"Doctor Who", the Ice Warriors (Dr Who Radio Collection) [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

another audio from the BBC that presents the soundtrack from a 1960's doctor who story where some of the episodes no longer survive. In this case, the ice warriors, a 6 part story from patrick troughton's second season in the role. Episodes two and three are lost, but the other four survive and did come out on video a while ago. a dvd release is awaited.

over the course of these six twenty five minute long episodes, the doctor and his companions jamie and zoe arrive in britain in the future, which is in the grip of a new ice age. they reach a research base where a machine is being used to force the glaciers back. but with the only scientist who can operate it having quit following disagreements with the narrow minded base leader, can humanity survive? both this and the creatures that have just been unearted from the ice....

as typical with this range the sound is great and the linking narration, read by frazer hines who played jamie, fills in the gaps very well. the other cast members are very good, particularly peter barkworth who turns in a powerful performance as the base leader. and without visuals, the ice warriors voices are very scary!

the story is a couple of episodes too long, and the compelling tale of the first three gets a bit long winded in the next ones, before a slightly hasty conclusion. but this still all in all a very good tale, and this is a great way to enjoy it.

The disc also has two short interviews with frazer hines on it, talking about the story in question. they are worth a listen

THE ICE WARRIORS, originally broadcast on BBC1 in the winter of 1967, was regarded as a success by the DR WHO production team of the time, as a rematch between Patrick Troughton's Time Lord and the titular scaly armoured Martians was quickly commissioned from writer Brian Hayles(THE SEEDS OF DEATH). One can still understand the reasons why this should be so from listening to the recording of this TV soundtrack. The hissing monsters that menace the Doctor, Jamie, Victoria and a team of scientists in a future UK locked in a new Ice Age are cruel and sinister enough to be memorable even if in this case we can't see them - only 4 of the 6 episodes remain in the BBC's film archives. The cast is filled with talented stars including Bernard Bresslaw (famous for his many appearances in the CARRY ON films), Angus Lennie (Ives from THE GREAT ESCAPE), the excellent Peter Barkworth and none other than Wallace himself (though sadly without Gromit and a nice piece of Wensleydale), Peter Sallis.

The mood of the piece is vividly brought to life by the music of Dudley Simpson, who uses a combination of electronic sounds and soprano Joanne Brown's voice to create the atmosphere of a bleak and hostile snowbound wilderness. This is done so effectively it manages to give the setting its own eerily distinctive character. Doubtless it was this unusual sound design that helped to give these episodes that behind the sofa factor.

The script itself is not a masterpiece. It's too long and could have easily shed a couple of episodes. Some scenes feel repetitive and redundant. Relying on B-movie plot devices and mostly rather dull characters who are often reduced to mouthpieces for the writer's concerns about mankind slaving itself to technology, by episode 6 the story has lost much of the dramatic promise of its earlier segments. It ends rather aptly, as Wendy Gifford's Miss Garrett puts it, with "only a minor explosion". One is tempted to breathe a sigh of relief not that the Ice Warriors have been defeated, but that we won't have to listen to any more debates about the effect of computers on humanity. The futuristic setting is dated and not realised in sufficient detail to make it one of DR WHO's greats.

Lucky for everyone then, that the production values so wonderfully make up for the shortcomings of the writing. Everyone is treating this tosh with the gravitas one might expect to find in a TV adaptation of a Dickens or Thomas Hardy novel. Angus Lennie's grumpy technophobic Storr is by far the most fun human character in the supporting cast. In my view he's killed off a bit too quickly, even though the story is at its dramatic best when the Warriors are being ruthless in this way. Leader Clent is invested with a convincing combination of pomposity and insecurity by Peter Barkworth; so much so, that I was occasionally almost fooled into believing that Brian Hayles had written a three dimensional character here. Bernard Bresslaw is note perfect in his monstrous role, but a shame that his Varga lacks the detail and depth that was given to the scripting of Alan Bennion's Ice Lord Izlyr in 1972's THE CURSE OF PELADON. As for Patrick Troughton, he is clearly relishing the part and brings something interesting or amusing to any scene in which he appears. The chemistry between him and his 2 companions (Deborah Watling and Frazer Hines) is evident even on the soundtrack.

So, whilst there's no rave review for THE ICE WARRIORS, I have to admit that aspects of it still manage to impress me, even if the slow pace, predictable plotting and lack of depth in the writing do not. It's definitely worth a listen, also because of the short but sweet interview with Frazer Hines (who is used as the narrator for this release) that makes me feel nostalgic for the Troughton period of DR WHO, though I wasn't born until 2 years after it finished.

"The Ice Warriors", by Brian Hayles, is yet another season five "base under siege" style Doctor Who story, this time introducing the Martian race known coloquially as the Ice Warriors. In this early outing they are purely somewhat conniving monsters, with the "honourable" aspects of their civilisation not manifesting themselves until the 1970s with "The Curse of Peladon" and subsequent stories. Unlike many of the partially surviving "missing" stories, I have not seen the four surviving episodes of this six-parter, and my review is based on the audio release only.

"The Ice Warriors" really is very formulaic season five fare. However, having said that, back in the 1960s it was very much a winning formula, and some of that success is still perceptible now, even if, like many Troughtons, The Ice Warriors is somewhat over-long.

Indeed, after a fairly leaden first episode, things pick up pace quite nicely as we alternate between three sets of characters: The Doctor, his companions and the staff of the base; the renegade scientist Penley (Peter Sallis, who would go on to voice Wallace in Aardman's Wallace and Gromit films) and his fellow anarchist Storr; and, of course, the Ice Warriors themselves. The different groups of characters have their own agendas, but portrayed as the most useless are the ineffectual base staff, who are to break away from the guidance of their computer. Indeed, the unquestioning loyalty to the computer is the most dated aspect of this story, along with the science (apparently, deforestation led to a shortage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and caused a new Ice Age - where'd that come from?). Computer dependency is something that sci-fi writers still write about today, but unswerving loyalty to a computer among a group of educated humans is scarcely likely in this day and age.

If one can gloss over these questionable plot devices, "The Ice Warriors" is a decent adventure story that introduces a well-known race of Doctor Who monsters definitely "warms up" as it unravels. Victoria, however, continues to be possibly the feeblest female companion in the series' history.