Red Dawn

"I don't feel like a long walk, my arm might get tired."

Writer: Justin Richards
Format: Audio
Released: May 2000
Series: Main Range 08

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Peri

Synopsis

Ares One: NASA's first manned mission to the dead planet Mars. But is Mars as dead as it seems?

While the NASA team investigate an 'anomaly' on the planet's surface, the Doctor and Peri find themselves inside a strange alien building. What is its purpose? And what is frozen inside the blocks of ice that guard the doorways? If the Doctor has a sense of deja-vu, its because he's about to meet some old adversaries, as well as some new ones...

Verdict

Red Dawn was different from my expectations. I was really hoping that this audio would rescue the Ice Warriors - sadly it did not. After their brilliant debut and return during the Second Doctor era, the Ice Warrior's reputation was tarnished during the Third Doctor era in my opinion with the Peladon stories, having the Ice Warriors as something other than antagonists. The Seeds of Death is where the Ice Warriors were at their real best! The Curse of Peladon however saw them change, certainly not for the better. Then we have Cold War and the revived series' take on the Martians. And that was even worse! The creatures were taken out of their iconic armour, that's just a no from me. And now in the audio, the Doctor found himself pitted with the Ice Warriors, but not against them. Instead it was part of the human crew who'd found themselves arrive on Mars. I really liked the authority ranks amongst the Ice Warriors and the worship they had in Izdaal. Zzaal and Sstast were both brilliant characters, but if they weren't Ice Warriors, and some other non-previously outstanding villain, then it would have been so much better! The pairing of the Fifth Doctor and Peri worked extremely well and it was nice to get some adventures with the pairing as we didn't really get any stand alone TV adventures with them. The plot was good but there were some poor pieces of dialogue. Paul Webster wasn't the greatest of villains although his human selfishness was good. He wanted to exploit the Ice Warriors! The Doctor seemed to be just watching this story unfold which was unique. The climax was actually quite good and boosted up my somewhat generous rating. It just needed a bit more evil amongst the Ice Warriors!

Rating: 7/10