 This story marks the return of The Ice Warriors, who were last seen in the 2013 Eleventh Doctor story "Cold War", that was also written by Mark Gatiss. The Doctor, Nardole and Bill travel to Mars, but upon arrival, they find themselves in the middle of a conflict between Ice Warriors and Victorian soldiers.
This story is notable for introducing the first on-screen female Ice Warrior, the Ice Queen Iraxxa, 50 years since this alien race were introduced in the 1967 Second Doctor story "The Ice Warriors".
Chronologically this story partly sets up events of the 1972 Third Doctor story "The Curse of Peladon", showing The Doctor introducing the Ice Warriors to Alpha Centauri, a representative of the Galactic Federation, which The Ice Warriors have joined by the time of that story.
This is Mark Gatiss' ninth television story since the show was revived in 2005. His previous story was "Sleep No More" in 2015. Aside from starring in the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "The Lazarus Experiment" he is one of the few people to have written for the Ninth Doctor ("The Unquiet Dead"), the Tenth Doctor ("The Idiots Lantern"), the Eleventh Doctor ("Victory of the Daleks") and the Twelfth Doctor ("Robot of Sherwood" and "Sleep No More"). Despite having penned so many popular stories in the past he is on record as saying that "Empress of Mars" is the story he always wanted to write!
Mark Gatiss explained on The Aftershow that this story began as a sequel to the 2015 story "Sleep No More" (also written by Mark Gatiss) and referenced in the line delivered by the Ice Empress exhorting her warriors to sleep no more.
It later turned into an Ice Warrior story, and was intended as a third Peladon-story, with the story set on the planet Peladon rather than Mars, hence the return of Alpha Centauri after 43 years.
This story saw the return of two actors from the original series: Ysanne Churchman, reprising the role of Alpha Centauri for the first time since in the 1974 Third Doctor story "The Monster of Peladon", and Anthony Calf, who last appeared, as Charles, in the 1982 Fifth Doctor story "The Visitation".
At the age of 92 Ysanne Churchman is the oldest actor to appear in the show since it was revived in 2005. To keep the reappearance of Alpha Centauri a surprise, Ysanne Churchman was not credited in the Radio Times nor on the Doctor Who website.
Guest star Ferdinand Kingsley, who played the part of Catchlove, was currently co-starring with Jenna Coleman in the ITV series Victoria.
It has been revealed that Ian McNeice was originally in talks to appear as Winston Churchill in this story, but this idea was dropped when it was realised that you could not fit a 20th century-individual into the 1881-set story.
The read through for this story took place on the 11th January 2017. Recording began on the 27th January 2017, as part of Block Six along with the previous story "The Lie of the Land", and was completed on the 22nd February 2017.
The Doctors old friend, Alpha Centauri, returns to our screens for the first time in 43 years! Alpha Centauri was previously seen in the Third Doctor stories "The Curse of Peladon" (in 1972) and "The Monster of Peladon" (in 1974).
Peach is heard to say RHIP. Long-time fans of the show would already know what these four letters stand for. In the 1972 Third Doctor story "Day of the Daleks", Jo Grant sneaks some night-time provisions to a famished Sergeant Benton. Before he can tuck into them his superior, Captain Mike Yates, arrives and reprimands Sergeant Benton telling him to go and check on a patrol. When Sergeant Benton has disappeared Captain Mike Yates thanks Jo Grant for the food and tells her, RHIP, Jo. Not understanding what he means she replies, Pardon? and he explains, Rank has its privileges.
2017 was the fiftieth anniversary of The Ice Warriors who first appeared in the 1967 Second Doctor story "The Ice Warriors". This six-part story was an immediate hit and The Ice Warriors returned 13 months later in "The Seeds of Death". They next encountered The Doctor in the 1972 Third Doctor story "The Curse of Peladon". In that story we learnt the Martian race had become peaceful and was intent on seeing justice done throughout the universe. Two years later, however, we saw a faction of The Ice Warriors had returned to their old, evil ways in "The Monster of Peladon". Then, after a gap of almost four decades, The Ice Warriors then returned in the 2013 Eleventh Doctor story "Cold War" written by Mark Gatiss.
The first Ice Warrior seen in this story is called Friday. He is named after Man Friday from Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.
It is revealed that the Ice Warriors have been sleeping in cryogenic cells and, along with Friday and Iraxxa, have been in hibernation for 5,000 years. The Doctor had previously encountered the Grand Marshall Ice Warrior Skaldak on Earth in 1983 who had also been in hibernation for 5,000 years in the 2013 Eleventh Doctor story "Cold War". The descendants of Iraxxa's hive, which had woken up from hibernation and joined the universe 102 years prior, are most likely the Ice Warriors who piloted the spaceship which rescued Skaldak from Earth.
The Doctor refers to events in this story as being the beginning of a Martian Golden Age.
Friday promised the Victorian soldiers gemstones, silver, gold and other kinds of treasures.
Catchlove is heard to say that the British Army is more than a match to upright crocodiles. He also tells Iraxxa to call off her dogs.
The Doctor again greets The Ice Warriors with by the Moons, I honour thee. The Doctor uses the same formal salutation to Friday as Clara Oswald used for Skaldak in "Cold War", when he instructed her how to great the Martian Marshall.
The Doctor has previously dealt with Daleks who, like Friday, appear to have become subservient to humans after having been rescued, only to have a secret agenda of reviving more of their race (see the 1966 Second Doctor "The Power of the Daleks" and the 2010 Eleventh Doctor story "Victory of the Daleks").
The Doctor has visited the remains of an Ice Warrior civilisation before in the 2009 Tenth Doctor story "The Waters of Mars". In that story The Doctor also met a group of human colonists as well. This event took place in 2059 hence why he indicated to Bill that there weren't any humans on Mars in Victorian times but he remembered the events in 2059.
Discounting flashbacks this story sees Missy out of her vault for the first time in this season. A large part of this season arc revolved around The Doctor and Nardole guarding the vault to make sure that she did not escape. However, in this story Nardole it seems is forced to allow Missy to pilot the TARDIS so as to rescue The Doctor and Bill.
Missy's Theme is heard playing, during her reveal inside the TARDIS, for the first time since Season Thirty Four (New Series 8).
Nardole knows how to pilot the TARDIS (see "The Return of Doctor Mysterio") though in this story it seems that she is not co-operating.
The TARDIS again pilots herself autonomously (see "The Doctor's Wife" and "Hide"). This time the TARDIS pilots herself back to The Doctor's office in St Luke's University.
The Doctor complains that his sonic screwdriver still has no setting for wood, a defect first mentioned in the 2008 Tenth Doctor story "Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead". This is also mentioned in "The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood", "Night Terrors", "The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe" and "In the Forest of the Night". In the 2014 story "In the Forest of the Night " The Doctor is heard telling Maebh It interacts with any form of communication you care to mention. Sadly, trees have no moving parts and dont communicate. And in the 2011 Eleventh Doctor story "Night Terrors" (also written by Mark Gatiss) The Doctor is heard telling Alex Ive got to invent a setting for wood. Its embarrassing.
The Doctor previously dealt with another mission to Mars by British explorers (see the 1970 Third Doctor story "The Ambassadors of Death"), as well as a UK space probe to the red planet (see the 2005 Tenth Doctor story "The Christmas Invasion").
A number of films are mentioned in this story. Bill mentions The Terminator, The Doctor though confirms that he has never seen any of the Terminator movies but he has heard of the movie Frozen. Bill also compares the underground tunnels to those in the The Thing. Both The Doctor and Bill mention the film The Vikings and upon the discovery of the Ice Empress' tomb, The Doctor is heard to say I've got a bad feeling about this. This line, and variations of it, has become a recurring phrase in the Star Wars franchise since the first Star Wars film A New Hope back in 1977.
I never want to see red again in all my puff. The expression in all my puff means in all my life with the word puff doubling for life due to its connection with breath. This word has been used informally in this sense by writers as varied as PG Wodehouse and James Joyce. The phrase was also heard in the 1977 Fourth Doctor story "The Talons of Weng-Chiang". When a corpse was pulled from the Thames, in the first episode, a horrified woman watching the scene comments Never seen anything like it in all my puff! before colourfully adding Make an orse sick, that would!.
This is not the first story to take place in 1881. Back on Earth in that year, the First Doctor was brushing shoulders with legends like Wyatt Earp, Johnny Ringo and Doc Holliday in the 1966 story "The Gunfighters".
The British Army have a portrait of Queen Victoria with them on Mars and they aimed to claim Mars in her name. This is an image of Pauline Collins, who first appeared in the 1967 Second Doctor story "The Faceless Ones". This image is taken from her 2006 appearance as Queen Victoria in the Tenth Doctor story "Tooth and Claw".
One of the soldiers is heard singing She Was Poor But She Was Honest, an English music hall song recorded in 1930 by Billy Bennett.
Jackdaw is heard to use the expression Sweet Fanny Adams. This statement refers to a young girl, called Fanny Adams, who was murdered in 1867 by solicitor's clerk Frederick Baker in Alton, Hampshire. The expression Sweet Fanny Adams, or Sweet FA, refers to her and has come, through British naval slang, to mean Nothing at all.
The Doctor told Friday that he was an Honorary Guardian of the Tythonian Hive (see the 1979 Fourth Doctor story "The Creature from the Pit").
The Doctor remarks on how he can not resist a countdown. He previously said a similar thing of The Master in the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords".
Bill mentions Neil Armstrong and the 1969 moon landing. She is seen pointing out a photograph of Neil Armstrong on the wall of NASA. The Doctor states that Neil Armstrong was not the first man on the Moon. The Tenth Doctor and his companion Martha Jones were present for this historic event (see "Blink") while his eleventh incarnation witnessed the broadcast of Neil Armstrong being interrupted by the image of a Silent (see "The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon").
NASA is testing out the space probe Valkyrie on Mars. Valkyrie has a new kind of camera which allows to see under the poles and beam back pictures using a different spectrum.
The Doctor suggests the reason for the message on the surface of Mars could be state visit, patriotic fervour or rogue graffiti artist.
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The Firsts:
The first on-screen female Ice Warrior, the Ice Queen Iraxxa.
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(Position = 3 out of 12)
