penned a new companions first adventure in Earth’s past – the first being Rose in The Unquiet Dead (2005), and then Amy in Victory of the Daleks (2010). There are plenty of chances for Jenna-Louise Coleman to shine as Clara has to cope with being stuck on the submarine and running for her life to escape from the Ice Warrior after it emerges from its armour. There are no clues this episode about the ongoing mystery of Clara Oswald’s origins, although there are some great character moments for her. One of Clara’s best scenes is where she becomes trapped with the Ice Warrior, it’s highly reminiscent of Robert Shearman’s 2005 episode Dalek, and it’s a great tension filled moment that has quite an unexpected payoff at the episodes climax.

The submarine sets for Cold War are really dark and claustrophobic, with steam billowing from pipes and water streaming everywhere, director Douglas Mackinnon really builds up the tension as the vessel sinks and the Ice Warrior goes on the rampage. It really is remarkable how the cast and crew managed to film in such conditions, the sets are so convincing, and with all the water and steam gushing through the fractured hull it looks incredibly realistic.

Right from the moment we catch sight of the Ice Warrior frozen in a block of ice, there is a brooding sense of anticipation until it breaks free attacks the crew. The new look Ice Warrior retains many of the classic element of the original monsters design, but with a few slight changes, namely having three fingered hands instead of its predecessors clam-like pincers. What is really remarkable about Skaldak is how fast he moves. The old Ice Warriors were slow and lumbering, but Skaldak (Spencer Wilding) seems to power through the submarine, stomping through the flooded corridors and killing anyone that gets in his way. It goes to show just how successful the original design of the Ice Warrior really was, the creature’s sonic weaponry is still present here, their distinctive rasping voice – provided by Nicholas Briggs – is slightly deeper, but the reptilian hisses are the same. The biggest change is how Grand Marshal Skaldak is capable emerging from his armour, revealing his true form, something that even the Doctor has never seen before. There are some really creepy moments as Skaldak prowls the ship (particularly when he dismembers some of the crew to study human anatomy) once he is outside his cybernetic armour, although we only see his clawed hands, his face is revealed during the closing moments on the Bridge as the Doctor  and Clara try to stop him firing the nuclear missiles..

Mark Gatiss has crafted a superb story, drawing on such classic sci-fi influences as The Thing From Another World and Alien, while setting it on board the cramped environment of the Soviet submarine. Cold War is a clear homage to the classic base under siege stories from the 2^nd Doctor’s era, where the Ice Warriors first appeared in 1967, and Mark Gatiss has done a fantastic job with this thrilling episode for the Ice Warriors return.

I like how Mark Gattis has taken the opportunity to give a greater scope to the Ice Warriors and their culture. The first Ice Warrior the Doctor encountered (Varga) had been entombed in a glacier for thousands of years, later he stopped them from invading Earth and altering the planets atmosphere with deadly seed pods, before encountering them in the distant future on the planet Peladon, and the 10^th Doctor (David Tennant) also mentioned them in The Waters of Mars (2009). There are huge gaps in the mythology of the Ice Warriors which Mark Gatiss hints at here: mentioning different castes and factions, a code of honour, and aspects of their ancient civilization. There is also a very touching moment when Skaldak remembers his family. The space ship at the end that rescues Skaldak is magnificent; there is a wealth of potential here for the Ice Warriors to return in force, so let’s hope they do soon, preferably with Mark Gatiss scripting their next story.

Matt Smith has some great moments as the Doctor in Cold War. He spends most of the episode struggling to contain the threat posed by the Ice Warrior, while also briefing his new companion on the tense political situation they are faced with, knowing that if Skaldak launches the submarines missiles it will start a war that will destroy the world. We lean that Skaldak was a great hero of the Martian race, a powerful warrior, and Matt Smith’s portrayal of the Doctor continues to impress as he tries to persuade the Ice Warrior not to unleash the nuclear warheads and start a war.

David Warner is also exceptional good as the elderly Professor Grisenko; a great character who steals every scene he’s in as he walks the corridors of the submarine, singing pop songs from the 80’s. The grizzled Captain Zhukov is played by Liam Cunningham, and his Lt Stephashin (Tobias Menzies), along with crewmembers Piotr (Josh O’Connor), Onegin (James Norton), and Belevich (Charle Norton) are all a great bunch of characters that makes Cold War a really fun episode filled with some cracking dialogue and brilliant action scenes.

It’s great to see the Ice Warriors back for Doctor Who’s 50^th Anniversary year. Cold War is a brilliant episode by Mark Gatiss, the Ice Warriors scaly armoured form has received a fantastic update for the iconic monsters return, and together with terrific performances by Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman this is one of the best episodes of season seven.

Dr Who: New Ice Warrior Revealed!

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Doctor Who, Douglas Mackinnon, Dr Who, Dr Who Season 7, Ice Warriors, Mark Gatiss, The Ice Warriors

Doctor Who: New Ice Warrior Revealed!

The new Ice Warrior design was officially unveiled today by SFX Magazine. This stunning new version of the classic monster will debut in the third episode of Doctor Who Series 7B, featuring in a story written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Douglas Mackinnon.  I really like the design of the new Ice Warrior, it remains faithful to the classic design, while giving them a great new look for their spectacular return.

The Ice Warriors to Return in the New Series of Doctor Who!

Tags

David Warner, Doctor Who, Douglas Mackinnon, Dr Who, Dr Who Season 7, Ice Warriors, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Mark Gatiss, Matt Smith, Submarine, The Curse of Peladon, The Ice Warriors, The Monster of Peladon, The Seeds of Death

The Ice Warriors Return to Doctor Who

By Paul Bowler

There are few Sci-Fi TV shows that can match Doctor Who for the sheer diversity of memorable alien monsters that have returned time and again to menace the Doctor over his many adventures in time and space. As we get ready for Doctor Who to return to our screens this Easter, on Saturday 30^th March, news emerged today that Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman will face one of the Time Lords classic adversaries – the Ice Warriors!

The reptilian creatures who originated from the planet Mars will return in the second half of Series Seven of Doctor Who during the third episode. Written by fan favourite and horror aficionado Mark Gatiss, and directed by Douglas Mackinnon, the episode takes place on a submarine, staring David Warner, and will see the Doctor battling against the Ice Warriors.

Talking exclusively to SFX Magazine executive producer Caro Skinner said: “We’ve got the most fantastic episode by Mark Gatiss, where we bring back the Ice Warriors… on a submarine! It’s a really wonderful kind of ‘bunker’ episode, and a classic monster which Mark has brought his own inimitable twist to. We wanted to bring them back because they are wonderful!” Skinner said, adding. “Mark is an enormous fan of the Ice Warrior stories, and came up with the idea.”

After the return of the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Sontarans, and the Great Intelligence in the 2012 Christmas Special: The Snowmen, it seems only fitting that  the Ice Warriors finally make an appearance in the new series as Doctor Who gets ready to celebrate its 50^th anniversary.

The Martians from the red planet first appeared in 1967 during the programmes fifth season, when Patrick Troughton played the 2^nd Doctor. The Ice Warriors saw the world locked in the grip of a news ice age. The Doctor, Jamie (Frazer Hines), and Victoria (Deborah Watling) arrive as a group of scientists discover a giant figure buried inside a glacier. When the Ice Warrior thaws out it breaks free and captures Victoria, before returning to its spaceship in the ice to revive its crew. Written by Brian Hayles, the Ice Warriors is one of Doctor Who’s all time classic stories.  The Ice Warriors distinctive armoured costumes were designed by Martin Baugh, their rasping voices made them even more sinister, and Director Derek Martinus cast tall actors to play the Ice Warriors – including Bernard Bresslaw (famous for his roles in the Carry On films) as the Martians ruthless leader Varga.

After proving popular with viewers the Ice Warriors returned to fight the 2^nd Doctor again in The Seeds of Death (1969), taking control of a base on the Moon, they used the T-Mat to transport deadly seed pods to Earth in an attempt to terra form the planets atmosphere into one that would be more hospitable for the Martian invaders.  This time Brian Hayles gave the Ice Warriors a new leader, the Ice Lord Slaar (Alan Bennion), and we also get a brief glimpse of his superior the Grand Marshall (Graham Leaman). This time the Doctor and Jamie, along with new companion Zoe (Wendy Padbury), have to find a way to stop the Ice Warriors and prevent the seed pods from destroying Earth’s atmosphere.

The Ice Warriors would be back a few years later to face the 3^rd Doctor (Jon Pertwee), in two more stories also scripted by Brian Hayles: The Curse of Peladon (1972), and The Monster of Peladon (1974).  The Curse of Peladon saw the Doctor and Jo Grant (Katy Manning) visit King Peladon’s (David Troughton) cliff top citadel just as an important delegation is about to decide if his planet should to join the Galactic Federation. Here they encounter a bizarre group of alien delegates: Alpha Centauri, Arcturus, and the Martian Ice Lord Izlyr (Alan Bennion) and his Ice Warrior Ssorg (Sonny Caldinez). Together they must find a way to overcome their differences and prevent a coupe to overthrow the King, led by High Priest Hepesh (Geoffrey Toone), who has used the legend of the Beast of Agaddor to instigate an uprising to prevent Peladon joining the Federation.

What makes The Curse of Peladon so special is the way it depicts the Ice Warriors as diplomatic envoys to Peladon, having joined the Galactic Federation and abandoned their conquering ways. This is a brilliant move by Hayles, as is having Alan Bennion return, this time as the Ice Lord Izlyr. The Ice Warriors look really menacing as they stalk the torch lit halls of the citadel, for once the Doctor is forced into changing his views on an old enemy, and the Ice Warriors themselves are portrayed as a proud and noble race with honourable customs.

The Monster of Peladon (1974) was a direct sequel to The Curse of Peladon, set fifty years later, this time the 3^rd Doctor and Sarah Jane (Elisabeth Sladen) have to help the late King Peladon’s daughter, Queen Thalira (Nina Thomas), solve what is behind the ghostly image of Agador that has been killing people in the planets trisilicate mines. It turns out that a rogue faction of Ice Warriors, led by Lord Azaxyr (played once more by Alan Bennion), want to steal the trisilicate and turn the tide of the Galactic Federations war with Galaxy 5 to their own advantage.

Although the same director (Lennie Mayne) and designer (Gloria Clayton) were appointed to try and replicate the look and feel of The Curse of Peladon, along with the return of Alpha Centauri (played once more by Stuart Fell & voiced by Ysanne Churchman) and Aggedor (with Nick Hobbs reprising his role as the Royal Beast), The Monster of Peladon isn’t as enjoyable as its predecessor. The Ice Warriors are as imposing as ever as they stalk the dark corridors, and Alan Bennion gives a great performance as the villainous Lord Azaxyr.

The Ice Warriors have remained one of Doctor Who’s most popular monsters, going on to appear in a wealth of comic strips, a number of excellent novels  from the Virgin New Adventures and BBC Books range, as well as the immensely popular full cast audio adventures from Big Finish. Mission to Magnus, a story that would have seen the Ice Warriors return to fight the 6^th Doctor (Colin Baker) never went into production when Season 23 was cancelled. This story was later adapted by Target books, and then Big Finish for release as part of their Lost Stories range, which also included Thin Ice, a 7^th Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) story featuring the Ice Warriors that could have formed part of Doctor Who’s 27^th Season if the series hadn’t been cancelled in 1989.

Ever since the 10^th Doctor (David Tennant) mentioned them in The Waters of Mars (2009), fans have been speculating about when the Ice Warriors would be back. Now the Ice Warriors will return in time to be part of  Doctor Who’s 50^th Anniversary celebrations. The Ice Warriors scaly armoured form will no doubt get a fantastic update for the monsters return to our screens, along with their distinctive rasping voices, Series Seven is shaping up to one of the best yet!

Check Out the link to read the full Exclusive article at SFX

http://www.sfx.co.uk/2013/02/11/sfx-exclusive-official-ice-warriors-return-to-doctor-who-this-year/