I’d just like to begin by saying that when I launch my own international agency to combat glaciers, I know exactly how I want the uniforms to look. Martin Baugh may have just created my favorite uniforms ever in the history of Doctor Who. I’m sure it’s the black and white that makes me love them so – can you imagine how dreadful they would look in color?
Harry -
They look like a futuristic British Winter Olympics team! I remember seeing a colour photo of those uniforms, and each one was a splash of rainbow hues. Very creative and memorable.
Sarah -
I take it all back! I just tracked the color images down and they’re smashing!
http://www.kittensdirect.com/colourise/season5.html
My international agency will definitely have those unis!
Harry -
There's definitely a "Yellow Submarine" feel to that look.
Sarah -
In any case, the team at Brittanicus Base, in all their sartorial splendor, is struggling to hold back the glaciers that are slowly taking over the planet as a result of global cooling. (Global cooling? This really is science fiction!)
Harry -
A wacky premise but let's go along with it.
Sarah -
While the techs battle the icebergs with their computer system, Arden, a scientist with an archeological bent, is on the glacier with his team, where they find what they think is an ancient human. While the scientists’ excitement at finding the body is a reasonable human reaction, their cavalier attitude when one of their party, Davis, is killed in an avalanche is almost chilling (no pun intended). They tote the iceman’s body back to base, with hardly a look back or mention of poor Davis, who stays on the glacier.
Harry -
My favourite thing in this story might be how everyone pronounces glacier as "GLASS-ear."
Sarah -
They need someone to show up with an overdone American accent to pronounce it “GLAY-shur.”
Harry -
The avalanche was well done, but I agree with the strangely cavalier attitudes towards Davis' death. I still have Toberman in mind!
Sarah -
Poor Toberman.
Meanwhile, the TARDIS materializes on its side and Jamie suspects they’re just a bit farther up the mountain in Tibet.
Harry -
The Doctor really botched that landing. Yet another story begins with madcap comedy.
Sarah -
I love this scene, when everyone is all happy and jokey coming off their Tibetan adventure. Even when they enter the Brittanicus Base, it’s still all fun and good times.
Harry -
Brittanicus Base threw me for a loop. As with "The Abominable Snowmen", we aren't really given a definitive date for when the story takes place. We opened with the futuristic control centre, which it turns out is just a room inside a Victorian manor, which on the outside looks like some sort of science building whose doors slide up and down with the wave of a hand. Bizarre!
Sarah -
Victoria suggests they leave when danger seems imminent, but the Doctor responds with his usual “No, let’s go in!” attitude. Jamie’s a bit miffed to be labeled a scavenger, but not enough to dampen the mood.
Harry -
Our heroes enter the base and meet the crew. The Doctor almost immediately leaps into action to prevent a disaster. This was another charming Troughton moment, watching him bounce from console to console, issuing orders.
Leader Clent is not amused. I wasn't too wild about him, to be honest. Pompous, arrogant, a slave to protocols and computers and the exact opposite of the Doctor as is pointed out repeatedly. The Doctor is very anti-technology here, which was odd.
Sarah -
It was, wasn’t it? Even after preventing a reactor explosion, the Doctor spent much of his time breaking protocol and trying to show up the technicians and scientists. It was amusing when Clent gave the Doctor a challenge to see if he was really the scientist he claimed to be. Troughton’s performance as he drags the answer, which he knew all along, out to the last second was delightful.
Harry -
I liked the Doctor's line: "I think you might try trusting human beings instead of computers."
Sarah -
There are so many great lines in this story:
“We’ve been on retreat in Tibet. We are sanctifiers.” The Doctor, explaining why they don’t know about the glacier crisis.
Harry -
"He's got a printed circuit where his heart should be." Penley disparages Clent's obsession with computers.
Sarah -
“Well, looks aren’t everything you know.” The Doctor’s response when Varga says he looks like a scavenger.
Going back to the uniforms, I’m not their only fan, it seems. I loved the scene when Jamie asks Victoria if she would consider wearing one, much to her embarrassment. The chaste flirting between the two of them is so sweet.
Unfortunately, this sweet moment won’t last long.
Harry -
To this point I like Victoria's character. She's shown endearing flashes of personality and isn't there just to scream at things. Well, in this case she's there to be kidnapped!
Sarah -
I quite like her, too. I think she’s gotten the shaft in fandom. Deborah Watling does a great job with the character and deserves more respect than she gets!
Harry -
Agreed.
Sarah -
Poor Victoria. Varga, the Ice Warrior, newly thawed, knocks out Jamie and takes her hostage!
What did you think of Penley, the rogue scientist, and Storr, the scavenger? They’re a bit of an odd couple, but seem to share a sense of purpose and hatred of the base scientists.
Harry -
They were a strange pair. A couple of shaggy wildmen at first, creeping around the base and adding to the incongruity of things. As we learn more about Penley and his falling out with Clent, he gains depth as a character. Storr just whinges about everything. Although he met an undeserved end at the hands (gloves? pincers?) of the Ice Warriors.
Sarah -
I appreciated Rob’s point that Penley’s and Clent’s rich character development is the sort of thing that you can do in six episodes, but would never make it into the current series. Brittanicus Base certainly feels lived-in.
Penley also gets in one of my favorite lines of the story. When Clent says there is no hope, he responds with, “You mean hope happens to be inconvenient.”
So good, the Doctor could have said it himself!
Harry -
The whole story seems to be built on contrasts. At one point, the story has broken out into a bunch of character pairings: the Doctor and Clent, Penley and Storr, Victoria and Varga, and Jamie and Arden. The biggest contrast is obviously the pro and con sides of the computer debate.
Maybe there were too many pairings, but something in this story just didn't click for me. It started to drag in the second half, when everything revolved around finding out what kind of engines powered the Ice Warriors ship. Not exactly high adventure.
Sarah -
Some of it was a bit pat, but the performances made up for a lot of the problems I had with the script. Everyone is in top form and doing all they can with the material.
Harry -
The Warriors were interesting to look at and I loved the makeup - especially those weird pouting mouths - but they got a bit dull too. Maybe it was their slow movements or the whispering voices, probably both, but I'm left wondering why the producers would have wanted to bring them back again.
Sarah -
Definitely not the most compelling baddies. One wants a little zing in one’s monsters, no?
Harry -
I would have liked a little more zing in this story too, but they can't all be gems.
Best Line: Whenever someone said "glacier."
Favourite Moment: The Doctor enters the ship and sees the Ice Warriors, says "Oh my word!" and does an about face before they surround him. Classic Troughton moment!
Lasting Image: The Ice Warriors' mouths.
6/10
Sarah -
I liked it a bit more than you, but I think that’s a tribute to the actors.
Best Line: The Doctor, reacting to the thought that he should take a weapon as he goes to treat with the Ice Warriors, “Well, I’m not going to fight a duel!”
Favorite Moment: Jamie suggesting Victoria put some oomph into her wardrobe.
Lasting Image: Those groovy unis, of course!
7/10
Our marathon continues with Story #40 - The Enemy of the World...
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