Episode #242 : Cold War

"It's an Ice Warrior! A native of the planet Mars. And we go way back. Way back."

Episode #242:      Cold War.
Companions:        The 11th Doctor and Clara Oswald.
Air Date:               13th April 2013.

In 1983, the tensest point of the Cold War, a Soviet submarine discovers a strange creature frozen in the ice of the Arctic. When one of the Firebird's crew breaks it free, it starts attacking. As the crew strikes back, the Eleventh Doctor warns them that the attack could be considered a declaration of war on the entire Ice Warrior race.

I'm a fan of bringing back the classic monsters to new Who and at long last we have a return of the Ice Warriors, and about time. Not only do we get a return of these Martian aliens but the episode expands upon them and gives us much more information than the classic third Doctor episodes ever did. Just a shame that the look of the actual Ice Warrior, Skaldak, has to be CGI rather than a man in a rubber mask but I can accept that given we have decent special effects these days to do it.

Having the story set during the Cold War and on a submarine brings back happy memories of a childhood favourite, Warriors of the Deep, which for all intents and purposes tells a very similar story to this just with Silurians and Sea Devils instead.

Cold War seems a story very much built around showcasing Clara over the Doctor. Our main hero is his usual top form but Clara gets most of the on screen fun, having to interact with Skaldak and running about the corridors of the Submarine. With other companions I might have grumbled a bit about that but Clara grows on you very quickly and I at least don't mind an episode where she gets most of the limelight.

As episodes go this is quite fun. It doesn't try too hard and it doesn't go the silly route, and unlike many of the modern adventures I can quite easily imagine any of the classic Doctors playing this adventure very well.