Matthew Kresal returns to Brittanicus Base.
Doctor
Who's fifth season is an interesting one. Essentially one long series
of "base under siege" stories, it was the year that gave
the show many of its iconic monsters. Coming smack dab in the
middle of it, and just before the monster-less The Enemy Of The
World, came The Ice Warriors. With the titular creatures still
appearing in the series as recently as Peter Capaldi's final season,
it's safe to say that they've become mainstays across TV and spin-off
media. How does their debut story stand up after more than five
decades?
Thankfully, with the 2013 DVD release, we can watch
the story again in full. With two of its six episodes long missing
from the BBC archives, judging the story hasn't been an easy task
despite surviving audio and the stills reconstruction done in 1998.
The 2013 DVD release offered up the two missing episodes (two and
three, respectively) as animations. The black and white stories suit
animation rather well, especially given that Patrick Troughton's
Second Doctor is nicely suited to the caricaturing animation
requires. Unfortunately, the animation for The Ice Warriors is
amongst the weakest seen to date in the Classic Who DVD range with
characters feeling more like paper dolls with painted faces at times
with odd limb movements (see Jamie being knocked out by an Ice
Warrior moments into episode two). Despite that weakness, the
animation completes the story and allows us a better idea of what the
story was like before being wiped and junked by the BBC.
For
starters, it has a solid premise. Brian Hayles' script contains a
fair share of interesting ideas and themes brought nicely to life by
the production team. The story, set at a base in Britain in a future
time where ecological disaster threatens, is as solid premise in 2020
as it was in 1967. Even more so when one considers that the base
under siege is run and populated by people using a technology that
not only offers salvation but over-reliance. There's even Storr, a
character that willfully denounces science as evil despite the
evidence around him of disaster (with intriguing consequences). These
elements almost make this a story one which is better suited for our
time rather than the summer of 1967.
Where Hayles' script is
very much of its time is in how it unfolds. Like virtually all of the
stories from Classic Who's fifth season, it's six episodes long.
Unlike, say, The Enemy Of The World or Fury From The Deep, it also
very much feels like it. There is an inordinate amount of wheel
spinning going on throughout with characters consulting computers,
sojourns back and forth to the Ice Warriors ship, and base commander
Clent (Peter Barkworth) alternating between utter bravado and
insecurity. Even watching the story an episode or two at a time
(while keeping in mind viewers saw one episode a week in 1967), one
can't escape the sometimes thin plotting by Hayles.
Thankfully, The Ice Warriors has other things going for it such as the titular creatures
from Mars. Watching the story, it isn't hard to see why the Ice
Warriors have remained as popular as they have. From the moment the
warrior Varga comes out of the ice, they have an immediate presence.
Towering over the rest of the cast and armed with thin but hissing
voices, they exude menace and strength. Even if they have Lego hands
and stomp along, that doesn't dimish their presence. Indeed, they
help keep interest in a sometimes flagging plot which makes them all
the more memorable.
The story also benefits from its
performers. The casting is solid from the TARDIS crew down with
Troughton's Doctor getting to shine from the moment he climbs out of
the TARDIS to various confrontations and conversations. Though The Ice Warriors sidelines Frazer Hines' Jamie in its back half, the upshot is
an increased role for Deborah Watling as Victoria, though she is
reduced once more to sobbing and screaming at times. The supporting
cast is strong as well with Peter Barkworth's leader Clent, Wendy
Gifford as his willing aide Miss Garrett, and Peter Sallis as the
brilliant but disaffected scientist Penley being particular
highlights. They bring Hayles' script to life nicely, breathing life
into sometimes threadbare characterizations.
The Ice Warriors also
benefits from being a solid production. The design work of Jeremy
Davies creates settings ranging from a Victorian house overrun with
(by 1960s standards) futuristic technology to icy wastelands and a
Martian spaceship. While the technology may look dated, the sets do
not, creating a believable setting for the story. Dudley Simpson's
score is full of moments of menace and intrigue, creating one of his
most memorable scores in the process. With director Derek Martinus at
the helm, The Ice Warriors is elevated as a result, though it never overcomes
the flaws in its pacing or plotting.
That last sentence is as
good a description of the story as I can present. The Ice Warriors
has plenty of good things to say for it, the introduction of the
Martians being amongst them. Ultimately, despite its strengths, it
can't overcome the need to stretch things out that harms a fair few
of Classic Who's longer adventures. It's a solid story, but, it could
have been a great one.
Matthew lives in North Alabama where he's a nerd, doesn't
have a southern accent and isn't a Republican. He's a host of both the
Big Finish centric Stories From The Vortex podcast and the 20mb Doctor Who Podcast. You can read more of his writing at his blog and at The Terrible Zodin fanzine, amongst other places.
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