ANDREW'S
DOCTOR WHO REVIEWS 
After three long episodes of complicated Monk-led madness,
it’s a joy to get a story like this one which feels like it gets the season
back on track. I make no secret that I really like the Ice Warriors and this
story treats their complicated society with great respect and even adds to
their mythos. It’s a really good, solid piece of Doctor Who.
NASA are exploring Mars when they find the words “God Save
the Queen” marked out in rocks. The Doctor, Bill and Nardole travel to 1881 and
find Mars occupied by a small group of British soldiers, led by the ineffective
Colonel Godsacre (Antony Calf). They have encountered an alien, an Ice Warrior,
who they have dubbed Friday (Richard Ashton) who they treat like a servant.
Nardole returns to the TARDIS to retrieve some equipment and it dematerialises
before he can leave. Back on Earth he asks Missy for her help.
Friday has planned all of this to revive his hive in the
caves of Mars. Inadvertently one of the soldiers revives a Warrior Empress,
Iraxxa (Adele Lynch). Iraxxa starts a conflict with the humans which the Doctor
tries to convince her to stop. Iraxxa, though, does not heed his counsel but
instead consults Bill, who as a female is superior. Bill organises a ceasefire,
but then one of the soldiers, egged on by the hot-headed Captain Catchlove
(Ferdinand Kingsley) takes a pot shot at the Empress.
A full blown war erupts and Catchlove imprisons the Doctor,
Bill and Godsacre. Friday frees them and after Godsacre kills Catchlove he
allies himself with Iraxxa and a peace descends. The Doctor surreptitiously
contacts Alpha Centauri (Ysanne Churchman) to come to Mars and meet the Ice
Warriors.
When the TARDIS reappears, Missy is at the helm and says she
is worried about the Doctor.
This is a great little story, once again the Ice Warriors
are painted as something more than just another monster. They can be reasoned
with, have their own personalities, their own culture and don’t just go around
killing like, for instance, the Daleks.
Both Friday, and particularly Iraxxa, add a lot to the Ice
Warrior mythos and both are performed brilliantly. Indeed, Iraxxa is one of the
most interesting Warriors we’ve yet met. I love their new sonic guns that turn
the humans into little cubes, it’s gruesome but has an element of funny about
it too.
The humans are well drawn, in particular Godsacre who has
frailties and faults that he battles to overcome. Catchlove is a little more of
a typical hothead but is well acted.
It’s a great touch for fans to have Alpha Centauri appear at
the end, and even better that the same voice artist, Ysanne Churchman, is used
as in the early 1970s. It ties this story in nicely with the Peladon tales.
The parallels with the British Empire and the Empire of Mars
are subtly used without making it the whole point of the story. It’s a very
entertaining story and brings this season back up to the higher standard of the
early stories. More please.
NEXT UP: THE EATERS OF LIGHT
© Text copyright - Raving Loony
Productions and
Andrew J. Müller,
Roy Barton
and Shaun Runham
© Photos and Artwork - Andrew J. Müller
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2022
