Cold Vengeance

"Mars salutes you all."

Writer: Matt Fitton
Format: Audio
Released: November 2017
Series: TDA 2.03

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Rose

Synopsis


The TARDIS arrives on Coldstar, a vast freezer satellite, packed with supplies to feed a colony world.

But there are cracks in the ice, and something scuttles under the floors. Soon, Rose and the Doctor encounter robots, space pirates and... refuse collectors.

As Coldstar's tunnels begin to melt, an even greater threat stirs within. An old enemy of the Doctor puts a plan into action - a plan for retribution. Nobody's vengeance is colder than an Ice Warrior's.

Verdict

Cold Vengeance was a decent conclusion to the second series of the Tenth Doctor Adventures and it saw the Tenth Doctor do battle against the Ice Warriors! This was something I was very excited about and I thought David Tennant was excellent alongside the Martians as the Tenth Doctor. I thought Billie Piper was superb as Rose in this adventure and I think Fitton did a great job in recreating her role as the companion. She was really good and I think this actually felt like Series 2 more than the other stories in this volume. However, I wasn't a huge fan of the setting which was a bit of a shame. Coldstar seemed a little similar with the iced food to what we got in Thin Ice and I just felt it was a bit limiting and not the most accommodating of settings for a one hour story. That was my main issue with the adventure and I really do think it was holding things back as I really enjoyed most aspects. I liked that these Ice Warriors were evil and lived for revenge on humanity. The focus of Enyo being the contested space which humanity and Ice Warrior fought over was good and I loved that Hasskor was about to blow it to smithereens without realising that some of his own kind lived on it in refuge. Hearing the violent extent that humanity went to in order to be victorious was quite shocking and the effect it had on the Ice Warriors was surprising. Hasskor made a great Lord and I liked that the Doctor was somewhat ridiculing the ranking system of his old enemies when captured. He knew all about them and didn't try and keep it a secret. He showed his power and authority which I really liked. The Doctor being forced to leave Rose behind was excellent but I loved her ingenuity in getting the melting iceberg she was on to the ship the Doctor was taken on. Callum made a commendable sacrifice in order to get her there and I was a little taken aback by how Brona just wanted revenge for her lost son. She didn't even seem sad, just angry. The ending was a little surprising with Hasskor literally giving up his life when his reason for revenge was eradicated, but he left a bomb in the former of his suit which was a lovely devious trick. As he'd stated, it wasn't about winning but more so about his enemies losing. That was an interesting motive to have. The Doctor and Rose didn't have too much difficulty in throwing it out of the ship, apart from some scares with Lorna almost going with it, and as a whole this was a decent audio story but it could have been a little more. Overall, a good adventure still!

Rating: 7/10