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BBC
Empress of Mars

Story No. 298 Iraxxa
Production Code Series 10, episode 9
Dates June 10, 2017

With Peter Capaldi
Written by Mark Gatiss Directed by Wayne Yip
Executive Producers: Steven Moffat, Brian Minchin.

Synopsis: A Victorian mission to Mars uncovers the tomb of the Ice Empress.

Reviews

The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway by Matthew Kresal 16/12/21

Having wrapped up the Monks trilogy that had come to define much of the middle of this season, Peter Capaldi's Doctor looked set to continue his last hurrah with the return of an old foe. The Ice Warriors, those reptilian warriors from the planet Mars, were one of the most iconic monsters to come out of Classic Who but had featured only once previously in its 21st century incarnation (ironically enough in Matt Smith's final season in 2013). Written by Mark Gatiss, Empress of Mars would not only bring the Red Planet warriors back but fill in part of their story while also telling an immensely satisfying SF action/adventure story along the way.

The episode certainly starts out with an interesting premise. As a space nerd, the teaser sequence finding the TARDIS crew visiting NASA mission control as a probe discovers a message in English buried for more than a century under the Martian ice cap is practically catnip to me. This being Doctor Who, they do exactly what they'd expect them to do: jump in the TARDIS and visit 1881 Mars when the message was left. There they find a cavern with an Earth-like atmosphere and a group of soldiers from Her Majesty Queen Victoria's army being aided by an Ice Warrior they have nicknamed Friday. The basic setup is in some ways similar to that of stories form the era of Classic Who, and it's hard not to think of a story like Tomb of the Cybermen when a tomb is found and the titular Empress rises to reclaim her planet and her throne. Gatiss though has shown how much he thrives on writing quite traditional Who fare, and Empress of Mars is an absolute showcase for that.

There are other influences at play, as well. Seeing Victorian British soldiers in their red uniforms on Mars with the intention of setting up a colony in the name of Queen and Country instantly brings to mind the steampunk Space: 1889 role-playing game. Indeed, the episode is filling the legacy of fiction tying into Victorian colonization. There are elements of various Mummy tales; for example, the Hammer films of the 1950s and 1960s or how the British soldiers treat the tomb. The Ice Warrior's siege of an outnumbered British force brings to mind the classic war film Zulu. Gatiss though is astute enough as a writer not to give a wholehearted endorsement of it, and the episode does a nice job of exploring the darker side of the era, with its disregard for native cultures and those willing to employ guns, germs and steel in the name of glory, wealth and empire. Empress of Mars is at once a colonial tale and a refutation of so many of its tropes.

Something else that Gatiss and the episode does is make strong use of the Ice Warriors. Despite their iconic presence in fandom, their lumbering presence and voices have also made them something of a source of ridicule in some circles. In reintroducing them in Cold War, Gatiss and company sought to change that reputation, and that continues here. The Ice Warriors are perhaps at their most menacing and threatening as a result, no longer lumbering figures you can easily out-run as they were in the 1960s but cyborg tanks that can overwhelm you with barely a moment's notice. The introduction of the titular Empress (played wonderfully by Adele Lynch) is just one part of the expansion of this Martian race as the episode also touches upon elements of their mythic past, their culture and indeed their role in the future of the galaxy seen in their later Classic Series appearances (which leads to a particularly fun cameo moment in the episode). If much of what Gatiss has sought to do with them was to bring them up to date and let them be the threat they were always meant to be, then he and director David Yip have succeeded wonderfully.

The performances and productions continue to stand out as well. That Capaldi's exit was right around the corner makes re-watching this a bittersweet experience, as he seemed to have really settled into the role with this episode highlighting his range, from the mad grinning in NASA mission control to the deadly serious "Let me try and save your lives" when he's trying to broker a truce between the humans and the Ice Warriors. Pearl Mackie's Bill continues to shine as a character, and it helps that she and Capaldi share a wonderful sense of chemistry together, bouncing pop-culture references back and forth off each other during some of the episode's best comedic moments. Matt Lucas' Nardole is once again sidelined for much of the episode, but his appearances work, especially when it comes to the final scene and who else gets involved. The supporting cast is strong as well, with Anthony Calf and Ferdinand Kingsley playing two very different kinds of British army officer, as well as the aforementioned Lynch as the Ice Empress Iraxxa. Productionwise, the episode is a showcase for the series' production values, as it mixes together period elements (something for which the BBC is almost always reliable) and genre elements wonderfully under the strong direction of Yip. The results are solid all around.

Indeed, that word can be used to best describe the episode: solid. Mark Gatiss has created a nice piece of genre action/adventure that at once plays with elements of Britain's colonial past while also not being afraid to acknowledge its dark side. It's a script that is wonderfully brought to life by those both in front of and behind the camera. If you're looking for a solid forty odd minutes of Doctor Who, you could do a lot worse than sit down and watch Empress of Mars.

Queen Iraxxa's Mines by Niall Jones 14/1/24

Mark Gatiss is many things: actor, writer, director. He has starred in a wide range of TV series, ranging from Game of Thrones and Wolf Hall to Russell T Davies' recent drama series Nolly, as well as films and stage shows. He is known as one quarter of The League of Gentlemen, as well as the co-creator of Sherlock. The range of things that he has done, as well as their sheer number, is staggering, but there is a constant thread that runs through much of his non-Doctor Who work: re-creation. Many of the TV series he has written have been based on classic works by writers such as H G Wells, M R James and Arthur Conan Doyle. He even starred in a live TV re-creation of Nigel Kneale's classic sci-fi serial The Quatermass Experiment, along with David Tennant.

All this suggests that Gatiss's true love is adaptation, re-creating the past for a present-day audience. His work on Doctor Who is no exception, with stories such as The Unquiet Dead and Victory of the Daleks being strongly inspired by the Classic Series. However, around 2013, things began to change, with his scripts becoming bolder and more original, beginning with The Crimson Horror, one of Doctor Who's funniest episodes, and peaking with Sleep No More, one of its strangest.

Empress of Mars, his final contribution to the series, leans towards the more traditional approach, but nevertheless does something new and interesting with an old adversary.

The episode brings back the Ice Warriors for what is (so far) their last appearance. Gatiss has long been a fan of the warlike Martians, having written their New Series debut, Cold War, and Empress of Mars shows them on strong form, including the first onscreen appearance of a female Ice Warrior, the formidable Queen Iraxxa.

As with all but one of Gatiss's scripts, the episode is set in the past, in 1881 to be precise, but unlike his other Victorian-set stories, it takes place on Mars, where a group of British colonial soldiers have become stranded after helping an Ice Warrior, named Friday after the character in Robinson Crusoe, to get back home in exchange for promised riches. As Matthew Kresal points out in his earlier review, this isn't an entirely original idea, but it is a fascinating one that has not previously been explored by Doctor Who. Alongside the influences that he cites - the Space: 1899 role-playing game, stories about Egyptian mummies and the Michael Cain film Zulu - I would add the works of H Rider Haggard, whose novels often take place in colonial Africa and combine adventure fiction with fantasy, exploring lost worlds deep below the surface. His first and perhaps best-known novel, King Solomon's Mines, was published just four years after the Empress of Mars takes place. The vision of Mars presented here, with its treasure-filled caves and perilous queen, could be straight out of one of his novels.

By presenting Mars as a recognisably late-Victorian setting, rather than as somewhere more typically sci-fi, Gatiss establishes a space in which the politics and ethics of the British Empire can be interrogated in their original context. For the ragtag group of soldiers that makes up the human supporting cast, Mars is simply somewhere new, not any different in kind from India or South Africa. They are characters steeped in the history of empire, with Colonel Godsacre referring to his presence at the Battle of Isandlwana, fought in 1879 against the Zulu Empire. Crucially, they all have different responses to finding themselves in 'the colonies'. For Jackdaw, it is an opportunity for plunder; for Colonel Godsacre, it ultimately provides a chance to create a new life, while others just want to go home. Each soldier is presented as an individual, with a distinct personality and set of motivations.

The most forceful of these personalities is Catchlove, whose ambition sees him clash with his superior, Godsacre. Catchlove's disdainful attitude towards the Ice Warriors, dismissing them as a 'bunch of upright crocodiles', marks him out as the most overtly imperialist of the soldiers. His lack of interest in even attempting to understand the Ice Warrior's culture and his willingness to resort to violence presents the British Empire at its very worst. By presenting Catchlove as a representative of imperialism, Gatiss negates the need to make any explicit judgements - Catchlove's actions speak for themselves - and allows other characters, such as Godsacre, to be presented in a more sympathetic light.

The Ice Warriors, Friday and Iraxxa, are similarly individuated, with Friday's initial willingness to act as a servant to the humans contrasting with Iraxxa's aggression. The Doctor's description of the Ice Warriors as a people who 'could build a city under the sand, yet drench the snows of Mars with innocent blood' and who 'could slaughter whole civilisations, yet weep at the crushing of a flower', presents them as complex and contradictory - just like humans. Iraxxa, in particular, is a powerfully drawn character, menacing and authoritative. The design of her helmet draws attention to her mouth, highlighting the significance of her voice, as well as the threat suggested by her hissing tongue and sharply pointed teeth. She is a formidable adversary, but not a monster. Her instinct may be war, but she is as capable of being persuaded towards alternative action as any other character.

In many ways, the Ice Warriors are counterparts of the British soldiers, sharing similar martial values. The main difference between them is that, whereas the British Empire is on the up, the empire of the Ice Warriors has reached a point of terminal decline. Empress of Mars ends by providing a way out of this decline, offering a new future for the Ice Warriors among the stars via the return of an old friend from Doctor Who's past. This cameo appearance is a delightful surprise for long-serving fans but is integrated well enough into the plot to make sense to casual viewers.

This unexpected return not only brings the story of Empress of Mars full circle, providing a neat explanation as to why the words 'God Save the Queen' were spelled out under a Martian ice cap, but also brings the story of the Ice Warriors full circle, dramatizing the point at which they go from being the proud relics of a dead world to fully fledged members of intergalactic society.

There is a lot to like about Empress of Mars. It's a simple story, but well-written and structured, with good dialogue and memorable characters. It's also well-acted, with Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie being predictably good as the Doctor and Bill, although Matt Lucas's Nardole is somewhat shunted to the sidelines. It also looks very good, with a distinctive steampunk aesthetic and strong direction by Wayne Yip. The undidactic way in which it explores the contested history of the British Empire, by creating an imaginary colonial encounter, highlights the advantages of intermeshing history with science-fiction.

Empress of Mars may represent a step away from the radicalism of Gatiss's other late stories for Doctor Who, but this step is by no means a retrograde one. Being his final contribution to the TV series, the episode acts as Gatiss's sign-off, containing many of his signature themes. It marks the culmination of his twelve-year career as a Doctor Who screenwriter and provides one of the best examples of how to take elements from the Classic Series and shape them into something new.