[spoiler]Nice to have a simple MOTW episode even though it felt kinda like a filler episode.
The TARDIS disappearing suddenly and the explanation at the end was a little too convenient. They did touch on the translation thing though. So much for the speculation about the failure to translate last episode.
The Doctor says he knows the Ice Warriors from way, WAY back, but it’s never elaborated (something from the old serials?). I liked that they kept Skaldak’s visage in the dark. It gave it a bit of extra creepiness…that it, until the silly looking CGI reveal at the end. :smack:[/spoiler]
That was fantastic! I loved the Direction, the Art Direction, the Editing, the performances were all exemplary, especially David Warner, and the whole episode was just fucking brilliant!
That was quite a good episode. I went into it thinking I wasn’t going to enjoy it, but I did. I found one single Ice Warrior to be more compelling than the whole big, stupid evil planet thing from last week’s episode. And I was sufficiently invested in the Ultravox-loving professor that I was going to yell very loudly at the screen if he had become a casualty. The ending wasn’t as sharp as I think it could’ve been, but it was OK.
I thought for a minute that we’d see Clara die again. Something happened when she went underwater and then appeared in a coat and life vest. I guess it could have been some very sloppy editing, but it reminded me of that scene in the woods when the Future Doctor rescues Amy from the Weeping Angels.
I’m kind of expecting to see Clara’s underwater moment brought up again this season. Just a hunch.
“Joining Sue MacGregor is Waris Hussein, the director of the episode, Carole Ann Ford who played the Doctor’s granddaughter and companion Susan, William Russell who played the Doctor’s right hand man Ian Chesterton, actor Jeremy Young who was the first Doctor Who enemy Caveman Kal, and television presenter Peter Purves who travelled with William Hartnell in the mid 60’s as companion Steven Taylor.”
I’d been trying to figure out where I recognized “the Professor” from. Could’ve sworn David Warner was dead, though.
Pretty solid episode overall with a nice old-school feel, though the Ice Warrior seemed kind of generic - they could have just as easily used a Silurian or an original alien and the plot wouldn’t have changed much at all. I’m hoping we see an episode which plays more to their strengths - perhaps a Peladon-era one with the Ice Warriors as warrior-diplomats.
The Tardis leaving when under attack has been done before, but then, if it went to the other side of the world, how did it still translate between English and Russian for the Doctor and Clara?
Also, how does Skaldak understand and speak Russian?
I was thrilled to see David Warner again. He always gives good value.
And this is the second episode in a row where the Doctor holds the MOTW off from destroying everything through an impassioned speech which doesn’t entirely succeed, only to have Clara deliver the emotional *coup de grace *that saves the day. I loves me some good speechifying but let’s hope this isn’t a trend.
Yeah, the 11th Doctor saved this one Ice Warrior in our past, so that the 2nd could kill a lot of them in our future.
It was a hark back to a few of Troughton’s “base under siege” episodes, his second episode with them was of the same format, and happily is not one of the many the BBC wiped.
The Tardis is a frivolous old girl when it comes to translations.
