This is actually turning out to be a pretty historic week not just for Doctor Who fans in general but for classic Doctor Who fans. As just prior to me writing this review it was announced when the episodes of The Dalek's Masterplan would be up on BBC IPlayer which is a historic ting in it's it's own right with the episode that i'm going to be talking to you all about today being historic for a different reason and so then join me as I review the episode that sees some somewhat classic Doctor Who monsters make there debut with the episode in question being called simply just "The Ice Warriors" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is The Doctor and his companies Jaimie and Victoria have to stop an alien that's hell bent on not only taking over the earth but also on storming a nearby base to get the weapons that might hold the key to there destruction. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. While the episodes plot isn't as good as say The Daleks or even The Tenth Planet for example both of which much like this one also saw the debut of iconic Doctor Who villains what this episodes plot does have going for it is the fact that it does take the time to build up suspense and it does take the time to really get going with the episode just letting you sit in this setting for a good portion of the first episode as it could be argued that the episodes overall plot doesn't really get going until the end of that first episode. This is something that does both work for and against the episode as it works for the episode in a way that it does allow you to get to know the other human characters in the story but it works against the episode in that for alot of that first episode nothing really happens plot wise which does make alot of that first episode feel more redundant as they very easily could have had this plot be the plot for a good five part episode of the show and nothing plot wise would be affected by it with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Patrick Troughton as The Doctor , Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon and Deborah Watling as Victoria Waterfield. Also starring in this episode is Peter Barkworth as Clent , Peter Sallis as Penley , Wendy Gifford as Miss Garrett , Angus Lennie as Storr , Peter Diamond as Davis , George Waring as Arden , Malcolm Taylor as Walters , Roy Skelton as the voice of the Computer , Roger Jones as Zondal , Sonny Caldinez as Turoc , Michael Attwell as Isbur , Tony Harwood as Rintan and Bernard Bresslaw as Varga.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. This show in it's classic era did always have some really good acting in it with this being due to the fact that the show would always cast some really good actors in it and if you want proof of that all you need to do is look at the actors that in this episode as alot of the episodes actors do turn in some really good performances in this episode with there only being one or two side actors that aren't as good as the rest of the actors in this episode. With the best actor in this episode being Peter Sallis as even tho alot of us are more used to him being this really funny be it from shows like Last Of Summer The Wine or from the Wallace & Gromit films here he does show that he was also a really good dramatic actor with him getting alot of the episodes more dramatic lines all of which he does pull off really well with this no doubt being helped by the fact that this episode director Derek Martinus did director alot of the more well known Doctor Who stories and all of which have some really good acting in them which does show that he knows how to get some really good performances out of his actors. With the acting that's in this very episode really being helped by he fact that the episodes script is just so good that all this episodes have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
Doing the animation for this episode and the legends and the greats that are currently over at Qurios Entertainment. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that good. If we are being honest here these animated Doctor Who reconstructions have never really had any great animation to them especially alot of these ones that had episodes that were fully animated with this being due to two things the first thing being the fact that the BBC has always given these animated DVD releases very small budgets to work with and therefor they wouldn't have been able to do alot with it from an animation point of view which would be fine if they had alot of time to work on them which leads to the second issue as these animated episodes have neve had alot of time given to them. As alot of them are made and released within say six months to a year therefor the animators don't have the time to go back and do a second pass at a scene are at a character. Which is why alot of the mouth movements not just in this episode but in alot of these early releases look a little off and while yes this episode does have moments where they have some solid animation alot of the time the characters and backgrounds just look lifeless with both of these issues being things that could have been fixed if the BBC gave them more time and more money to fix these issues instead of rushing them out to meet a deadline heck there's even one shot in either episode two or three where it really looks like The Doctor's arm has come off of his body as that's how bad that the animation can be in this episode.
For all three of you Doctor Who fans that don't know this episode does have four surviving episodes with only episodes two and three being fully animated. For a classic sixties era of Doctor Who where alot of the episodes are still missing the fact that they are this many episodes still surviving is a good thing as while we do have alot of the William Hartnell era and a good portion of the Patrick Troughton era there are still a good portion of episodes from both era's that are either missing or missing presumed destroyed and while that will always be bad thing as it does mean that while we are as close as we've even been to having Doctor Who fully back at the BBC as along as those episodes are still missing we do have to rely on these animated reconstructions to help to bring these classic stories back to life. Heck they have proven with the release of Shada that when these animated reconstructions are done well then they can be really good and while Shada will always be a different case when compared to something like Marco Polo or The Massacre for example where all of the episodes are missing we do have to hold out hope that one day we can get more classic Doctor Who back as these are stories that should be seen be fans old and new alike and yet due to the BBC's way of doing things back in the sixties that now might be a hard thing to achieve even through the use of animation as we never really know of anyone recorded the audio for the episode was it was fir being broadcast or if anyone took any telesnaps for these missing episodes as those are things that the animators use as a point of reference when there making these animated reconstructions.
As the title of this episode would suggest this episode does mark the debut of The Ice Warriors with them being creatures that were frozen in ice thousands if not millions of years ago. To be fair as a concept for a good villain the ice warriors do hold up really well as they are essentially villains out of time which is a cool concept and the episode does go as far as it possibly could have done with that idea however tho episode doesn't really make them seem like a threat due to the fact that the only somewhat threatening that they do is kidnap Victoria and possibly kill of a side character that's not all that important to the episodes plot in the first place. With there not really being anything that makes them standout from each other as all of the ice warriors in this episode not only look but also sound and act exactly the same as each ither with the only way your able to tell who Varga is being the fact that's literally credited as being the leader in this episodes ending credits when it would have been nice if they was something added to there designs either in animated form or in the surviving live action episodes that did help to make them stand out from a design a point of view as that would have made it a whole more easier for us to the audience to work out just which ice warrior is talking as well as which ice warrior is chasing Victoria through what might be valley. However tho the episode does get a few things right with the characters like the fact that they have an almost snake like voice to them where the characters heavily pronounce or make alot of words with S's or C's in them really longer which is something that does make them creepy and there plan while it is the stereotypical villain plan is something that does work for these characters.
There's one character that really annoyed me during this episode and that's Victoria Waterfield herself as all she does in this episode is either cry or scream with there being very little breaks inbetween either of them. Whilst this does make sense for her character given the fact that her character was from the victorian era and isn't quite as used to seeing monsters on a daily basis like what both Jaime and The Doctor are given the fact that she would have been with them for a good few episodes before this episode even started out. Yet she's still screaming and crying all of the time and while this was something that the makers of this show had alot of the classic era companions do here it seemed like something that was only done to remind us that this character was still in the story as while she can't add all that much to the plot as there really isn't alot to her character in the first place the episode could have taken the time to show us why she belongs in the TARDIS in the first place as while we know why The Doctor took her in as her feather died at the end of Evil Of The Daleks she doesn't really get a chance to prove why she belongs in the TARDIS with her pretty much just being there so that Jaime has someone that he can act more like a big brother towards and playfully tease and that's really when given the fact that her father was a scientist and the fact that she is good with people Victoria could have used her people skills in this episode to help the human scientists on a more emotional level. While that's not alot granted it is still something then what this episode has her doing which is basically just be a prisoner of the ice warriors and cry and scream and while her crying and screaming alot is fine for one or two scenes it does become an issue when alot of her screen time is just her either crying or screaming.
Now then I cannot for the absolute life of me remember whatever this episodes grand total running time even was but I do know that for a fact that this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of roughly two hours and thirty minuets. With this episode being six twenty five minuet episodes long and to be frank this episode didn't need to be six episodes as you very easily could have told this entire story and not lose anything that's important to the stories plot with this being due to the fact that alot of the first episode is just pointless filler that adds nothing to the plot of the episode as a whole this is despite the fact that this episode really does have the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of time. Yet due to the fact that the episode has more episodes to it then it really needed as all that first episode is drag down the rest of the story when it would flowed much more better if alot of the key things from the first episode were included in the second episode. With the episode not even using it's running time all that wisely due to the fact that this episode doesn't really take the time to fully develop it's plot this is despite the fact that the episode has more then enough episodes to give it's plot some kind of development and yet for one reason or another the makers of this episode don't do that and heck they could have used episode one t add things to the plot of the episode that they could then pay off later on in the story as that would then justify this story being six episodes along. The episode doesn't use take the time to fully develop any of it's characters which is fine for the main characters as then you could argue that they have the rest of the other episodes to get there character development but for the characters that are exclusive to this episode they really should have gotten some character development and yet they all feel like underbaked characters but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty OK at best. While early Doctor Who isn't as known for its action like modern day Doctor Who is when we do get some action it was usually something that did make the episode stand out and while we do get some good action in this episode like for example the chase in what might be a valley being a really good example of that sadly tho this episodes action just isn't that good. With there not really being alot of action that really stood out as the suits that they used for the ice warriors are done in a way that it makes it look like the actors inside of them can't really move around all that much but at a push the best action in this whole entire episode in when Penley uses a weapon the human scientists have at full blast and it causes the ice warriors ship to explode and that's really it and even then that action scene doesn't really stand out all that much as we never get to see alot of what happens to the ice warriors themselves as all of what we do see in from the humans point of view which is fine and it does work for tension showing from there point of view but given the fact that the episode had been building up these characters as a big threat and therefor we should have seen them really be involved more in the scene and not really be treated more as an afterthought in their own episode with the rest of the episodes action being nothing more the OK at best in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall whilst this episode isn't the best representation of both classic Doctor Who and these Doctor Who animated reconstructions there is still alot of good to be found in this episode it's just that you have to sit through alot of the bad stuff to get to it as that's how painfully average that this episode is in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as al of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk , TARDIS . Wiki and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great Tardis . Wiki really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Tardis . Wiki really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.