"Doctor Who" and the Ice Warriors (Classic Novels) [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

This isn't the first time Frazer Hines (alias Jamie McCrimmon) has narrated The Ice Warriors. In 2005, he provided the linking narration for the audio release of the television serial's soundtrack ("Doctor Who", the Ice Warriors (Dr Who Radio Collection)). Now he reads the unabridged novelisation of the story, originally published by Target Books in 1976 (Doctor Who and the Ice Warriors (The Doctor Who Library, No. 33)).

As with his voice-overs for the soundtrack releases, Hines's narration is sometimes a little over-the-top in its enthusiasm, especially at the beginning of the story when he practically shouts the book's title. He also fumbles a few lines, so that, for example, we are told about a Martian's "fierth hiss" - was there no time for a retake? However, perhaps because of Hines's familiarity with the television story, he does some good impersonations of several of the characters, including the scavenger Storr, the distinctive whisper of the Ice Warriors, and of course his famous, eerily accurate imitation of Pat Troughton's Doctor.

As for the novelisation itself, author Brian Hayles trims much of the fat from his own television scripts, especially from the later episodes, the screen versions of which are rather sluggish. Conversely, a great deal of attention is lavished upon the tense build-up of the first two instalments. As a result, material from the opening two episodes takes up the whole of the first two CDs (just over an hour each), while the remainder of the story passes by swiftly during the final two discs.

Several of the characters benefit from additional back-stories and explorations of their inner thoughts and feelings, in particular Miss Garrett (here given the first name Jan), whose characterisation on screen is decidedly uneven. A slightly different explanation is offered here by Leader Clent for the onset of the new Ice Age, perhaps in light of more recent research, and the computer is given a name, ECCO.

However, there's still no explanation as to why Arden and his fellow scientists should believe that the frozen Varga might be an early human, when even through a thick layer of ice they can see that he is green. Perhaps they think that, despite being deep frozen, the centuries-old body has got a bit mouldy!

An improvement on the original six-part serial, Doctor Who and the Ice Warriors certainly won't leave you cold - and neither will the new, lower price point.

Recently I've listened to several Patrick Troughton era audio adaptations and I have to say that this has been my least favourite. As with the others I remember the original Target novel well and enjoyed Brian Hayles' novelisation as much as any by the brilliant Malcolm Hulke, however it did seem somewhat rushed when compared to some others in the range and for me Frazer Hine's narration didn't help. Hines is an enthusiastic and competent narrator but he is so eager to get his words out that it just blunts the edges of what could have been another outstanding audio book.

These gripes aside it is an atmospheric recording with Hines redeeming himself through some excellent voice impersonations and with a few well-chosen and subtle sound effects incorporated to add depth.

This is another enjoyable release in the range of audiobook versions of the Target range of DOCTOR WHO novelisations first published in the 1970s. DOCTOR WHO AND THE ICE WARRIORS is an adaptation of the six part adventure THE ICE WARRIORS, a story that featured Patrick Troughton in the title role back in the black and white days of 1967. This story takes place in some future Ice Age when glaciers threaten to destroy all human civilization, and only the beleaguered staff of Britannicus base can hold them in check, but the discovery and resurrection of an ancient Martian Warrior buried deep in the ice takes the story in surprising and quite unexpected directions.

Brian Hayles created a crackingly entertaining and thought-provoking little tale, which also manages to weave debates on the conflict between progress versus anarchy, science versus nature and humanity versus mechanization into the narrative. He has pretty much followed and expanded upon his own original television scripts adding much back story and character along the way and as one of the stronger, earlier stories in the original range, really expands very well on the television version, which is one of the stories that remains incomplete in the archives, although 4 episodes of it did get released on video many years ago. The audio soundtrack version is also available if you want to make a comparison.

Those early Target DOCTOR WHO books really have managed to stand the test of time as entertaining, diverting and well told stories in their own right.

FRAZER HINES (who played companion Jamie McCrimmon in the original episodes) narrates in excitable style and is generally very good indeed, playing all the roles with sometimes uncanny accuracy, and the addition of sound effects and voice treatments really help to tell the story without being too intrusive.

The packaging uses the rather brilliant original cover illustration as painted by Chris Achilleos for the original release and is such a beautiful painting it rather justifies the price on its own.

The whole release is very thoughtfully put together. This range of children's books was very strong when I was young and remains so in the audio format, and never comes across as being particularly childish. This is intelligent storytelling that doesn't talk down to its audience and as such is highly recommended.