We said:
“Empress of Mars is unlikely to be remembered as one of Gatiss’ best. But given his fine contributions to the show, if this is to be the last, then it is a well-earned extravagance and a fitting send off”
“The episode might not quite work as a whole, but there are plenty of elements within it that could rival some of the finest moments in Doctor Who‘s long history. The Doctor’s description about the Ice Warriors, ending with the observation that they can destroy whole civilisations yet weep over the fate of a flower is one of many great lines as is Bill’s observation that the Doctor would enjoy watching The Thing because everybody dies (how different is this Doctor from Eccleston’s ninth with his unbridled joy at everybody living for once in The Doctor Dances?). Once again Gatiss effectively combines the old with the new with the juxtaposition of the period weapons of the Redcoats with the Gigantua (see also the spitfires in space in Victory of the Daleks) and design wise the episode is simply wonderful. Mark Gatiss has been one of the show’s most prolific and versatile writers. From the unsettling horror of Sleep No More to the fun romp that is Robot of Sherwood it’s almost impossible to describe a standard Gatiss episode. Overindulgent in places and verging on the tongue in cheek (spot the deliberate Star Wars reference – ‘I have a bad feeling about this’), Empress of Mars is unlikely to be remembered as one of Gatiss’ best. But given his fine contributions to the show, if this is to be the last, then it is a well-earned extravagance and a fitting send off.”
The Mirror
“Gatiss turns in a decent story in his second outing with The Ice Warriors”
“The plot of Empress Of Mars is a nice, straightforward tale - which is welcome after the previous chapters of The Monk Trilogy.. With more than a small nod to classic Who, a more apt title for the story could have been The Tomb Of The Ice Warriors as it shares quite a lot of DNA with the Second Doctor Cybermen story… At the heart of the story is The Doctor trying to pull off a balancing act between reckless humans and an alien race. Yes, it’s been done before with stories like Silurian two parter Hungry Earth/Cold Blood but here The Doctor is placed more on the side of the resident Martians. It is, after all, their planet the humans are bumbling around on. It’s almost as if Doctor Who met the film Zulu on Mars.”
Radio Times
“Empress of Mars looks to the future while nodding at the past”
“Empress of Mars has so much going for it really. It’s tightly written and directed, well cast, gorgeously designed, looks to the future while nodding at the past. Everything I like in a Doctor Who. For pure entertainment, Empress of Mars is wavering between the four- and five-star mark on my radar but, because it has so many details that tickle me and because this could well be Mark Gatiss’s last stab at Who, I’ll be generous and award it the V for Victory.”
Den of Geek
“Mark Gatiss pens Doctor Who series 10 episode 9, as we head off to the red planet in Empress Of Mars…”
“Reading back over some of the comments following the next time trailer for Empress Of Mars that played last week, it seemed this was the episode that many had written off before they saw it. I think Mark Gatiss and the production team have comfortably exceeded expectations, though. It’s hard not to get the flavour of a contained old-style Doctor Who adventure from it, not least because it’s a clash of very British characters against an alien foe. What other show on the planet does that? There’s quick wit here too, in a story primarily contained in one or two locations (as I noted in my spoiler-free write up, large parts of this one felt like they could work equally well on stage). And by the end, I found Empress Of Mars a satisfying, occasionally very nerdy Doctor Who story. Not a great one, but a perfectly decent way to spend 45 minutes.”
AV Club
“Doctor Who puts Victorians on Mars, which isn’t quite as fun as it sounds”
“There’s a pair of fascinating ideas at the core of “Empress Of Mars.” The first is more philosophical: As the Doctor puts it, whose side is he on when the humans are the invading aliens? (And, while it’s never so much as hinted at, the obvious corollary to that is whether his loyalties and perspective would differ from those of a human like Bill.) This is such an obvious moral dilemma to build a Doctor Who story around that it’s a little shocking it’s taken so long for the new series to go there. And even if the series didn’t want to tease a heady concept such as that, there’s still the other aspect of tonight’s episode, which is the deliriously anachronistic sight of Victorian soldiers tromping about Mars. This isn’t quite Doctor Who embracing steampunk—as ways of playing out this scenario go, having the soldiers happen upon an Ice Warrior spaceship that Friday then uses to get them back to Mars is relatively, well, realistic isn’t the right word, but it involves the least divergence from history as we know it to get Brits on Mars. The episode plays like Doctor Who by way of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom stories, with a title that evokes The Princess Of Mars.”
IGN
“God Save the Queen.”
“Another old-fashioned Doctor Who episode, “Empress of Mars” is enjoyable but doesn’t leave any great lasting impression. That said, we only have three regular episodes of Peter Capaldi’s run left at this point, so things are likely to start heating up again very soon…”
Gamesradar
“A stoic and dependable episode”
“A commendable bit of acting from Anthony Calf shines out, but the alien Ice Warriors feel underdeveloped.”
Digital Spy
“It does wonders for the Ice Warriors, but the British are unbecoming.”
“For a variety of reasons, ‘Empress of Mars’ is not quite is not quite the full-blooded romp it has aspirations of being. Instead, it’s simple, unsophisticated and occasionally effective – a diverting but unspectacular skirmish. After the mostly muddled Monks trilogy, a more straightforward, less ambitious episode isn’t entirely a bad thing. But you’re still left with the feeling this episode could’ve been much more, if only Gatiss had dug a little deeper.”
Leave a Response