Doctor Who And The Ice Warriors (1983) - Plot & Excerpts
The Doctor arrives on Earth in a future beset by a new ice-age. Scientists struggle to find a way to hold back the inexorable advance of the glaciers. Meanwhile a strange humanoid figure is discovered trapped and perhaps preserved in the ice.I guess I was around ten when I first read this in the 1970s. I'd been far too young to catch The Ice Warriors when first broadcast in 1967. And I'd have to wait another 25 years or so to finally get my hands on the specially reconstructed edition on VHS to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Doctor Who. I hold The Ice Warriors in very high esteem, ranking it in the higher echelons of Patrick Troughton stories; it's hugely atmospheric, surprisingly arctic for the budget, well cast, funny, dramatic and a good script. The book is all those things, with a no limits effects budget and if it differs in small ways from the original production it's mainly due to what the actors brought to the characters themselves, most notably the humour and goofing of the Tardis crew in the first episode. Britannicus Base is realised better on the page. Finally that image of a full on country house, complete with lawns and terraces sheltered by an environment dome is achieved. I'd like to proclaim that this book introduced one of the great Who 'monster' races to me but I'd actually already encountered the Ice Warriors on tv via their Peladon appearances (also penned by Bryan Hayles). The book did spark a bit of interest in what glaciers were to my young mind. Previously glaciers were the bit of the dinosaur encyclopaedia that I'd been a bit dismissive of. Arden's very funny line,"Oh, not another Mastodon," wasn't in the book or I'd have certainly sympathised. I was disappointed to learn that glaciers weren't quite as sprightly as the Doctor Who variety. There are a lot of conflicts of opposites going on throughout, transforming the now familiar base under siege Troughton plot into a crackingly fascinating story; science against nature, the clash of personality between Leader Clent and temperamental scientist Penley, not to mention the mammalian v reptilian stand-off between the Humans and the Martians. Even through my rosy nostalgia haze I have to admit that at times the pseudo science jargon is sometimes a bit much and too much time is spent rationalising the science. Though in its defence it does make the science guff exceedingly convincing guff. But that's an impression that I have reading it at age 45. At age ten the main thought that was in my mind was finding more Target novelisations.Original artwork , features on script to novel, Brian Hayles and a new introduction by Mark Gatiss.
I absolutely loved this book as a kid. As home videos did not exist until I was a bit older, this range of novels were my only way of experiencing previous Doctors and monsters. The Ice Warriors are amongst my favourites. Only used four times in the original run of the series (and then, uniquely, not always as bad guys) they have since been leaped upon by novel and radio play writers as noble warriors rather than the ruthless ones presented here. There is an awful lot going on in this book - six television episodes condensed into 160 pages, so by necessity the story is very plot rather than character driven. This would normally annoy me, but there are depths to the characters hinted at (especially Clent and Penley) that means it just about gets away with it. I would love the book to have been twice as long, but it was published in 1976 as part of a range of Doctor Who books aimed at kids, and in fact 160 pages was quite long for some of them; many came in at 120 or so. But it was a pleasure to revisit. And as it was the reprint from this year, it had a marvelous introduction by Mark Gatiss (his love of the show evident in every sentence) and a nice few pages at the end showing where the broadcast version differed from the book. Let's hope they do plenty more of these reprints, as far there are only twelve and I personally would love to see the whole range redone. A classic.
What do You think about Doctor Who And The Ice Warriors (1983)?
Let's see ... - Monomaniacal project director/executive driven to fulfill his mission regardless of costs, both personally and to the world at large ... CHECK- Mysterious alien frozen in ice for centuries/millennia/at least the last two weeks or so ... CHECK- Part-time, amateur archeologist who thinks that thawing out a mysterious frozen alien will be a really good idea and lead to all kinds of scientific discoveries well outside of his real field, seismology and geology ... CHECK- Malfunctioning equipment vital to the survival of the human race ... CHECK - Thawed alien intent on conquest of the human race ... CHECK Yes, it's a classic Doctor story. While I'm not expecting great literature, the writing is choppier than many of the Who-novels.
—stormhawk
Pretty much everything that a Doctor Who novelization should be. It is faithful to the original episode, but adds a bit of back story to make it a worthwhile reading experience. It helps that the novelization is written by the same guy who wrote the episode. Prose is solid, dialog is pretty good, everything is good. Nothing to jump around and dance about but worthwhile. Would be a 3.5 stars if I was able. I highly recommend the audio book version as read by Frazer Hines (who played Jamie MacCrimmon on the show).. his impersonation of Patrick Troughton's Doctor is eerie and awesome.
—Matt
An interesting story in which a second ice age has gripped Earth. Humanity is desperately trying to hold the glaciers back but somewhere inside the ice lies an alien spaceship and a small number of terrifying alien warlords from the planet Mars.Featuring the Second Doctor along with Jamie and Victoria the Ice Warriors is one of the episodes previously thought lost forever and the DVD has recently been released with episodes 2 and 3 animated. Though this novelization was good... It wasn't brilliant. I enjoyed it and it was wonderful reading the introduction of the brilliant Ice Warriors. One of my favourite villains of the entire series. The biggest flop with this novelization was that it was trying to re-create the episode too much. There are times where it depends on your memory of the characters appearances that you'd only have known of if the episode had been watched.Though, that said, it was a fun story and I would recommend it to people hoping to begin reading the novelizations of episodes. And who doesn't like a good sonic blast from the Ice Warriors every now and then? :)
—Jake
