Poll: 7x08 Cold War review and discussion

Discussion in 'Doctor Who' started by Lonemagpie, Apr 13, 2013.

?

Rate episode 7x08 Cold War

  1. Geronimo!

    27.4%
  2. NIce Warrior!

    53.2%
  3. lukewarm

    16.9%
  4. Will spring never come?

    2.4%
  5. Dive Dive Dive!

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  1. Mr Light

    Mr Light Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 1999
    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    Man, that was really depressing reading about submarines lost at sea... that must be a terrible way to die.
     
  2. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2001
    Location:
    The Wormhole
    Yes, this episode rocked! Well, I would say it's cool, but that might come off as a pun.

    Ice Warriors have always interested me, and this episode sure didn't disappoint. It updated the Ice Warriors while staying faithful to the original design and didn't come off as cheesy. Definitely not an easy combination, but they pulled it off here. Hell, they even managed to make the clamp hands they had in the classic era seem plausible despite the fact this Ice Warrior didn't even have them. Skaldak himself was also a great character who I hope returns in some capacity again.

    The story itself is somewhat by the numbers, standard stranded people being picked off one by one. Although the setting of a Soviet submarine makes this seem fresh, and all the movie Soviet tropes are a delight to watch in this sci-fi story.

    David Warner was rather underused, although his character was amusing, a source of comic relief that wasn't distracting. But at times it seeme he was just shoved off to the side. Maybe that was intentional, convey that his character is an outsider among the sub's crew. But still, the guy is a great actor and the character was great when he was used, it's just a shame they didn't get more use out of him.

    Nitpick: the captain has four stripes on his uniform, which means he is an O7 captain. However, my understading is that submarines usually have an officer with a lower rank for its captain, like a Commander or even a Lt. Commander. Or are things different in Russia (or were different in Soviet Russia)?

    But yeah, amazing episode. Doctor Who is on a roll this year.
     
  3. DalekJim

    DalekJim Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Jun 22, 2009
    Location:
    Great Britain
  4. Ar-Pharazon

    Ar-Pharazon Admiral Premium Member

    Joined:
    May 19, 2005
    Location:
    Far North Chicago Suburbs
  5. diankra

    diankra Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Jun 22, 2005
    Location:
    UK
    Another nitpick: there's a difference between a nuclear-powered submarine, and a nuclear-weaponed sub.The latter are always the former, but you'd send the former to drill for oil and dig up mammoths, not the latter. They need to be in the right position to launch (so heading off to the South Pole on your own decision is going to get the captain court-martialed unless the USSR branch of UNIT speak up for him).
    And the Prof must have been in the KGB to have a walkman and cheek the military the way he did: which isn't actually a problem, the KGB were in the vanguard of reform in the early 1980s, as they knew the reality because they were trusted with western info, not the propaganda (they just didn't expect reform to go as far as it did...).
    Oh, and aside from the idiot who thawed out the ice block, it wasn't an ice block, more an ice box that the Ice Warrior could punch its way out of, which makes no sense at all.
    And... but I don't care, I liked it!
     
  6. Mr. Adventure

    Mr. Adventure Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jun 9, 2001
    Location:
    Mr. Adventure
    Do you think RTD would've offed the professor?
     
  7. Alidar Jarok

    Alidar Jarok Everything in moderation but moderation Moderator

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2003
    Location:
    Norfolk, VA
    Well, they were actually training in case of the need to launch weapons (I was going to say drilling, which is more accurate, but training doesn't include drilling for oil). Why they have a scientist and chose to dig up something in the ice is less than clear, though.
     
  8. Brent

    Brent Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2003
    Location:
    TARDIS
    Just a side, I wonder if they staged this episode in 1984 in the cold war era due to the current parallels with today's political nuclear threat of North Korea or Iran. Sometimes I wonder if they do such things to seem relevant to today's happenings.
     
  9. Orac

    Orac Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 22, 2007
    Location:
    The TARDIS
    Fantastic episode! I thought the CGI reveal of Skaldak's face at the end was a trifle unnecessary though. I would've preferred they kept his face a mystery but realize some may have been disappointed if this had happened.
     
  10. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2001
    Location:
    Behind Enemy Lines
    No but it probably wouyld have been revealed that the Professor and the Captain were a couple ;)
     
  11. Deckerd

    Deckerd Fleet Arse Premium Member

    Joined:
    Oct 27, 2005
    Location:
    the Frozen Wastes
    Matt Smith manages to be clownish almost all of the time except when he suddenly becomes something else altogether. Several times over the years, companions have gone on about him being very old and very kind but Smith's Doctor is something darker.
     
  12. Sean_McCormick

    Sean_McCormick Captain Captain

    Joined:
    Aug 28, 2007
    Well, to nitpick your nitpick a little ;), the USSR initially did build a diesel-powered class of submarine carriying ICBMs (the Golf-class).

    Also, i'm pretty sure, this sub isn't going anywhere soon (or anytime), AFAIK sowiet and russian subs use soidium-cooled reactors which are permanently in need of heating the sodium to an liquid state, when the reactor is shut down and there is no external source to heat the sodium, it solidifies and the reactor is permanently destroyed.

    Also, when surfacing through ice, the turret-mounted diving planes need to be put in a vertical position to prevent damage to them, so they are most likely nonfunctional too.
     
  13. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2000
    Location:
    In the lap of squalor I assure you.
    David Warner has played an alternate version of the Third Doctor in a mirror universe set of Audios where 3 didn't crash into his exile until 1999 after U.N.I.T. had solved most of the monster problems from the last 20 years with nuclear weapons.

    An Actor who has already been the Doctor, waking around as an odd ball called "The Professor" and we're not supposed to think that he is again an alternate mirror universe version of the Doctor at play in the TV Show again after last week when Grandfather was most certainly a mirror version of One who failed? Next week the villain is going to be an alternate of Tom Baker!
     
  14. Stoo

    Stoo Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2013
    Location:
    Seyda Neen
    Not a top notch episode but a pretty solid one. Scary monster, claustrophobic environment, alien-esque scares. All very tense. Then at the end the Doctor is in a desparate place but luckily the monster has a sense of compassion and honour.

    Ice Warrior was a good update. We never see all of him outside the suit? But probably for the best, to avoid unconvincing CG.

    Nice to see Brutus from Rome getting work.
     
  15. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2001
    Location:
    The Wormhole
    Another nitpick: how does the TARDIS translator translate everyone if the TARDIS is quite literally on the opposite end of the world?
     
  16. The Mirrorball Man

    The Mirrorball Man Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 18, 1999
    Location:
    Switzerland
    The sonic screwdriver is a piece of the TARDIS.

    Or something.
     
  17. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2001
    Location:
    The Wormhole
    The insect guys in Planet of the Dead weren't translated and the Doctor had the sonic screwdriver with him there.
     
  18. Tom

    Tom Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2003
    Location:
    In your Mind!
    I got a brief 'Utopia' vibe when the professor was talking to Clara: Time travel? Pulls out an Fob watch! LOL

    Still, it did feel that at time the Professor was more than he seemed, or maybe that is just Warners great acting.
     
  19. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2000
    Location:
    In the lap of squalor I assure you.
    In Planet of the Dead, the Doctor says to Christina that he can speak all languages.

    The TARDIS doesn't translate, it uses it's telepathic field to slave the Doctors polyglottery into the immediate area... Think about how many thousands, maybe millions of conversations are being translated inside the TARDIS' proximity?

    Now ask yourself if the TARDIS is keeping real time logs of any of these conversations and monitoring content and context that it shouldn't be able to FIND the badies before they strike in line with how the Machine on Person of Interest works.

    We heard a Dalek speaking German once when Martha tred to blow up the world.
     
  20. The Mirrorball Man

    The Mirrorball Man Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 18, 1999
    Location:
    Switzerland
    Oh that was the old sonic. Completely different situation.

    Or something.