Deimos

"The final resting place of the Ice Warriors."

Writer: Jonathan Morris

Format: Audio

Released: October 2010

Series: EDA 4.05

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Tamsin

Synopsis

Millions of years ago, the noble Ice Warriors fled to Deimos, moon of Mars, hoping to sit out the radioactive death throes of their home planet. When the TARDIS lands on Deimos, the Doctor discovers that the Warriors' ancient catacombs are now a popular stop for space tourists.

But the Martian dynasties are more than history, and the Warriors are far from extinct. It's not for nothing that 'Deimos' is the ancient word for 'dread'...

Verdict

Deimos was a brilliant audio adventure to continue the fourth series of the Eighth Doctor Adventures! This really was a magnificent opening part of what is set to be a double-episode and it was oh so close to getting full marks for my rating. I loved how there was no messing around when it came to introducing the Ice Warriors into the story and with them being one of my favourite enemies to feature in Doctor Who, it was terrific to see them firmly in the role of villains. There have been far too many adventures where they haven't been seen as the bad guys and I think this is where they thrive so I was delighted that they didn't take long to start killing. That sounds pretty grim but that's exactly what you want from a revered monster. The references and continuity from Red Dawn was really good and I liked the museum setting on Deimos and how the speech came back into being a recording as part of the exhibit. That was very clever. Harold and Margaret as tourists made for very humorous character and hearing the former mention that the events of The Seeds of Death had been made into a documentary was wonderful. That's a sublime adventure. The arrival of the Doctor and Tamsin was good and I was intrigued given how The Book of Kells finished to find that the TARDIS arrived of its own volition. Tamsin's efforts at humour were great as she sarcastically mocked the Doctor and made him think she had already travelled in time when reading information from a plaque, but her efforts to deceive Schooner were less fruitful when it came to trying to convince him the pair were security inspectors. She's a lot of fun though and she really is growing on me. Schooner as the excavator and curator of the museum was a fantastic character and I loved how he was aiding the Ice Warriors purely as a means of furthering his research and the chance to study them up close and personal. I get the feeling that it's only going to end one way for him though! Finch was a wonderful character in charge and perfectly portrayed by a familiar Tracy-Ann Oberman, and I also thought Grenville was a good character to compliment the guest cast. His initial refusal to believe that there were real and living Ice Warriors was very good indeed. I liked the use of micro waves and how they powered the ships, with the Doctor using it to heat up the Ice Warriors who were departing as a warning sign. The cliffhanger with the Doctor being shot and then Finch and Grenville agreeing to wipe out the Ice Warriors was outstanding, but the resolution was a little naff. I couldn't buy that the Doctor's spacesuit insulated him from the full effects of the sonic resonance emitted by the Ice Warriors. Schooner turning on Tamsin was brilliant and I also like the looming threat of the Ice Warriors having the reioniser and their plans to recolonise Mars despite the 300,000 settlers living peacefully on the planet. The Doctor trying to appease them and revealing they aren't the last of their kind was great and this was a superb performance from Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor. Schooner cooling the temperatures to aid the Ice Warriors was fun and I thought the excitement towards the story's end with the escape to the hatch was fantastic. It was such a powerful moment when Grenville was left on the other side after not making it in time and Tamsin's desperation to open it was not advocated by the Doctor. Grenville had given Tamsin the control to the bomb to detonate, but before that could get fully explored the Doctor had received a text message from Deimos. Lucie Miller was stuck in the middle of disaster! I thought that was a superb cliffhanger to take us into the next episode and serves the overall series arc very nicely. Overall, a really strong audio!

Rating: 9/10