Ice Warrior
The Ice Warriors are a fictional extraterrestrial race of reptilian humanoids in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Natives of Mars, the Ice Warriors wear bio-mechanical armour to protect themselves from attack and temperature fluctuations. In their debut, the 1967 serial The Ice Warriors, they fought the Second Doctor. Two years later, they reappeared in The Seeds of Death. In 1972's The Curse of Peladon, they were allied with the Doctor, reverting to antagonists in The Monster of Peladon two years later. The Ice Warriors would not appear again on-screen until the show's 2005 revival series in the episode "Cold War", followed by the 2017 episode "Empress of Mars". They have also appeared in spin-off media for the series.
The Ice Warriors were created by writer Brian Hayles, out of his interest in life on Mars at the time, when the production team was looking for new recurring antagonists. Originally, the Ice Warriors had been conceived as being akin to cyborg Vikings. Designer Martin Baugh, inspired by their name and influenced by crocodiles, designed them to appear reptilian in nature; this prevented the species from being visually similar to another fictional species who were cyborgs: the Cybermen. The costumes used for the Ice Warriors often proved heavy and cumbersome for actors to wear during filming. For their appearances in the show's 2005 revival, showrunner Steven Moffat originally did not want the Ice Warriors to feature, only allowing them to come back after writer Mark Gatiss was able to pitch the idea of an Ice Warrior outside of its shell. The Ice Warriors received a design overhaul for the revival but were kept largely the same visually, with "Cold War" also showcasing the creature beneath the armour.
The Ice Warriors have been received positively, seen as one of the series's most well-known antagonists despite the large gaps in between their appearances. Their design and role in the two Peladon serials, as well as in "Cold War", have been the subject of commentary and analysis.
Appearances
Television series
Doctor Who is a British science-fiction television series that began in 1963. Its protagonist is the Doctor, an alien who travels through time and space with travelling companions in a ship known as the TARDIS. When the Doctor dies, they undergo a process known as "regeneration", completely changing their appearance and personality. Throughout their travels, the Doctor comes into conflict with various alien species and antagonists.The Ice Warriors are a reptilian warrior race from Mars who wear bio-mechanical armour which protects them from attack and hostile temperature conditions with sonic weapons mounted into the wrists. They follow an honour code and are ruled either by an "Ice Lord" or an "Ice Queen".
Classic era
The Ice Warriors first appeared in the 1967 story The Ice Warriors, set on Earth during a future ice age in the year 3000. The hibernating crew of an Ice Warrior spacecraft buried underneath the ice are revived by a scientific team. The Second Doctor thwarts the Warriors' attempt to take over the scientists' base. The Ice Warriors returned for the 1969 serial The Seeds of Death. In this story, mid-21st century Earth has grown dependent on the matter transmission system T-Mat. An Ice Warrior strike force, seeking to conquer Earth, sends seeds through the T-Mat that are intended to make Earth more suitable for Martian life. After this plan is thwarted by the Second Doctor and his companions, the invading Martian fleet is sent into orbit around the Sun.In 1972's The Curse of Peladon, the Ice Warriors have renounced violence and become members of the "Galactic Federation", an alliance of various races. A group of them are part of a delegation sent to negotiate the planet Peladon's entry into the Federation. The Third Doctor initially suspects that the Ice Warriors are behind an attempt to sabotage the proceedings but accepts that they have changed after the Ice Warriors save his life. With their help, the Doctor foils a plot to prevent Peladon's admission. A sequel, The Monster of Peladon, aired in 1974 and is set 50 years after the events of The Curse of Peladon. Here, the Ice Warriors are depicted serving as Federation peacekeeping troops. Their leader, the Ice Lord Azaxyr, is secretly working with an enemy of the Federation and seeks to return to the species' warlike past. Azaxyr tries to impose martial law and take over Peladon but is stopped by the Peladonians and the Third Doctor.
Revived era
The 2013 episode "Cold War" sees an Ice Warrior named Grand Marshal Skaldak, found frozen in a chunk of ice, being discovered by a Soviet nuclear submarine. Skaldak, frozen for thousands of years, believes his race is dead and that he is the last of his kind. He attempts to obliterate humanity using the submarine's nuclear warheads; he relents after the Eleventh Doctor's companion Clara Oswald reminds Skaldak of his daughter, whom he had told her about previously. An Ice Warrior ship soon arrives, and Skaldak, seeing his race still alive, departs with them as he deactivates the warheads.The Ice Warriors reappear in the 2017 episode "Empress of Mars". In it, Victorian-era soldiers find a crashed Ice Warrior ship and wake its sole inhabitant, "Friday", from suspended animation. Friday brings the soldiers to Mars, where he discovers Mars has become unable to support life since he went into suspended animation. Friday tricks the soldiers into re-awakening the dormant Ice Queen, Iraxxa, and a hive of Ice Warriors. After initial combat, the soldiers' colonel, Godsacre, negotiates a peace. The Twelfth Doctor calls the Galactic Federation to pick up the remaining Ice Warriors from Mars so that they will join the Federation in the future.
In spin-off media
The Ice Warriors appear in several novels, including 1990's Mission to Magnus, an adaptation of a scrapped on-screen Ice Warrior serial; 1992's Transit; 1994's Legacy; 1996's GodEngine and Happy Endings; 1997's The Dying Days; and 2011's The Silent Stars Go By. In comics, the species appear in the strips Deathworld '', where they fight the Cybermen; 4-Dimensional Vistas ,'' which sees the Fifth Doctor combatting the Ice Warriors and the Meddling Monk; and the Seventh Doctor strip A Cold Day in Hell. An Ice Warrior named Harma appears in the comic strip Star Tigers as an ally of Abslom Daak. The Ice Warriors appear in several audio dramas published by Big Finish Productions, including Red Dawn, Frozen Time '', The Bride of Peladon , The Judgement of Isskar ,'' Deimos '', The Resurrection of Mars ,'' Lords of the Red Planet '', and Cold Vengeance .''Many of these spin-off appearances have been described by author Ivan Phillips as an example of a creature in the series that takes mysteries presented on-screen that were subsequently expanded upon in spin-off material. Stories such as these expanded on various concepts not elaborated upon in their on-screen stories, such as the nature of the Ice Warriors as cyborgs and the origin of the species and its ruling class.
An Ice Warrior named Ssard acts as a companion of the Eighth Doctor in spin-off media. First appearing in Radio Times comic strips, Ssard joins the Doctor after helping him deal with a treacherous Ice Warrior leader. Ssard becomes close with the Doctor's companion Stacy Townsend, and in the 1998 novel Placebo Effect, they leave the Doctor to get married.
Conception and development
1960s
''The Ice Warriors''
In early 1967, the Doctor Who production team was looking for an additional alien race, specifically a bipedal creature, to complement popular antagonists such as the Daleks and Cybermen. Writer Brian Hayles ended up creating the new monsters. He was interested in life on Mars and thought the idea of a race of reptilian humanoids was a plausible concept. Writer J. J. Elridge commented that the Ice Warriors were an example of the trope of life on Mars being so widespread that it was assumed by the series's writers as a foregone conclusion. As well as Hayles's interest in Mars, he was inspired by a story of a mammoth found preserved in a block of ice by the Berezovka River in 1901, which gave him the idea of an alien being revived after being similarly discovered. The Ice Warriors were designed to exhibit more personality than the Daleks and Cybermen.Costume designer Martin Baugh was inspired by the name "Ice Warrior", as it made him think of a hard, armoured creature. He saw the creatures as like crocodiles and thus made them appear physically reptilian in nature; according to some accounts, Hayles had conceived them as cyborg Vikings, and Baugh's change was done to avoid confusion with the Cybermen, also cyborgs. Taking inspiration from descriptions of the Ice Warriors' Viking-like helmets, Baugh envisioned their armour as central to their appearance, akin to a bipedal turtle. He suggested the Ice Warrior costumes be cast in fibreglass.
The final costume used a two-piece fibreglass shell, heavy latex rubber for the arms and legs—with the former ending in clamp-like hands—and matted fur between the joints and at the hips. Red Perspex was used to act as the eyeholes of the helmets, with the actors' eyelids behind the mask painted a dark green. Plans to have the eyes glow were dropped due to concerns that it would overheat the actors. The final costumes were tall. Due to their bulk, they were very hot, and actors would sweat out around a pint in less than an hour. During filming, director Derek Martinus requested changes, specifically less bulky helmets, since the costumes did not allow for much head movement. He also wanted the Ice Warriors' sonic blaster weapons to be built into the costume. The helmets of all five Ice Warrior costumes produced for the serial were made smaller, though some were changed more than others.
Bernard Bresslaw portrayed the Ice Warrior Varga in their debut. He used a whisper-like voice to depict the Ice Warriors' reptilian nature, an idea attributed to him that would be used in subsequent serials. Author Graham Sleight describes this voice as suggesting the Ice Warriors are uncomfortable within Earth's atmosphere, adding character to the species. Military drumbeats were used as a musical cue for when the Ice Warriors appeared, a motif reused in later serials.