2 thoughts on “Doctor Who: The Ice Warriors [DVD]”
If only the beeb had not junked nearly all the Troughton stories Finally something to rejoice. Season five was a classic monster fest, with the introduction of The Yeti and then the ice warriors. Unfortunately only 13 episodes out of 40 exists from season five which in my view was Trouhton’s best season, and the only complete story from that season, is Tomb of the Cybermen. Luckily when the BBC were moving residence they found four episodes of the then completely missing Ice warriors story in a office behind a cupboard!.This story a six parter, has episode two and three re-constructed with two options an animated full version of the two episodes, or the 20 minute condescend original re construction a per the video release. Like all best Who stories, they always seem to work best when the cracks are showing,as too where the original idea has come from, and in this case a famous 1950’s film, this one being the “thing from outer space”.Set in the not too distant future, when a new Ice age is hitting Britain, scientist are looking how to prevent this from happening,and while digging in the ice they discover what is believed to be a frozen man in a block of ice. Of cause the The block of ice is taken back to the base and as it thaws with he help of a bit of human assistance with a blow torch the creature (an Ice Warrior from Mars) comes to life. Then the fun begins.Like all Brian Hayes stories, the bad guys are not 100% bad as you will see.The supporting cast is pretty solid here Peter Sallis as Penley, and although not seen Bernard Bresslaw from the Carry on’s is Varga. The extras are pretty good with Pat Troughton’s son provides the commentary amoungst others, and the extras on this two disc set are pretty good also including a nice making of with cast and crew.This was to be the final Troughton story, released on DVD however Moonbase is now having the missing episodes animated, for release, weather this will include the recently found episode of the underwater menace only time will tell.
“The Aliens Who Came in from the Cold” Well let’s be honest for monsters who last appeared with Jack Pertwee, this is a renaissance year-back in the show and the welcome release of this 1st story. I have based my review unrepentantly on the VHS version (by the way the reconstruction of eps 2& 3 plus intro from this version is one of the extras).A great story with a traditional SF feel to it. Base in the future trying to turn around the new Ice Age discovers a body in the ice-Martian warriors awake and threaten the base.The Ice Warriors have a classic design (no wonder a lot of it was retained for the new ones) and are a great monster. A rare dramatic turn from Bernard Bresslaw is perfect as the cold ( no pun intended) warrior-leader Varga. Turoc is played by Sonny Caldinez who was an Ice warrior in all 4 of their classic Who tales. The hissing voices starts with this 1st story and there is sonic weaponry too. Although they are clearly the heavies, there is a reason for their actions beyond fulfilling the villain’s place in the story. They want their ship free of the ice but are very ruthless about achieving it.Notable amongst the guest cast; Peter Barkworth’s unstable Clent, Peter Salis as the scientist who walked out on the project-Doctorish maverick Penley and Angus Lennie’s woodsman Stor. Wendy Gifford struggles with an inconsistent character in Jan Garrett. She’s Penley’s last mate in the base at one point, then is on Clent’s side against him with no rationale for the change. She also changes costume in the emergency situtaion twice and gets a bizarre speech about the wonders of the computer.This is not to say Brian Hayles’ writing is anything less than hugely enjoyable. He delivered a good script with some great sci fi ideas even if they wouldn’t stand up to scientific scrutiny.There are also some little nuances in throwaway dialogue. Notably Clent jollies along a guard by asking whether he ever thought he would have to deal with things like the Ice Warriors when he volunteered. he smartly replies “I didn’t volunteer!” Now even though it adds nothing to the plot, stuff like this helps to suggest the story takes place in somwhere real.Nice bit of flirting between Jamie and Victoria as he asks if she could see herself in the more revealing female base uniforms? Victoria is the one who has most scenes with the Ice Warriors and Miss Watling is great. Frazer gets to deal with Jamie being partially paralysed which is a good jeopardy to place such a physical character in.1 of the great Troughton performances. you can tell he’s enthused by this one revellling in his doctor being brilliant-he really sells you the bafflegab, impish-utilising a complicated chemical machine to make water when he’s thirsty and childish-refusing to speak to the Warriors until he’s properly addressed/introduced.He lands a cropper here as the warriors having a short way with bad manners threaten to kill him.The look of the icy wastes is very well done for the time and in studio. Derek Martinus was clearly the go to guy for introducing a new monster in icy conditions (see also The Tenth Planet). Although nothing sticks out as stunning, the direction is consistently good.The only things that look bad are the design of the base computer which resembles an art deco drinking fountain (but making up for this Roy Skelton voices it like a retired dalek!), and the use of a bear. They got a real bear in studio but it’s so poorly integrated I thought it was stock footage for years!extras include;Commentary – Episodes 1, 4, 5, 6 with actors Frazer Hines, Deborah Watling and Sonny Caldinez, designer Jeremy Davies and grams operator Pat Heigham, moderated by Toby Hadoke.Commentary – Episode 2 commentary made up of original archive recordings or readings of text written by Brian Hayles, Derek Martinus, Martin Baugh, Bernard Bresslaw, Peter Barkworth, Wendy Gifford and Sylvia James.Commentary – Episode 3 commentary by Patrick Troughton’s son, Michael.Programme subtitles.Subtitle Production Notes. Cold Fusion (dur. 24′ 31″) – Cast and crew look back at the making of the story. With actors Frazer Hines, Deborah Watling and Sonny Caldinez, designer Jeremy Davies and James Bresslaw, son of the late actor Bernard Bresslaw. Beneath the Ice (dur. 10′ 31″ ) – A look behind the scenes of the animated Ice Warrior episodes. Producers Chris Chapman and Niel Bushnell, together with animation director Chris Chatterton from Qurios lift the lid on the process used to bring Varga and his Warriors back to life. VHS Links (dur. 19′ 19″ ) – the introduction to the story and linking material covering the two missing episodes, as used on the VHS release of the story in 1998. Includes the BBC Video “Adjust your tracking control” caption for a true sense of nostalgia Blue Peter Design-a-Monster (dur. 10′ 04″) – the competition launch and subsequent winners of the 1967 Design-a-Monster…
If only the beeb had not junked nearly all the Troughton stories Finally something to rejoice. Season five was a classic monster fest, with the introduction of The Yeti and then the ice warriors. Unfortunately only 13 episodes out of 40 exists from season five which in my view was Trouhton’s best season, and the only complete story from that season, is Tomb of the Cybermen. Luckily when the BBC were moving residence they found four episodes of the then completely missing Ice warriors story in a office behind a cupboard!.This story a six parter, has episode two and three re-constructed with two options an animated full version of the two episodes, or the 20 minute condescend original re construction a per the video release. Like all best Who stories, they always seem to work best when the cracks are showing,as too where the original idea has come from, and in this case a famous 1950’s film, this one being the “thing from outer space”.Set in the not too distant future, when a new Ice age is hitting Britain, scientist are looking how to prevent this from happening,and while digging in the ice they discover what is believed to be a frozen man in a block of ice. Of cause the The block of ice is taken back to the base and as it thaws with he help of a bit of human assistance with a blow torch the creature (an Ice Warrior from Mars) comes to life. Then the fun begins.Like all Brian Hayes stories, the bad guys are not 100% bad as you will see.The supporting cast is pretty solid here Peter Sallis as Penley, and although not seen Bernard Bresslaw from the Carry on’s is Varga. The extras are pretty good with Pat Troughton’s son provides the commentary amoungst others, and the extras on this two disc set are pretty good also including a nice making of with cast and crew.This was to be the final Troughton story, released on DVD however Moonbase is now having the missing episodes animated, for release, weather this will include the recently found episode of the underwater menace only time will tell.
“The Aliens Who Came in from the Cold” Well let’s be honest for monsters who last appeared with Jack Pertwee, this is a renaissance year-back in the show and the welcome release of this 1st story. I have based my review unrepentantly on the VHS version (by the way the reconstruction of eps 2& 3 plus intro from this version is one of the extras).A great story with a traditional SF feel to it. Base in the future trying to turn around the new Ice Age discovers a body in the ice-Martian warriors awake and threaten the base.The Ice Warriors have a classic design (no wonder a lot of it was retained for the new ones) and are a great monster. A rare dramatic turn from Bernard Bresslaw is perfect as the cold ( no pun intended) warrior-leader Varga. Turoc is played by Sonny Caldinez who was an Ice warrior in all 4 of their classic Who tales. The hissing voices starts with this 1st story and there is sonic weaponry too. Although they are clearly the heavies, there is a reason for their actions beyond fulfilling the villain’s place in the story. They want their ship free of the ice but are very ruthless about achieving it.Notable amongst the guest cast; Peter Barkworth’s unstable Clent, Peter Salis as the scientist who walked out on the project-Doctorish maverick Penley and Angus Lennie’s woodsman Stor. Wendy Gifford struggles with an inconsistent character in Jan Garrett. She’s Penley’s last mate in the base at one point, then is on Clent’s side against him with no rationale for the change. She also changes costume in the emergency situtaion twice and gets a bizarre speech about the wonders of the computer.This is not to say Brian Hayles’ writing is anything less than hugely enjoyable. He delivered a good script with some great sci fi ideas even if they wouldn’t stand up to scientific scrutiny.There are also some little nuances in throwaway dialogue. Notably Clent jollies along a guard by asking whether he ever thought he would have to deal with things like the Ice Warriors when he volunteered. he smartly replies “I didn’t volunteer!” Now even though it adds nothing to the plot, stuff like this helps to suggest the story takes place in somwhere real.Nice bit of flirting between Jamie and Victoria as he asks if she could see herself in the more revealing female base uniforms? Victoria is the one who has most scenes with the Ice Warriors and Miss Watling is great. Frazer gets to deal with Jamie being partially paralysed which is a good jeopardy to place such a physical character in.1 of the great Troughton performances. you can tell he’s enthused by this one revellling in his doctor being brilliant-he really sells you the bafflegab, impish-utilising a complicated chemical machine to make water when he’s thirsty and childish-refusing to speak to the Warriors until he’s properly addressed/introduced.He lands a cropper here as the warriors having a short way with bad manners threaten to kill him.The look of the icy wastes is very well done for the time and in studio. Derek Martinus was clearly the go to guy for introducing a new monster in icy conditions (see also The Tenth Planet). Although nothing sticks out as stunning, the direction is consistently good.The only things that look bad are the design of the base computer which resembles an art deco drinking fountain (but making up for this Roy Skelton voices it like a retired dalek!), and the use of a bear. They got a real bear in studio but it’s so poorly integrated I thought it was stock footage for years!extras include;Commentary – Episodes 1, 4, 5, 6 with actors Frazer Hines, Deborah Watling and Sonny Caldinez, designer Jeremy Davies and grams operator Pat Heigham, moderated by Toby Hadoke.Commentary – Episode 2 commentary made up of original archive recordings or readings of text written by Brian Hayles, Derek Martinus, Martin Baugh, Bernard Bresslaw, Peter Barkworth, Wendy Gifford and Sylvia James.Commentary – Episode 3 commentary by Patrick Troughton’s son, Michael.Programme subtitles.Subtitle Production Notes. Cold Fusion (dur. 24′ 31″) – Cast and crew look back at the making of the story. With actors Frazer Hines, Deborah Watling and Sonny Caldinez, designer Jeremy Davies and James Bresslaw, son of the late actor Bernard Bresslaw. Beneath the Ice (dur. 10′ 31″ ) – A look behind the scenes of the animated Ice Warrior episodes. Producers Chris Chapman and Niel Bushnell, together with animation director Chris Chatterton from Qurios lift the lid on the process used to bring Varga and his Warriors back to life. VHS Links (dur. 19′ 19″ ) – the introduction to the story and linking material covering the two missing episodes, as used on the VHS release of the story in 1998. Includes the BBC Video “Adjust your tracking control” caption for a true sense of nostalgia Blue Peter Design-a-Monster (dur. 10′ 04″) – the competition launch and subsequent winners of the 1967 Design-a-Monster…