Ice Warrior
Encyclopedia
The Ice Warriors are a fictional extraterrestrial
race of reptilian-like humanoids
in the long-running British
science fiction television
series Doctor Who
. The race originated on Mars
, and first appeared in the 1967 serial The Ice Warriors
where they encountered the Second Doctor
and his companions
Jamie
and Victoria
. The name Ice Warrior is not the name of their species, but was applied to them by an Earth
scientific team in the Martians' first on-screen appearance.
s, their scaly skin and features usually hidden under heavy armour. They have large, claw-like hands on which are mounted sonic weaponry
, and their voices are a highly sibilant whisper, due to the different composition of Earth's atmosphere. Two types of Ice Warrior are seen in the series: the rank and file Warriors, and an officer class, which fan lore has christened Ice Lords (with at least one being referred to as a "Lord" on-screen). The main difference between the two is the design of their armour, with the Ice Lords wearing a lighter, more flexible version than those of the Warriors.
would encounter the Ice Warriors out of sequence relative to his timeline. Their first on-screen appearance was in the 1967 story The Ice Warriors, set at a time in the future when the world was in the grip of a new ice age
. A scientific team sent to halt the advance of the glaciers discovered a spacecraft
buried underneath the ice, where it had lain for thousands of years together with its Ice Warrior crew. The Martians revived and attempted to take over the scientific base, but were defeated by the Second Doctor and their ship destroyed as it tried to take off. No date is given for this story on screen, but the Radio Times
listing for the serial placed it at the year 3000.
Their next appearance was in the 1969 serial The Seeds of Death
, which took place in the mid-21st century. In that story, the world had grown dependent on the matter transmission
system T-Mat. An Ice Warrior strike force seized control of the T-Mat relay on the Moon
, using it to send the titular seeds to Earth, which were designed to alter
the planet's atmosphere to be hospitable to Martian life, by reducing the atmosphere to one-twentieth, exactly like Mars. The plan was foiled by the Second Doctor and his companions Jamie and Zoe
, and the invading Martian fleet was sent into an orbit around the Sun
.
By the time of 1972's The Curse of Peladon
, the Ice Warriors had renounced violence (except in self-defence) and become respected members of a Galactic Federation that included Earth, Mars, Alpha Centauri
and Arcturus. When the Third Doctor
encountered them on a diplomatic mission to decide the admission of the planet Peladon to the Federation, he was initially distrustful, believing them to be behind an attempted sabotage of the proceedings. However, the culprit turned out to be someone else.
In the 1974 serial The Monster of Peladon
(which took place 50 years after Curse), the Ice Warriors returned to Peladon as Federation peacekeeping troops. The leader of the Martian troops, Azaxyr, was working with Galaxy 5, which was at war with the Federation. Seeking a return to the race's warrior past, he tried to impose martial law and take over Peladon, but was stopped by the Peladonians, who were aided by the Third Doctor. Curiously in this appearance, Azaxyr referred to his troops as Ice Warriors. Neither Peladon serials give dates, but the Virgin New Adventures
novel Legacy
by Gary Russell
placed them as taking place around the 39th and 40th centuries.
A possible unseen adventure involving the Ice Warriors is alluded to in Castrovalva. The newly-regenerated and still unstable Fifth Doctor
regresses to an earlier personality and memory, saying, "Not far now, Brigadier
, unless the Ice Warriors get there first!". The final New Adventures novel, The Dying Days
by Lance Parkin
, features a 1997 invasion of Earth by the Ice Warriors, and also states that the Brigadier had not encountered them before.
In the 2005 episode, "The Christmas Invasion
", Major Blake of UNIT comments that the Sycorax "don't look like Martians", a potential reference to the Ice Warriors, possibly the unseen adventure mentioned in Castrovalva.
In the 2009 episode, "The Waters of Mars
", the Doctor mentions the legend of the Ice Warriors, calling them "a fine and noble race who built an empire out of snow." He also theorises that the alien entity that seems to be sentient water pursuing them in the episode was known to the Ice Warriors, who froze it in an underground glacier on Mars to prevent its escape.
and The Mind of Evil
, though they have yet to be seen in the latest series.
The Ice Warriors did not appear on television after 1975; two proposed reintroductions after this were abandoned due to external events. They were supposed to be featured in the never-produced Sixth Doctor
serial Mission to Magnus
which was commissioned for the cancelled 1986 season. Similarly, they were also supposed to appear in season 27, in the serial Ice Time by Marc Platt
, which would have written out the Seventh Doctor
's companion Ace
. However, as the series ceased production in 1989, the story was never produced. The plot for Ice Time was to have a more fantasy-based take on the Ice Warriors, with an Ice Lord being reborn from his armour in Swinging London
and fighting a rival Ice Lord that had pursued him through time.
The Ice Warriors have also appeared in numerous spin-off
media, including novels, comic strips and audio plays.
The Ice Warriors make several appearances in the Virgin New Adventures
. Transit
, by Ben Aaronovitch
, did not feature any Ice Warriors in a significant role, but its background included the aftermath of a Thousand Day War between Earth and Mars that had spun out from the events of The Seeds of Death and forced many of the Ice Warriors off Mars. The aforementioned Legacy was a sequel to the Peladon stories, and again featured the Ice Warriors as members of the Federation. It was also clarified that their home in that time period (stated as the 40th century) was a planet called New Mars.
GodEngine
by Craig Hinton
was set shortly after Transit, and concurrently with The Dalek Invasion of Earth
. It introduced a non-martial culture within Martian society. In this novel, a group of religious pilgrims (who worship the Osirians
) attempted to make peace with humans, while a group of Warriors secretly worked with the Daleks.
As mentioned, The Dying Days featured an Ice Warrior invasion of 1997 Earth. The novel also revealed that, after the Mars Probe missions (seen in The Ambassadors of Death
, 1970), Earth accidentally made hostile contact with the Ice Warriors. Earth brokered an agreement to never return to Mars, with the British intelligence services covering up the fact that Mars had a breathable atmosphere so as to discourage further exploration attempts.
The BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures
novel The Last Resort features numerous conflicting alternate timelines in which the Martian race has either been enslaved by humans or else has exterminated all but a select human elite to prevent their enslavement. In these realities Martian life began as a result of bacteria from the decaying corpses of millions of temporal duplicates of a time-travelling teenager called Jack Kowaczski, arriving from millions of parallel timelines on the uninhabitable surface of Mars and dying, changing the Martian atmosphere and evolving.
The Past Doctor Adventures
Fear Itself (which is set shortly after humans colonise Mars) mentions that native Martians (never named explicitly as Ice Warriors) have been forced into poverty and homelessness by humans, except for a few who have resorted to terrorism to reclaim their planet.
In the Doctor Who comic strip published in the Radio Times in 1996, an Ice Warrior named Ssard
became a companion to the Eighth Doctor
, together with the human Stacy Townsend
. Ssard's introductory strip dealt with a "medieval" period of Mars's history. Stacy and Ssard reappeared in the BBC Books
novel Placebo Effect by Gary Russell, where the two were married. In the monthly Doctor Who
comic strips, an Ice Warrior named Harma is part of Abslom Daak's Dalek-killing band, the Star Tigers. Another Doctor Who Weekly back-up strip, Deathworld (#15 and #16), featured a conflict between the Ice Warriors and the Cybermen. In the story 4-Dimensional Vistas (Doctor Who Monthly #78-83), the Fifth Doctor
and his new companion Gus Goodman discover the Ice Warriors at an Arctic Base, allied with the Meddling Monk
and planning to use a giant crystal to create a sonic cannon.
In the Big Finish
audio play Red Dawn
, NASA
's first manned mission to Mars encounters a small band of surviving Ice Warriors who had been placed in suspended animation to defend the tomb of Izdaal, the greatest warrior of the Martian race. According to this story, previous unmanned Mars probes had brought back fragments of alien technology and DNA, and scientists had gone so far as to create human/Martian hybrid clones. This story, set in the 21st century, appears to depict the first full contact between humans and Ice Warriors. This is difficult to reconcile with The Dying Days, and may support the idea that the novels and audios take place in separate parallel universe
s.
Another audio play, Frozen Time
, sees the Seventh Doctor and a human expedition discovering a group of Ice Warriors frozen in the Antarctic. These are revealed to be criminals deliberately imprisoned there as punishment. Also The Bride of Peladon
saw the Fifth Doctor, Peri
and Erimem
encountering an Ice Warrior.
The Ice Warriors made an appearance in the Bernice Summerfield
audio The Dance of the Dead
, and the new gardener on the Braxiatel Collection
is an Ice Warrior named Hass.
The Fifth Doctor meets the Ice Warriors yet again in the audio play The Judgement of Isskar
. This serves as a sort of origin story
for them. The Doctor lands on Mars, looking for a segment of the Key to Time. At this point, Martians are a peaceful communal
community who do not even know the meaning of the word "warrior". But when the segment is taken away, the Martian atmosphere slowly erodes. They become desperate scavengers and, eventually, Ice Warriors.
In Deimos
/ The Resurrection of Mars
, it is explained that many Ice Warriors went into cryogenic suspension after Mars was rendered inhospitable. Some of these vaults were on the Martian moon Deimos
and others were in the Asteroid Belt
. Centuries later, some of these Ice Warriors were revived and eventually discovered a new home world. The planet was a beautiful, civilized utopia called Halcyon. The Ice Warriors killed all of the twenty billion inhabitants and renamed it New Mars.
Novels
Audio plays
Video games
Extraterrestrial life in popular culture
In popular cultures, "extraterrestrials" are life forms — especially intelligent life forms— that are of extraterrestrial origin .-Historical ideas:-Pre-modern:...
race of reptilian-like humanoids
Reptilian humanoid
Reptilian humanoids comprise a common motif in mythology, folklore, science fiction, fantasy, conspiracy theories, ufology, and cryptozoology.-Male:...
in the long-running British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
science fiction television
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...
series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
. The race originated on Mars
Mars (Doctor Who)
Mars, the fourth planet in our solar system, has been featured in the Doctor Who fictional universe on a number of occasions. In the various Doctor Who serials which feature the Ice Warriors, mention is made that Mars is their homeworld....
, and first appeared in the 1967 serial The Ice Warriors
The Ice Warriors
The Ice Warriors is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from November 11 to December 16, 1967...
where they encountered the Second Doctor
Second Doctor
The Second Doctor is the second incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by character actor Patrick Troughton....
and his companions
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...
Jamie
Jamie McCrimmon
James Robert "Jamie" McCrimmon is a fictional character played by Frazer Hines in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A piper of the Clan McLaren who lived in 18th century Scotland, he was a companion of the Second Doctor and a regular in the programme from 1966...
and Victoria
Victoria Waterfield
Victoria Waterfield is a fictional character played by Deborah Watling in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A native of Victorian England, she was a companion of the Second Doctor and a regular in the programme from 1967 to 1968.-Character history:Victoria first...
. The name Ice Warrior is not the name of their species, but was applied to them by an Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
scientific team in the Martians' first on-screen appearance.
Physical characteristics
The Ice Warriors are reptilian humanoidReptilian humanoid
Reptilian humanoids comprise a common motif in mythology, folklore, science fiction, fantasy, conspiracy theories, ufology, and cryptozoology.-Male:...
s, their scaly skin and features usually hidden under heavy armour. They have large, claw-like hands on which are mounted sonic weaponry
Sonic weaponry
Sonic and ultrasonic weapons are weapons of various types that use sound to injure, incapacitate, or kill an opponent. Some sonic weapons are currently in limited use or in research and development by military and police forces. Others exist only in the realm of science fiction...
, and their voices are a highly sibilant whisper, due to the different composition of Earth's atmosphere. Two types of Ice Warrior are seen in the series: the rank and file Warriors, and an officer class, which fan lore has christened Ice Lords (with at least one being referred to as a "Lord" on-screen). The main difference between the two is the design of their armour, with the Ice Lords wearing a lighter, more flexible version than those of the Warriors.
History within the show
Due to the time-travelling nature of the television series, the DoctorDoctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....
would encounter the Ice Warriors out of sequence relative to his timeline. Their first on-screen appearance was in the 1967 story The Ice Warriors, set at a time in the future when the world was in the grip of a new ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
. A scientific team sent to halt the advance of the glaciers discovered a spacecraft
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
buried underneath the ice, where it had lain for thousands of years together with its Ice Warrior crew. The Martians revived and attempted to take over the scientific base, but were defeated by the Second Doctor and their ship destroyed as it tried to take off. No date is given for this story on screen, but the Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
listing for the serial placed it at the year 3000.
Their next appearance was in the 1969 serial The Seeds of Death
The Seeds of Death
The Seeds of Death is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in six weekly parts from 25 January to 1 March 1969...
, which took place in the mid-21st century. In that story, the world had grown dependent on the matter transmission
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
system T-Mat. An Ice Warrior strike force seized control of the T-Mat relay on the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
, using it to send the titular seeds to Earth, which were designed to alter
Terraforming
Terraforming of a planet, moon, or other body is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying its atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology to be similar to those of Earth, in order to make it habitable by terrestrial organisms.The term is sometimes used more generally as a...
the planet's atmosphere to be hospitable to Martian life, by reducing the atmosphere to one-twentieth, exactly like Mars. The plan was foiled by the Second Doctor and his companions Jamie and Zoe
Zoe Heriot
Zoe Heriot , or simply Zoe, is a fictional character played by Wendy Padbury in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
, and the invading Martian fleet was sent into an orbit around the Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
.
By the time of 1972's The Curse of Peladon
The Curse of Peladon
The Curse of Peladon is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 29 January to 19 February 1972.-Synopsis:...
, the Ice Warriors had renounced violence (except in self-defence) and become respected members of a Galactic Federation that included Earth, Mars, Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Centaurus...
and Arcturus. When the Third Doctor
Third Doctor
The Third Doctor is the third incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee....
encountered them on a diplomatic mission to decide the admission of the planet Peladon to the Federation, he was initially distrustful, believing them to be behind an attempted sabotage of the proceedings. However, the culprit turned out to be someone else.
In the 1974 serial The Monster of Peladon
The Monster of Peladon
The Monster of Peladon is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 23 March to 27 April 1974.-Synopsis:...
(which took place 50 years after Curse), the Ice Warriors returned to Peladon as Federation peacekeeping troops. The leader of the Martian troops, Azaxyr, was working with Galaxy 5, which was at war with the Federation. Seeking a return to the race's warrior past, he tried to impose martial law and take over Peladon, but was stopped by the Peladonians, who were aided by the Third Doctor. Curiously in this appearance, Azaxyr referred to his troops as Ice Warriors. Neither Peladon serials give dates, but the Virgin New Adventures
Virgin New Adventures
The Virgin New Adventures were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who...
novel Legacy
Legacy (Doctor Who)
Legacy is an original novel written by Gary Russell and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Seventh Doctor, Ace, Bernice, the Ice Warriors and Alpha Centauri and a return for the Doctor to Peladon. A prelude to the novel, also penned by...
by Gary Russell
Gary Russell
Gary James Russell is a freelance writer and former child actor. As a writer, he is best known for his work in connection with the television series Doctor Who and its spin-offs in other media...
placed them as taking place around the 39th and 40th centuries.
A possible unseen adventure involving the Ice Warriors is alluded to in Castrovalva. The newly-regenerated and still unstable Fifth Doctor
Fifth Doctor
The Fifth Doctor is the fifth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Peter Davison....
regresses to an earlier personality and memory, saying, "Not far now, Brigadier
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, generally referred to simply as the Brigadier, is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, played by Nicholas Courtney...
, unless the Ice Warriors get there first!". The final New Adventures novel, The Dying Days
The Dying Days
The Dying Days is an original novel written by Lance Parkin and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was last of that range to feature the Doctor and the only one of that range to feature Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor. Thereafter the series centred around...
by Lance Parkin
Lance Parkin
Lance Parkin is a British author, best known for writing fiction and reference books for television series, in particular Doctor Who and Emmerdale...
, features a 1997 invasion of Earth by the Ice Warriors, and also states that the Brigadier had not encountered them before.
In the 2005 episode, "The Christmas Invasion
The Christmas Invasion
"The Christmas Invasion" is a 60-minute special episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is Christmas, but there is little cause for celebration as planet Earth is invaded by aliens known as the Sycorax...
", Major Blake of UNIT comments that the Sycorax "don't look like Martians", a potential reference to the Ice Warriors, possibly the unseen adventure mentioned in Castrovalva.
In the 2009 episode, "The Waters of Mars
The Waters of Mars
"The Waters of Mars" is the second 2009 special of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, broadcast on BBC One on 15 November 2009. It aired on BBC America on 19 December 2009 and was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK on 11 January 2010 and in the US on 2 February 2010...
", the Doctor mentions the legend of the Ice Warriors, calling them "a fine and noble race who built an empire out of snow." He also theorises that the alien entity that seems to be sentient water pursuing them in the episode was known to the Ice Warriors, who froze it in an underground glacier on Mars to prevent its escape.
Other appearances
The Ice Warriors are one of the "monsters" that have made repeated appearances in Doctor Who, as well as in the spin-off media. In the series itself, they made cameo appearances in the serials The War GamesThe War Games
The War Games is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in ten weekly parts from 19 April to 21 June 1969. It was the last regular appearance of Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor, and of Wendy Padbury and Frazer Hines as companions Zoe...
and The Mind of Evil
The Mind of Evil
The Mind of Evil is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 30 January to 6 March 1971.-Plot:...
, though they have yet to be seen in the latest series.
The Ice Warriors did not appear on television after 1975; two proposed reintroductions after this were abandoned due to external events. They were supposed to be featured in the never-produced Sixth Doctor
Sixth Doctor
The Sixth Doctor is the sixth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Colin Baker...
serial Mission to Magnus
Mission to Magnus
Mission to Magnus is a story originally written to be part of the unfilmed 1986 season of Doctor Who. It was written by Philip Martin, who had previously written the television stories Vengeance on Varos and Mindwarp....
which was commissioned for the cancelled 1986 season. Similarly, they were also supposed to appear in season 27, in the serial Ice Time by Marc Platt
Marc Platt
Marc Platt is a British writer. He is most known for his work with the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.After studying catering at a technical college, Platt worked first for Trust House Forte, and then in administration for the BBC...
, which would have written out the Seventh Doctor
Seventh Doctor
The Seventh Doctor is the seventh incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor Sylvester McCoy....
's companion Ace
Ace (Doctor Who)
Dorothy Gale McShane, better known by her nickname Ace, is a fictional character played by Sophie Aldred in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
. However, as the series ceased production in 1989, the story was never produced. The plot for Ice Time was to have a more fantasy-based take on the Ice Warriors, with an Ice Lord being reborn from his armour in Swinging London
Swinging London
Swinging London is a catch-all term applied to the fashion and cultural scene that flourished in London, in the 1960s.It was a youth-oriented phenomenon that emphasised the new and modern. It was a period of optimism and hedonism, and a cultural revolution. One catalyst was the recovery of the...
and fighting a rival Ice Lord that had pursued him through time.
The Ice Warriors have also appeared in numerous spin-off
Doctor Who spin-offs
Doctor Who spin-offs refers to material created outside of, but related to, the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....
media, including novels, comic strips and audio plays.
The Ice Warriors make several appearances in the Virgin New Adventures
Virgin New Adventures
The Virgin New Adventures were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who...
. Transit
Transit (Doctor Who)
Transit is an original novel written by Ben Aaronovitch and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Seventh Doctor, Bernice and the first appearance of Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart...
, by Ben Aaronovitch
Ben Aaronovitch
Ben Denis Aaronovitch is a London-born British writer who has worked on television series including Doctor Who, Casualty, Jupiter Moon and Dark Knight...
, did not feature any Ice Warriors in a significant role, but its background included the aftermath of a Thousand Day War between Earth and Mars that had spun out from the events of The Seeds of Death and forced many of the Ice Warriors off Mars. The aforementioned Legacy was a sequel to the Peladon stories, and again featured the Ice Warriors as members of the Federation. It was also clarified that their home in that time period (stated as the 40th century) was a planet called New Mars.
GodEngine
GodEngine
GodEngine is an original novel written by Craig Hinton and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Seventh Doctor, Chris, Roz, the Ice Warriors and the Daleks....
by Craig Hinton
Craig Hinton
Craig Paul Alexander Hinton was a British writer best known for his work on various spin-offs from the BBC Television series Doctor Who....
was set shortly after Transit, and concurrently with The Dalek Invasion of Earth
The Dalek Invasion of Earth
The Dalek Invasion of Earth is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in six weekly parts from November 21 to December 26, 1964....
. It introduced a non-martial culture within Martian society. In this novel, a group of religious pilgrims (who worship the Osirians
Pyramids of Mars
Pyramids of Mars is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 25 October to 15 November 1975.-Synopsis:...
) attempted to make peace with humans, while a group of Warriors secretly worked with the Daleks.
As mentioned, The Dying Days featured an Ice Warrior invasion of 1997 Earth. The novel also revealed that, after the Mars Probe missions (seen in The Ambassadors of Death
The Ambassadors of Death
The Ambassadors of Death is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in seven weekly parts from March 21 to May 2, 1970.-Plot:...
, 1970), Earth accidentally made hostile contact with the Ice Warriors. Earth brokered an agreement to never return to Mars, with the British intelligence services covering up the fact that Mars had a breathable atmosphere so as to discourage further exploration attempts.
The BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures
Eighth Doctor Adventures
The Eighth Doctor Adventures are a series of spin off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and published under the BBC Books imprint. 73 books were published overall...
novel The Last Resort features numerous conflicting alternate timelines in which the Martian race has either been enslaved by humans or else has exterminated all but a select human elite to prevent their enslavement. In these realities Martian life began as a result of bacteria from the decaying corpses of millions of temporal duplicates of a time-travelling teenager called Jack Kowaczski, arriving from millions of parallel timelines on the uninhabitable surface of Mars and dying, changing the Martian atmosphere and evolving.
The Past Doctor Adventures
Past Doctor Adventures
The Past Doctor Adventures were a series of spin-off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and published under the BBC Books imprint. For most of their existence, they were published side-by-side with the Eighth Doctor Adventures...
Fear Itself (which is set shortly after humans colonise Mars) mentions that native Martians (never named explicitly as Ice Warriors) have been forced into poverty and homelessness by humans, except for a few who have resorted to terrorism to reclaim their planet.
In the Doctor Who comic strip published in the Radio Times in 1996, an Ice Warrior named Ssard
Ssard
Ssard is a fictional character in the Radio Times comic strips based upon the British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. The Eighth Doctor and Stacy Townsend first met the Ice Warrior in the comic strip Descendance by Gary Russell, and he went on to become one of his companions...
became a companion to the Eighth Doctor
Eighth Doctor
The Eighth Doctor is the eighth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Paul McGann...
, together with the human Stacy Townsend
Stacy Townsend
Stacy Townsend, or simply Stacy, is a fictional character in the Radio Times comic strips based upon the British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. The Eighth Doctor first met her in the comic strip Dreadnought by Gary Russell, and she went on to become one of his companions...
. Ssard's introductory strip dealt with a "medieval" period of Mars's history. Stacy and Ssard reappeared in the BBC Books
BBC Books
BBC Books is an imprint majority owned and managed by Random House. The minority shareholder is BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation...
novel Placebo Effect by Gary Russell, where the two were married. In the monthly Doctor Who
Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
comic strips, an Ice Warrior named Harma is part of Abslom Daak's Dalek-killing band, the Star Tigers. Another Doctor Who Weekly back-up strip, Deathworld (#15 and #16), featured a conflict between the Ice Warriors and the Cybermen. In the story 4-Dimensional Vistas (Doctor Who Monthly #78-83), the Fifth Doctor
Fifth Doctor
The Fifth Doctor is the fifth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Peter Davison....
and his new companion Gus Goodman discover the Ice Warriors at an Arctic Base, allied with the Meddling Monk
Meddling Monk
The Meddling Monk, or simply The Monk, was a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Played by the British comic actor Peter Butterworth, the character appeared in two stories: as an adversary of the First Doctor.Other than the...
and planning to use a giant crystal to create a sonic cannon.
In the Big Finish
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
audio play Red Dawn
Red Dawn (Doctor Who audio)
Red Dawn is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Plot:...
, NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
's first manned mission to Mars encounters a small band of surviving Ice Warriors who had been placed in suspended animation to defend the tomb of Izdaal, the greatest warrior of the Martian race. According to this story, previous unmanned Mars probes had brought back fragments of alien technology and DNA, and scientists had gone so far as to create human/Martian hybrid clones. This story, set in the 21st century, appears to depict the first full contact between humans and Ice Warriors. This is difficult to reconcile with The Dying Days, and may support the idea that the novels and audios take place in separate parallel universe
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
s.
Another audio play, Frozen Time
Frozen Time
Frozen Time is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It uses elements from the AudioVisuals audio play Endurance.-Plot:...
, sees the Seventh Doctor and a human expedition discovering a group of Ice Warriors frozen in the Antarctic. These are revealed to be criminals deliberately imprisoned there as punishment. Also The Bride of Peladon
The Bride of Peladon
The Bride of Peladon is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Cast:*The Doctor — Peter Davison*Peri — Nicola Bryant*Erimem — Caroline Morris*Beldonia — Phyllida Law...
saw the Fifth Doctor, Peri
Peri Brown
Peri Brown, full name Perpugilliam Brown, is a fictional character played by Nicola Bryant in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....
and Erimem
Erimem
Erimemushinteperem, or simply Erimem, is a fictional character played by Caroline Morris in a series of audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A princess of Ancient Egypt born in 1419 BC, she is the daughter of...
encountering an Ice Warrior.
The Ice Warriors made an appearance in the Bernice Summerfield
Bernice Summerfield
Bernice Surprise Summerfield is a fictional character created by author Paul Cornell as a new companion of the Seventh Doctor in Virgin Publishing's range of original full-length Doctor Who novels, the New Adventures...
audio The Dance of the Dead
The Dance of the Dead
The Dance of the Dead is a Big Finish Productions audio drama featuring Lisa Bowerman as Bernice Summerfield, a character from the spin-off media based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.- Plot :...
, and the new gardener on the Braxiatel Collection
Irving Braxiatel
Irving Braxiatel or Cardinal Braxiatel is a fictional character from the Virgin New Adventures—spin-off novels based on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. He subsequently became a regular character in novels and audio dramas in the Bernice Summerfield universe...
is an Ice Warrior named Hass.
The Fifth Doctor meets the Ice Warriors yet again in the audio play The Judgement of Isskar
The Judgement of Isskar
The Judgement of Isskar is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. -Plot:The Key to Time must be sought again, due to the Doctor's carelessness during its last assembling...
. This serves as a sort of origin story
Origin story
In comic book terminology, an origin story is an account or back-story revealing how a character or team gained their superpowers and/or the circumstances under which they became superheroes or supervillains....
for them. The Doctor lands on Mars, looking for a segment of the Key to Time. At this point, Martians are a peaceful communal
Commune (intentional community)
A commune is an intentional community of people living together, sharing common interests, property, possessions, resources, and, in some communes, work and income. In addition to the communal economy, consensus decision-making, non-hierarchical structures and ecological living have become...
community who do not even know the meaning of the word "warrior". But when the segment is taken away, the Martian atmosphere slowly erodes. They become desperate scavengers and, eventually, Ice Warriors.
In Deimos
Deimos (Doctor Who audio)
Deimos is an audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. This audio drama was produced by Big Finish Productions....
/ The Resurrection of Mars
The Resurrection of Mars
The Resurrection of Mars is an audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. This audio drama was produced by Big Finish Productions....
, it is explained that many Ice Warriors went into cryogenic suspension after Mars was rendered inhospitable. Some of these vaults were on the Martian moon Deimos
Deimos (moon)
Deimos is the smaller and outer of Mars's two moons . It is named after Deimos, a figure representing dread in Greek Mythology. Its systematic designation is '.-Discovery:Deimos was discovered by Asaph Hall, Sr...
and others were in the Asteroid Belt
Asteroid belt
The asteroid belt is the region of the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter. It is occupied by numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets...
. Centuries later, some of these Ice Warriors were revived and eventually discovered a new home world. The planet was a beautiful, civilized utopia called Halcyon. The Ice Warriors killed all of the twenty billion inhabitants and renamed it New Mars.
Appearances
Television- The Ice WarriorsThe Ice WarriorsThe Ice Warriors is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from November 11 to December 16, 1967...
— November 11–December 16, 1967 - The Seeds of DeathThe Seeds of DeathThe Seeds of Death is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in six weekly parts from 25 January to 1 March 1969...
— January 25–March 1, 1969 - The War GamesThe War GamesThe War Games is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in ten weekly parts from 19 April to 21 June 1969. It was the last regular appearance of Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor, and of Wendy Padbury and Frazer Hines as companions Zoe...
— April 19–June 21, 1969 (cameo) - The Mind of EvilThe Mind of EvilThe Mind of Evil is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 30 January to 6 March 1971.-Plot:...
— January 30–March 6, 1971 (cameo) - The Curse of PeladonThe Curse of PeladonThe Curse of Peladon is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 29 January to 19 February 1972.-Synopsis:...
— January 29–February 19, 1972 - The Monster of PeladonThe Monster of PeladonThe Monster of Peladon is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 23 March to 27 April 1974.-Synopsis:...
— March 23–April 27, 1974
Novels
- Mission to MagnusMission to MagnusMission to Magnus is a story originally written to be part of the unfilmed 1986 season of Doctor Who. It was written by Philip Martin, who had previously written the television stories Vengeance on Varos and Mindwarp....
- TargetTarget BooksTarget Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became well known for their highly successful range of...
novelisation of the unmade serial by Philip Martin — 1990 - LegacyLegacy (Doctor Who)Legacy is an original novel written by Gary Russell and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Seventh Doctor, Ace, Bernice, the Ice Warriors and Alpha Centauri and a return for the Doctor to Peladon. A prelude to the novel, also penned by...
(Virgin New Adventures) by Gary Russell — 1994 - GodEngineGodEngineGodEngine is an original novel written by Craig Hinton and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Seventh Doctor, Chris, Roz, the Ice Warriors and the Daleks....
(Virgin New Adventures) by Craig Hinton — 1996 - The Dying DaysThe Dying DaysThe Dying Days is an original novel written by Lance Parkin and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was last of that range to feature the Doctor and the only one of that range to feature Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor. Thereafter the series centred around...
(Virgin New Adventures) by Lance Parkin — 1997 - Cold (Doctor Who Storybook 2009) by Mark Gatiss — 2008
Audio plays
- Red DawnRed Dawn (Doctor Who audio)Red Dawn is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Plot:...
— 2000 - Bang-Bang-a-Boom!Bang-Bang-a-Boom!Bang-Bang-a-Boom! is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
(cameo) — 2002 - Frozen TimeFrozen TimeFrozen Time is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It uses elements from the AudioVisuals audio play Endurance.-Plot:...
— 2007 - The Bride of PeladonThe Bride of PeladonThe Bride of Peladon is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Cast:*The Doctor — Peter Davison*Peri — Nicola Bryant*Erimem — Caroline Morris*Beldonia — Phyllida Law...
— 2008 - The Judgement of IsskarThe Judgement of IsskarThe Judgement of Isskar is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. -Plot:The Key to Time must be sought again, due to the Doctor's carelessness during its last assembling...
— 2009 - The Prisoner of PeladonThe Prisoner of PeladonThe Prisoner of Peladon is a Big Finish Productions audiobook based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
— 2009 - Mission to MagnusMission to MagnusMission to Magnus is a story originally written to be part of the unfilmed 1986 season of Doctor Who. It was written by Philip Martin, who had previously written the television stories Vengeance on Varos and Mindwarp....
— 2009, audio adaptation of the novel - DeimosDeimos (Doctor Who audio)Deimos is an audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. This audio drama was produced by Big Finish Productions....
/ The Resurrection of MarsThe Resurrection of MarsThe Resurrection of Mars is an audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. This audio drama was produced by Big Finish Productions....
— 2010 - Thin IceThin Ice (Doctor Who audio)Thin Ice is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. -Plot:...
— 2011
- Professor Bernice Summerfield: The Dance of the DeadThe Dance of the DeadThe Dance of the Dead is a Big Finish Productions audio drama featuring Lisa Bowerman as Bernice Summerfield, a character from the spin-off media based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.- Plot :...
— 2002
Video games
- Destiny of the DoctorsDestiny of the DoctorsDoctor Who: Destiny of the Doctors is a PC computer game based on the British science fiction television series Doctor Who; released on 5 December 1997 by BBC Multimedia.- Overview :...