Nice little trivia fact - Alpha Centauri, the giant eyeball monster that turned up at the end of the episode, is voiced by the same actress who played Alpha back in the 1970s. Her name is Ysanne Churchman, and the gap between her playing Alpha and returning to play Alpha again here is a staggering FORTY THREE YEARS. She was 91/92 when she recorded this voiceover, and she's still with us today!
When I heard that voice and saw that big beady eye, it took my right back to 1974, sitting crosslegged on the living room floor watching "The Monster of Peladon". Such a fun cameo and a great call back to the 3rd Doctor Era.
Agreed. Took me right back to the original transmission of The Curse of Peladon (and the power cut that interrupted one episode), eating sausages, crisps, and bits of salad stuff for tea in front of the telly.
So is Thai the same alpha centauri from the big finish story with the ninth doctor played by Chris eccleston, it sounds just like it the story is called Run and he protects her while she runs for president basically it's such a sweet story
@@kesramothersole2134 I don't normally reply to 3 year old comments, but I've been watching each of Jess's Who reactions 43 after the previous one, in order to get a cross-section of Doctors for every 4 episodes (for example, starting with Rose, Fires of Pompeii, Wedding of River Song, Husbands of River Song and ending with Partners in Crime, Closing Time, Hell Bent, Flux part 6), and that way I'm getting to this one right after Cold War, completely by coincidence. Makes it funnier to think of having forgotten it. :)
Man, after watching Jodie's debut on Sunday it was hard to see Capaldi again. I just miss him so much. What I've seen of Jodie's fantastic, but it'll take a lot for her to poach Capaldi's spot at number one on my list of Doctors.
Same here. I fell in love with Jodie's Doctor, she's brilliant, but Peter still has a special place in my heart and I doubt anyone can replace him. But Jodie's definitely my number two, that's not bad at all.
First, I gotta be clear that I don't dislike Capaldi. I just wasn't as into his run, to be very honest. My interest dropped as I felt quality in writing slipping starting with the full run of Clara, into 12's run. My interest picked up a bit again with Bill as companion, but it felt like a real hit or miss run. Which I felt bad for him about. I say this as a fan of classic Who to present, at that. It's still early days with Jodie, but so far, I'm thinking she'll be in the running for me for a top slot up there with my other favorite Doctors.
@@lexablack2316 That's totally fine. We each respond to stuff differently. I would be lying if I said I didn't love Clara as a companion as well as her relationship with the Twelfth Doctor. The nadir of the Moffat era for me was Series 7, and in my opinion the quality incrementally improved after that. Series 10>9>8>7.
I didn't find Cold War forgettable, but I found this episode very forgettable. I've seen it a couple of times on rewatches but couldn't explain the plot to you
Woo! Classic Who in 2019! I read a comment the other day that said if you watched one 25-minute episode a week, it'd take 13 years to get through it all, so that's something to keep in mind. Yeah, the Ice Warriors are a Classic monster but they were also in Cold War, the submarine episode with Eleven and Clara. Alpha Centauri, the eyeball alien at the end, was a Classic monster too. And played by the same voice actress who played her in the old series, at the age of 92. :) She last played it 43 years ago.
TIME TO DO!!! MATH! I will be counting episodes with animated reconstructions, but no stories with non-animated missing episodes (even if just one part is missing, it's out). I also won't count episodes already watched: First Doctor has 75 episodes remaining Second Doctor has 64 episodes Third Doctor has 128 episodes Fourth Doctor has 172 episodes Fifth Doctor has 72 episodes Sixth Doctor has 27 episodes Seventh Doctor has 42 episodes Total: 580 episodes, aka 580 weeks, aka 11.12 years, 133.47 months or 4060 days. Alternatively if Jess were to do two 25 minute episodes a week (like with the Sarah Jane Adventures), that'd be 290 weeks, or five and a half years. For comparison 11 Series of NuWho will have taken about three years and one month.
MyAbridged - Oh, that's handy. Maybe the 13 years includes NewWho too and that's where I got that number. I know Jess will make a decision on how to handle it closer to the time but a practical way to do it may be to do the six-part serials over two weeks (three episodes per week) but do the four-part and two-part serials in one sitting.
Wannabe_Baby, well there were 105 episodes from the first two Doctors that were discounted due to missing parts in the serials. Then 12 removed that Jess has already watched (Unearthly Child, Daleks and the Movie). So if we count those, at a rate of one episode a week, we'd be a bit over 13 years.
'Sweet Fanny Adams!' is an old euphemism like "Sweet F. A!" meaning "Very little!" i.e. "What pay-out did you get from your insurance?" "Sweet F.A.!" The A stands for 'all', not sure what the F stands for... In the original series, the effect of the Ice Warrior's guns was shown in wonderfully cheap form by having a reflection of the victim on shiny tin being distorted from behind with a metal rod. In this, the distortion is total! Oh, Alpha Centauri turned-up with The Ice Warriors in the 3rd Doctor's Peladon tales. When shown the design, someone famously said, "It looks like a dick!" So they put a cloak on it, "Now it looks like a dick in a cloak!" was the reaction...
Congrats on joining in on the fun. Welcome to Doctor Who! ^_^ I hope you enjoy, and if you binge like I did when catching up on new Who, you'll be caught up fast.
There was an Ice Warrior story with Clara - but it spent most of the episode out of its armour so not surprising you didn't recognise them. Not sure what it was called off the top of my head - maybe Cold War?
It was a nice touch to bring back Alpha Centauri (the big eye thing at the end). Both Jo Grant and Sarah Jane Smith (separately) had adventures with the third doctor (Jon Pertwee) featuring this character. I believe the original voice actress came back which is brilliant.
There was an Ice Warrior in the Matt Smith episode 'Cold War'. And the creature called Alpha Centauri first appeared in the Third Doctor episode 'The Curse Of Peladon' along with the Ice Warriors.
Love this episode! So underrated! Edit: The Ice Warriors were last seen during Matt Smith's run with Clara in the episode "Cold War", how could you forget!? 😭
I bingewatch previous Doctor Who episode sometimes. That's why I remembered it. :D I can understand if she forgot about it as she doesn't have time to bingewatch the previous episodes.
I think this is an underrated episode too. I get the feeling Mark Gatiss likes the Victorian era and it shows, with all the character he gives the Victorian soldiers. :)
Nickjrossi Films I think it's only forgettable for the "only new who" fans, but the episode is actually underrated imo. When you write old lore continuity, you tend to lose track of a whole new generation of fans. Capaldi was simply that Doctor that came to right the wrongs and "hold them by the horns" and he did so. The story is very inspired in War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells and even though the plot is a simple "man vs alien" situation, it tackled an interesting aspect - unification of differences. Not to mention Alpha Centauri and the Galactic Federation! That's why this episode is a such a continuity gem and has so many implications, and it's one of Mark Gatiss's finest hours imo. Who never watched the Curse of Peladon, it's a must watch. Capaldi's Doctor had a mission in series 8 and he was successful.
I had not watched old who at this point whenever I first watched this and this is the first reaction I've seen to this episode since watching old who.... I just love how many references to Old who they have jam-packed into the season
Okay, enough comments already (and to spare) about The Nu-Who Episode That Jessica Seemed To Forget, so moving rapidly on to Missy's _"Are you all right?"_ question. I don't think this was ever explicitly 'explained' in the remaining episodes, but what works for me is to imagine that Missy is getting some kind of early indication that the Doctor's regeneration is impending. (That's not a spoiler cuz' Jessica already knows.) Someone has already commented here that Matt Lucas' participation in this ep was not known for certain until a late stage, so maybe the script (before his inclusion was confirmed) had the TARDIS remaining on Mars, and maybe that little Missy moment at the end was a consequential add-on arising from having to shoehorn Matt Lucas into the episode?
One of Mark Gatiss' best stories. While I have no particular fondness for the Ice Warriors like I do for the Cybermen or Davros, it’s good to see them again and this is a major step-up for them after the disappointing Cold War. The setup for the two Peladon episodes from the Third Doctor's Era with Alpha Centauri's cameo was nicely handled and it’s just a solid outing overall.
I found Cold War disappointing in that there was only one Ice Warrior and we barely saw it for most of the time. At least this had more Ice Warriors in it, but that's only me.
Perhaps she's just called Alpha Centauri as in 'The Ambassador from Alpha Centauri' and in this she declared the name of her star or planet as in "This is Earth-" Maybe thry all sound the same or have a very long life-span?
The Ice Warriors appeared 4 times in the classic series and Alpha Centauri (The Alien with the Large Cycloptic Eye at the end) Appeared twice and became a friend of the Doctor. This story was a prequel to pretty much all of the Classic Who stories with them though. And a prequel to Alpha's classic Who stories too, so she wouldn't have known who the Doctor was here yet. The Classic Ice Warrior weapon is a Sonic Disruptor. In All their classic Who appearances the Sonic death effect was quite different to this. This compression effect was new and weird. Oh, and we have never seen the Ice Queen before this story, but on a number of occasions we have seen other members of the Ice Warrior nobility. Namely "Ice Lords". They all have similar helmets to hers.
Alpha Centurion is very important in classic who, he is a peace maker; he has make peace treaties with mulpile species from which are included the Ice Warriors and the Daleks. As everyone else is mentioning; you had already seen the Ice Warriors with Matt Smith during the cold war.
I seriously can not wait for you to start in on Classic Who. So many awesome and amazing episodes and every one of those Doctors is just awesome. It is so much fun to see The Doctor in light of everything from Hartnell to Whittaker.
ice warriors were on a submarine during the cold war with matt smith doctor. plus that alpha centuri is also a classic who character who works alongside the ice warriors
The Ice Warriors are an older monster from the classic who era, but i thought you would recognize the ice warriors since Clara and 11 ran into one on the russian submarine. Though in that episode the ice warrior didnt stay in the exo-suit armor so a lot of people dont make the recall
For those who do not know Classic Doctor Who and are curious: Classic Doctor Who has 695 official episodes (I'm considering "The Five Doctors" and the two-episode version of "Ressurrection of the Daleks", as it was originally released), divided into 155 arcs and 26 seasons. Unfortunately, 97 of the 253 episodes of the first six seasons are lost (between 1967 and 1978, the BBC deleted old material for practical reasons like lack of space). These are the seasons of the First and Second Doctor, and seasons 3 and 4 are by far the most damaged. Unlike other series that also had lost material, ALL 97 missing episodes of Doctor Who still survive in the original audio format, recorded by the fans. There are also original photos, telesnaps and some brief scenes that were also recorded by fans (but some in very poor condition). Ironically, some of the scenes rescued are more violent scenes that were censored in the foreign market. Of the 97 episodes lost, 15 had official animations by BBC. The remaining 82 episodes exist as reconstructions by the BBC or Loose Cannon Productions. It should be emphasized that many of the introductions and farewells of companions in Classic Who occur, unfortunately, in missing episodes. as well as the first appearance of the Sonic Screwdriver. Also, although the series became in color from the Third Doctor onwards, some of his episodes only survived in black and white format, so some of them had to be colorized. However, in addition to the 695 official episodes, there is also the story "Shada", which exists in two versions: the 1991 version, divided into 6 episodes and narrated by Tom Baker, and the 2017 version, which replaces the missing material by animation . There are also the specials "A Fix with Sontarans", "Dimensions in Time" and "The Curse of Fatal Death". For those who are new here and do not know, Sesska already watched "An Unearthly Child", "The Daleks", and the TV movie of the Eighth Doctor.
Alpha Centauri is a character from the Peladon Ice Warriors episodes in classic Who- this episode leads into those. But more than that the original Peladon episodes had a subtext commenting on the UK joining what would become the European Union. Likewise this episode has a subtext on the UK decision to leave the EU via so called Brexit. And linking it to the original Peladon episode dealing with the same subject is the giveaway to the subtext linking up.
15:16 Ok Sesska, you probably wouldn't know this, but the being Alpha Centauri who is speaking to the Martians has been in Doctor Who before. Alpha Centauri first appeared in two episodes of the Third Doctor Era(Jon Pertwee), The Curse of Peladon and The Monster of Peladon. Alpha represents the Galactic Federation (Not the Star Trek one, but same idea), of which the Ice Warriors will be a member of.. (In the future, the Doctor's past.. Timey Wimey.) What was really nice was that Ysanne Churchman, who voiced the character in those two earlier episodes, reprises the role for this episode as well!
Beyond the dozens of comments about seeing the Ice Warriors before in Nu-Who (and a recurring second Doctor villain), but this episode is in a way a direct prequel to a series of Third Doctor stories set on Peladon dealing with the Galactic Alliance (featuring Alpha Centauri, who responded to the message).
Without going into spoilers, the premiere episode of Series Eleven was very well received and I think you'll like it when you get there (Which won't be all that long now). I'm sure lots of people in the comments have mentioned Cold War, so I'll refrain from doing the same. Alpha Centauri is also from Classic Who and is an Easter egg which delighted Classic series fans but which probably made everyone else say WTF?. Your reaction to the effect of the Ice Warriors guns made me laugh out loud. Looking forward to your reaction to the rest of this season!
Specially relating to the Empress of Mars episode, this might make you smile. A Shakespearean Sonnet by Andrew Barker called The Changing Hero's Journey. th-cam.com/video/G1irc0JnVhQ/w-d-xo.html About how the screenwriters of Dr Who, Star Trek, Wonder-woman and James Bond have had to re-imagine the Hero's Journey template. Which Joseph Campbell only ever said would be the case to be fair. Worth a click.
This is one of that great concept of Doctor Who: Reverse War of the World where 19th-century Britain invades Mars, instead of Mars invading England, like War of the Worlds! I love Sesskasays enthusiasm!
John 'Sepp' Schiltz I remember being so euphoric when Alpha appeared, that just announced one of the most important events in all of Doctor Who lore - The creation of the Galactic Federation. The Ice Warriors were finally meant to make peace and not invade for the sake of strategic occupation. So awesome!
@John 'Sepp' Schiltz So true, the exact same voice! And it's so great that there's still some renewed love for those stories while keeping the same elements that make Doctor Who different, I always loved that in Doctor Who - such a big legacy, so many nods. Also, btw, in Curse of Peladon, I swear I heard "haroon naroon" a few times too, instead of the known "haroon haroon". I loved when Jon's Doctor hypnotized Aggedor and I'm hoping to see that again someday since we got the Venusian Aikido reference.
Yep, that's what happens when you haven't seen enough of classic who to know those nods. If I haven't seen classic who, I probably would've had the same reaction for sure (one of the cons of the episode). I don't know, Matt Strevens is using a hybrid of practical effects with digital ones for the new series, so I think the Hexapod would be more... fluid and textured (and you could see its see-through veins under a skin that probably would be a bit... different, with a big well-animated eye in the middle - it's an interesting vfx challenge, now that I think of it...), but they would never bring it back unless there's a really good reason for it. Aggedor would probably be easier, but Alpha has more reasons to return than Aggedor imo.
@John 'Sepp' Schiltz Well, they wouldn't go full practical, but they could do it mostly practical I suppose, like in this episode. The eye is functional and expressive enough for an hexapod alien, the concept is a bit of a hard bargain for mainstream audiences, but then again, I always felt Alpha was more resourceful as a backstage player, so... they could make the same thing again. What I really want to see return is the Menoptera or the Zarbi with a redesign (that could look cool) or even the Sea Devils since Chiball is well known for his Silurians, Sutekh would also be interesting to hear again - "Kneee-eeel before the might of Sutekh". Omega could be interesting too since he's flexible in terms of wardrobe and has his whole Gallifreyan background to explore. What would you like to see on-screen?
John 'Sepp' Schiltz I never saw Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal, but I bet it would be interesting to see that. Now that I think about it... one of the villains I'm most anxious to find out more about is the Valeyard, that's a really good one too. And I don't mean the parallel and dream-like counterparts, I mean the REAL thing. Big Finish always have teased bits of the general idea: Secret Gallifreyan labs, hacks in the Matrix, parallel universes, a regeneration that goes wrong, you name it. I don't know why, but I keep having this eeriee feeling that the Valeyard we saw is some sort of... 'living premonition', from a kind of Bootstrap Paradox event.
Really excited for classic who reactions! I tried catching up with all of classic who a few years ago and stopped at season 5 but I fully intend on carrying on soon
The soldier said ‘sweet Fanny Adams’ which is a gentler version of ‘Sweet F**k all’ ! Fanny Adams was an 8 year old English girl who was brutally murdered and there was basically hardly anything left of her remains when they found her. We say the expression as a reference to her but we are more likely now to use the stronger version.
As nearly everyone else has already said, yes, you’ve seen one ice warrior before. As far as I can recall they were only encountered by the second Doctor in the TV series. The sweet-but-silly walking eyeball, Alpha Centauri, was a friend of the third Doctor.
Quite right. I have all the Pertwee stories and there is no excuse for my error. I can plead clemency for tiredness and a glass or two, but Aggedor will be avenged...
the alpha centuri is from 2 classic who 3rd doctor storys ,the curse of peladon, and monster of peladon. also this episode is a prequel to these 2 storys.
The Ice Warriors are so good that their enemies just fold. You'd have not seen Alpha-Centauri. I didn't recognise that Classic character. Same person doing the voice for it though which was very cool.This episode was a bit of a filler. You can roll it up like ... well, y'know. It was freaky seeing Missy show concern for someone, even her best friend.
Bit of backstory for this episode. Nardole wasn't originally meant to be a traveling companion with the Doctor and was just going to be a caretaker for the vault. But Steven Moffat later loved the idea of him coming along and had him added to more stories, but they had already begun shooting the season and had many scenes of Empress of Mars finished. So they needed to explain why Nardole wouldn't be around for the majority of the episode so they did a "tardis acting up bit" as an alternative. So if it seems weird, it's because it was thrown in last minute.
Just to be clear. I haven't watch Series 11 Episode 1 as well XD, and I will not watch Series 11 when it aired... I'm delaying it until December (cause studying... I know, lame excuse) So yeah. I'm struggling as well, same like you, Jess. Avoiding the spoilers... 5:34 Why does everyone forgot that Series 7 Episode 8 "Cold War" episode? XD Oh well, maybe cause I bingewatch that episode many times, that I still remember it, vividly. XD
To be fair, Cold War wasn't that memorable, and was sandwiched in between the 'The Snowmen' stuff and 'The Name of the Doctor' with other similarly forgotten episodes like 'Hide', 'Journey to the Center of the TARDIS' and 'The Crimson Horror'
Alpha Centauri.... you'll be running into that race in the Jon Pertwee (Third Doctor) era & you'll get to meet the Ice Warriors again in the Patrick Troughton (Second Doctor) and the Jon Pertwee eras... Like Paul said below, they were also in the Matt Smith story "Cold War", so that's a taste of your future and the Doctor's past.
Lol the Ice Warriors are classic who villains but they were in the episode "Cold War" with 11 and Clara. Next weeks episode is a bit like this one, not super memorable, but the finale really pays off for that.
If you were confused by the appearance of Alpha Centuri, they are a race/person that appears in the Peladon duo-logy. The Ice Warriors appear in two Second Doctor stories, as villains, then appear many many years alter, in the far future, where they are the police/enforcers of the Federation, a space alliance that includes earth in the far future. Way back, in the Peladon stories, she was voiced by Ysanne Churchman, and she reprised the role in Empress of Mars, despite now being 93 years old. The original story, Curse of Peladon (Which, ironically, was based on Britain entering the EEC, the precursor to the EU, which might yet get a sequel, what with Brexit happening) was in 1972, and with Empress of Mars being released in 2017, which, being a gap of 45 years, might be a record for the longest gap between appearances of the same character by the same actor in Doctor Who. You have no idea how ballistic the fans of Classic Who were when they heard her voice.
Seems like everyone also forgets that the Ice Warriors were mentioned in "the Waters of Mars" as the ones who had quarantined the Flood in the first place.
I'm so glad you're doing Classic Who in order. It really bothers me when other reactors do it out of order (I have severe OCD so skipping around disturbs me). Also, the majority of the missing episodes contain huge plot points (such as companions joining and leaving, or major character development moments).
I think the thing that struck me most about Empress of Mars was how the Doctor… had basically no hand in the resolution. In fact, you can make the argument that he actually made things worse because he brought things to a point where it all came down to a simple ultimatum of forced coexistence or needless slaughter of both sides (and here we have an interesting parallel to The Zygon Inversion last series). “It’s a simple choice, Iraxxa, the oldest one in the book. We must live together. Or die together.” How this scenario would have ended is debatable, I personally don’t think it would’ve ended at all favourably, as you can’t force coexistence between two sides who are hostile and don’t really understand each other. Likewise, the scenario here is similar to the likes of Nightmare in Silver where you’ve got millions of Cybermen awakening and the only choice is to blow up the setting - which is an oft-used trope that this episode quite nicely plays around rather than plays to. Hundreds of Ice Warriors are being awakened and the Doctor is prepared to use the Gargantua beam to ensure they all get buried - as he says at the end, this has always been his problem: “Thinking like a warrior.” But we don’t know how things could have gone if that scenario had played out because Catchlove shows up and attempts to kidnap the Empress in order to pilot the ship back to Earth. And this is what the resolution hinges on. The Doctor and Bill are, at this point, just observers to the events that are playing out according to the actions of the side characters. It’s fascinating because we’ve not had an episode where that happens for a long time. Series 10 has very much had the Doctor and Bill in the foreground as the ones driving each story, as she’s the new companion, obviously, and that definitely has come at the expense of more developed side characters - which is an acceptable trade-off because it’s allowed them to do a lot more with Bill, but I think it was good to have an episode with a bit of a different character format. Then Colonel Godscare shows up in the lift and executes Catchlove (who had effectively made this the only way possible to deal with him), saving the Empress and enabling the situation to play out in a way that brought about a positive catharsis for both the Victorians and the Ice Warriors. A man who was experienced a botched hanging for cowardice and desertion finds his courage and a new purpose, serving in an alliance between humans and Ice Warriors (and Alpha Centaurans!) I love episodes like The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood where there’s positive relations between two species, but they always seem to end in a way that circumvents a proper alliance forming - like the Silurians having to go back to sleep because humanity “wasn’t ready” for them to reemerge, due to it being set in the modern day and we can’t have every episode going forward have Silurians wandering around. So it was really refreshing to have an episode where an alliance is actually formed, but then it also goes one step further and ties into a major piece of continuity from FORTY YEARS AGO, all the way back to the Third Doctor’s era. And we end with the beginning of the Martian Golden Age, with Alpha Centauri’s greeting to the stars and worlds beyond. “Welcome to the universe!” Empress of Mars hit all the right notes for me. It wasn’t “best episode ever” material or anything, but it wasn’t trying to be - it was a very Classic Who-esque story with a surprisingly unique conclusion and a return to having more of a stronger focus on side characters, who I thought were largely handled well. (Oh, and Bill holding Friday’s hand in peacemaking solidarity was wonderful!) By the moons, Mark Gatiss, I honour thee.
It is quite funny seeing the series 11 premiere on Sunday then going back to the tone of the Moff era and Capaldi era.... XD very very different hehe....and cannot wait for December ;-) Empress of Mars first time round ended up being my favourite of series 10 funny enough after a whole year of "pretty good but not great episodes" this one i thought was really good.
What I like about the Ice Warriors concept is that it deliberately gets away from the 'good alien/bad alien' idea. They are portrayed as being very different, but having a morality all their own, which we may not agree with, but which deserves some kind of respect. If there is one thing that Dr Who is good at doing it is getting people to question assumptions. I agree that this is not the most memorable episode, but I really do like that idea.
This week, the TH-cam channel Screen Junkies released two Honest Trailer of Doctor Who, one for the Classic series and the other for the Modern series. I loved both. Sesska, have you thought about making a reaction to both in Doctor Who December, or at least only to the Modern Honest Trailer? I do not think the Classic Honest Trailer has spoilers, because most of the footage have no context at all. But of course, there is the possibility that you have already decided on the whole December Doctor Who schedule (and even recorded) a long time ago.
After watching countless reactions I still don’t really know what that last scene between Missy and the Doctor was supposed to mean...anyone have any thoughts?
I uploaded the entire series (both classic and new) in here: chomikuj.pl/oultrabadernista/ (The password is "download"); I found it here: kibet-2.com/serie/Doctor_Who_%281963%29 And used this site to download them to my PC: catchvideo.net/ Enjoy. :) P.S: The weird alien with one eye at the end of the episode, it's name is Alpha Centauri and appeared in two Third Doctor stories, The Curse of Peladon and The Monster of Peladon, seasons 9 and 11 and it was voiced by the same actress from the 70's on this episode.
Without spoiling too much about classic Doctor Who, Alpha Centauri (the alien seen at the end) is a returning classic character, and this is a prequel to some of the Ice Warrior stories. They actually got the original voice actress for Alpha Centauri, retired and in her nineties. In terms of missing episodes, seasons 3 and 4 are the worst affected, though some stories are complete. Season 5 is about 50:50 between mostly complete stories and mostly missing stories. Seasons 1,2 and 6 are almost complete. Everything after that is complete. There are reconstructions of missing episodes using the audio track and photographs taken on set. I'm watching them at the moment and am watching any story which has at least half its episodes. If you do one episode per week it'll take several years. I would suggest one serial per week.
If anyone is confused about the one eyed alien at the end, its a classic Doctor Who alien that is an ally of the Ice Warriors. By the way Jess, how could you forget the Ice Warriors from “Cold War” ??
a suggestion for classic who: instead of one episode a week, maybe consider one story a week as most are 4 parts to a full story could be one reaction per story
Four parts an episode does mean she's gotta watch and edit over double the amount of content as she's doing with New Who for your average four parter, over triple for six parters
I'd agree. The editing and all could be tricky, but could probably be pared down to the more important bits. Maybe? I dunno. But watching the equivalent of a new Who episode run time will speed things along in terms of the watching.
the equivalent to a new-who episode run would be 2 classic episodes. Except for the 6th Doctor's first season, where they actually did 45 min episodes.
People will get on your case for not remembering an alien race that last appeared only two seasons ago (for you that was only earlier this year!) "Sweet Fanny Adams" mean "Sweet FA" or "Sweet F**K All". It means "Nothing". The appearence of the giant eye-ball (Alpha Centuri) is a prequel to two 3rd Doctor Adventures where the Ice Warriors are in a 'Galactic Federation' with Alpha Centuri and Earth.
5:52 "Sweet Fanny Adams" was an 8 year-old girl who was infamously murdered in the 1860s, her body being cut into several pieces, some of which were never found. Her name entered British military/naval slang very soon afterwards, as a derogatory (and very bad-taste) term for the poor quality meat they were sometimes fed. The slang later became broader in its application, and eventually "Sweet Fanny Adams" or "Sweet F.A." was used as a euphemism for "Sweet F*ck All" - meaning "absolutely nothing". The fact that the 1881 soldier in this episode was using the term to mean "absolutely nothing" seems a bit anachronistic, as it's doubtful that this meaning had evolved by then.
The other character's reactions sold it: Everybody else just stares at the Doctor in disbelief at him being friends with a squeaky-voiced eyeball, while the Doctor is just smiling, happy to see her.
Once you're done with series 11 ep 1, you should check out the Honest Trailer for New Who (and maybe Classic, too? It didn't seem that spoilery to me and there isn't much in the way of serialization in Classic Who anyway.)
This was one of my favorites, because it was SO MUCH like a classic story! Not Robert Holmes good, but really good! I even wish it was a 2 part story! By the way, Alpha Centauri (the giant eye creature) is from the Jon Pertwee era!
At 6:00, the reference to "Sweet Fanny Adams" is a term that means "less than nothing" in British slang. It is derived from the unfortunate fate of a little girl, Fanny Adams, who was killed and carved up by a murderer. Its not a nice story (sorry) but British troops used to call their rations "Sweet Fanny Adams" because they found it disgusting. This developed into the tern "Sweet F.A." which eventually became "Sweet Fuck All" (heard at the end of The Who's "Young Man Blues") and finally just "Fuck All."
Re: missing episodes, I probably wouldn't be interested in you watching reconstructions, but I think you could totally do a review of a reconstruction/novelization/audio version if you don't want to miss stuff.
This episode and the next episode aren't the best episodes of this season. But the episodes after... Well, they are some of my favourite. Can't wait to see your reaction to them
Forum Monitors, you can safely tell Sesskasays that she has seen an Ice Warrior before on a submarine with Matt Smith's Doctor in an episode called Cold War. This is not a spoiler.
Honestly, personal opinion, the finale of this season is by far my favourite in New Who, and knocks series 5's out of the water. The only part of any of the other finales that comes close is Heaven Sent, which was as good as these two episodes, but was held down by the massive misfire of Hell Bent
![[ ออกกอง ] วัยหนุ่ม 2544 โลกหลังลูกกรง..ทัวร์กองถ่ายหนังใน "คุกของจริง" | JUSTดูIT.](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vB--aOkZCpw/mqdefault.jpg)
You've seen an Ice Warrior before - the Matt Smith on the submarine episode "Cold War". :) But yes, they're monsters from Classic Who.
Paul Condon was going to come to the comments to say the same thing...
Cold war was very unmemorable so ye
Wayne Sasuta. Me too!
Wayne Sasuta same.
Just watched that one yesterday with my daughter. Not my favourite alien race
Nice little trivia fact - Alpha Centauri, the giant eyeball monster that turned up at the end of the episode, is voiced by the same actress who played Alpha back in the 1970s. Her name is Ysanne Churchman, and the gap between her playing Alpha and returning to play Alpha again here is a staggering FORTY THREE YEARS. She was 91/92 when she recorded this voiceover, and she's still with us today!
When I heard that voice and saw that big beady eye, it took my right back to 1974, sitting crosslegged on the living room floor watching "The Monster of Peladon". Such a fun cameo and a great call back to the 3rd Doctor Era.
Agreed. Took me right back to the original transmission of The Curse of Peladon (and the power cut that interrupted one episode), eating sausages, crisps, and bits of salad stuff for tea in front of the telly.
Ah yes, when Jo got to be a princess
I knew from the style that it was a classic alien. I had no idea they would use the same person!
So is Thai the same alpha centauri from the big finish story with the ninth doctor played by Chris eccleston, it sounds just like it the story is called Run and he protects her while she runs for president basically it's such a sweet story
Everyone seems to forget Cold War when they're reacting 😂 Aaron and Melanie of Blind Wave forgot they'd seen Ice Warriors too haha
I thought the exact same thing 😂 In their defence it's not the most memorable episode
I know that there's another reactor(s) who forgot the Ice Warrior...
Now that you mentioned it, I just remembered them. It was Melanie and Aaron. XD
I call stuff forgettable epsiodes but I don’t know why because my memory is great so they aren’t technically forgettable seen as I don’t ‘forget’ them
It's not a memorable episode anyway, only gets better if you imagine David Warner's character is his Unbound Doctor
@@kesramothersole2134 I don't normally reply to 3 year old comments, but I've been watching each of Jess's Who reactions 43 after the previous one, in order to get a cross-section of Doctors for every 4 episodes (for example, starting with Rose, Fires of Pompeii, Wedding of River Song, Husbands of River Song and ending with Partners in Crime, Closing Time, Hell Bent, Flux part 6), and that way I'm getting to this one right after Cold War, completely by coincidence. Makes it funnier to think of having forgotten it. :)
I love how everyone forgets that submarine episode with Clara and 11.
I don't, I recall Clara looked rather fetching in uniform.
@@aidanvickery7308 that because jenna Coleman is hot
Completely agree.
@@aidanvickery7308 not my proudest fap
Probably because it was a very forgettable episode
Youve seen the Ice Warriors before - in a Submarine with Matt Smith
To be fair that episode did have it as a weird CGI creature outside of it's armour for most of the episode
I like to believe Nardole & Missy had a couple of adventures between the vault and Mars.
I've read them. They're filthy!
@@ajivins1 Never know what you're going to get with fanfic do you?
Anyone else shocked she’s almost caught up ?
Thanks for the likes
Man, after watching Jodie's debut on Sunday it was hard to see Capaldi again. I just miss him so much. What I've seen of Jodie's fantastic, but it'll take a lot for her to poach Capaldi's spot at number one on my list of Doctors.
Same here. I fell in love with Jodie's Doctor, she's brilliant, but Peter still has a special place in my heart and I doubt anyone can replace him. But Jodie's definitely my number two, that's not bad at all.
So far the signs are good. Waiting to see more emotional range though.
I don't think the Twelfth Doctor will ever be replaced in my book.
First, I gotta be clear that I don't dislike Capaldi. I just wasn't as into his run, to be very honest. My interest dropped as I felt quality in writing slipping starting with the full run of Clara, into 12's run. My interest picked up a bit again with Bill as companion, but it felt like a real hit or miss run. Which I felt bad for him about. I say this as a fan of classic Who to present, at that. It's still early days with Jodie, but so far, I'm thinking she'll be in the running for me for a top slot up there with my other favorite Doctors.
@@lexablack2316 That's totally fine. We each respond to stuff differently. I would be lying if I said I didn't love Clara as a companion as well as her relationship with the Twelfth Doctor. The nadir of the Moffat era for me was Series 7, and in my opinion the quality incrementally improved after that. Series 10>9>8>7.
5:33 I guess 'Cold War' really was that forgettable.🤣
I didn't find Cold War forgettable, but I found this episode very forgettable. I've seen it a couple of times on rewatches but couldn't explain the plot to you
*cue 100 comments about ‘Cold War’*
I usually expect comments like that to be made early and often. So, I’ll check before commenting so as not to contribute to the deluge. 🙃
Woo! Classic Who in 2019! I read a comment the other day that said if you watched one 25-minute episode a week, it'd take 13 years to get through it all, so that's something to keep in mind.
Yeah, the Ice Warriors are a Classic monster but they were also in Cold War, the submarine episode with Eleven and Clara. Alpha Centauri, the eyeball alien at the end, was a Classic monster too. And played by the same voice actress who played her in the old series, at the age of 92. :) She last played it 43 years ago.
Wannabe_Baby I wonder if that number of 13 years takes into account “lost episodes” or not.
TIME TO DO!!! MATH! I will be counting episodes with animated reconstructions, but no stories with non-animated missing episodes (even if just one part is missing, it's out). I also won't count episodes already watched:
First Doctor has 75 episodes remaining
Second Doctor has 64 episodes
Third Doctor has 128 episodes
Fourth Doctor has 172 episodes
Fifth Doctor has 72 episodes
Sixth Doctor has 27 episodes
Seventh Doctor has 42 episodes
Total: 580 episodes, aka 580 weeks, aka 11.12 years, 133.47 months or 4060 days.
Alternatively if Jess were to do two 25 minute episodes a week (like with the Sarah Jane Adventures), that'd be 290 weeks, or five and a half years. For comparison 11 Series of NuWho will have taken about three years and one month.
MyAbridged - Oh, that's handy. Maybe the 13 years includes NewWho too and that's where I got that number.
I know Jess will make a decision on how to handle it closer to the time but a practical way to do it may be to do the six-part serials over two weeks (three episodes per week) but do the four-part and two-part serials in one sitting.
Wannabe_Baby Can’t wait for the classics. My favourite part of Doctor Who. Hope she does at least two parts a week.
Wannabe_Baby, well there were 105 episodes from the first two Doctors that were discounted due to missing parts in the serials. Then 12 removed that Jess has already watched (Unearthly Child, Daleks and the Movie). So if we count those, at a rate of one episode a week, we'd be a bit over 13 years.
'Sweet Fanny Adams!' is an old euphemism like "Sweet F. A!" meaning "Very little!" i.e. "What pay-out did you get from your insurance?" "Sweet F.A.!" The A stands for 'all', not sure what the F stands for...
In the original series, the effect of the Ice Warrior's guns was shown in wonderfully cheap form by having a reflection of the victim on shiny tin being distorted from behind with a metal rod. In this, the distortion is total!
Oh, Alpha Centauri turned-up with The Ice Warriors in the 3rd Doctor's Peladon tales. When shown the design, someone famously said, "It looks like a dick!" So they put a cloak on it, "Now it looks like a dick in a cloak!" was the reaction...
F.A. = F**k All, meaning nothing.
I started watching doctor who 3 days ago, I'm onto season 2 ep 6 already, I'm hooked!!! Going to start ur reactions soon too x
Congrats on joining in on the fun. Welcome to Doctor Who! ^_^ I hope you enjoy, and if you binge like I did when catching up on new Who, you'll be caught up fast.
There was an Ice Warrior story with Clara - but it spent most of the episode out of its armour so not surprising you didn't recognise them.
Not sure what it was called off the top of my head - maybe Cold War?
Correct
It was a nice touch to bring back Alpha Centauri (the big eye thing at the end). Both Jo Grant and Sarah Jane Smith (separately) had adventures with the third doctor (Jon Pertwee) featuring this character. I believe the original voice actress came back which is brilliant.
There was an Ice Warrior in the Matt Smith episode 'Cold War'. And the creature called Alpha Centauri first appeared in the Third Doctor episode 'The Curse Of Peladon' along with the Ice Warriors.
That crushing reminds me of what Talbot did to Hale in Agents of SHIELD!
Love this episode! So underrated!
Edit: The Ice Warriors were last seen during Matt Smith's run with Clara in the episode "Cold War", how could you forget!? 😭
Agree. This feels like a classic Doctor Who episode.
A lot of people forget because it's a very forgettable episode
I bingewatch previous Doctor Who episode sometimes. That's why I remembered it. :D
I can understand if she forgot about it as she doesn't have time to bingewatch the previous episodes.
I think this is an underrated episode too. I get the feeling Mark Gatiss likes the Victorian era and it shows, with all the character he gives the Victorian soldiers. :)
Nickjrossi Films I think it's only forgettable for the "only new who" fans, but the episode is actually underrated imo. When you write old lore continuity, you tend to lose track of a whole new generation of fans. Capaldi was simply that Doctor that came to right the wrongs and "hold them by the horns" and he did so. The story is very inspired in War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells and even though the plot is a simple "man vs alien" situation, it tackled an interesting aspect - unification of differences. Not to mention Alpha Centauri and the Galactic Federation! That's why this episode is a such a continuity gem and has so many implications, and it's one of Mark Gatiss's finest hours imo. Who never watched the Curse of Peladon, it's a must watch. Capaldi's Doctor had a mission in series 8 and he was successful.
I had not watched old who at this point whenever I first watched this and this is the first reaction I've seen to this episode since watching old who.... I just love how many references to Old who they have jam-packed into the season
Okay, enough comments already (and to spare) about The Nu-Who Episode That Jessica Seemed To Forget, so moving rapidly on to Missy's _"Are you all right?"_ question. I don't think this was ever explicitly 'explained' in the remaining episodes, but what works for me is to imagine that Missy is getting some kind of early indication that the Doctor's regeneration is impending. (That's not a spoiler cuz' Jessica already knows.)
Someone has already commented here that Matt Lucas' participation in this ep was not known for certain until a late stage, so maybe the script (before his inclusion was confirmed) had the TARDIS remaining on Mars, and maybe that little Missy moment at the end was a consequential add-on arising from having to shoehorn Matt Lucas into the episode?
One of Mark Gatiss' best stories. While I have no particular fondness for the Ice Warriors like I do for the Cybermen or Davros, it’s good to see them again and this is a major step-up for them after the disappointing Cold War. The setup for the two Peladon episodes from the Third Doctor's Era with Alpha Centauri's cameo was nicely handled and it’s just a solid outing overall.
Ryan Pollard this isn’t a step up it’s a step down. Cold War was waaaaayyyyy better than empress of mars
I found Cold War disappointing in that there was only one Ice Warrior and we barely saw it for most of the time. At least this had more Ice Warriors in it, but that's only me.
Makes you wonder how old Alpha Centauri is supposed to be in the Peladon adventures.
Perhaps she's just called Alpha Centauri as in 'The Ambassador from Alpha Centauri' and in this she declared the name of her star or planet as in "This is Earth-" Maybe thry all sound the same or have a very long life-span?
Eh, minimalism is often a good way to go, when reintroducing a monster/alien. I didn't mind Cold War that much.
The Alien they contacted, 'Alpha Centauri', was first seen in Classic Who in an Episode called, ;The Curse Of Peladon'.
Godsacre was played by Anthony Calf. One of his first role was on an episode of the Classic Doctor Who during the 5th doctor time back in 1982.
8:19 weird to say but I'm glad that freaks you out too. Everyone just seems to find it funny.
The Ice Warriors appeared 4 times in the classic series and Alpha Centauri (The Alien with the Large Cycloptic Eye at the end) Appeared twice and became a friend of the Doctor. This story was a prequel to pretty much all of the Classic Who stories with them though. And a prequel to Alpha's classic Who stories too, so she wouldn't have known who the Doctor was here yet. The Classic Ice Warrior weapon is a Sonic Disruptor. In All their classic Who appearances the Sonic death effect was quite different to this. This compression effect was new and weird. Oh, and we have never seen the Ice Queen before this story, but on a number of occasions we have seen other members of the Ice Warrior nobility. Namely "Ice Lords". They all have similar helmets to hers.
Alpha Centurion is very important in classic who, he is a peace maker; he has make peace treaties with mulpile species from which are included the Ice Warriors and the Daleks.
As everyone else is mentioning; you had already seen the Ice Warriors with Matt Smith during the cold war.
I seriously can not wait for you to start in on Classic Who. So many awesome and amazing episodes and every one of those Doctors is just awesome. It is so much fun to see The Doctor in light of everything from Hartnell to Whittaker.
ice warriors were on a submarine during the cold war with matt smith doctor. plus that alpha centuri is also a classic who character who works alongside the ice warriors
The Ice Warriors are an older monster from the classic who era, but i thought you would recognize the ice warriors since Clara and 11 ran into one on the russian submarine. Though in that episode the ice warrior didnt stay in the exo-suit armor so a lot of people dont make the recall
I watched this at a convention as it went out. The ice queen joined us in person on the Sunday morning.
For those who do not know Classic Doctor Who and are curious: Classic Doctor Who has 695 official episodes (I'm considering "The Five Doctors" and the two-episode version of "Ressurrection of the Daleks", as it was originally released), divided into 155 arcs and 26 seasons.
Unfortunately, 97 of the 253 episodes of the first six seasons are lost (between 1967 and 1978, the BBC deleted old material for practical reasons like lack of space). These are the seasons of the First and Second Doctor, and seasons 3 and 4 are by far the most damaged.
Unlike other series that also had lost material, ALL 97 missing episodes of Doctor Who still survive in the original audio format, recorded by the fans. There are also original photos, telesnaps and some brief scenes that were also recorded by fans (but some in very poor condition). Ironically, some of the scenes rescued are more violent scenes that were censored in the foreign market.
Of the 97 episodes lost, 15 had official animations by BBC. The remaining 82 episodes exist as reconstructions by the BBC or Loose Cannon Productions. It should be emphasized that many of the introductions and farewells of companions in Classic Who occur, unfortunately, in missing episodes. as well as the first appearance of the Sonic Screwdriver.
Also, although the series became in color from the Third Doctor onwards, some of his episodes only survived in black and white format, so some of them had to be colorized.
However, in addition to the 695 official episodes, there is also the story "Shada", which exists in two versions: the 1991 version, divided into 6 episodes and narrated by Tom Baker, and the 2017 version, which replaces the missing material by animation . There are also the specials "A Fix with Sontarans", "Dimensions in Time" and "The Curse of Fatal Death".
For those who are new here and do not know, Sesska already watched "An Unearthly Child", "The Daleks", and the TV movie of the Eighth Doctor.
Considering they finally finished Shada (the unfinished Season 17 finale) last year, the numbering would be bumped up to 696 episodes.
Ignore my previous comment. Typed it before I finished reading.
The reaction to … are you alright? …. is the one I think we all had first time.
Loved your reaction to the ending , and we saw that species in the Cold Blood episode with Liam Cunningham as ship captain.
Alpha Centauri is a character from the Peladon Ice Warriors episodes in classic Who- this episode leads into those. But more than that the original Peladon episodes had a subtext commenting on the UK joining what would become the European Union. Likewise this episode has a subtext on the UK decision to leave the EU via so called Brexit. And linking it to the original Peladon episode dealing with the same subject is the giveaway to the subtext linking up.
15:16 Ok Sesska, you probably wouldn't know this, but the being Alpha Centauri who is speaking to the Martians has been in Doctor Who before. Alpha Centauri first appeared in two episodes of the Third Doctor Era(Jon Pertwee), The Curse of Peladon and The Monster of Peladon. Alpha represents the Galactic Federation (Not the Star Trek one, but same idea), of which the Ice Warriors will be a member of.. (In the future, the Doctor's past.. Timey Wimey.) What was really nice was that Ysanne Churchman, who voiced the character in those two earlier episodes, reprises the role for this episode as well!
You’re the second reactor that’s forgotten the ice warriors were a thing 😂😂😂 I think there’s a silent in your house messing with your memories
Doubt it, but I’d recommend she check the walls of her home for cracks!
This episode is based an Edgar Rice Burroughs novel about exploring Mars during the Victorian era. A story that Mark Gatis always wanted to write
Beyond the dozens of comments about seeing the Ice Warriors before in Nu-Who (and a recurring second Doctor villain), but this episode is in a way a direct prequel to a series of Third Doctor stories set on Peladon dealing with the Galactic Alliance (featuring Alpha Centauri, who responded to the message).
15:20 Alpha Centuri was an alien from the 1973 story on peladon
And the original voice actor returned!
Without going into spoilers, the premiere episode of Series Eleven was very well received and I think you'll like it when you get there (Which won't be all that long now). I'm sure lots of people in the comments have mentioned Cold War, so I'll refrain from doing the same. Alpha Centauri is also from Classic Who and is an Easter egg which delighted Classic series fans but which probably made everyone else say WTF?. Your reaction to the effect of the Ice Warriors guns made me laugh out loud. Looking forward to your reaction to the rest of this season!
Specially relating to the Empress of Mars episode, this might make you smile. A Shakespearean Sonnet by Andrew Barker called The Changing Hero's Journey. th-cam.com/video/G1irc0JnVhQ/w-d-xo.html About how the screenwriters of Dr Who, Star Trek, Wonder-woman and James Bond have had to re-imagine the Hero's Journey template. Which Joseph Campbell only ever said would be the case to be fair. Worth a click.
This is one of that great concept of Doctor Who: Reverse War of the World where 19th-century Britain invades Mars, instead of Mars invading England, like War of the Worlds! I love Sesskasays enthusiasm!
John 'Sepp' Schiltz I remember being so euphoric when Alpha appeared, that just announced one of the most important events in all of Doctor Who lore - The creation of the Galactic Federation. The Ice Warriors were finally meant to make peace and not invade for the sake of strategic occupation. So awesome!
@John 'Sepp' Schiltz So true, the exact same voice! And it's so great that there's still some renewed love for those stories while keeping the same elements that make Doctor Who different, I always loved that in Doctor Who - such a big legacy, so many nods. Also, btw, in Curse of Peladon, I swear I heard "haroon naroon" a few times too, instead of the known "haroon haroon". I loved when Jon's Doctor hypnotized Aggedor and I'm hoping to see that again someday since we got the Venusian Aikido reference.
Yep, that's what happens when you haven't seen enough of classic who to know those nods. If I haven't seen classic who, I probably would've had the same reaction for sure (one of the cons of the episode). I don't know, Matt Strevens is using a hybrid of practical effects with digital ones for the new series, so I think the Hexapod would be more... fluid and textured (and you could see its see-through veins under a skin that probably would be a bit... different, with a big well-animated eye in the middle - it's an interesting vfx challenge, now that I think of it...), but they would never bring it back unless there's a really good reason for it. Aggedor would probably be easier, but Alpha has more reasons to return than Aggedor imo.
@John 'Sepp' Schiltz Well, they wouldn't go full practical, but they could do it mostly practical I suppose, like in this episode. The eye is functional and expressive enough for an hexapod alien, the concept is a bit of a hard bargain for mainstream audiences, but then again, I always felt Alpha was more resourceful as a backstage player, so... they could make the same thing again. What I really want to see return is the Menoptera or the Zarbi with a redesign (that could look cool) or even the Sea Devils since Chiball is well known for his Silurians, Sutekh would also be interesting to hear again - "Kneee-eeel before the might of Sutekh". Omega could be interesting too since he's flexible in terms of wardrobe and has his whole Gallifreyan background to explore. What would you like to see on-screen?
John 'Sepp' Schiltz I never saw Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal, but I bet it would be interesting to see that. Now that I think about it... one of the villains I'm most anxious to find out more about is the Valeyard, that's a really good one too. And I don't mean the parallel and dream-like counterparts, I mean the REAL thing. Big Finish always have teased bits of the general idea: Secret Gallifreyan labs, hacks in the Matrix, parallel universes, a regeneration that goes wrong, you name it. I don't know why, but I keep having this eeriee feeling that the Valeyard we saw is some sort of... 'living premonition', from a kind of Bootstrap Paradox event.
Really excited for classic who reactions! I tried catching up with all of classic who a few years ago and stopped at season 5 but I fully intend on carrying on soon
I loved this episode too, but then the Ice Warriors and me go back a long way. (Well since their first appearance)
The soldier said ‘sweet Fanny Adams’ which is a gentler version of ‘Sweet F**k all’ ! Fanny Adams was an 8 year old English girl who was brutally murdered and there was basically hardly anything left of her remains when they found her. We say the expression as a reference to her but we are more likely now to use the stronger version.
Around 6:00 you said you have no idea what he said
“Sweet Fanny Addams” = Sweet F.A.
F.A. = F**k All meaning nothing.
aww, Sess forgot about Cold War with 11 and Clara
Haha he said "sweet Fanny Adams that's what" which basically is the equivalent of saying "sweet fuck all" but you know politer 😂
As nearly everyone else has already said, yes, you’ve seen one ice warrior before. As far as I can recall they were only encountered by the second Doctor in the TV series. The sweet-but-silly walking eyeball, Alpha Centauri, was a friend of the third Doctor.
The Ice Warriors were met by the Third Doctor as well, in the exact same stories as Alpha Centauri.
Quite right. I have all the Pertwee stories and there is no excuse for my error. I can plead clemency for tiredness and a glass or two, but Aggedor will be avenged...
+John Mayhew I've seen so many negative reviews of the Peladon stories, but in my opinion, they're masterpieces.
If you don't like the soldiers being compressed you should see what the Master used to do in the compressing people department.
the alpha centuri is from 2 classic who 3rd doctor storys ,the curse of peladon, and monster of peladon. also this episode is a prequel to these 2 storys.
Alpha Centauri was an alien the Doctor met long ago...back in classic era. They had the same actress portray the role.
The Ice Warriors are so good that their enemies just fold.
You'd have not seen Alpha-Centauri. I didn't recognise that Classic character. Same person doing the voice for it though which was very cool.This episode was a bit of a filler. You can roll it up like ... well, y'know.
It was freaky seeing Missy show concern for someone, even her best friend.
Curse of Peladon and Monster of Peladon.
Bit of backstory for this episode. Nardole wasn't originally meant to be a traveling companion with the Doctor and was just going to be a caretaker for the vault. But Steven Moffat later loved the idea of him coming along and had him added to more stories, but they had already begun shooting the season and had many scenes of Empress of Mars finished. So they needed to explain why Nardole wouldn't be around for the majority of the episode so they did a "tardis acting up bit" as an alternative. So if it seems weird, it's because it was thrown in last minute.
Huh, I actually didn't know that (the bits being filmed already part). I just always assumed that Nardole was getting the Nyssa treatment this episode
Just to be clear. I haven't watch Series 11 Episode 1 as well XD, and I will not watch Series 11 when it aired...
I'm delaying it until December (cause studying... I know, lame excuse)
So yeah. I'm struggling as well, same like you, Jess. Avoiding the spoilers...
5:34 Why does everyone forgot that Series 7 Episode 8 "Cold War" episode? XD Oh well, maybe cause I bingewatch that episode many times, that I still remember it, vividly. XD
To be fair, Cold War wasn't that memorable, and was sandwiched in between the 'The Snowmen' stuff and 'The Name of the Doctor' with other similarly forgotten episodes like 'Hide', 'Journey to the Center of the TARDIS' and 'The Crimson Horror'
WAIT, Ive NOT seen this one.. Aired when I was visiting the states yet I thought I caught up later.. Must forgot this one
Alpha Centauri at the end was a big deal character in the 70's. We haven't seen her since.
Played by the same actress now in her 90s.
Alpha Centauri.... you'll be running into that race in the Jon Pertwee (Third Doctor) era & you'll get to meet the Ice Warriors again in the Patrick Troughton (Second Doctor) and the Jon Pertwee eras... Like Paul said below, they were also in the Matt Smith story "Cold War", so that's a taste of your future and the Doctor's past.
Bahahaha, your reaction to alpha centauri was great
Lol the Ice Warriors are classic who villains but they were in the episode "Cold War" with 11 and Clara. Next weeks episode is a bit like this one, not super memorable, but the finale really pays off for that.
Poor Ice Warriors. They’re always stuck in the unmemorable bottle episodes
I’m ill in bed today suffering from tonsillitis. I’ve been looking forward to this. This has made my day better.
If you were confused by the appearance of Alpha Centuri, they are a race/person that appears in the Peladon duo-logy.
The Ice Warriors appear in two Second Doctor stories, as villains, then appear many many years alter, in the far future, where they are the police/enforcers of the Federation, a space alliance that includes earth in the far future.
Way back, in the Peladon stories, she was voiced by Ysanne Churchman, and she reprised the role in Empress of Mars, despite now being 93 years old. The original story, Curse of Peladon (Which, ironically, was based on Britain entering the EEC, the precursor to the EU, which might yet get a sequel, what with Brexit happening) was in 1972, and with Empress of Mars being released in 2017, which, being a gap of 45 years, might be a record for the longest gap between appearances of the same character by the same actor in Doctor Who.
You have no idea how ballistic the fans of Classic Who were when they heard her voice.
Small correction: You said "she", but Alpha Centauri is referred to as a "he" in the Peladon stories.
Actually I believe Alpha Centauri is a Hermaphrodite that uses "They" pronounces. Though I defaulted to female, since they are voiced by a woman.
Seems like everyone also forgets that the Ice Warriors were mentioned in "the Waters of Mars" as the ones who had quarantined the Flood in the first place.
I'm so glad you're doing Classic Who in order. It really bothers me when other reactors do it out of order (I have severe OCD so skipping around disturbs me). Also, the majority of the missing episodes contain huge plot points (such as companions joining and leaving, or major character development moments).
special moment 4 me- ac is a character frm a 70s episode-peladen, took me bck 2 my childhood!
‘Sweet Fanny Adams’ - he essentially said they’ve done all this work and they’ve got ‘*uck all’ to show for it
I think the thing that struck me most about Empress of Mars was how the Doctor… had basically no hand in the resolution.
In fact, you can make the argument that he actually made things worse because he brought things to a point where it all came down to a simple ultimatum of forced coexistence or needless slaughter of both sides (and here we have an interesting parallel to The Zygon Inversion last series).
“It’s a simple choice, Iraxxa, the oldest one in the book. We must live together. Or die together.”
How this scenario would have ended is debatable, I personally don’t think it would’ve ended at all favourably, as you can’t force coexistence between two sides who are hostile and don’t really understand each other. Likewise, the scenario here is similar to the likes of Nightmare in Silver where you’ve got millions of Cybermen awakening and the only choice is to blow up the setting - which is an oft-used trope that this episode quite nicely plays around rather than plays to. Hundreds of Ice Warriors are being awakened and the Doctor is prepared to use the Gargantua beam to ensure they all get buried - as he says at the end, this has always been his problem: “Thinking like a warrior.”
But we don’t know how things could have gone if that scenario had played out because Catchlove shows up and attempts to kidnap the Empress in order to pilot the ship back to Earth.
And this is what the resolution hinges on.
The Doctor and Bill are, at this point, just observers to the events that are playing out according to the actions of the side characters. It’s fascinating because we’ve not had an episode where that happens for a long time.
Series 10 has very much had the Doctor and Bill in the foreground as the ones driving each story, as she’s the new companion, obviously, and that definitely has come at the expense of more developed side characters - which is an acceptable trade-off because it’s allowed them to do a lot more with Bill, but I think it was good to have an episode with a bit of a different character format.
Then Colonel Godscare shows up in the lift and executes Catchlove (who had effectively made this the only way possible to deal with him), saving the Empress and enabling the situation to play out in a way that brought about a positive catharsis for both the Victorians and the Ice Warriors.
A man who was experienced a botched hanging for cowardice and desertion finds his courage and a new purpose, serving in an alliance between humans and Ice Warriors (and Alpha Centaurans!)
I love episodes like The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood where there’s positive relations between two species, but they always seem to end in a way that circumvents a proper alliance forming - like the Silurians having to go back to sleep because humanity “wasn’t ready” for them to reemerge, due to it being set in the modern day and we can’t have every episode going forward have Silurians wandering around.
So it was really refreshing to have an episode where an alliance is actually formed, but then it also goes one step further and ties into a major piece of continuity from FORTY YEARS AGO, all the way back to the Third Doctor’s era.
And we end with the beginning of the Martian Golden Age, with Alpha Centauri’s greeting to the stars and worlds beyond.
“Welcome to the universe!”
Empress of Mars hit all the right notes for me. It wasn’t “best episode ever” material or anything, but it wasn’t trying to be - it was a very Classic Who-esque story with a surprisingly unique conclusion and a return to having more of a stronger focus on side characters, who I thought were largely handled well.
(Oh, and Bill holding Friday’s hand in peacemaking solidarity was wonderful!)
By the moons, Mark Gatiss, I honour thee.
It is quite funny seeing the series 11 premiere on Sunday then going back to the tone of the Moff era and Capaldi era.... XD very very different hehe....and cannot wait for December ;-) Empress of Mars first time round ended up being my favourite of series 10 funny enough after a whole year of "pretty good but not great episodes" this one i thought was really good.
Alpha centuri was from classic doctor who just if you didn’t get the reference
Sweet fanny Adams is the polite way of saying sweet fuck all
What I like about the Ice Warriors concept is that it deliberately gets away from the 'good alien/bad alien' idea. They are portrayed as being very different, but having a morality all their own, which we may not agree with, but which deserves some kind of respect. If there is one thing that Dr Who is good at doing it is getting people to question assumptions. I agree that this is not the most memorable episode, but I really do like that idea.
This week, the TH-cam channel Screen Junkies released two Honest Trailer of Doctor Who, one for the Classic series and the other for the Modern series. I loved both. Sesska, have you thought about making a reaction to both in Doctor Who December, or at least only to the Modern Honest Trailer? I do not think the Classic Honest Trailer has spoilers, because most of the footage have no context at all. But of course, there is the possibility that you have already decided on the whole December Doctor Who schedule (and even recorded) a long time ago.
After watching countless reactions I still don’t really know what that last scene between Missy and the Doctor was supposed to mean...anyone have any thoughts?
if you had watched the classic doctor that episode was THE most memorable of that season.
I uploaded the entire series (both classic and new) in here: chomikuj.pl/oultrabadernista/ (The password is "download");
I found it here: kibet-2.com/serie/Doctor_Who_%281963%29
And used this site to download them to my PC: catchvideo.net/
Enjoy. :)
P.S: The weird alien with one eye at the end of the episode, it's name is Alpha Centauri and appeared in two Third Doctor stories, The Curse of Peladon and The Monster of Peladon, seasons 9 and 11 and it was voiced by the same actress from the 70's on this episode.
Without spoiling too much about classic Doctor Who, Alpha Centauri (the alien seen at the end) is a returning classic character, and this is a prequel to some of the Ice Warrior stories. They actually got the original voice actress for Alpha Centauri, retired and in her nineties.
In terms of missing episodes, seasons 3 and 4 are the worst affected, though some stories are complete. Season 5 is about 50:50 between mostly complete stories and mostly missing stories. Seasons 1,2 and 6 are almost complete. Everything after that is complete. There are reconstructions of missing episodes using the audio track and photographs taken on set. I'm watching them at the moment and am watching any story which has at least half its episodes. If you do one episode per week it'll take several years. I would suggest one serial per week.
Yeah, one episode a week will take about 13 years while one serial per week will take about 3 years.
Ferdinand Kingsley as ‘Catchlove’ was a very attractive villain 👌🏻😂
If anyone is confused about the one eyed alien at the end, its a classic Doctor Who alien that is an ally of the Ice Warriors. By the way Jess, how could you forget the Ice Warriors from “Cold War” ??
Great Classic Who reference with the alien from Alpha Centauri! Check out the 3rd Doctor for more info.
a suggestion for classic who: instead of one episode a week, maybe consider one story a week as most are 4 parts to a full story could be one reaction per story
I think that's probably the way to go, except some of the epic length stories (e.g. The War Games)
Four parts an episode does mean she's gotta watch and edit over double the amount of content as she's doing with New Who for your average four parter, over triple for six parters
I'd agree. The editing and all could be tricky, but could probably be pared down to the more important bits. Maybe? I dunno. But watching the equivalent of a new Who episode run time will speed things along in terms of the watching.
the equivalent to a new-who episode run would be 2 classic episodes. Except for the 6th Doctor's first season, where they actually did 45 min episodes.
Thank you Jess
People will get on your case for not remembering an alien race that last appeared only two seasons ago (for you that was only earlier this year!) "Sweet Fanny Adams" mean "Sweet FA" or "Sweet F**K All". It means "Nothing". The appearence of the giant eye-ball (Alpha Centuri) is a prequel to two 3rd Doctor Adventures where the Ice Warriors are in a 'Galactic Federation' with Alpha Centuri and Earth.
5:52 "Sweet Fanny Adams" was an 8 year-old girl who was infamously murdered in the 1860s, her body being cut into several pieces, some of which were never found. Her name entered British military/naval slang very soon afterwards, as a derogatory (and very bad-taste) term for the poor quality meat they were sometimes fed. The slang later became broader in its application, and eventually "Sweet Fanny Adams" or "Sweet F.A." was used as a euphemism for "Sweet F*ck All" - meaning "absolutely nothing". The fact that the 1881 soldier in this episode was using the term to mean "absolutely nothing" seems a bit anachronistic, as it's doubtful that this meaning had evolved by then.
I like Alpha Centauri - The same speaker as 50 years ago.
Alpha Centori is from REAL old doctor who, from the 1970's and they brought back the Original V.A.
The other character's reactions sold it: Everybody else just stares at the Doctor in disbelief at him being friends with a squeaky-voiced eyeball, while the Doctor is just smiling, happy to see her.
Once you're done with series 11 ep 1, you should check out the Honest Trailer for New Who (and maybe Classic, too? It didn't seem that spoilery to me and there isn't much in the way of serialization in Classic Who anyway.)
Missy is growing inside! 😱❤️😍
This was one of my favorites, because it was SO MUCH like a classic story! Not Robert Holmes good, but really good! I even wish it was a 2 part story! By the way, Alpha Centauri (the giant eye creature) is from the Jon Pertwee era!
Alpha Centauri is a character from classic who.
This is the most underrated episode in Series 10! It's probably the only Gatiss story worth watching IMO.
At 6:00, the reference to "Sweet Fanny Adams" is a term that means "less than nothing" in British slang. It is derived from the unfortunate fate of a little girl, Fanny Adams, who was killed and carved up by a murderer. Its not a nice story (sorry) but British troops used to call their rations "Sweet Fanny Adams" because they found it disgusting. This developed into the tern "Sweet F.A." which eventually became "Sweet Fuck All" (heard at the end of The Who's "Young Man Blues") and finally just "Fuck All."
I'd love to see her play the Doctor Who Adventure Games for DW December :)
Not sure if you know, but "God save the queen" is a relatively common phrase for England to leave in places they occupied
Re: missing episodes, I probably wouldn't be interested in you watching reconstructions, but I think you could totally do a review of a reconstruction/novelization/audio version if you don't want to miss stuff.
The Ice Warriors goes back to the Classic series. I know others can tell it better then me so I'm not going over what they said.
Namely the Second Doctor episode The Ice Warriors ;-)
This episode and the next episode aren't the best episodes of this season. But the episodes after... Well, they are some of my favourite. Can't wait to see your reaction to them
Forum Monitors, you can safely tell Sesskasays that she has seen an Ice Warrior before on a submarine with Matt Smith's Doctor in an episode called Cold War. This is not a spoiler.
Why does nobody remember Matt Smith met the ice worriers on a submarine.
The next episode is meh but then 2 good ones.
Three good ones, 10x11, 12 and 13!
Good ones? They are freakin' awesome!
My favourite finale alongside the series 5 one.
Honestly, personal opinion, the finale of this season is by far my favourite in New Who, and knocks series 5's out of the water.
The only part of any of the other finales that comes close is Heaven Sent, which was as good as these two episodes, but was held down by the massive misfire of Hell Bent
I liked the next one. The music, man. And Missy's reaction to the music.