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 did not appear again on-screen until the show's 2005 revival series in the episode "Cold War" (2013), followed by the 2017 episode "Empress of Mars". They have also appeared in spin-off media for the series. Writer Brian Hayles created the Ice Warriors out of his interest in life on Mars at a time when the production team was looking for new recurring antagonists. The Ice Warriors were conceived as something akin to cyborg Vikings. Designer Martin Baugh, inspired by their name and influenced by crocodiles, designed them to appear reptilian; this prevented the species from being visually similar to another fictional species who were cyborgs, the Cybermen. The costumes for the Ice Warriors often proved heavy and cumbersome for actors during filming. For the show's 2005 revival, showrunner Steven Moffat originally did not want the Ice Warriors to return, only allowing them to come back after writer Mark Gatiss pitched the idea of an Ice Warrior outside its shell. The Ice Warriors received a design overhaul for the revival but were largely the same visually; "Cold War" also showcased the creature beneath the armour. The Ice Warriors have been received positively, and are among the series's best-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 many 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. They are equipped 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 serial 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 several 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.
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