2nd Opinion: Empress of Mars
Connor Johnston & Gustaff Behr give their verdicts on the ninth episode of Series 10.
Connor’s Verdict
My relationship with Mark Gatiss’ work, as I would imagine with most fans, is not what one would call consistent. To bring question to my own strength as a reviewer, I’ve noted that there is a substantial divide between the way his episodes have survived in memory and the level of enjoyment reached during an episode’s duration. I speculated in last year’s Mark Gatiss in Perspective* articles that one of Gatiss’ greatest challenges to overcome is his own reputation. Furthermore, that his reputation is not something he’s earned through the merit of his scripts, but rather through endless comparisons and discussions next to more ‘iconic’ stories and writers. For me, Empress of Mars worked to confirm this anecdote with a confident and strikingly entertaining addition to a series that continues to jump from strength to strength.
The episode’s soundest element is derived directly from the premise in its treatment and refocus on the Ice Warriors. Not unlike his impressive efforts in Series Seven with Cold War, Gatiss parades an exemplary understanding of why the species have repeatedly overcome setbacks such as limited appearances to remain one of the most iconic and prominent monsters of the show’s history. Their ‘warrior’ culture, imposing design and battlefield ideology is harnessed and explored wonderfully in this script, both aiding their assault on the Redcoats and allowing for a logical and uplifting conclusion to Godsacre’s internal conflict. Gatiss succeeds where so many have repeatedly failed in achieving a durable status for these creatures in the episode’s hierarchy.
The warriors’ status in the episode is supported once again by the introduction of Iraxxa, this week’s titular character, portrayed wickedly by Adele Lynch. Despite risking appearing slightly melodramatic at some moments, the episode’s drive and intensity really awakes with Iraxxa’s resurrection, with her malice and supremacy completely dictating the energy and pace of the plot from that moment on. Gatiss’ establishing efforts in offering each of his human character’s individual personalities and motivations achieves a certain balance between both sides of the conflict, if not in regards to their strength in battle – at least in terms of their character depth.
After three weeks of heavy plots that worked wonders for the development of our leading characters, it is just so incredibly appropriate to have a relatively light and hearty adventure that boasts an array of explosive visuals and rapid fire developments. For every Extremis, you need an Empress of Mars. This isn’t to say fun, adventure centric stories are in anyway ‘better’ or more ‘important’ that the complex character driven scripts – just that they both contribute equally crucial elements to ensure the layout of the entire series is cohesive, complimentary and favourably received. Empress of Mars rewards the legacy of the Ice Warriors, it rewards the structure of the series, it rewards Mark Gatiss for his continued devotion to the show and most importantly is utterly rewarding for audience members of all walks of life.
I will also mention how wonderful it is that this week’s script recognised how rich the show’s history is, and how vibrant it’s characters have always been – that a simple voice cameo can offer so much justice and explanation for episodes that aired over four decades ago. Alpha Centauri’s reappearance was so remarkably special, even for those of us that weren’t even born during her initial episodes, in illustrating the scale and influence of the show’s legacy.
Gustaff’s Verdict
This week’s episode feels like a breath of fresh air after the mixed bag that was the Monk trilogy. Penned by Mark Gatiss, who is something of a mixed bag himself, this Series 10 contribution feels more like a hit than a miss.
Empress of Mars is a unique beast amongst Gatiss’ various contributions over the years. This story is not as strong as The Crimson Horror, but nowhere near the low bar set by Sleep No More, though the latter is namedropped… for some reason. But while Empress of Mars doesn’t set out to be spectacular or a classic, it still manages to evoke a sense of fun and entertainment.
Very little effort is put into presenting the Victorian red coats shirts in any sort of positive light. They are just here to die by the Ice Warriors’ hands and that’s okay because we the audience don’t really care since it’s so much fun watching these pompous morons kick the bucket one by one. But we can’t have all the English folk be bad, so amidst the Victorian pomp and circumstance Mark Gatiss provides us with a side-story about cowardice, sacrifice and ultimately redemption. It’s a subplot that’s not given enough attention, but the way it plays out is still powerful enough to pluck at our heart strings. Though, with the benefit of hindsight, it’s funny that the cowardly Victorian atones for betraying his Queen…by doing it again. Out with Pauline Collins, in with Adele Lynch I guess.
It’s plain to see that a lot of love went into making this episode. Bringing back Alpha Centauri’s original voice actress, Ysanne Churchman, at 92, is just one of the many tie-ins and shout outs this story contains. The last time the TARDIS dematerialised and stranded the Doctor and his companion was in Cold War, another Ice Warriors story penned by Mark Gatiss. The Twelfth Doctor suggested in Robots of Sherwood that he and Clara visit “the Ice Warrior hives” on Mars. Looks like they got their wish. Guess who penned that script?
Despite all of this, Empress of Mars never soars beyond what it sets out to do, and that is be one evening’s entertainment. It may sound harsh, but this has been shown to work in Doctor Who’s favour from time to time. While not a bad story (far from it), at the end of the day Empress of Mars proves itself to be a very mundane episode of Doctor Who. If there is a silver lining to all of this, it’s that this story’s rewatch potential likely won’t suffer as some of the other “great” episodes have in recent years, but it’s not likely to improve with multiple viewings either.
Mark Gatiss has admitted in interviews to wanting to do this episode specifically as a “parting gift”, and this episode does bear some hallmarks of a vanity project, but thankfully Empress of Mars isn’t a bad vanity project.
