Doctor Who 10.9

It's a Victorian on Mars episode... oh, of course, it's Mark Gatiss! I should have expected that. (And I could have sworn that he was in the episode as the Sergeant Major but it seems not, unless that was a cover name.)

So we have that a troop of British men found an alien space craft and didn't get spooked/try to destory it? Even more, we have that one of them was able to FIX THE SHIP??? What the hell? Then we get the episode of them being rather calmly on Mars (did they all just happen to produce Victorian era space suits?). And then they were all willing to kowtow to an alien queen? Huh? How British are they?

That huge batch of plot holes aside, this isn't a bad episode. It's nice and straightforward, which I appreciate after the last barrage of episodes. Admittedly, the Ice Warriors sound even more Klingon than before (although I am rewatching TNG at the moment), and what is up with that new sonic blaster special effect? Especially when it looks CGI whenever they cut to the bundle afterwards. Good human characters and well acted. And they got Ysanne Churchman back??

Then there's Missy... do they have a plan for the character? But that subplot line feels like "we need to get Nardo out of the way for the episode, and have Missy turn up on board".

So a decent episode, I doubt they'll keep it up.

NEXT TIME: Another "alien happens to be in Earth's past" episode?

[END]