Memories of the Absurd

I think I’ve written about starting to watch Doctor Who as a child before. I was very young (pre-school) but ended up watching it with some older cousins who we were staying with that were mad keen on it. From looking at old holiday photo albums (along with the broadcast dates) the first serial that I would have seen featured the Daleks but the one that really stuck in my mind was one that featured the Ice Warriors along with a thing in a washing machine called Arcturis and a squeaky-voiced green creature, called Alpha Centauri, consisting of a cloak, with a huge bulbous head, featuring one giant eye. I may have been young but the absurdity of this menagerie of weirdness clearly struck a chord – I was hooked.

Last Saturday’s episode, The Empress of Mars, also featured the Ice Warriors now emerging from their extended hibernation by a group of Victorian colonial soldiers.  All rather steam-punk (and not cyber-punk as I erroneously first typed!) and very much in keeping with the inventive weirdness that one would associate with Doctor Who. Like the last Ice Warrior adventure, also penned by Mark Gatiss, this saw the Martians as a noble warrior race rather than the alien invaders of the Patrick Troughton years or the galactic peacekeepers that I was introduced with through Jon Pertwee. What this episode ultimately delivered, though, was a link between the two eras. Very nice for long-term nerdy fans like me but, at the same time, not taking away anything from the casual viewer who may not have remembered episodes from the late 1960s or early 1970s.

I think this was one of Mark Gatiss’s better episodes and much more accessible than last year’s Sleep No More. It may also be his last as he has indicated that he doesn’t intend to write for the new show-runner so it’s nice that he has been able to go out on a high. I think the Ice Warriors actually make a good foe simply because they are not just a monster to be defeated. They have their own agenda and are ultimately a martial race but, at the same time, they are capable of reason and a sense of justice. The humans were shown with a reckless stupidity but, at the same time, could be seen to witness the consequences of their actions. I also really loved the Ice Warriors guns. The original weapon made a shrieking sound accompanied by migraine inducing electronic effects on the screen but these, compacting their victims into a ball, were truly original.

However, it was the ending with a cameo by the one-eyed wonder of Alpha Centauri that really stirred memories of the absurd. I was also delighted to discover that this squeaky wonder was voiced by Ysanne Churchman who performed the roll back in 1972 – she is now in her 90s. This, of course, nicely filled the gap between the 60s and 70s Ice Warrior stories and the inclusion of Missy at the end also seems to be hinting at resolving another missing chapter regarding the true nature of the relationship between the Doctor and Master. This Saturday sees the Doctor closer to home, Scotland in fact. I actually had a little inside info on that one but for now I’ll stay schtum.