The TARDIS arrives on Earth as glaciers are threatening to turn the world into a new ice age and humanity is trying to fight back. When an ancient warrior is discovered frozen in the ice, the Doctor (Patrick Troughton), Jamie (Frazer Hines), and Victoria (Deborah Watling) find themselves in battle with an ancient race of Martian soldiers called Ice Warriors. Can Earth be saved from both the Ice Warriors and the encroaching glaciers?
Doctor Who: The Ice Warriors aired in the fifth season of the long running BBC series. The serial has six parts airing from November 11, 1967 to December 16, 1967 and introduced the longtime characters of the Ice Warriors. Following the mostly missing Doctor Who: The Abominable Snowmen, Doctor Who: The Ice Warriors was collected as part of The Patrick Troughton Years as Story #39.
Doctor Who: The Ice Warriors is a “rescued” Doctor Who story. The second and third parts of the serial were lost, but the producers of the DVD animated the sequences. Like most of missing Doctor Who episodes, the audio still existed and the animation does match visuals (stills of the missing episodes do exist). I like this recreation of the shows and hope that the animation continues…I’d love to see more of Troughton’s lost episodes restored.
I’ve never had much of a handle on Troughton. I do like him as the Doctor but I don’t feel that I can say he’s one of my favorite Doctors…not because he’s not good, but I simply don’t have enough of him to judge him and see how he develops his character. I didn’t like Hartnell’s first episodes much but he grew on me. With much fewer Troughton episodes, he doesn’t have that luxury.
Like many Doctor Who episodes, Doctor Who: The Ice Warriors gets a little long. I do really like the Ice Warriors who make their first appearance here and enjoy their hiss. The characters sound like Land of the Lost’s Sleestaks (who actually kind of look like a “what if” the Sleestaks evolved combined with the Silurians) and have become a regular enemy of the Doctor.
Doctor Who: The Ice Warriors is worth seeking out for fans of the current Doctor Who just to see the arrival of his long-time enemies. The story drags a bit, but it is still a fun “creature” entry into the series (which are generally my favorites). Doctor Who: The Ice Warriors with the rediscovered Doctor Who: The Enemy of the World.
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