If I were trying to be at all objective about this episode, I'd say it was a rehash of "The Hungry Earth" / "Cold Blood". Humans accidentally wake up classic Doctor Who species which then threatens to wipe out mankind, etc.
However, since I am not even going to try to be objective about this episode, my thoughts are as such...
*Ahem*
DAVID WARNER! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
And if that weren't enough, they made him as adorkable as possible by having him rock out to 80's music.
Oh David Warner, he who is the one and only Ra's al Ghul, is there nothing you can't make awesome?
Posted by The Ginger Beacon (Member # 1585) on :
Well, that was good overall. I quite enjoyed it too! It certainly felt a bit more like a propper episode than of late.
Tardis materialised on an enclosed base - check. They can't escape - check. There's something odd going on dowstairs - check. Classic villain - check.
And on top of that DAVID FLIPPING WARNER!
Pretty cool so far, and with the addition of a good political alegory, the "I sort of know him but can't place his face" guest who comes around to be an ally and the devious underling, this has all the trademarks of a classic. I was half expecting the Doctor to try on a new hat or start playing a recordrer, especially once we saw it was an Ice Warrior.
After a good amount of running down corridors (and David Warner), which was obligatory in the old days, the episode hit the new-who's perennial problem - trying to do too much in a single episode.
Don't get me wrong, it was a really good one (and it had David Warner), but I really am pining for a bit less pace and a bit more exposition. A good mid story cliffhanger wouldn't go amis either.
The story starts off as the Hunt for Red October, upto the bit where the captain tells the politcal officer to sod off. Then, we switch to The Thing, with the creepy strapped down alien that might still bite you. Next it escapes and we are in Alien (which was on telly last night too, so I had a great sci-fi Saturday, thank you very much!). We skip back to Then finally we get a bit of ET, or least Super 8. So, that was nice.
But it's all a bit too much for a single episode. Still, at least thet have finally brought back a classic baddie and not buggered it up like they did with the Silurians.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I have to say, this is the first episode of this half of the season that I thought was pretty good. I was a little put off by their turning the Ice Warrior into a skittering thing that stays in the shadows so they wouldn't have to come up with a full design for it, but, once they finally showed its entire head at the end, it wasn't that bad.
"...the 'I sort of know him but can't place his face' guest who comes around to be an ally..."
If you're talking about the captain, he's the guy who plays Davos Seaworth on Game of Thrones. The one that took me a few minutes to recognize was the political officer, who I finally realized was Brutus from Rome (and, as it happens, is apparently also going to be on GoT).
Posted by Fabrux (Member # 71) on :
Overall I was pleased with this episode, but I also second the notion that story lines are getting compressed and way overblown as of late. The re-introduction of the Ice Warriors could have been a two- or three-part arc and may have worked out much better.
Also, they were seriously expecting there to be a mammoth in a block of ice that small? Come on. Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
With the mammoth thing, I thought he meant that they thought it was a mammoth when they first saw that something was in the ice. Presumably, once they cut around it, they would have noticed it wasn't right.
Even so, you don't need that big a block of ice to hold a mammoth if it's a baby.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Tobias Menzies was also in one of the recent Bond films. Casino Royale I think.
There's a theory going round that David Warner's character is The Master. Never happen, but it would be great.
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)