This is by far one of Mark Gatiss’s best efforts on Doctor Who. As much as I love him as an actor and a writer on Sherlock, many of his Doctor Who episodes have been odd and unsatisfying. Thankfully, this was not among them. This was great fun. When I first heard it was about Victorians on Mars, I thought it sounded like it would be ridiculous, but he actually came up with quite a valid reason for their presence on the red planet.
It was nice seeing the Ice Warriors on Mars itself. The Victorian soldiers were also an interesting bunch. In particular, Sergeant Major Peach, ashamed of his previous treason and showing renewed bravery and selflessness was a pleasure to watch.
In some ways, the Martian queen was very over the top, but her method for killing people was just awful. Even though this didn’t have the same jumpy scare factor as many of the other episodes from this series, that was truly horrific and made her a proper threat. It looks like one of the worst ways to be killed quickly I can think of.
I liked the double meaning of God Save the Queen and that there was, once again, a believable reason that it was there. I also very much liked the connection with Classic Who at the end. I have not seen the Third Doctor episode with Alpha Centuri, but I think I may need to get on that in the near future. I have see some Classic Who, but almost no Third Doctor. I absolutely loved that they got the same actress back, Ysanne Churchman, who was in said Third Doctor episode even though she is now 92.
I am very keen to find out what Missy is up to next week now that she is on board the TARDIS.
8/10