Ice Warriors! On a submarine!
A combination guaranteed to beat Dinosaurs On A Spaceship any day of the week. And Cold War, penned by Mark Gatiss, manages
that at the very least.
This episode was a treat the first time round, plus or
minus a few quibbles, and to be honest not much has changed on a second
viewing. Except the surprises have diminished and the quibbles have taken on
marginally greater significance. But that’s a fairly natural progression. All
it means is I didn’t really notice anything new on a rewatch, but I had a
feeling that would be the case. The episode does exactly what it says on the
titanium hull.
It sets out with an ambition of being a back to basics
monster story, sticks to its guns and delivers. The guns fire blanks in the
end, but for the most part after the ambitious Rings Of Akhaten this proves that sometimes simple is best.
It helps that I love the Ice Warriors. They look
fantastic in their scaly armour and they worked successfully both as monster
and full-fledged alien race. Even if not much background detail was provided in
the TV series, they fired the imagination and there was always more to them
than we saw on screen. By which I mean culturally as much as what manner of
creature lurked under the armour.
Here, Gatiss and the production team conspire to reveal
some of the latter and a hint or two of the former. With a degree of subtlety
that’s well-judged, using the shadows of the sub interior and some very RobertHolmesian language in the Martian history references. (Vanquisher of the Phobos
Heresy, songs of red snow etc.) That subtlety is blown out of the water with
the full face reveal at the end. It’s an odd decision, since I would’ve thought
the greater impassivity lent by the helmet would have served to the scene’s
advantage. Surely, the suspense lies in the illegibility of the opponent – what
will the other guy do? It’s at the core of the MAD (Mutually Assured
Destruction) policy which Gatiss makes his theme.
If it’s done to show the Grand Marshall’s personality,
that he’s ‘not so different to us’, then it fails because the face isn’t that
great. What we see lacks character or expression, which is a shame and feels
like a wasted opportunity.
Fortunately, other modifications and enhancements to the
design are innovative (remotely operable armour, data probes – ooer, missus –
in the fingers) and very welcome. Gatiss’s script also does a good job of
rendering a single Ice Warrior menacing and a dangerous, credible threat – much
as Rob Shearman did for the solitary pepperpot in Dalek.
Since that was clearly the aim, we can award pats on
backs all round because the story succeeds on that level. Up to a point.
However, there’s a sense of greater potential that lies
under the surface throughout and it remains untapped.
The episode doesn’t really make the most of its setting.
It’s a rather impressionistic take on the interior of a Soviet SSBN (ballistic
missile submarine, to you and me) that seems founded on a few viewings of The Hunt For Red October and Crimson Tide. Tom Clancy isn’t known for
the depth of his characters but his technical knowledge of naval vessels verges
on intimate and he can use that to create situations and develop tense
scenarios that evolve and progress. Stories set in confined spaces need to generate
movement in alternative directions. A little research goes a long way and maybe
Gatiss did more, but there’s scant evidence of it in the finished production.
At one point as they hunt the alien through the ship, I’m sure I heard the
captain declare, “It’s in the walls.” Which just sounded wrong.
Even the crew seem constructed from borrowed templates.
The captain might easily be mistaken for Ramius, Stepashin is a political
officer modelled on Peter Firth’s in Red October. The delightfully quirky professor
is a Doctor Who staple, but when he
first steps into view I assumed he was an eccentric sonar officer stepping out
of one of those submarine movies. Luckily, they’re all saved by the fact
they’re played by a triumvirate of great guest actors: Liam Cunningham and
David Warner, especially, bring tremendous presence and empathy to their roles,
while Tobias Menzies brings some of the same qualities he showed in Game Of Thrones.
The middle of the episode riffs on Alien, of course –
handful of crew stalked by solitary alien, attempting to turn tables on the
intruder and hunt it down. Much of it is suspenseful and urgent, countered by
too much screen time given over to lingering shots of claws playing over
victims’ faces. Coupled with duplicated explanations to clarify the global
situation in the early 80s.
The writer frees up a lot of time by having Clara fall
unconscious, skipping the part where the Doctor has to explain his and her
presence on board and moving the situation on. So it’s a shame so much of that
time has to be used up in history lessons. Context is important and there’s no
easy way to show that – without the presence of an enemy (i.e. American or
British) sub, say – but I’m not sure we need to be told it quite as many times
as we are here.
Removal of the TARDIS from the equation is a glaring
contrivance, sweetened with a touch of nostalgia by use of the HADS (Hostile
Action Displacement System), which fans will remember from The Krotons. So it feels a bit of both clumsy and neat.
And that’s as good a summation of my impression of the
episode now I’ve taken the time to watch it again. Never mind why a Soviet SSBN
would be drilling the arctic ice for oil (clumsy), an Ice Warrior on a
submarine is a terrific setup (neat). Overall, it’s more neat than clumsy and
sometimes that’s good enough.
It’s the ending that really lets it down.
Helmet on or off, negotiations with a Martian feel
anticlimactic. Matt Smith does his utmost to inject urgency and tension into
the scene, but at the end of the day it’s just an argument about whether or not
one side or the other should press a button. Which is about what the Cold War
amounted to, but in dramatic terms it’s another weak ending to an episode that
deserved better.
It’s by no means a crippling blow and a relatively minor
disappointment. There’s enough lateral thrust to save the story from sinking
altogether.
Next Time...
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