the only friendly russian guy being the one obsessed with british music made this episode a tad annoying. and also i didnt care about anything happening in this one

I’m hot and cold on Mark Gatiss' scripts but I think this is a pretty good one.

The return of the Ice Warriors is spine tingling. Big fan. Taking the Ice Warrior out of its shell is a nice way of moving it on and making it a bit different. The fully suited Ice Warrior is fantastic, the unsuited Ice Warrior seen in fleeting glimpses and seen just as its hands is also fantastic, but when you see the CGI head it’s a little less flattering.

I love the model shots of the submarine, even if it could have been done a little more elegantly with a bigger model or with a model with CGI touch ups. Regardless, it’s far more interesting than just using CGI which would be the standard of the era.

David Warner is a treat. There is real heart to his performance. It’s a star studded cast. You can see actors who go on to star in significant long running roles in The Crown and Happy Valley. Clara and The Doctor have insane chemistry.

The Russian language translation circuit workaround is handled well. Allowing you to have British actors convincingly deliver the dialogue.

The inclusion of 80s music is a nice reminder of the era it’s set in given there are so few other signifiers within the setting. The constant flowing water is another killer aspect.

For the first two thirds there is a beautifully moody atmosphere which builds and builds into something compelling. The wind gets let out of its sails in the last third and I’m not exactly sure why. The Ice Warrior ship turning up and picking up the commander feels neat but unsatisfying. The tension gets lost.

A fun base under siege episode that definitely echoed the classic series. It certainly felt a lot more Doctor Who than the previous two episodes and I thought the Ice Warriors were re-imagined very well.

Icy Reception

Prerequisites: None needed.

Spoilers!
I think Cold War is one of the more underrated episodes of Series 7. It's nothing great, but it's a perfectly competent base-under-siege adventure, and it has a lot of aspects that really work. For starters, the setting and concept are absolutely inspired; having the entire story take place on a cramped Soviet-era submarine during the height of the Cold War is awesome, and that's taken full advantage of in the script. The camera work and direction are also quite good, and I noticed the lighting did a great job of emphasizing the more horror aspects on display. Apparently, this was pitched as 'The Hunt for Red October' meets 'Alien', and those two concepts blend really quite nicely. Cunningham gives a great performance as the captain, and Warner is as excellent as always. Really my only significant criticism is that the ending feels like a copout. I'd argue that having Skaldak's people rescue him at the end removes much of the tension from the ending, and there ceases to be any narrative threat once they arrive. Still, this was very fun.