Directed by Derek Martinus
Main Cast-
The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
Jamie - Frazer Hines
Victoria - Deborah Watling
Main Guest Cast-
Clent - Peter Barkworth
Penley - Peter Sallis
Garrett - Wendy Gifford
Arden - George Waring
Storr - Angus Lennie
Synopsis-
The Tardis lands outside a base in Britain in the far-off future. The base is one of several stationed around the Earth with the job of using ionization machines to prevent glaciers from spreading, thus preventing a second ice age.
The base is facing a near catastrophe, which The Doctor is able to avert. Clent, the base's commander, is grateful and adds The Doctor to his staff, along with Jamie and Victoria.
Meanwhile, one of the scientists from the base, Arden, has found a humanoid warrior figure frozen in the ice. Arden returns to the base with the frozen warrior, where he plans to thaw the figure from the ice. During this time, they are watched by two so-called scavengers by the names of Storr and Penley.
After the figure is thawed, it's revealed to be an Ice Warrior, which are native to the planet Mars. The Ice Warrior returns to life after being thawed. The Warrior takes Victoria hostage and returns to his ship, still frozen in the ice. Once there, he begins to thaw his fellow Ice Warriors. Jamie and Arden go off in search of Victoria, and run into the Ice Warriors. The Ice Warriors kill Arden and wound Jamie.
Penley rescues Jamie and takes him back to the hideout where he lives with Storr. Storr decided to attempt to help the Ice Warriors, as he doesn't trust the scientists at the base. Storr is treated with contempt by the Ice Warriors and is killed for his trouble.
The Ice Warriors believe that the ionizer is a weapon that will be used against them. Therefore, their main objective is to prevent the humans from using the ionizer. The Doctor offers himself up as a hostage, in hopes of convincing the Warriors not to attack the base.
The Ice Warriors attack the base anyway with their sonic cannon. The base survives, and the two sides agree to meet to reach a diplomatic solution. The Ice Warriors, however, prove untrustworthy and intend on dismantling the ionizer and taking the parts that it needs to fix their spaceship. Without the ionizer, the glaciers being expanding again.
Penley uses the temperature control to turn up the heat, which makes it uncomfortable for the Ice Warriors and a battle ensues between the humans and the Ice Warriors. The Doctor, who was left on the Ice Warriors ship with Victoria, is able to defeat the Ice Warrior left to guard them and uses the Ice Warriors's sonic cannon to force the Ice Warriors to retreat from the base.
The Doctor and Victoria return to the base. Penley uses the ionizer on the Ice Warrior's ship, against the advice of the base's computer which Clent relys on to make all his decisions. The ionizer destroys the Ice Warrior's ship and at the same time prevents the spread of the glaciers.
Review-
Just a bit of a warning, there are a few spoilers in this review for the New Series episode "Cold War". If you haven't seen the episode "Cold War", please skip the next paragraph.
It was interesting watching this particular episode considering that the Ice Warriors were just used in the New Series episode "Cold War". The two characterizations don't mesh up particularly well. In Cold War, the Ice Warrior has a code that he lives by. The Ice Warrior in Cold War will only attack after being attacked, but once attacked will not rest until the defeat of his enemy even if that means his own death. The Ice Warriors in this particular episode are simply more concerned with their survival than the defeat of their enemies. Yes, they do fight the humans at the base, but it's more out of survival than about any sort of warrior code. I find it hard to imagine the Ice Warriors from this episode even being related to the Ice Warrior that appeared in Cold War.
Clent and his assistant Garrett rely heavily on their computer to make their decision for them. The computer is stumped by the uncovering of the Ice Warriors' ship. The Ice Warriors' ship also uses ionization engines to power it, and the main worry is that by using the the ionizer at the base will cause an explosion that will not only destroy the Ice Warriors' ship but also the base as well.
The computer can't figure out a way out of this dilemma, and it's only when Penley returns to the base and decides to take a chance that this dilemma is worked out. As Penley points out, sometimes you've got to make a choice, take a chance and hope for the best.
The Doctor's attempts to broker a peace between the humans and Ice Warriors simply prove futile, as the Ice Warriors simply refuse to listen. In the end, the Ice Warriors that appear in this episode only understand one thing, force and the threat of force.
Victoria, sadly, has degenerated in this story. Victoria spends most of this episode cowering in terror or trying to run away from the Ice Warriors. In other words, Victoria has become the "typical screamer" that seems to plague much of Classic Doctor Who. It's a shame, really, as her character did start off rather strong in this series/season opener the Tomb of the Cybermen.
It's easy to see why the Ice Warriors proved to be popular, and why they would later return both in Classic Who and now the New Series. Outside of Victoria's screaming, this is a rather good story and one well worth watching. Fortunately, most of the story still exists and there are plans to release the story later this year on DVD with the missing episodes two and three being animated for the DVD release. I highly recommend checking this out once this is released later this year.
