The TARDIS lands on its back in the ice (the second chilly settings in a row) next to a dome. Walking inside, our heroes find themselves in a city and make their way to an old Victorian mansion. All of this was gleaned from a still photo of a decidedly non-snowbound building seen inside the dome. In that first shot of them in the mansion's hallway, I thought to myself, "Oh look! They're in the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Which one is Dave Bowman's room?"
As it turns out, there was no monolith involved and the mansion is home to a group of folks trying to beat back the advance of the glaciers which threaten humanity. I wonder if this was just the screenwriter's fancy or if Brian Hayles was riffing on the common perception at the time that global climate change was going to drag us back into another Ice Age.
Leading the team is Clent, a lucky chap who has a harem of pulchritudinous women in skin-tight uniforms who operate a computer for him. Miss Garrett is Clent's right-hand woman and her lovely figure is put on display with a lot of bare thigh as well. (Something for the dads who are watching, I guess.) One of the scientists, a chap named Arden, finds a figure frozen in the iccccce. It turns out to be an Ice Warrior. Obviously the guys in The Thing didn't watch this story.
The is the first story to feature the ssssssssslow, lumbering villains. And they are the most sibilant creatures in all of TV history too as they hold their S sounds so that they become a hiss. They also hiss in between words which I don't believe they do in later stories. There's one scene where the lead Ice Warrior tricksies someone and laughs a diabolical SSSS laugh. Good sssstuff.
Jamie dresses for weather for once even if it's a full-sized clear garment bag that he dons before heading out into the polar vortex. Unfortunately, he gets clocked by an Ice Warrior and is sidelined for the second half of story. Victoria is at her most annoying here with all of her screaming and crying. There's a scene where she escapes the clutches of the Ice Warriors but stops about 10 feet from their ship to have a chat with the Doctor over a small video communicator. For his part, the Doctor never urges her to find safety and allows Clent to aggressively question her about the drive mechanism of the Ice Warrior ship. The scene is a dry run for the one in The Blair Witch Project where the gal points the camera at her face and cries as she talks to it.
There's a funny bit where the Doctor is crawling on the floor rummaging through discarded sheets of paper in search of the right equations. While this is Troughton's second season, it still served as a nice contrast to Hartnell's portrayal to my mind.
Clent and Miss Garrett trust the computer completely. When not obeying its conclusions, they always run their own through it to triple check and get a digital seal of approval. In contrast are a couple guys who live out in the icy wastes, Storr & Penley. Penley is a scientist who used to work at the mansion under Clent while Storr is a mad Scotsman. The pair are not particularly enamored of technology and refuse to bow down before the almighty computer. The two camps exchange some nice barbs. Despite being a kids show, I think these two sides are presented fairly well. Well enough to give some food for thought, anyway.
I was disappointed that the Ice Warriors are revealed so soon. This is a six-parter so most of the time was spent with the Ice Warriors slowly walking between control panels as they conceive a stratagem in their ship while the humans try to figure out what to do. I have a 50% rule with Doctor Who: the villain should not be revealed until about halfway through a story. Or not revealed as a dire threat until that point.
Clent is a hard ass, for the most part, but there were a couple of moments where he opens up and displays kindness. They worked for me. He has a limp and walks with a cane - minus one scene where he is rather dexterous when holding it under his arm. His demeanor is cold and he is all business. He won't let a physical disability keep him from his duty. These moments when he praises others and shows a little warmth just stand out remarkably well for me.
Not a great story but the Ice Warriors are rather menacing even if they have crescent wrenches for hands. I like the global cooling conceit and the scenes out on the ice and in the ice caves work rather well, often thanks to some judicious use of quick cuts. So I raise my glass to the editor.
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