Return of the Ice Warriors!

SFX can exclusively reveal that the next series of Doctor Who will mark the return of one of the Time Lord’s greatest foes, unseen in the series for nearly 40 years.

“We’ve got the most fantastic episode by Mark Gatiss,” executive producer Caro Skinner tells SFX, “where we are bringing back the Ice Warrior… on a submarine! It’s a really wonderful kind of ‘bunker’ episode, and a classic monster which Mark has brought his own inimitable twist to.”

Armed with lethal sonic technology, the reptillian warmongers first tangled with Patrick Troughton’s Doctor in 1967′s “The Ice Warriors”, returning two years later in “The Seeds Of Death”. Jon Pertwee’s incarnation encountered them in 1972′s “The Curse Of Peladon” and 1974′s “The Monster Of Peladon”. Traditionally seen as one of the show’s “Big Four” pantheon of monsters – along with the Daleks, the Cybermen and the Sontarans – the militaristic Martians won a throwaway mention in 2009′s “The Waters Of Mars” but have remained unseen in the 21st Century series.

“We wanted to bring them back because they’re wonderful!” says Skinner. “In the mix of stories that we were planning for this year it felt as if doing something very bold with a monster that hadn’t been seen for a while would be really cool. Mark is an enormous fan of the Ice Warrior stories and came up with the idea. The sense of a monster of that scale and that size trapped in a really small, contained environment such as a submarine was a really brilliant story to be able to tell. And obviously we’ve had a huge amount of fun going back to the traditional designs and recreating them, bringing the Ice Warriors back to life again.

“They were such a beautiful original design, and are genuinely really scary in terms of what they look like as they’re coming towards you in that armour. Letting a huge Ice Warrior loose at the heart of a classic Hunt For Red October style submarine movie was exactly the kind of story that the Doctor should get mixed up in.

“They’ve got really scary voices as well,” smiles Skinner. “I spent quite a lot of time on set trying to hiss like an Ice Warrior…”

The Red Planet’s scariest export returns in episode three of series 7.2, directed by Douglas Mackinnon and starring the legend that is David Warner.

Another classic monster ruined I bet!

davro wrote:

Another classic monster ruined I bet!

We will see. I bet they are mad about all of the rovers running around.

If Gatiss is writing it you can bet it will be some self indulgent mess!

It's just been mentioned on the news that there will be a 3D episode for the 50th Anniversary. They just showed clips of what we saw after the broadcast of last year's Christmas special. I reckon we'll get free 3D glasses supplemented with the TV Guides.

yessssssssss thisssssss sssssounds good

Seeing how the Sontarons, Cybusmen, and the Silurians were were like the past 5 years.....I'll not be thrilled until we find out their appearance were not messed up, and not given some stupid catch phrase.

the catch phrase is ice ice baby! s

davro wrote:

Another classic monster ruined I bet!

I'd like to be optimistic, which, after the Silurians, is not easy. The setting does sound very good – it sounds as though Gatiss is trying to do a version of Dalek with a single (?) Ice Warrior on the sub.

Is that for real? Because it looks great!

According to Blogtor Who, yes it is.

Yes,I just found where it is from and it is real! One of the broken bits of glass has the image in this poster:

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2013/03/bellsofstjohn-010313000008.html

Now let's hope they won't get some catch phrase.

"Mars needs women!"

Evil Monkey Pope wrote:

"Mars needs women!"

I thought they just needed moms!!

I think they look great, and David Warner is in the episode, so I have high hopes. Keeping fingers crossed for good luck.

Wow! That does look pretty cool!

Hopefully the rest of him is just as impressive looking.

They look perfect!

Really excited for this return of a classic race. I can't really call them villains since they did one day join the Federation! LOL

Is anyone else seeing the 'Spoonheads' next to the Doctor's left hand? What on earth are they thinking? Spoonheads?! They look so stupid but... Kinda awesome, in terms of novelty, at the same time.



This sooo reminds me of 'Mr. Spoon' from Button Moon (on the right hand side).

For some reason, a Quark comes to mind when I see that.

Yeah, I can kind of see the echo of the Quarks there...

First full pic! Amazing looking!

http://www.sfx.co.uk/2013/03/05/doctor-who-new-ice-warrior-picture/

It's too huge to post here!

They ruined 'em, I think. They look very NuWho-Sontaran... Excessively broad shoulders, fingers... Gargh. It's sad, too, cos this was looking very promising.

I think I'll hold back full judgement until we see these guys on screen, but if we're judging by their appearance in the image so far... Then I am not happy.