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| Frozen frights await the Second Doctor Who (Patrick Troughton) in The Ice Warriors, out now on DVD. All images: BBC. |
DOCTOR WHO: THE ICE WARRIORS (2-disc DVD set)
Starring Patrick Troughton as the Doctor, Frazer Hines as Jamie and Deborah Watling as Victoria
Written by Brian Hayles
Directed by Derek Martinus
Available 26th August 2013, from BBC DVD
Reviewed by Scott Weller
Patrick Troughton’s "Cosmic Hobo" figure of DOCTOR WHO is in for a chilly reception when he and his companions arrive in a snow encased Earth and get caught up in the frozen thawing of unwelcome hostile alien warriors. It's a welcome return to the monochrome era of the series in this special 2-disc DVD release of one of the Second Doctor era’s most fondly remembered adventures: The Ice Warriors - the latest classic BBC release getting a special restoration and completism with its two missing episodes visually restored via special animation.
Created by the late Brian Hayles in a script that couldn’t be more different to his last tale for the series- the penultimate story to William Hartnell’s era, the historical adventure of Cornish piracy, The Smugglers, his future Earth seen here is caught in a brutal environmental catastrophe- a second ice age tightly wrapped around the planet, and its peopled cities forced to retreat under huge protective domes in order to survive. Scientists and their new computer and weather controlling technology try to bring order and stop the glacial range and weather conditions from causing further flooding annihilation, but things are looking pretty grim for Homo Sapiens.
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| The Doctor and Jaime aid the Brittanicus Base team. |
Into all this comes the timely arrival of the Doctor with loyal traveling friends, Jamie and Victoria, concurrent with the discovery by two of the Brittanicus Base’s scientific personal, at a critical juncture of their Ioniser technology’s possible malfunctioning, that a frozen warrior believed to be from Earth’s past is cut from the ice, when in actuality he/it turns out to be a dangerous and totally hostile alien creature from beyond the stars, freeing an also trapped brethren and soon given the nickname of The Ice Warriors!
As well as mixing in the requisite alien threat that makes it such quintessential WHO, there’s a nice moral message in this overall serious sci-fi concept, about how we, mankind, have become slaves to technology and caused the very problems that the planet are now facing- a hint of tragedy in the show’s first episode tells the viewers of when the world suddenly lost its Summers- a well acted, evocative and sad moment.
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| "Oh dear?!" Patrick Troughton as the Doctor. |
Enjoying the story’s danger and monsters, Patrick Troughton, conveniently wearing his handy warm coat from his Himalayan adventure with the Yeti, is as splendid as ever- the heroic pixie mixing comedy (I love the scene like when he's at the door of the ice warrior spaceship and shouts out, “Anyone at home?”) and drama (standing up to the Ice Warriors and not being totally afraid of them in the same way that he is with the Cybermen and Daleks), backed up with that crafty intelligence, which makes his Time Lord interpretation so unique. Both Debbie Watling and Frazer Hines as Victoria and Jamie work well alongside him- both having interesting character hooks about them, themselves, what with their historical rather than futuristic backgrounds- the ultimate fish out of water-perhaps Victoria more so than Jamie, who takes it all in his stride. It’s no wonder that their mixture of humour, helplessness and jaunty heroism made them such popular companions of his era.
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| Varga (Bernard Bresslaw) threatens Victoria (Deborah Watling). |
Jamie proves particularly playful in the opening episode, especially in his continuing flirty relationship with Victoria, whom he quite clearly fancies, before he’s mostly unconscious or not doing as much as he could in the story’s middle episodes. This is when it becomes the most remembered adventure for Watling and Victoria, trapped in the avalanches and chased or captured by the intimidating Ice Warriors, as screamy and vulnerable as ever with the monsters, but showing courage and initiative from time to time, even if her turtle-shelled captors are really going to kill her-using her as bait to trap the other Earthers.
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| Popular character actor Peter Barkworth as Clent. |
A very strong character acting guest cast spars with Troughton and his “family”, including Peter Barkworth as the often vain, arrogant and slightly out of his depth Leader Clent, George Waring as the doomed Ice Warriors discoverer, Arden, and a pre-Last of the Summer Wine Peter Sallis as his self-pariah scientist turned scavenger, Penley-one of the last hopes to save the country from the problems of the intense and building weather. Adding some French design inspired mini-skirted glamour as Clent’s right hand lady scientist, Miss Garrett, is popular TV guest star of the time Wendy Gifford.
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| Technical wonder! Wendy Gifford as Miss Garrett. |
Whilst out in the wastelands, there’s also The Great Escape’s Angus Lennie as Storr, a bitter scavenger with looks like to rival Captain Caveman, giving up on technology and equally wary of scientists, carving out a unique bedfellow situation with Penley.
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| Victoria is cornered in an ice cave. |
In a fifth season that very definitely lives up to its moniker as one of the shows classic monster eras, the big new threat coming after the popularity of such icons as the aforementioned Daleks and Cybermen, the Ice Warriors prove an ingenious new race to make the most of in years to come. Reptilian warriors – Terrapins beware!- that kids could copy on the playground with their unique walk and unusual voices, they are designed and created by Martin Baugh and Make-up expert Sylvia James with enthusiasm, though the production has a few moments of trial and error with its opening episodes, as the Ice Warriors original appearance changes between the period of early filming at Ealing and the confines of the BBC-the look of the two main Ice Warrior leaders (Varga and Zondal) prove better than those of their soldier brothers, whose heads prove too big for the rest of their bodies.
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| How to scare the kids, the Ice Warrior way! |
Having been so used to seeing him in his comedic roles in the CARRY ON movies, often caught in embarrassing situations opposite hearty laughter making Sid James, we all forget how strong and serious an actor Bernard Bresslaw was until we see The Ice Warriors. Well cast by director Derek Martinus, here we see Bresslaw taking the challenge of being the green-scaled leader very seriously, bringing thought and physical dedication to his role as Varga, giving it/him character, intelligence and a streak of ruthless cruelty and menace within that difficult, hot, bulky yet magnificent costume, the leader determined to recover his avalanche frozen soldiers buried deep in the ice from the first Ice Age, whilst also determining whether this planet and peoples in their modern state should be invaded or destroyed by the warriors of Mars. Varga’s thawing at the end of part one is easily one of the series greatest, classic moments, too.
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| Bernard Bresslaw "suits-up" as Varga! |
And after all these years, Bresslaw remains the king of the Ice Warriors, setting the style for the later versions of his race to follow. He and the other suited-up monster men may occasionally have, and show, some restricted movements throughout the tales location traversing, but their sheer look and presence shouldn’t be underestimated, nor their popular impact on the series at the time- they are certainly not the “Shit monster” that modern WHO series guru Steven Moffatt would have you believe (and a valid indication to the success of Mark Gatiss for bringing them back to the modern series, despite Moffat's earlier worries).
Then series regular, capable director Derek Martinus makes the most of his new creature feature, enjoying them and the story’s many challenges, and gets to experiment in other areas, with a different kind of scene-setting title sequence for the story, using stark ice wilderness stock footage and a female singing orator to create mood ahead of the storytelling, during a period in the show's life when it was constantly trying new things with title logos and other intros. A solid incidental music score by Dudley Simpson equally emotes some haunting moments, especially in the scenes deep in the ice caves with Victoria and the pursuing warriors.
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| An Ice Warrior stands guard to its spaceship entrance. |
Keeping to the series strengths on a tight budget, the BBC drama makes ingenious and cost effective use of several large main sets to house the action (a regular idea through a lot of the Troughton era)- the Brittanicus Base interiors (mixing old world architecture with sci-fi tech) and the basic but moody interior of the Ice Warriors grounded spaceship, alongside some very nice film work at Ealing Studios representing the story’s ice caverns chilly exteriors, are well designed by a money deficient Jeremy Davies.
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| Jamie fights the thawed Varga! |
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| The rest of Varga's frozen soldiers. |
With Episodes Two and Three sadly missing from the BBC Archives, the WHO Restoration Team decide to fill in the gaps with faithful but not flashy animation from the Qurios company, with producers Chris Chapman and Niel Bushnellkeeping Martinus script stage directions intact- a commendable decision. The animation sometimes lacks dynamism and feels a little jerky, but there are many highlights to be enjoyed with the hybrid picture/sound medium, including Jamie's unsuccessfully taking on the newly awakened and angry Varga at the start of Episode Two, and its cliffhanger, where we see its other warriors entombed and ready to be awakened from their long slumber.
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| Brilliant likenesses of the Doctor and Clent. |
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| Varga and the captured Victoria. |
Some animation shots greatly improve on what existed from those episodes as shot via time of transmission telesnaps. Character likenesses are superb, especially the spot-on Troughton facial work, by a team of dedicated artists including character designs and animation director Chris Chatterton. It’s all well matched up to Graham Strong’s off-air soundtrack recordings. Here's hoping that this reconstruction is a big success, so that some further fully missing adventures can be realized in this manner.
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| The Doctor must work out an important formulae. |
On the extras side, the audio commentary’s for the story are a veritable pot-pourri of listening enjoyment-Episodes One, Four, Five and Six feature Frazer Hines, Debbie Watling with other support cast and behind the scenes people, whilst Episode Two has crispy archive recordings and readings (from the likes of the late Brian Hayles (who talks about the genesis of his creatures), Bernard Bresslaw, and Derek Martinus), as well as brief new interviews conducted specially for the release. The best is saved for Episode Three, however, as Troughton’s son, Michael, affectionately talks about his late father, the way Dad played the Second Doctor, and being a 12 year old part of his universe during his three-year time on the series- this talk, conducted by Toby Hadoke, is a genuine highlight of the Troughton era DVD releases and their extras, with more apparently to come on a future Second Doctor DVD release.
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| The assembled Ice Warrior force. |
Further little gems include Cold Fusion, a nearly half-hour documentary on the filming of the story, as James Bresslaw, son of the late Bernard, set designer Jeremy Davies (at the time of original filming unenthused by things, but happier in retrospect), Watling and Hines recalling the overall great fun and small budget challenges involved, and the featurette Beneath the Ice, which looks at the Qurios company’s dedication in animation for the story. (They also provide a nice little bonus- a clever reconstruction of the original 1967 BBC teaser trailer, starring Peter’s Barkworth and Sallis).
Keeping the retro style alive, there’s a fun look back to the hugely successful 1960’s BLUE PETER Design-A-Monster competition, together with the on-set realized winning entries (not to be confused with the shows then hosts-Peter Purves, Valerie Singleton and John Noakes!), plus Doctor Who Stories, concluding its lively 2003 archive interview with Frazer Hines, who reveals that, if asked, he would have loved to have stayed on with the Classic Series after his eighties return with both The Five and Two Doctors adventures, and that he and Troughton had so much fun together in the sixties they they’d likely have never left WHO in the first place if it hadn’t been for the nagging women in their lives wanting them to depart what they considered a kid’s show! A new facto to add to WHO fans databanks...
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| One of the original versions of an Ice Warrior. |
Rounding things off, there are the lively production notes (kudos for all the time and research here), ingenious telesnaps and audio description combined links done for the story’s original VHS release, a brief, mostly B/W, photo gallery, PDFs of the RADIO TIMES listings for the story, and a trailer for Richard E. Grant’s colourful 2003 animated adventure as the Doctor- Scream of the Shalka.
KOOL TV OVERALL RATING (Story, new animation and extras): It may not be the most action-packed story of the season, but the solid central ideas, the always excellent Troughton (at his best throughout Season Five), and the new to the series monsters (remember to “Sss” along with them!), keep it moving memorably enough… 4 out of 5
