The Ice Warriors THREE

The one where Penley refuses to save the world...

Varga's Martian army defrosts in good time, but it seems the scaly monster is most pleased to see one particular colleague - Zondal - judging by the amount of times he repeats his name triumphantly. Maybe Varga and Zondal were lovers before the big freeze put their relationship on ice? Or maybe they're brothers? Who knowsssss?

It's in this episode that Deborah Watling topples into the screechy weepy stereotype that I always recall when I think of Victoria. So far I've been pleasantly surprised by how strong-willed Victoria has been, but here she's simply become pathetic and weak. While I realise she is a young, naive and anxious Victorian teenager, the fact there have been several demonstrations of a certain stubbornness in preceding stories makes her collapse into a whimpering mess all the more disappointing. I don't find Watling the strongest actor in the first place, but all she's doing now is squeaking and crying and bringing no edge to the part at all. It may be written that way, but it doesn't take much for a good actor to add nuance and depth to lines and scenes which lack it. Basically, Victoria - belt up!

I'm intrigued as to how Jamie wears his exploration suit when out in the ice. The animated episodes 2 and 3 seem to suggest he's wearing his kilt beneath the see-through suit, but seeing as the suit has trousered legs, I'm wondering how the kilt overcomes that? If he still has the kilt on, then surely it would ride up (revealingly so!) around the crotch? Or maybe he's found some identical tartan shorts in the Britannicus Base wardrobe room? I realise this is massively irrelevant, but it's one of those little things that set me off wondering...

Peter Barkworth continues to make Clent an unlikeable cad by putting the computer's judgements before his colleagues' (including his own), but there is a lovely moment where Clent takes Arden to one side and tells him not to be too hard on himself for thinking he is to blame for bringing the Warrior into the base to begin with. Arden also feels responsible for the death of Davis in episode 1's avalanche, and this little moment between the two is nicely played, showing that Clent is capable of empathy, it's just that he chooses not to show it.

The fact Arden is killed later in the episode makes it more poignant ("It was necessary" insists Varga), although I'm unconvinced how Arden can have been so unconditionally murdered by the Warriors' sonic gun while Jamie seems to only be knocked unconscious (for the second time in two episodes). In episode 2 Varga explains that the sonic weapons burst people's brains with noise, so I fail to see how Arden can have been killed but Jamie end up with just a severe headache and concussion. How did he survive? Did he survive just because writer Brian Hayles wanted a cheap shock? Jamie later complains his head hurts, but surely he'd have severe brain damage at the very least? Brain-bursting noise probably has a way of doing that.

There's a nice scene where Miss Garrett (who finally gets the first name Jane thanks to Penley's familiarity) tries to convince the scientist to return to the base to help Clent, but he refuses. It seems Penley is just as much a stick-in-the-mud as Clent is, allowing his disregard for the leader to cloud his better judgement. I mean, he actually refuses to help save the world, so that makes him a bit of a git too! He does give Miss Garrett - sorry, Jane - a good hint though: to look up his notes on the 1979 BBC sci-fi series The Omega Factor, which coincidentally starred future Doctor Who companion Louise Jameson, as well as White Guardian Cyril Luckham. We also learn that the Doctor seems to be aware of The Omega Factor, which means he must have had a previously unseen adventure set during the summer of 1979...

Ahem. OK, I'll stop being silly now, but it's not like I'm the only one. I've noticed the Ice Warriors have started to speak in that textbook Doctor Who lingo which only lumbering monsters and diabolical villains tend to do. They do things "without delay" (rather than now), they "commence" things (rather than start), and they threaten to "destroy the girl" (rather than kill her). I'd not be at all surprised if one of them said they were about to "commence destroying the girl without delay" (ie, kill her now). Sigh...

The cliffhanger has the Ice Warriors aiming a massive cannon shaped like a hypodermic needle at Victoria's whimpering form, and the way I feel right now, I kind of wish they'd "destroy the girl without delay"!

First broadcast: November 25th, 1967

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: That little scene which helps to soften Clent's brash exterior very slightly, where he reassures Arden.
The Bad: Deborah Watling needs to take it down a notch or three.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

NEXT TIME: FOUR...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: ONE; TWO; FOUR; FIVE; SIX

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/the-ice-warriors.html

The Ice Warriors is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Ice-Warriors-DVD/dp/B00CD492ZU.