Loving the Enemy or my fascination with the Ice warriors

This is an exciting year for Doctor Who fans, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention it.  So I'll be remiss, because I want to talk about something else happening to Doctor Who this weekend, something that is very exciting for me.  The Ice Warriors are back.

Those of you that know me or have read any of my Doctor Who Posts on this blog know that I have an unhealthy liking for the Ice Warriors.  But I don't believe I have ever taken the time to explain why.  In this post I am going to do that, In celebration of the return of the Ice Warriors I am going to let every one know why I love these second tier icy bad guys of the Whoniverse.

I got my introduction to the Ice warriors when I was very young with the Pertwee story the Curse of Peladon.  This story has all of the elements I love in my sci-fi.  A vast Space operatic federation, with intrigue, alien races, schemes, murder and a big fury monster.  Within all of that though is a morality tale about racial discrimination.  This story includes the Ice Warriors (or more accurately Martians)  as part of the grand Galactic Federation.  They are pitted to be the bad guy throughout most of the story, and the Doctor doesn't trust them, because he has encountered them before.  But these Ice Warriors are not the bad guys, and in a way they even turn out to be the heroes by saving the Doctor.

The story was great and had a great atmosphere but what I took away from it over 25 years ago is that the Ice Warriors (and Ice Lords) are awesome.  I had never experienced a story, at least in Doctor Who, where the monster turns out to be the good guy, where the Doctor misjudged someone based on his past history with their race.  Now that is not to say that it hadn't happened but I hadn't thought about it like that at my age.  The story really spoke to me and so did the Ice Warriors.

Unfortunately this is the only time (on TV) that the Ice Warriors have been treated like this.  They were the villains in their previous 2 stories, and again in the sequel to Peladon, and unfortunately we never saw them again on the show.  They have however shown up in novels and Big Finish audios and they have shown up as both the villains and the allies of the Doctor, and this is always exciting.

This Idea that an alien race can have the same sensibilities as the human race really captured me as a kid and still does now.  The idea that there are good Ice Warriors and Bad Ice Warriors is stunning to me.  

Now all of that leads me to mention "Cold War" which is going to air this weekend and bring back the Ice Warriors after nearly a 40 year absence from our TV screens.  The images of the Ice Warrior that we have seen so far are pretty amazing.  They are really going back to the roots of making them viking like with some of the small designs in the costume, while at the same time staying very true to the design.  The story, however is what I am most curious about

This story is a historical and appears to be taking place on a submarine.  I have a feeling it is going to harken back more to the Second doctor's encounters with the Ice warriors, in which there is an ancient Ice warrior who came to earth from Mars during our Ice age and has been rediscovered and hence re awakened.  The Ice Warrior will be the villain in this story.  While it is not the way I would bring the Ice Warriors back (I would bring back the Galactic federation and all of it's space opera glory!) I feel it will not let us down as being a good trapped inside with a monster story.

I look forward to this story and hopefully it will be successful enough to bring the Ice Warriors back the way they should be brought back, with their honor in tact!

Just as a note for those of you who don't know my name of the internet has been Izlear for about 15 years now.  This of course hearkens back to Izlyr, the Ice lord from the Curse of Peladon.    


Why do you love the monsters you love in Doctor Who or any other show you love.  Leave your thoughts in the comments below!