Doctor Who: The Ice Warriors: One (on screen it just says 'One' & unusually doesn't have an 'Episode' prefix) is set sometime in the future on Earth during a new & potentially catastrophic ice age, the TARDIS arrives & the Doctor (Patrick Troughton) along with his companions Jamie (Frazer Hines) & Victoria (Deborah Watling) enter a converted Georgian mansion that has been turned into scientific research station called the Brittanicus Ice Base where lead scientist Jan Garrett (Wendy Gifford) & her colleagues are struggling to control a device called an Ioniser which they are using to harness the suns rays in an attempt to melt the huge ice glaciers that are engulfing the Earth. Meanwhile a scientist named Arden (George Waring) has discovered a large humanoid like creature which he calls an 'Ice Warrior' frozen deep in the ice outside, after excavating it Arden takes it back to Brittanicus Base where it begins to thaw...
Episode 11 from season 5 this Doctor Who adventure originally aired here in the UK during November 1967 & was Patrick Troughton's third story from his second season playing the Doctor, during the tape wiping's & junking's carried out by the BBC during the 70's many Doctor Who episodes & indeed complete stories were lost & Troughton's time as the Doctor suffered in particular. As a result of these junking's all six episodes of The Ice Warriors were destroyed although miraculously 16mm telerecordings of episodes one, four, five & six were discovered at Villiers House a former home of BBC Enterprises (who handled worldwide distribution of BBC programs) in the late 80's apparently behind a filing cabinet. Anyway here it is, directed by Derek Martinus I thought this was OK but didn't really capture my imagination that much or was anything that memorable. The script by Brian Hayles is more or less a The Thing From Another World (1951) rip-off & the glaring similarities are there to see, this also marked the debut of the Ice Warriors & they would be used several other times in different stories, here they don't affect the action because they are almost totally absent from this episode since one is frozen in a block of ice for it's duration. The script has a slight ecological feel as Earth's future is under jeopardy in this story because of mans meddling with nature, The Ice Warriors wasn't the first program to try & warn of the dangers of global warming & it certainly won't be the last. An OK time waster but nothing spectacular.
The VHS version released in 1998 had a short filmed introduction by Frazer Hines & Deborah Watling (who still seems uncomfortable in front of a camera) who don't really say anything worthwhile, they also filmed linking narration for episodes two & three as these episodes are still lost. For some strange reason the TARDIS doors open outwards in this episode. The one thing that stood out for me in The Ice Warriors is the mark contrast between the classic Gerogian period house setting & the futuristic computer equipment inside, I personally thought it was a very jarring & ill-fitting contrast & didn't like it all. The other thing is that I presume it's supposed to be very cold with snow storms & ice glaciers but whenever anyones outside they have no face masks, gloves which expose their bare fingers & really thin looking clothing. I'm not being funny but I think a human being would freeze to death in temperatures like that without proper insulating clothing, wouldn't they?
The Ice Warriors: One is alright, I just felt like it was a pretty standard The Thing From Another World rip-off although I am sure that the following five episodes does it's own thing & this initial episode is the 'hook' to get you interested. As already mentioned both episodes two & three no longer exist (apart from audio reconstructions which don't count to me) so I will continue my comments from episode four through to the end.
Episode 11 from season 5 this Doctor Who adventure originally aired here in the UK during November 1967 & was Patrick Troughton's third story from his second season playing the Doctor, during the tape wiping's & junking's carried out by the BBC during the 70's many Doctor Who episodes & indeed complete stories were lost & Troughton's time as the Doctor suffered in particular. As a result of these junking's all six episodes of The Ice Warriors were destroyed although miraculously 16mm telerecordings of episodes one, four, five & six were discovered at Villiers House a former home of BBC Enterprises (who handled worldwide distribution of BBC programs) in the late 80's apparently behind a filing cabinet. Anyway here it is, directed by Derek Martinus I thought this was OK but didn't really capture my imagination that much or was anything that memorable. The script by Brian Hayles is more or less a The Thing From Another World (1951) rip-off & the glaring similarities are there to see, this also marked the debut of the Ice Warriors & they would be used several other times in different stories, here they don't affect the action because they are almost totally absent from this episode since one is frozen in a block of ice for it's duration. The script has a slight ecological feel as Earth's future is under jeopardy in this story because of mans meddling with nature, The Ice Warriors wasn't the first program to try & warn of the dangers of global warming & it certainly won't be the last. An OK time waster but nothing spectacular.
The VHS version released in 1998 had a short filmed introduction by Frazer Hines & Deborah Watling (who still seems uncomfortable in front of a camera) who don't really say anything worthwhile, they also filmed linking narration for episodes two & three as these episodes are still lost. For some strange reason the TARDIS doors open outwards in this episode. The one thing that stood out for me in The Ice Warriors is the mark contrast between the classic Gerogian period house setting & the futuristic computer equipment inside, I personally thought it was a very jarring & ill-fitting contrast & didn't like it all. The other thing is that I presume it's supposed to be very cold with snow storms & ice glaciers but whenever anyones outside they have no face masks, gloves which expose their bare fingers & really thin looking clothing. I'm not being funny but I think a human being would freeze to death in temperatures like that without proper insulating clothing, wouldn't they?
The Ice Warriors: One is alright, I just felt like it was a pretty standard The Thing From Another World rip-off although I am sure that the following five episodes does it's own thing & this initial episode is the 'hook' to get you interested. As already mentioned both episodes two & three no longer exist (apart from audio reconstructions which don't count to me) so I will continue my comments from episode four through to the end.