The Ice Warriors appear to have taken a leaf out of the Cyberman "How To Invade Earth" book. They can't find the planet without a homing signal, despite coming from our next door neighbour in space.
In order to take over the planet, the Martians are going to use a fungus which can be destroyed by water. A bit of a liability when you are planning to take over a planet whose surface is about 70% water and a water-cycle.
They are beginning this assault in northern hemisphere cities which are in winter-time - i.e. when it is most likely to be raining.
The Ice Warriors do spot the problem with this water issue, and attack the local Weather Control Bureau. However, surely it rains in England with or without this bureau.
Professor Eldred at one point indicates the location of this bureau on a map. Unfortunately the map is on glass, and we can see that he's pointing to the wrong place.
The old scientist, oddly, can't believe that the first Ice Warrior has come for a reason. He seems surprised when told it has come as part of an attack.
How does weather control work in this time anyway? Previously it was controlled from the Moon by an international team, on a global scale. In this story, the implication is that each country has its own local weather control system, which would never work.
And why is such a vital building so badly guarded?Eldred accuses Commander Radnor of putting everyone at risk by having the fungus sucked out of the control room and out into the local environment - despite being the person who urged him to do it in the first place.
Eldred runs a museum of space exploration and bemoans the fact that people aren't interested in it anymore. Maybe if he didn't pull a gun on visitors then he might get more interest.
Apart from providing an info-dump for Episode One, to get the Doctor, companions and audience up to speed, why would his space museum feature the T-Mat, when it's the very thing which has stopped space exploration and he hates it?
Just how big is his house for him to have built a space rocket in his garden, and still believe that no-one has noticed?
How can the Doctor and companions possibly think they have materialised in space when the rocket they see on the scanner is clearly sitting on a stand?
It's no wonder that the world is plunged into food shortages within minutes of T-Mat breaking down, as it looks like the biggest T-Mat booths can take no more than about two people at a time. There is no mention of large-scale T-Mat operations.
With the world on the brink of starvation, would the authorities really allow three complete strangers, with no form of ID between them, to pilot the rocket on such a vital mission?
No-one uses any other form of transport these days - but a car can be found when the plot requires it. OK, so there probably are vehicles in transport museums - but ones that are fuelled?
The uniforms. Actor Hugh Morton (Sir James Gregson) fidgets with his and look positively embarrassed at having to wear it. Maybe it's the Y-Front design which all the men have to sport.
Ice Warrior search parties only look in the first half any room they enter, so it's easy to hide from them behind a convenient locker. One of them only pays attention to the bed-ridden Doctor when he makes a noise, otherwise he doesn't seem to be considered worth investigating - and that's despite the fact that he was supposed to have been transmatted into space.
Maybe Ice Warriors can't see very well, as one of them doesn't notice Zoe standing in front of a big illuminated wall - and that's after she has deliberately spread her arms wide to make herself more noticeable, rather than crawl around on all fours making herself as small and unnoticeable as possible.
The humans are just as bad at observing things, as Slaar and a Warrior have a chat in an open doorway just a few feet away from them.
To kill the Doctor, Slaar has the T-Mat totally reprogrammed to send him into space - a lengthy and complex process. His Warriors have built-in guns, so why not just shoot him? Why not just throw him out the nearest airlock?
Slaar doesn't know the Doctor isn't human - yet doesn't seem too worried that he survived the seed pod bursting right in front of his nose.
Zoe has perfect recall - except when the script needs to say she doesn't.
Why doesn't she recognise the spacesuit that she used to space walk in when she first met the Doctor and Jamie? It's there in Eldred's museum.
Patrick Troughton's sideburns are noticeably different if he is in studio or on film.
Why would the Moonbase need a thermostat which can raise the temperature to a level fatal to its crew? We're told that a lot of the base is mothballed, yet the heating seems to cover the whole complex - not just the areas that are actually in use. Hardly energy efficient. And how does Slaar get to the control room to turn the heating down, if the temperature throughout the base is high enough to floor the Warriors?
Lastly, Ice Warriors aren't actually made of ice. They wouldn't melt to a tiny puddle if the temperature went up to a level still tolerable to humans. (This makes even less sense these days, now that they've claimed that Warriors are actually wearing armour).
No comments:
Post a Comment