10 Teasers for Empress of Mars
Clint Hassell brings you the first 10 hints and teasers for the ninth episode of Doctor Who Series 10.
- The pre-title teaser may be set in the U.S., but the punchline is very British, and even includes the appropriate music.
- The Doctor hasn’t seen The Terminator or The Thing. You’ll giggle when you realize what film the Doctor has apparently watched!
- It is entirely possible that the TARDIS sputtering in “The Pyramid at the End of the World” had nothing to do with Nardole being infected by virulent bacteria but, in fact, foreshadowed something in “Empress of Mars.”
- Given that “Empress of Mars” was written before Matt Lucas had joined the main cast, it should be no surprise that Nardole appears only briefly in the episode. (That doesn’t mean that Nardole doesn’t play an important role!)
- Some background: in Robinson Crusoe, the titular character spends 28 years living in virtual isolation on an island in the Caribbean Sea. While there, Crusoe rescues a native Carib from being eaten by cannibals. Unable to communicate, due to their differing native tongues, Crusoe names the man “Friday,” after the day of the week when they met. Crusoe later teaches Friday to speak English, and employs him as a particularly loyal manservant.
- Did you find Ian McNeice as Winston Churchill, in “The Lie of the Land”? Look for him in the montage of photos – – on the viewscreens, behind the Doctor – – as Twelve first attempts to mind meld with the Monk seated inside the command center (around 35:46). The “Empress of Mars” brings a much-easier-to-spot cameo of Pauline Collins as Queen Victoria.
- Bill thinks this soundtrack is “amazing.” (Pay particular attention to the image at 1:11.)
- “‘Don’t belong’? We’re British! Mars is part of the Empire, now!”
- “RHIP” means . . .
- Plundering the Empress’ sarcophagus is not a gem of an idea.
