Thin Ice

"It's from an old family recipe but then I suppose we all are in one way or another..."

Writer: Marc Platt

Format: Audio

Released: April 2011

Series: Lost Stories 2.03

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace

Synopsis 

Moscow 1967. The Doctor and Ace have arrived behind the Iron Curtain, and the Soviet Union is seeking a new weapon that will give it mastery in the Cold War.

What is the secret of the Martian relics? As the legendary War Lord Sezhyr returns to life, the Doctor is faced with some of his oldest and deadliest enemies. 

The fate of Earth - and the future of Ace - are now intertwined...

Verdict 

Thin Ice was a great Lost Story adventure and was a welcomed relief to me! As you may know from my previous blog entries or comments that I'm not fond at all of stories that have the Ice Warriors as non-evil characters, that's just not what they are! They were incredibly good villains in The Ice Warriors and The Seeds of Death but then their TV representation afterwards with the Peladon tales and the bad comeback in the revived series. So I was hoping that the brilliant Martians would get a better representation in audio and sadly that didn't happen in Red Dawn but here, in the form of Sezhyr, I got my wish of evilness returning to the Ice Warriors! I adored the Warrior legend and his despising of the Ice Warriors who revived him and returned the relics. They just weren't evil anymore. They sympathised and seeked help from humans and as Sezhyr stated, that's not the Martian way at all! Prior to listening to the audio, I was fully aware that this story was based on Ice Time, a story that was never produced. So with that not being made and as I've never watched/read/listened to a story telling of Ace's departure, that's what I figured would occur here! I didn't like how the whole story was leaning towards the departure of Ace and then for it not to occur was a bit of a disappointment to be honest. However, should the original story this audio was based on have seen Ace depart in the way depicted here I wouldn't have been happy. Although the Seventh Doctor and Ace is my least favourite TARDIS pairing ever, it just wouldn't have been right for them to leave on sour terms. The whole idea of the Doctor preparing Ace for the Gallifrey academy was confusing but it was so typical of the Doctor to have not told her! How careless is our hero? Hhessh was a good Ice Warrior but as I've reiterated so many times before, I didn't like how good he was for the story. The Ice Warrior's new fondness of fish fingers was just stupidly silly. It works fantastically for the Eleventh Doctor, not for the natives of the red planet. This story epitomised to me why Sylvester McCoy is in my opinion, by some way, the worst Doctor. He just doesn't reek of authority, there's no oomph or aggression there. There's just something about the Seventh Doctor that strikes me as weak, and it was on full show here. The saving grace of this story, excluding the decent plot of course, was the wonderful guest cast! They're a major reason in why this story gets a high mark from me. I absolutely loved Raina, she really was terrific! Marcus Creevy along with her flanking his cockney accent was excellent! The relationship between the pair was wonderful and the humour regarding the revelation of Raina's pregnancy was tremendous! The accelerated birth at the hands of the Ice Lord's helmet was very good! The use of Ice helmets throughout the story was very intriguing and I imagine it'd have been superb on television! The setting of Moscow in 1967 celebrating the golden anniversary of the October Revolution (a period I have studied in depth and loved it) was just magical! I'm waiting to find a story set during 1917, the year of revolutions, Russia. The climax of the story was very good and I liked how things worked out for Creevy and Raina, and their new child Raine. I didn't like how easily Ace forgave the Doctor but I did mention I wouldn't have liked them to depart on bad terms. 

Rating: 8/10