Refers to all six episodes of which only four remain
An excess of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere means that the Earth is plunged in to another Ice age . People are evacuated to rehabilitation camps in Africa as scientists try to use an ioniser to hold back the ice flow . The Tardis lands outside an isolated base and the Doctor and his companions are in danger of being evacuated . Meanwhile a expedition party find a body encased in ice and take it back to base
If the BBC hadn't committed a cultural atrocity such as deleting much of the Troughtin era of DOCTOR WHO one that would have been noticeable about season five is how formulaic the stories and with the exception of the political thriller The Enemy Of The World all the stories revolve around " the base under siege " type story with only the time period and location changing . Some people might moan about a lack of variety but if something is done well then that shouldn't matter and I love these type of horror stories and the loss of episodes 2to 6 of The Web Of Fear is sadly missed .
The Ice Warriors continues the horror feel of the show with eponymous monsters from Mars and right from the opening credits the story tells the audience what might be in store for them by having a unique title sequence with cold images of frozen landscapes with an unearthly choral soundtrack that this story might just be a little bit special . It's not all that special ( Bare with me ) but does manage to spin a out a different take on the formula that keeps things fresh . It's noticeable that director Derek Martinus uses a bit too much close ups to disguise the limitation of the sets but scenes such as the avalanche in episode one are very effective and convincing
The Ice Warriors themselves are very memorable monsters and while never being as famous as the Daleks and Cybermen they were popular enough to be brought back three more times in the classic show and once so far in NuWho . Brian Hayles has managed to not to portray them as one note monsters there simply to kill the human characters but having motives for doing things . They are if not a fascist race certainly a militaristic one but also a group of aliens who are just wanting to get back to their home world only to find obstacles in their way in the shape of humans . Executing someone because they're a scavenger rather than a scientist isn't all that different from a slightly more extreme version of Darwin's law of natural selection
What stops The Ice Warriors from being a masterpiece of its era - apart from it being surround by Tomb Of The Cybermen and Web Of Fear - is a couple of obvious flaws . One is the costume design which is pure 60s psychedelia with multi swirling patterned tunics and mini skirts for the females " Did ya see what those lassies were wearing " asks Jamie . Difficult for any red blooded male not to notice . but it's hardly sensible wear in an ice age . Some of the cast are dreadful and while it's good to see Peter Sallis Angus Lennie as Storr is distracting . He's best known for his role as Shughie McFee in CROSSROADS and gives a performance worthy of that legendary bad show . Some people might that the science of too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has the opposite effect and is the cause of global warming but if memory serves me right up until the late 1970s scientists were claiming too much CO2 was going to plunge us back to another ice age
In all The Ice Warriors is a very good story . Of course being a fan of the show I knew all about before I saw it for the first time recently but still found myself enjoying it despite knowing the upcoming plot turns while noticing some glaring flaws to the production which says a lot about the strength of the stronger aspects of the story . It's a claustrophobic story featuring memorable well written monsters . What more could you want ? Well apart from episodes 2 and 3
An excess of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere means that the Earth is plunged in to another Ice age . People are evacuated to rehabilitation camps in Africa as scientists try to use an ioniser to hold back the ice flow . The Tardis lands outside an isolated base and the Doctor and his companions are in danger of being evacuated . Meanwhile a expedition party find a body encased in ice and take it back to base
If the BBC hadn't committed a cultural atrocity such as deleting much of the Troughtin era of DOCTOR WHO one that would have been noticeable about season five is how formulaic the stories and with the exception of the political thriller The Enemy Of The World all the stories revolve around " the base under siege " type story with only the time period and location changing . Some people might moan about a lack of variety but if something is done well then that shouldn't matter and I love these type of horror stories and the loss of episodes 2to 6 of The Web Of Fear is sadly missed .
The Ice Warriors continues the horror feel of the show with eponymous monsters from Mars and right from the opening credits the story tells the audience what might be in store for them by having a unique title sequence with cold images of frozen landscapes with an unearthly choral soundtrack that this story might just be a little bit special . It's not all that special ( Bare with me ) but does manage to spin a out a different take on the formula that keeps things fresh . It's noticeable that director Derek Martinus uses a bit too much close ups to disguise the limitation of the sets but scenes such as the avalanche in episode one are very effective and convincing
The Ice Warriors themselves are very memorable monsters and while never being as famous as the Daleks and Cybermen they were popular enough to be brought back three more times in the classic show and once so far in NuWho . Brian Hayles has managed to not to portray them as one note monsters there simply to kill the human characters but having motives for doing things . They are if not a fascist race certainly a militaristic one but also a group of aliens who are just wanting to get back to their home world only to find obstacles in their way in the shape of humans . Executing someone because they're a scavenger rather than a scientist isn't all that different from a slightly more extreme version of Darwin's law of natural selection
What stops The Ice Warriors from being a masterpiece of its era - apart from it being surround by Tomb Of The Cybermen and Web Of Fear - is a couple of obvious flaws . One is the costume design which is pure 60s psychedelia with multi swirling patterned tunics and mini skirts for the females " Did ya see what those lassies were wearing " asks Jamie . Difficult for any red blooded male not to notice . but it's hardly sensible wear in an ice age . Some of the cast are dreadful and while it's good to see Peter Sallis Angus Lennie as Storr is distracting . He's best known for his role as Shughie McFee in CROSSROADS and gives a performance worthy of that legendary bad show . Some people might that the science of too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has the opposite effect and is the cause of global warming but if memory serves me right up until the late 1970s scientists were claiming too much CO2 was going to plunge us back to another ice age
In all The Ice Warriors is a very good story . Of course being a fan of the show I knew all about before I saw it for the first time recently but still found myself enjoying it despite knowing the upcoming plot turns while noticing some glaring flaws to the production which says a lot about the strength of the stronger aspects of the story . It's a claustrophobic story featuring memorable well written monsters . What more could you want ? Well apart from episodes 2 and 3
