Doctor Who (Ep 708) Cold War

I love The Doctor. I even love Matt Smith as the Doctor. That seven year old in the body of a man with a 1000 years of experiences. I'm saying this because I am sadly not as impressed yet with this new season as I was when The Doctor traveled with the Ponds. But I do have hope.



The Cold War was a bit disappointing.


It was fun to see Liam Cunningham as the well bearded Captain of the Sub. The part suited him well. His deep and calm voice brought a sense of safety. He made me feel glad he was the Captain of a nuke carrying sub.

In spite of Liam's characters demeanour the beginning half of the show was filled with a lot of yelling and confusion. The extra sounds from the Sub itself tended to be over bearing to some parts of the dialogue. The man (played by veteran actor David Warner) who pops in from some random room in the back with the headphones singing off key didn't make any sense at all.

Then arrives the TARDIS (in a Sub, which in reality probably isn't high enough inside to actually hold the Ten foot tall Tardis). Clara and The Doctor seem flung out its doors already soaking wet. Why?

The fast paced action, and talking/yelling in this part of the show was too fast paced. Perhaps even cut together too closely (I'm not a film editor). Suddenly the TARDIS disappears and Clara is floating in the ocean? It's what it looked like to me.

After the cut from commercial somehow Clara is no longer in the ocean but in the sub again. The sonic screwdriver is missing though. Nice touch on the part of the writers there. I've read complains by fans that the Doctor has been relying too heavily on the Sonic tool.

Now comes the good stuff! The rest of the show was enjoyable for me. Clara asks her typical companion questions and does her brave duty to speak to the alien what she's been told to say by the Doctor, because she is a non-partisan, and it all goes wrong before it goes right. The Impossible Girl speaks from her heart to the Ice Warrior and saves the day by moving him to compassion.

Speaking of The Ice Warrior. First introduced in 1967 the Doctor claims to never have seen them out of their armour. To do such a thing would be to show weakness and desperation. They were apparently dangerous enough in armour, but out of it their reptilian side was free to move fast and nearly unseen. So, when Skaldak showed his face in the darkness I was intrigued. I was then delighted to see him later remove his helmet all together at the Doctors demand to look him in the eye. The features of the alien were fascinating for a creature lover like me. He head more squarish, big red eyes and a strange indentation in the top of its skull. The mouth looked too small for his head but the numerous razor sharp teeth still gave chills. Bravo and well done to the creators of the "Greenies".


Here's hoping Hide (ep 709) will be better.