The Ice Warriors - 6

The final episode sees the story reach a natural end. Normally I would expect the episode to try and salvage the story but it didn’t need to do that as I think that this story has impressed me enough. The episode had a simple job to do and it did it quite well and what I liked was how it didn’t feel like they padded it or were rushing through the 25 minutes.

I liked how it was Penley who raised the temperature and the Doctor caused everyone to have a massive earache. It was a nice double act that shows why the character of Penley was so good but to single out Penley would be a disservice to the rest of the supporting characters who have all been solid in their own way.

It’s just dawned on me how much Victoria’s outfit in this story must have inspired Peter Jackson when dressing the Hobbits in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. She continues her good run (for what time shes in it) and this has to have been her best story since she joined the show. I’m was getting bored of Jamie not doing very much he only benefits when Victoria disappears off screen.  Frazer Hines has done well with playing second fiddle to Deborah Watling but I suspect that he knows that this is a short term measure. Not that I’m saying that Hines was trying to hog the limelight but its usually the case that Jamie gets the better slice of the action pie than Victoria. Deborah Watling appears for the first half of the story before disappearing with pre-recorded dialogue and some good acting by Patrick Troughton. Not quite sure why they didn’t just write her out of the episode completely but I suppose they didn’t think of that.

The scene where the Warriors storm into Clent control room is simple, short and effective. I quite enjoyed it and I am impressed that they waited until episode six before Hayles did this. Clent gets more action in this episode than in the previous five and I also liked the bit at the end where there was a sense of humility when he’s talking to Penley. The ending is rather abrupt though which is a shame as we don’t even get a scene with the Doctor, Jamie and an off screen Victoria entering the TARDIS.

I think that this is the strongest Patrick Troughton story and I say that as a massive fan of The Tomb of the Cybermen. I think that is been consistently strong and has proved the exception to the rule about six parters being a bit rubbish.  I am really looking forward the next story as its Enemy of the World and I will be watching this for the first time ever and then there’s Web of Fear after that so the next twelve days are going to be a treat.