The Ice Warriors TWO

The one where the Warrior leader comes to life...

It's a shame that any episodes of Doctor Who are missing, but it's a particular shame that the episode in which the Ice Warriors make their proper debut is absent from the archives. The Varga costume is an impressive design, and pairing the 6ft 7in tall Bernard Bresslaw with the diminutive Deborah Watling (reportedly 4ft 11in) is a visual masterstroke.

Bresslaw is excellent as Varga, a creature with a real sense of humour, as demonstrated by his frequent hissing laughter. Varga says his homeworld is the "red planet", which the people of Earth know as Mars, but of course, the Ice Warriors may very well not (seeing as they didn't have a Roman god to name their planet after). It begs the question what they do call their own planet. Surely they can't go around calling it "the red planet", because from their perspective, red would be normal, so why make the distinction?

It's interesting that at first, all Varga wants to do is get back to the ice mountain, defrost his pals and return home, but it's literally a matter of seconds until he changes his mind and considers that they might conquer Earth instead (cue hissy laughter). These Ice Warriors are obviously pretty aggressive creatures, as he also automatically assumes that the humans will be aggressive toward him too (rightly so!). When asked by Victoria what he will do if they bump into someone in the corridor on the way to get the power packs, he says he will simply destroy them - and her if she tries to escape. He boasts of a sonic gun which will "burst your brain with noise". I don't think I'd ever registered before that that is what the Ice Warriors' sonic weapons do. I mean, yuk!

Meanwhile, Clent continues to be a total git. At the top of the episode he's asking the computer what value the Doctor has to his operation. Clent is obsessed with what the computer thinks and has no trust or regard for his own instincts or opinions. We're given a fascinating insight into the way he thinks in a marvellous scene between Peter Barkworth and Patrick Troughton where Clent reveals that he is mostly thinking of his own reputation. He has never led a project which has failed, and he is keen that this one does not become the first. He says he usually hand-picks his team, but in this case he did not choose scientist Penley, who has turned out to be what he calls temperamental, but what the Doctor assumes is merely individualism.

This scene is gorgeously written and performed, two great actors playing two strong-willed men with opposing views on life. Clent is trapped into his orderly way of thinking and problem-solving, whereas the Doctor thinks outside the box, has a mind of his own, and it's worrying when Clent reveals: "I trust no one, Doctor. Not any more. Human emotions are unreliable." The way Clent thinks and acts is on a slippery slope toward becoming just as narrow-minded and dangerous as the Daleks and Cybermen. Clent could well turn out to be just as much an enemy as Varga, the way things have turned out so far.

Anyway, I don't think Clent is a very good leader at all. As Arden says, he's not so much a scientist as an organiser, and as for that bit where Clent announces a red alert, saying there are "intruders within the perimeter"... he doesn't bother to describe said intruders (of which there's only actually one) or mention the fact that the intruder they're looking for is a 7ft tall scaly green alien monster.

I'm not very clear just yet on the relevance of Storr and his abrasive relationship with Penley. The two of them basically represent Science vs Nature, but Penley's gone native in the wild and is rejecting the limiting existence of Britannicus Base, choosing instead to live with a hairy Scotsman in the local plant museum (not actually a poor choice on the face of it...). I like the colour writer Brian Hayles throws into the script, painting a picture of what life on Earth has been like since Spring failed to come. The very fact there's a museum for plant-life is revealing, in a world where potatoes and strawberries cannot grow. Penley says: "Here's a what-do-you-call-it, a tomato. It's nearly ripe", suggesting even he's not sure what natural fruit and veg looks like (which is odd, seeing as he is Europe's leading environmental scientist).

The sound mix for this story continues to trouble me (I hope it's not just my hearing), with sound effects and music sometimes drowning out dialogue, or the dialogue being muffled and distant. Now with the addition of an almost constant hissing effect when Varga's around means he is tricky to make out sometimes too. The Ice Warriors has a busy soundtrack which sound director Bryan Forgham struggles to juggle well, I think.

As the episode ends, Varga is busy defrosting his fellow Warriors, and if they are anything like their leader, then the humans are in for trouble if they do decide to conquer rather than scarper. When Jamie insists they go after Varga to rescue Victoria, the Doctor refuses, saying they must wait for the Warrior to "show his hand" (or claw?). The Doctor's playing a dangerous game, because on the little experience they have of him already, he's a violent devil - he's already knocked Jamie and Clent unconscious, taken a human hostage, stolen property, and smashed his way out of the base. I really think the Doctor should consider listening to Jamie for once...

First broadcast: November 18th, 1967

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The scene between Barkworth and Troughton where Clent reveals his true colours is fab.
The Bad: "Hisssssssss.... ssssss.....sssssss." Sorry, what was that?
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

NEXT TIME: THREE...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: ONE; THREE; 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.