Day 93 — April 3rd 2021
The Ice Warriors Episodes Three and Four
The Ice Warriors — Episode Three
The real strength of The Ice Warriors is the characterisation of the guest cast. I don’t think we’ve ever had a base under siege populated by such real people before. And unlike The Moonbase where a lot of the connection between the characters came from the cast themselves during rehearsal, here it seems to be almost entirely scripted.
We’ve a great sequence today in which Miss Garrett (the ‘miss’ was a cast addition) begs Penley to come back to help them with the Ironiser, and it’s like watching real drama, as opposed to Doctor Who. That’s not me trying to belittle the series — I think it’s clear that I love Doctor Who from the fact that I’m doing a marathon and writing about it every day! — but it’s fair to say that we don’t often get such well-rounded characters carrying the drama.
This even extends up to Leader Clent, who’s probably the best ‘base commander going slightly mad’ that we’ve had in the series so far. It’s becoming a recurring theme (we’ve seen it in The Tenth Planet, The Moonbase and The Tomb of the Cybermen so far obviously, with shades cropping up in The Power of the Daleks, The Macra Terror and The Faceless Ones too) but this feels different. When we meet Clent in Episode One he’s already in the middle of a breakdown, and he’s stayed true to that character throughout. I love the description Penley gives of him in this episode;
‘You’ll find Clent one of these days in a museum, like that ancient stove, with an inscription round him. Robotised Human Mark Two.’
But even Clent is a brilliantly layered character. He’s spent a lot of time in the first two episodes grumbling about Arden straying from his mission to bring back the Ice Warrior, but here in a quiet moment when the man is feeling low about the danger his archeology has caused, Clent shows a rare human side and some compassion;
Arden: ‘Now listen, Clent, we both know that I’m responsible for what has happened. If I hadn’t brought that creature back here in the first place, none of this would have occurred. I also caused the death of Davis. I can’t forget that, either.’
Clent: ‘Well, you just remember your mission, that’s all. And no wild sorties after the girl. It’s vital that you get your information back to us immediately. And Arden?’
Arden: ‘Yes?’
Clent: ‘Don’t be to too hard on yourself. Scientists must question, you know. I mean, if I’d been in your shoes I think I’d have done the same. I’d have, I’d have brought it back. So, anyway, good luck.’
As I make my way through this story I’m reminded of something Russell T Davies says in The Writer’s Tale about how characters should turn throughout a story. How a good script brings out different sides to a character but makes it natural. That’s what’s happening here. The Clent we see being kind to Arden is the same man who’d been shouting at him for two and a half episodes, it’s just a different side to him. ‘That’s what I mean by turning,’ says RTD in his book. ‘No one is fixed. They’re all capable of change — not just once in some plot-reveal, but all the time. They become more distinct by allowing them a fuller life.’
If there’s one problem with this it’s that the regular cast seem to suffer by it a little. Victoria especially is very weak in this story, and even more so when compared to her role in The Abominable Snowmen. In that story she was the driving force behind much of the action, dragging Jamie and the guest cast into exploring and investigating, and getting caught up in the cliffhangers as a result of her inquisitiveness.
In The Ice Warriors, though, she’s reduced largely to squealing and panicking, and in Episode One when Doctor Who wants to go into the main computer room to see what’s happening, she replies ‘Oh, no. Now look, it might be dangerous. Let’s leave it’. The Victoria we get in this story is much more in line with my memories of her being incredibly generic, and I worry that’s going to be par for the course going forward. Varga says of her that ‘she has courage, but she is also very stupid,’ and it’s hard to disagree with that on the basis of what we’re given in this story.
Victoria is present for what I think might be the most impressive part of the episode, though. I said during The Faceless Ones that it was impressively modern to see the bad guys watching our heroes on a CCTV screen, and The Ice Warriors goes one better. We’ve got the use of video communicators throughout this story (‘Video links are the only communicators available. Pure sound is no longer in use,’ says Clent) and they’re impressively done, featuring characters looking directly out of the screen as though on Face Time. Victoria does it here, staring out of the screen inside the base as though she’s been video chatting all her life.
But then we’ve also got the Ice Warriors watching her from inside the ship, and watching from a different angle! It sounds like a silly thing to point out for praise, but it really makes all the difference. It would have been the easiest thing in the world to make it so the Warriors were simply picking up her transmission and using the same shot, and the fact that they’ve not done that is impressive. It’s something tiny, but something enjoyable. We only get to see this via the tele-snaps, of course, but they thankfully capture the important angles.
Another 7/10 for this one.
The Ice Warriors — Episode Four
I complained yesterday about having to put on the DVD (like a simple scavenger) for this story because the entire fifth season had mysteriously vanished from BritBox. Thankfully today they’ve all reappeared on the streaming service, and it’s made me wonder how the easy availability of all the ‘classic’ stories affects the way we engage with them.
When I did my last marathon, I had sleepless nights about The Ice Warriors, and all because I didn’t know how I was going to watch it. Almost all the stories before this one were either out on DVD or available via missing soundtrack. The couple that proved the exception to that rule I had tatty VHS copies of. But The Ice Warriors was a sticking point. I reached it in early July 2013, about a month before the shiny 2-disc DVD was released. In spite of being so close to becoming obsolete the VHS tapes were selling for a ridiculous price second hand, and I didn’t have the money to spare knowing I’d already pre-ordered the upcoming release.
I’ve said a few times that I can’t remember much of Doctor Who from my last marathon, and that’s true. But oddly I can remember some specific things. And when I think of The Ice Warriors, I can’t remember much of the story, but I can remember standing in the kitchen in my then-flat and genuinely worrying about what to do. In the end I think I found a dodgy version online to watch, and I have a vague recollection of being unable to understand chunks of the dialogue.
That seems mad to me now. I’ve barely given a second thought to how I’ll be watching the stories this time around. I’ve got all the surviving episodes on DVD, several of them on Blu-Ray, I’ve watched the majority of episodes so far via BritBox and although the Narrated Soundtracks are sat in the cupboard I’ve mostly used Audible credits to pick them up again for easy listening without having to faff around with the discs. In 2021 almost all Doctor Who is readily available at the click of a button and for a reasonably low price (I think I pay about £5 a month for Britbox, while I used to spend double or triple that on the DVDs).
Now, obviously, that’s a great thing. For a fan wandering into the world of Doctor Who these days it’s all right there for the taking. You can delve into pretty much any story you fancy without a second thought. But for me, getting into the show in 2003/2004, a big part of the appeal was that some parts of the series felt so distant. I used to pour over the Doctor Who: The Legend book and long for the stories that felt so far away. Working out that I’d probably not get to see some of then for years and years. I wonder if having them all available so easily makes them a bit more throwaway? Or maybe I’m just jealous that it’s all so easy now…!
My favourite thing in this particular episode is the one especially bloodthirsty Ice Warrior, who gives himself away right in the opening scene;
Ice Warrior: She has betrayed us! She must be destroyed!
Ice Warrior Leader: Let her talk first.
Ice Warrior: They will know our numbers.
Ice Warrior Leader: They will also know she is alive. She is the bait.
He keeps this line of destruction up throughout the episode, and we get another especially funny bit later on;
Ice Warrior Leader: She has told them enough. Bring her in.
Ice Warrior: Destroy her!
Ice Warrior Leader: She must answer some questions first!
There’s something funny about the Ice Warriors that really suits them, and I’d happily watch this one longing for people’s death over and over throughout the entire story. It’s brilliant.
This episode is really good for noticing the changes made to the Ice Warrior costumes during production, as there’s a decent chunk of the episode that was made during the pre-filming, with Victoria being chased through the caves by the original Ice Warrior. I’m trying to remember if there’s any other redesigns that come across as obvious as this, with a major overhaul happening between pre-filming and main production but I’m drawing a blank. There’s a few aspects of the original design which I quite like — I think it gives a better impression of the outer shell being armour, for example, and I quite like the hair — but overall I think they made the right call in switching it to the now more familiar design. There’s a reason the later version is the one favoured wherever possible on screen in the finished episodes!
Another 7/10 for this one.
