Doctor Who:
Cold War
By Mark Gatiss
“Harm one of us and you
harm us all. By the moons this I swear.”
Cold War became a highly
anticipated Doctor Who episode once it was announced that the Ice Warriors
would be making their return to Doctor Who in that episode. I know I was looking forward to it and seeing
how they updated the classic Doctor Who villain. The Ice Warriors have been one of those
monsters that have a history with The Doctor and were a staple of the 60’ and
70’s most notably in the Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee eras.
They weren’t as iconic as
The Daleks and Cybermen but the Ice Warriors are one of the classic villains
and deserved a comeback and to be updated for the new show. So will Cold War make the classic Doctor Who
fans all excited that an old classic is back and will it also make the newbies
enjoy the natives from Mars? Well read
on if you want to find out what I think of Cold War.
Well to first answer the
question I in the above paragraph I answer with a big YES! Cold War is be far and away the best story
Mark Gatiss has written for Doctor Who since his New Adventures novel
Nightshade. I thoroughly enjoyed Cold War. I enjoyed it immensely and I believe it is
one of the top five stories so far in the Matt Smith era. I do it just feels like a classic story and
has all those elements that I enjoy and this story is a classic in my opinion.
Some of the best Doctor
Who stories have been the base under siege stories. Stories like Dalek, The Ark in Space, and Tomb
of the Cybermen. Like the mentioned
stories Cold War takes place in what you would call a base with nowhere to
escape. The action takes place on a
nuclear submarine that is in the artic in the year 1983 and it’s the height of
the cold war between The Russians and America and Great Britain. This time a group of Russian soldiers uncover
something in the ice that when it thaws out is a force to be reckoned with.
I love this type of story. The base under siege is a great way to tell a
story in Doctor Who. What makes this all
that more exciting is that there is truly nowhere for anyone to escape the Ice
Warrior. The sub is stuck on a cliff 700
meters below in the depths of the ocean. Add to that Grand Marshall Skaldak is out of
his armor creeping among the pipes where you cannot see him. That just adds to the tension and paranoia
feel to the story. It is really well
done and you get a sense of being trapped in the submarine. I really love the feel I described while
watching Cold War and it added to my enjoyment of the story.
I also loved how Cold War
was channeling a couple of classic science fiction movies. It had the feel of The Thing and Alien to
it. When we see Skaldaks hands coming
out of the ceiling area and grab the humans it was really freaky. You had these green claws latching themselves
to the head of the Russian crew and then hoisting them up and killing them in
the processes. That was really scary and
cool at the same time. I loved the fact
that Skaldak was creeping inside the air ducts and you didn’t know if he has
around the corner. What Cold War did so
well was return the series to the “Behind The Sofa” feel to it as I’m sure a
lot of kids were hiding their eyes.
Scary in Doctor Who has been under utilize in the new rebooted series
and it is glad to see them come back and use it every once in a while.
I love the story that Cold
War told about the old warrior who was wronged and wants to get revenge on his
captures. But there is more. He ends up showing remorse as he didn’t kill
Professor Grisenko. He could of but
hesitated and let him go. He could also
have tried to blow the world up by launching the missiles off forcing The Doctor
to blow the submarine. But he didn’t as the point of the story was that even
the harden soldier can have remorse and show compassion which he did as he left
the Earth and the sub without going through his attack.
I loved David Warner in
Cold War. His character Professor Grisenko was really different and brought a
light heartedness to the story. He has a
wonderful scene with Clara talking about different things and trying to get her
to calm down after she sees the dead seamen.
What was great was that he was more interested in 80’s pop groups than
he was about the Cold War. That was
pretty cool and David Warner was really awesome in Cold War.
Another thing that was
pretty amazing was that we were able to see the Ice Warrior outside of his
battle armor. It was pretty amazing to
finally see what is inside that armor and we get to see the face and arms at
least. It was really good to also find
out the back story of why they wear that armor.
It was pretty cool seeing the face and seeing that the eyes really do
glow.
Matt Smith was fantastic
as usual and more and more you can see how great of an actor he is and how well
he has embraced the role of The Doctor.
He has made the role his own and he sure seemed really Doctorish in Cold
War especially when Skaldak told him his name and he had a look of horror as
his past memories brought things to light.
I also loved how he was the manic crazy Doctor running around trying to
figure things out while being serious all the time. I loved how he was a bit like Jon Pertwee and
how the 3rd Doctor acted with the Silurians. The 11th
Doctor does the same here with Skaldak but of course humans happen.
Cold War is truly a
classic Doctor Who story and is definitely in my top 5 of Matt Smith Doctor Who
stories. It was so well done and really
had the feel of a classic Doctor Who story that I watch over and over again on
DVD. It took place in an era that I know
all too well and can relate to the feelings of some of the Russians on that sub
since I grew up during that era as I can really relate to Captain Zkuhov played
really well by Liam Cunningham.
So yes I did enjoy Cold
War, scratch that I really loved Cold War, and I believe this will go down as a classic
from the Matt Smith era and it is for now the best story Mark Gatiss has
written for Doctor Who.
Grade A
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