Episode One (as does every episode) opens with some haunting incidental music and vocals over a montage of images of ice as the story title, episode and writer captions are displayed. Brian Hayles effectively sets up the situation of the story, establishing the location, characters and their relationships early on in the story. The TARDIS landing on its' side provides the opportunity for some great physical comedy from Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines. The TARDIS crew have arrived in the future, at a scientific base which has the task of haulting glacial flow before it covers all of the British Isles.

While the Doctor helps the to temporarily stablise the flow and establishes good relations with the base staff, the base team on location have discovered something frozen in the ice. Bringing the "Ice Warrior" back to base, they proceed to defrost it, and it starts to move... Director Derek Martinus frames the cliffhanger sequence well, building up the suspense in order to hold the viewer's attention and entice them to watch the next episode to see how it is resolved.

Episodes Two and Three are currently missing, so this section of the review will be based on the summary reconstruction the BBC video release, and the CD soundtrack included with the video release. The fifteen minute summary of Episode Two and Three uses moving footage, telesnaps, audio clips and narration to effectively convey to the viewer the events of the two missing episodes. The intro and outro to this section is quite inventive, with the images being shown through one of the communitors used by the base team.

Episode Two opens with the Ice Warrior coming to life, and taking Victoria with him. A strong theme that emerges from Hayles' script is that of an over-reliance on technology, and it plays out well here as Miss Garrett and Clent are unable to make a decision on accepting the Doctor's advice without consulting the computer. The Doctor encounters Penley at the base, and the Ice Warrior takes Victoria back to the glacier to revive his crew...

Jamie and Arden head off to the glacier in order to discover the Spacecraft's engine system as Episode Three opens, Miss Garrett goes after Penley to try and convince him to come back to the base; it's obvious that she has feelings for Penley, which makes it frustrating and sad when he refuses to return with her. The Ice Warriors are now fully revived, and together make a fairly formidable force, setting a trap that catches Arden and Jamie. At this point it's interesting to note that the Ice Warriors are acting only to preserve their survival, and not out of any particular malice; they also keep Victoria as a hostage, in order to determine her status and number of people at the base. They determine her to be a threat when she manages to contact the base...

Episode Four opens with Varga deciding not to fire the cannon at Victoria, rather he sends a Warrior out after Victoria. This leads into a sequence of "hide and seek" through the ice cave sets, showing off how realistic and effective Jeremy Davies' designs for these sets are. The Doctor decides to go himself to find out the design of the engines of the Ice Warrior ship. Jamie briefly recovers consiousness, and establishes a rapport with Storr, but then discovers his legs are numb - they are still affected by the partial blast he got from the Ice Warrior weapons.

Storr returns Victoria to the Ice Warriors, and in return they kill him. At the base, Clent and miss Garrett dicuss their current dilemma. Wendy Gifford is excellent as Miss Garrett, giving her warmth and a sense of professionalism; while Peter Barkworth is superb as Clent, using the walking cane. The Doctor reaches the Ice Warrior ship, but Varga traps him in the airlock and threatens to kill him unless he tells Varga who he is...

Varga reveals to the Doctor his plans during Episode Five, which the Doctor sneakily informs Clent and Miss Garrett of via a communicator. The Ice Warrior costumes designed by Martin Baugh are very effective and well complemented by the tall actors hired to play Ice Warriors, epecially Bernard Bresslaw who plays Varga, giving Varga a strong precense and a haunting, whispering voice, with an emphasis on the sibilant sounds. Penley takes Jamie to the base, but discovers that Clent is determined to activate the Ioniser, while Varga prepares to activate the cannon and destroy the base...

Episode Six opens with the base being rocked by cannon fire, then Varga makes his demands to Clent. The Doctor, meanwhile rewires the Ice Warrior's cannon and uses it to force the Ice Warrior's back to their base. The theme of over-reliance on technology continues, with both Miss Garrett and Clent unable to make a decision without consulting the computer first, but Penley is able to make the decision to use the Ioniser without computer analysis of the situation, destroying the Ice Warriors. The TARDIS departs with the Ioniser program now back on track.

Brian Hayles's script flows quite well, and he deals with his themes without being preachy - his concerns over the reliance on technology are easy to see, but it isn't constantly being hammered at the viewer. Most of the characters are well rounded, with strengths and flaws; the exception to this being Storr, who comes across as being a very one note character. Dudley Simpson's incidental music is very distinct and memorable, emphasised at times by haunting vocals from Joanne Brown. The Ice Warriors is another excellent Doctor Who story.

8.6/10

Next time: The Doctor faces his dictatorial double...