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24 September 2014

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Doctor Who | Photonovels | The Ice Warriors

Episode One contact sheet

'Prepare phase one base evacuation,' an ominous voice echoes across a bustling control centre. The futuristic machinery and technicians' clothing seem incongruous within the finely decorated room.

A pair of large double-doors swing open to reveal a limping man. 'Why has the ioniser been allowed to deteriorate to danger level?' he demands in some agitation.

Senior Control Technician Garrett's excuses are quickly brushed aside. She protests that there is still time to evacuate, but the limping man angrily dismisses the notion.

'We need Scientist Penley!' Miss Garrett exclaims.
'You will make this machine work,' orders the man.
'Yes, Leader Clent,' she obeys, immediately undertaking an authoritative appraisal of the equipment.

Earth is at the mercy of a new Ice Age. 'Five thousand years of history - crushed beneath a moving mountain of ice,' Clent surmises.

The base is part of a world-wide defence network struggling to halt the advancing glaciers. Clent attempts to make contact with Scientist Arden at the glacier face.

Arden's drilling companions, Walters and Davis, divert his attention towards something in the ice. 'Not another mastodon,' Arden complains. Their discovery is, however, humanoid in shape...

Excavation of the 'animal' is briefly interrupted by Walters' wrist communicator, which bleeps without patching through a picture.

Walters argues that their impromptu archaeology will mean a deviation from their computerised schedule - and Clent will be furious. Arden's enthusiasm remains unbridled anyway.

In the continued absence of experienced Scientists, the crisis at the base is deepening. Miss Garrett reports that total destruction is imminent.

Outside the base, the snowy wastes serve as a precarious landing site for the TARDIS. A lone wolf bays as the familiar shape of the Doctor's police box begins to appear.

The police box solidifies, only to slide down a large snow drift.

The doors are pushed open to briefly reveal a fur-clad Doctor, who soon tumbles from view when the protesting Jamie can no longer support his weight.

The Doctor eventually succeeds in pulling Victoria and Jamie up to the Ship's threshold.

'Oh no, not again,' complains the Scotsman on surveying their surroundings. 'Tibet was bad enough. I think you've put us down just further up the mountain.'

The Doctor's attempts to help Victoria and Jamie clamber out of the police box are hampered when the Scotsman steps on his hand.

They duck behind the TARDIS as two dishevelled figures scurry away from a huge plastic dome. They are protectively clutching unmarked boxes and bags.

The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria approach the dome's exit.

The Doctor waves his hand over a sensor. A door slides open and the trio cautiously step inside.

The Georgian country house, perfectly preserved within the plastic dome, is again the scene of barely controlled chaos. Arden contacts the agitated Clent, and tells him he intends bringing back the 'man' he has discovered in the ice.

The TARDIS crew gingerly explore the house before being allocated 'Evacuation Flight 7' badges by a tall, attractive woman. The Doctor becomes very curious about the electronic pitches he hears through the double doors. He brazenly decides to investigate.

Inside the control room, the Doctor makes no attempt to disguise his alarm at the figures Clent is reading out. Resisting Clent's restraint order, he tries to warn the struggling technicians.

'In two minutes 38 seconds you're going to have an almighty explosion,' he shouts. The room falls silent as the Doctor frantically implements his own solution to delay destruction.

You ought to get an expert in...

With the situation stabilised he turns to a flabbergasted Clent. 'You ought to get an expert in you know.' The cynical Leader checks with his computer, only to discover that they were two minutes 37 seconds away from a reactor explosion.

Clent begins to collapse under the strain of the recent emergency. One of the technicians recommends the vibro-chair.

Arden and Walters argue over the origins of their bizarre discovery. 'He looks pre-Viking,' ponders Arden. 'But no such civilisation existed in prehistoric times before the first Ice Age.'

'Proper ice warrior isn't he sir?' ventures Walters.

They prepare to return to the base with their discovery before the already inhospitable weather worsens. Davis fetches the airsled.

The two vagabonds watch their activities with interest. 'Arden's found something in the ice - something to take back to Clent,' the tall one observes. 'It won't be appreciated.'

The short one curtly dismisses any scientific activity. 'It's good to know things,' the tall one insists, 'even when they're dead. Discovery is as exciting to me as the hunt is to you.'

He goes on to describe Clent as a man who simply uses science as a stepping stone for his own vision.

They continue their journey and observe Davis, who stops to witness an avalanche. Arden is quickly pulled to safety by Walters, who saves him from being swept away in the snowfall.

Davis is not so lucky - the ground gives way beneath him and he is swept away as Arden and Walters desperately cling to the ice-face.

'Storr, are you alright?' the man asks his companion.
'Penley... my arm is gone I think,' comes the weak reply. The two men plan their escape from Penley's 'former friends'.

As Clent reclines in the vibro-chair, the Doctor explains his ignorance of the current crisis by claiming he has been in retreat in Tibet.

Clent remains sceptical and threatens to send them to the African Rehabilitation Centres. 'Oh no, not Africa,' whines Victoria.

Clent sets the Doctor a problem in order to establish his scientific prowess. 'How would you halt the ice surge and turn the planet's climate back to normal?' he asks.

The Doctor has 45 seconds to answer. He paces up and down, firing off a multitude of explanations and ideas.

The Doctor correctly deduces that a severe drop in the carbon dioxide levels of the lower atmosphere has taken place, and suggests ionisation as the remedy. Clent explains that a drastic reduction in plant life prevented carbon dioxide formation, with evident consequences.

Miss Garrett explains to Jamie that ionisation is a method of intensifying the Sun's heat onto particular areas.

'Precise control is not easy,' she continues. 'We can't afford to make mistakes,' adds Clent. Widespread flooding is the price of miscalculation.

'Can't your computers solve the problem of control?' asks the Doctor. 'Of course they can,' she replies. 'When the input data is complete they will give us the solution.'

Indicating the maps on the wall, Clent explains the gravity of the situation. 'Not only will Europe be swallowed up, but the balance of power will be ruined and the whole world program will go under.'

Clent reveals that their Senior Scientist, Penley, is missing. 'Will you help us?' The Doctor agrees to try. 'You've worked with computers I presume?' he asks.
'Only when I have to,' the Doctor replies.

'Here, we are completely computerised,' Miss Garrett tells him. 'Well never mind,' sympathises the Doctor.

He listens intently as she explains that all decisions and actions must conform to the common good.

The tranquillity outside the control room is soon broken...

... by the arrival of Arden's party with a large trolley.

Arden leads their ice-clad discovery into the room, immediately arousing the curiosity of the Doctor.

'It's an undiscovered civilisation!' exclaims Arden. 'Think of the implications.'

Clent announces the daily planning conference, leaving the TARDIS crew to witness the controlled stimulation of the melting ice-block.

The Doctor moves closer to the ice. Peering through, he notices that the creature sports electronic apparatus. Alarmed, he draws a screen around the humanoid before leaving to tell the others.

Jamie and Victoria are left alone with strict instructions to touch nothing. The ice, meanwhile, continues to melt away in large chunks behind the screen.

Jamie relaxes in the vibro-chair, his mind wandering to the mini-skirted technicians. 'Victoria,' he asks, 'did you see how those lassies were dressed?' His broad hints are met with a curt dismissal from his companion.

Meanwhile, behind the screen, the thawing creature begins to stir. It flexes a menacing claw, as its slit mouth silently parts...

NEXT WEEK: Things hot up for the Ice Warrior.

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