How Doctor Who Predicted an AI-Driven Climate Catastrophe
The guys connect the 1960s fear of computers to today’s concerns about AI — and how The Ice Warriors might be more relevant than it first appears.
Plot Summary
As the world contends with a new ice age, an group of aliens trapped in the ice threaten to take what’s left of the planet.
Notable for:
First appearance of the Ice Warriors (duh).
In the 1960s, global cooling was actually a concern, though the story’s premise—the destruction of plant life—relies on overpopulation as a justification. Brian Hayles also was inspired by the discovery of a mammoth frozen in Siberia.
The Ice Warriors is difficult to pinpoint in future history. The world has been ruled/managed by a computer for over 100 years and there’s been time for massive plant life extinction and a resulting ice age. That would seem to place it in the far future, but the fact that the humans don’t recognize the Ice Warriors implies it’s before the other Ice Warrior adventures, including The Seeds of Death, which is in about the 21st or 22nd century.
Rare instance of the TARDIS doors opening outward.
A German broadcaster watched The Ice Warriors as a sample to see if they wanted to pick up Doctor Who as a series. The committee unanimously gave it a thumbs-down, leading to Doctor Who being fairly unknown in the country.
The onscreen bear was shot exclusively for this story—not stock footage.
Deborah Watling couldn’t finish filming the last episode, so she was written out as abruptly returning to the TARDIS.
The Ice Warrior helmets were redesigned halfway through to make them more flexible for the wearers.
Costume designer Martin Baugh rejected many of Hayles notes that put in electronic components in the Ice Warrior armor, and instead did something more like a two-legged turtle.
Pete commentary:
The theremin-heavy opening credits are nice break from the usual; also the ditching of the word “episode” or “part” in front of the numbers. The stock animal noises are less great.
The Ice Warriors is a slow burn: It takes a while for things to get going, and although the warriors are visually interesting, they’re pretty standard Doctor Who monsters. The story is a little confused whether we should see this as creeping doom or a chess match between the warriors at the base. Other episodes have done either better, so it doesn’t end up being particularly memorable.
Clent and his team taking all of their direction from a risk-averse computer has newfound resonance now that people are developing unhealthy relationships and even dependencies on AI chatbots. The overall message that, no matter how good computers get, human judgement and agency must be central to what we do with them, is excellent and timeless. In addition, you can’t progress without a certain amount of risk tolerance. Not random or reckless risk, but risk informed by study, intellect, and experience.
The themes are great, but it’s a shame the Ice Warriors themselves aren’t really incorporated in a meaningful way. Think about a version of The Ice Warriors script where Clent’s rigidness, indecision, and deference to the computer is contrasted by Vagra’s flexibility, decisiveness, and determination to make his tools work for him, not the other way around. You could backread this a little into some of what he does (like baiting his trap with Victoria and countermanding his underling’s impulse to destroy her), but you don’t get the sense this was Hayles’ intent.
Generally, the Warriors motivation is a little unclear. They seem to be defaulting to “merciless Doctor Who baddie” as opposed to a race with more nuance, as subsequent appearances would make them out to be. Why don’t they just talk to the humans? Why are they so immediately hostile? Wouldn’t getting some intel on the planet, how long they’ve been in hibernation, etc. would be good before deciding that your only options are flee or conquer?
That said, there’s more texture to them here than in The Seeds of Death. They’re not quite the evil brutes they would become.
You can definitely see why they created the Ice Lords in that adventure, though. There isn’t enough distinction between the warriors to know which one is the leader.
Jamie sure is enjoying women’s fashion in the future! The banter between him and Victoria is amusing at the end of episode 1. He’s protective of her, but he’s got a bit of a crush, too.
The scientific basis of the premise is total nonsense. This wouldn’t be the second ice age, more like the fourth or fifth. Destroying plants would lead to global warming, it’s universally believedThe Doctor says the Ice Warriors have been frozen in the glacier since the first ice age/when people were cavemen, but there are no glaciers in Britain even today (late 20th/early 21st century). I suppose they could have been moved from elsewhere, but that’s a lot of contorting of plot.
While generally glaciers advance slowly, hence the term “glacial pace” meaning excrucitatingly slow, the script’s speculation that the glaciers advance fast during an ice age does match geological evidence. While the fastest glaciers have been seen to advance in modern times is 50 m/day, some have moved as much as 600 m/day in the ice age.
Why are Arden, Walters et al. even looking for paleontological finds anyway? Brittanicus base seems to be in a state of perpetual urgency with regard to ionizing the glaciers back. Why are they screwing about in the ice, especially since it seems to be advancing 100 meters(!) at a time?
The hissing of the Ice Warriors’ dialogue was apparently the invention of the guy who played Vagra, Bernard Bresslaw. It’s pretty distinctive, though here in the first outing, it does impede understanding in places. They got better at it by the time of the Pertwee episodes.
The sonic effect is a nice change from the Daleks “go negative” blasts. I like it.
The “Omega factor”—wonder why the Doctor didn’t think the Time Lords were involved! This isn’t explained one bit, which is probably OK, but exposes it as just a naked plot device.
The computer assessment of the Doctor is spot on: “High IQ but undisciplined for our needs. Present evaluation, to be used on research projects, but could be obstructive in certain situations.”
Victoria lets out some of her signature screams early on, but the script nicely lets her use her “scared little girl” reputation to her advantage when the Doctor tells her to cry for show to fool one of the warriors.
The chess game between the warriors and Clent—both wanting to know the power systems of the other—is a bit interesting, but it’s a shame the stakes never change. Six episodes is too long for there to be zero twists. Also, the Doctor telling Vagra that they’ll find what they need in the base—there’s no hint at all that he’s lying, which is confusing.
“I’m pinning all my hopes on the Doctor.” Smart man, Clent, but you should defer to him about computers, too.
How is it Jamie is the one to say, “Lead on, Macduff”?
What did Pete’s family think?
Grace endured The Ice Warriors, and said she liked it, though it was a slog. She likes Jamie and Victoria. She was amused at the warriors’ “Lego hands.” She instantly caught that the TARDIS magically righted itself in episode 6.
Four Questions to Doomsday - Pete
Why did the Randomizer take us here? Wolves in Britain! The only two stories to feature them (to my knowledge) shown back to back. Also, native Scottish accent ahoy!
What if the evil plot had succeeded? Varga says the Warriors will either return to their planet or conquer this one. Presumably if they succeed in getting Clent to not take action, the ice sheets advance and the Earth becomes even more crippled. It would be seemingly vulnerable to invasion, but… from just the five of them? Even if Ice Warrior tech is superior, I think they’ll have a tough time. When they realize this, I think they flee to Mars to find… what? A dead, abandoned planet? Their story would become the search for their civilization. First stop: what remains of the Galactic Federation—assuming this is in the Federation’s future.
Where’s the Clara splinter? Directing traffic between the glacier and the base to ensure no one sees anyone else as they walk from one to the other.
Dalek, Ogron, Professor Hayter, Viscount Banger, Fixed Point in Time, Lady Cassandra, or Zarbi? Calling Ice Lord Hayter. Lots of promising stuff here, but it needed another draft or two to clean it up and give the Ice Warriors themselves more purpose.
