by Brian Hayles

first broadcast - 16 December 1967

1. ICE WARRIORS' SPACECRAFT

(ZONDAL has discovered that THE DOCTOR is up to something.)

ZONDAL: Let me have it. Give it to me at once.

VARGA: (On the communicator.) Zondal. Zondal f*re!

(THE DOCTOR has opened it, and VICTORIA throws the liquid at ZONDAL's face. ZONDAL staggers to the ground, barely ably to breath.)

VARGA: f*re now! Zondal f*re! Zondal f*re! f*re now!

(As ZONDAL falls, he makes a lunge for the f*ring control. THE DOCTOR tries desperately to stop him, but one final effort he manages to reach it, and f*re the sonic g*n at the base.)

2. IONISER CONTROL ROOM

(GARRETT is programming the ioniser.)

GARRETT: Co-ordinates for area red one: oh-oh-eight-one-nine-three vertical. Eight-five-eight-one-eight-oh lateral. ... controls are set.

CLENT: ...

(The room shakes as it is h*t by the g*n. Parts of the roof fall in.)

WALTERS: The records wing - it's gone! It's demolished!

CLENT: We're under att*ck!

(The communicator beeps. CLENT goes over to reply.)

CLENT: Report!

(On the screen is VARGA.)

VARGA: Leader Clent, surrender or die!

CLENT: What in the blazes?

VARGA: Surrender now or I will blast your base to fragments.

CLENT: No, I refuse! You can't destroy us!

VARGA: You do not believe me? Very well. Must I f*re again?

GARRETT: We must play for time.

WALTERS: The building won't stand much more of this b*mb, Sir!

CLENT: Then we must talk. (To VARGA.) Who am I addressing?

VARGA: My name is Varga. Do you surrender?

CLENT: Now frankly, you gain nothing by destroying us, Varga. We both have urgent needs. I will agree to talk... but nothing more.

VARGA: No treachery? If I come in peace there must be trust between us.

CLENT: Very well. There will be no traps, or conditions.

VARGA: See that you keep to that, for if you lie...

(The screen goes blank.)

GARRETT: What does he want?

WALTERS: Our guards won't stand a chance against w*apon like that, Sir.

CLENT: Ah, you heard what he said - no treachery, only trust.

GARRETT: But can we trust him?

CLENT: I'm afraid we have to. He's got the best argument on his side - that g*n, or whatever it is.

GARRETT: We can bluff him though.

CLENT: How?

GARRETT: He doesn't know the computer's command to wait. We can thr*at to destroy the glacier, and his ship with it.

CLENT: Yes, yes. Yes possibly.

WALTERS: (Losing it.) Well why can't we do it, Sir? It's our only chance for survival!

GARRETT: Because you know the computers decision - and its reasons.

WALTERS: I know all about that! But it doesn't exactly give much thought to us, does it?

GARRETT: The computer thinks of everything, considers all the facts.

WALTERS: (Has now gone over the edge.) And it's supposed to come up with all the answers, isn't it? Well a fat lot of good it's doing us now!
Wait, it says, wait! With glaciers on the one hand, and, and warriors on the other! Well what price your computer now!

CLENT: Walters!

WALTERS: What we need, is, is someone like, like Penley, or that Doctor! Someone who can think! Not with a machine! And what good's your precious computer done anyway? Nothing! Nothing but trouble! And it's time somebody put a stop to it!

(He goes to smash the computer, but GARRETT sh**t him before he can do any damage.)

3. ICE WARRIORS' SPACECRAFT

(THE DOCTOR and VICTORIA listen over the warriors talking using the spacecraft's communicator panel.)

VICTORIA: That's Varga's voice.

VARGA: We are going in now.

VICTORIA: We must escape.

DOCTOR: It's not just a question of escape, Victoria. We've got to take some action. Right, this g*n that's given Varga control of the base, without it he'd be helpless.

VICTORIA: What can we do?

(THE DOCTOR opens up the side panel of the g*n controls.)

4. IONISER CONTROL ROOM

(VARGA, ISBUR and RINTAN enter the control room, to a cry from MISS GARRETT.)

CLENT: Well now, gentlemen, you, you said no traps. And we for our part, have made utterly sure, that there are no traps...

VARGA: (Interrupting.) I made no promises. I merely warned you not to trick me.

GARRETT: How can we help you?

VARGA: I will tell you what I want and you will give it to me.

CLENT: Oh, come now Varga, that's not the way to talk. We're, both of us, in a very difficult situation. Under times like this it beholds us both to proceed with mutual respect and, because the whole world could be...

(As he has been talking, WALTERS, who has regained consciousness on the floor, has been aiming a g*n at VARGA. One of the other warriors sees, though, and fires his sonic g*n at WALTERS.)

VARGA: So much for your word.

CLENT: That was, that was not planned.

VARGA: I have one major requirement: the mercury isotopes for my ships reactor. You will give them to me.

CLENT: (Looking puzzled.) But we don't use mercury isotopes.

VARGA: The Doctor stated that you had them here.

CLENT: Well he was wrong, we have none.

VARGA: You are lying.

CLENT: What good will it do me?

VARGA: Tell me what will happen if we halted your reactor in order to remove the fuel elements we need.

GARRETT: You can't do that!

VARGA: Why?

CLENT: That reactor gives us light, heat and power.

GARRETT: And it powers the ioniser.

VARGA: So that without it, you would be completely helpless.

CLENT: In Arctic conditions like these... we'd soon perish.

VARGA: Where as we would not.

CLENT: You'd be wasting your time. This reactor does not use mercury.

VARGA: I do not believe you.

CLENT: But you must.

5. ICE WARRIORS' SPACECRAFT

(VICTORIA listens to events in the Ioniser Control Room while THE DOCTOR continues working on the sonic g*n control.)

VARGA: There is only one way to find out. Where are the reactor controls? Tell me now.

VICTORIA: Did you hear that? Making them shut down the reactor!

DOCTOR: Yes. Now this is Varga's main w*apon. There's just a chance that I can turn it against him.

VICTORIA: What?

DOCTOR: If I can open these doors... there we are! Come on.

(They move into the GLACIER CAVE, and THE DOCTOR begins work on the sonic g*n.)

DOCTOR: Now careful. Just stay there.

(VICTORIA stays on the other side of the massive g*n.)

DOCTOR: How does this g*n operate?

VICTORIA: Oh, hurry Doctor, hurry.

6. IONISER CONTROL ROOM

CLENT: You've got to believe me!

VARGA: So you say.

CLENT: Listen, Varga, the power source is locked in directly with the ioniser. Now if we cut the power before it is safe, the feedback effect could blast this building into a state of ion flux.

(VARGA walks over to the ioniser control panel.)

VARGA: What's its temperature range?

CLENT: It can melt rock!

(VARGA begins to change a dial.)

CLENT: Don't interfere with it! It's fully primed.

VARGA: It can melt rock. What a w*apon.

GARRETT: It is not a w*apon. It is a scientific instrument.

VARGA: I see it differently.

CLENT: It's still a highly dangerous machine.

VARGA: Then run is carefully down to safety level. But no tricks.

(He points at GARRETT.)

VARGA: You do it now.

(Behind VARGA, CLENT shakes his head.)

GARRETT: It will take some time.

VARGA: Doesn't matter. You dare not use it anyway.

CLENT: What?

VARGA: Your Doctor friend talked. I know your fear of my spaceship. That it will explode if the heat is too great.

CLENT: Would it?

VARGA: Close it down. Or you die.

(VARGA thr*at GARRETT with his g*n.)

CLENT: She's the only person qualified to disconnect the ioniser safely.

VARGA: What are you qualifications for existence?

CLENT: I'm the leader here!

VARGA: You have less value to me than your colleague, who has certain skills.

CLENT: But she doesn't know everything. I have the answers that you require.

VARGA: I know all I need to know. If I k*lled you, it would be no great loss to me.

(He raises his g*n.)

GARRETT: No! Please!

VARGA: Then you will do as I say. Run down the machine as quickly as is safely possible. No more tricks. At once.

(This time CLENT nods. GARRETT sets to work.)

7. GLACIER CAVE

(THE DOCTOR continues work on the g*n. He is lying on the ground underneath it working on a mass of circuits and wires.)

DOCTOR: Ah, ah.

VICTORIA: What is it you're trying to do?

DOCTOR: Well it's a little difficult to explain, Victoria. Oh. Oh dear. Hold this for me, will you?

(He hands her a component.)

DOCTOR: Ah. This g*n works on the basis that sound waves produce reverberations in the objects in their path.

VICTORIA: The objects vibrate in sympathy. Well I know, my father told me once.

DOCTOR: Yes, that's right. Well if you can produce unsympathetic vibrations, damage results.

VICTORIA: Damage? Oh, like a singer breaking glass.

DOCTOR: Yes. But I want to be able to get at the warriors without it affecting the scientists too much. Now, if we change this to frequency seven...

(He makes the adjustment.)

VICTORIA: What will that do?

DOCTOR: Well primarily it affects fluids.

VICTORIA: What good is that to us?

DOCTOR: Well I believe that Varga and his warriors have a far greater fluid content than human-beings. There.

(He shoves the wires, as well as what VICTORIA was holding, back into the g*n, and closes the panel.)

VICTORIA: If it works, what happens?

DOCTOR: That's just it, I don't know.

VICTORIA: Oh now look, Doctor.

DOCTOR: But I do know that whatever effect it has on the scientists, it'll have a far greater one on the warriors.

(They move back inside the spacecraft to work on the control panel.)

VICTORIA: Well how's that?

DOCTOR: Well apart from the fluid question, their helmets will trap and intensify the sound waves.

VICTORIA: You mean, it'll knock them out and leave the scientists a bit dizzy? Well is that it?

(THE DOCTOR shuts the panel.)

DOCTOR: Well that's what I'm hoping, but, there is just a vague risk that it'll k*ll everybody. Clent and Penley included.

VICTORIA: And Jamie?

8. MEDI-CONTROL CENTRE

(PENLEY and JAMIE are laid out on beds. PENLEY regains consciousness, now with a plaster where his face was gashed by the bear. He checks JAMIE, who is still unconscious. Just as he leaves the room, JAMIE starts to wake up.)

9. IONISER CONTROL ROOM

(GARRETT, with VARGA looking over her, is completing the shutdown. The sound of engines winding down can be heard.)

GARRETT: It's done.

VARGA: It is safe now?

GARRETT: Yes. Just ticking over. Not even holding the ice in check at all.

VARGA: Disconnect it completely, now.

(The engines cut out completely.)

VARGA: Now we must move quickly, before the glacial surge does too much damage.

CLENT: You'll regret this, Varga.

VARGA: At least I will live to regret it. Now, the reactor. Shut it down, quickly.

(Outside the room, PENLEY watches proceedings. He moves over to the temperature controls.)

PENLEY: (To himself.) Perfectly at home in ice age conditions. Well, we'll soon change all that.

(He moves the TEMPERATURE dial to maximum, the OXYGEN dial down to minimum and the HUMIDITY dial up to maximum.)

VARGA: Shut it down at once.

GARRETT: Ooh.

VARGA: The heat. (He gasps for breath.) What is happening? There is something wrong. You are trying to trick me again. For that you will die!

(He levels his g*n at CLENT.)

10. ICE WARRIORS' SPACECRAFT

(THE DOCTOR prepares to f*re.)

VICTORIA: No no! It's too dangerous!

DOCTOR: It's a risk we must take, Victoria!

VICTORIA: Oh!

DOCTOR: Now, cross your fingers. Here we go.

(He flicks the switch.)

11. IONISER CONTROL ROOM

(Everyone in the room puts their hands to their heads in agony. The base members collapse, while the warriors put their hands to their helmets.)

12. ICE WARRIORS' SPACECRAFT

(THE DOCTOR uses the communicator to talk to VARGA.)

DOCTOR: Varga, this is the Doctor. Are you going to retreat, or shall I f*re again? (To VICTORIA.) Trouble is I dare not use it again, if it hasn't k*lled them all already, another f*ring most certainly will! (Back into the communicator.) Varga! Answer me or I f*re again!

13. IONISER CONTROL ROOM

(The three warriors leave the room.)

VARGA: You will die for this.

(On the floor underneath them, PENLEY lies, unconscious.)

14. ICE WARRIORS' SPACECRAFT

VICTORIA: What are you doing now?

DOCTOR: Get well back, Victoria.

VICTORIA: What?

DOCTOR: Stand by for fireworks! Here we go.

(He touches two wires and the sonic g*n control panel explodes.)

DOCTOR: Now quickly! Let's get out of here before they come back!

(They race out the room.)

15. IONISER CONTROL ROOM

(Everyone is still unconscious.)

16. ICE WARRIORS' SPACECRAFT

(The warriors arrive back just as ZONDAL recovers. VARGA examines the destroyed control panel.)

VARGA: The g*n is useless.

17. IONISER CONTROL ROOM

(THE DOCTOR and VICTORIA arrive back at the base.)

DOCTOR: Victoria, see if you can find Jamie.

(He crouches down next to the figure of PENLEY, who is still unconscious next to the door.)

VICTORIA: Doctor, Jamie's in there. He's alive!

VICTORIA: Well thanks heavens for that! Now you get back to the TARDIS, and close the doors!

(THE DOCTOR gets out the phial of ammonium sulphide, which he smells, and finds it still works as a stink b*mb. He waves it under PENLEY's nose, who coughs and wakes up.)

DOCTOR: Sorry about that.

PENLEY: (Coughing.) Oh.

DOCTOR: Up you get. Come along. Ah.

(The two stand up.)

PENLEY: What happened? Did you do that?

DOCTOR: No time for questions. Come along.

(They head into the control room.)

18. ICE WARRIORS' SPACECRAFT

(The recovered ZONDAL explains to VARGA what happened.)

VARGA: So, you allowed them to trick you.

ZONDAL: I await your punishment, Commander.

VARGA: We have no time. Everything depends on being ready to break free from the ice as soon as they evaporate it.

19. IONISER CONTROL ROOM

(The staff are being woken up by THE DOCTOR and PENLEY. PENLEY helps CLENT, while THE DOCTOR helps GARRETT.)

DOCTOR: Up you get. Come along Miss Garrett. There you are.

PENLEY: Clent. The Doctor did something, but don't ask me what it was. Are you alright?

GARRETT: Oh, the ioniser! They made me... disconnect it!

DOCTOR: Then it must be switched on again immediately!

GARRETT: I don't take orders from you!

CLENT: Miss Garrett, if we are to obey Computer Control, it must be reconnected. Do so please.

GARRETT: Yes, of course.

DOCTOR: Clent! Their spacecraft is powered by an ion reactor.

CLENT: Well that means we dare not use the ioniser at full force. That's our last chance gone.

PENLEY: Why, for heavens sake?

CLENT: Because of the risk, man! You know what would happen.

DOCTOR: Of course there's a risk, but it's a risk we must take! It's the only way!

PENLEY: Exactly!

CLENT: The computer says no!

PENLEY: The computer...

CLENT: (Interrupting.) Is our supreme advisor.

PENLEY: And what sort of advice is that? Do nothing?

GARRETT: We must obey!

PENLEY: And be destroyed? Has the computer considered that?

CLENT: The computer considers everything.

DOCTOR: But that's why in this case you cannot rely on its judgement!

GARRETT: We trust the computer! It is our strength and our guide.

DOCTOR: Not this time!

JAMIE: Well why not?

DOCTOR: Because Jamie, the computer is faced with an insoluble problem. Either way it risks destroying itself and this it cannot do. It must play safe.

JAMIE: Aye, but if it does nothing that's just as bad.

DOCTOR: I'll explain to you another time, Jamie.

PENLEY: There's only one way out.

CLENT: What?

PENLEY: We must override the computer.

GARRETT: You can't do that!

PENLEY: We must. This is a decision for a man to take, not a machine. The computer isn't designed to take risks, but that is the essence of mans procrease. We must decide.

CLENT: But if you do that soon ruin the world plan! All the ioniser bases must act together! Through World Computer Control! If we act too soon it's as bad as being too late!

PENLEY: Yes I know that, but the other bases haven't got a glacier right on top of them, and apart from that, what about these ice warriors? If they live, they thr*at our entire civilisation.

DOCTOR: A decision must be taken, and quickly!

CLENT: I can't.

GARRETT: I daren't.

DOCTOR: Penley, it's up to you.

PENLEY: Well Clent?

CLENT: I reserve the right to consult the computer.

PENLEY: Go ahead.

CLENT: Problem: alien spacecraft is powered by an ion reactor. Dare we use the ioniser? What are the alternatives? Answer.

(The computer spins around and splutters out incoherently.)

JAMIE: It's as though it's gone mad!

(CLENT and GARRETT are distraught.)

DOCTOR: Well Penley?

PENLEY: We will use the ioniser at full strength to turn back the glacier. Miss, Miss Garrett, inform World Control.

JAMIE: Er, but the spaceship, if you release it from the ice?

PENLEY: At full strength the ioniser will melt rock!

20. ICE WARRIORS SPACESHIP

(The ice warriors are preparing to take off.)

ZONDAL: Commander, the glacier is breaking up. Soon we will be free.

VARGA: What use is our freedom if we are helpless? Our engines must still d*ad.

ZONDAL: I have not given up yet.

VARGA: Nor I. There must be some life left in the elements.

ZONDAL: Commander, power.

(The hum of the engines begins.)

VARGA: What? The ice is our friend. We still have power.

ZONDAL: Shall I increase it?

VARGA: Carefully. We must time full take-off boost perfectly.

ZONDAL: And when we are free and in flight, we will be invincible.

21. IONISER CONTROL ROOM

(The ioniser has been put into action. There is a rumbling sound filling the room.)

CLENT: Instrument readings on the glacier face show a steady rise in temperature. Now near to maximum.

JAMIE: Well how will we know?

GARRETT: The instruments on the ice face have the highest heat ... resistance known to man. When they cease to function, everything about them will be destroyed.

CLENT: (Panicking.) You're wrong! You're wrong! We'll all be k*lled!

PENLEY: It is a risk I willingly take!

(He moves the switch though GENERATOR, CIRCUIT LOCK, ENERGY FEED, then finally ACTIVATOR.)

22. ICE WARRIORS' SPACECRAFT

(The spacecraft is breaking up.)

VARGA: It was not power in the engines, Zondal, it was heat, our greatest enemy! The heat from the ioniser! The... heeeeeeeeeat...!

(The instruments begin to burn and the craft billows with smoke.)

23. IONISER CONTROL ROOM

(Everyone intently watches the ioniser control panel. There is a small seismograph type reading. It does not move for a few seconds.)

GARRETT: Only a minor expl*si*n.

(THE DOCTOR sighs.)

GARRETT: We're safe!

(There are more sighs.)

DOCTOR: Oh. Goodness me!

PENLEY: Set all circuits to a*t*matic, Miss Garrett. And tie in with the World Ioniser instrumentation. Clent, will you, er, check these readings with me? And you've a report to prepare haven't you?

CLENT: Yes, yes, yes I have. Penley. You are the most insufferably irritating and infuriating person, I've ever been privileged to work with.

PENLEY: (Smiling.) Thank you.

CLENT: Can't write a report though, can you? Something I've got to do for you. Well don't worry it's something that I've been trained to do.

PENLEY: Without the computer?

(CLENT laughs.)

CLENT: No Penley. I've always written my own speeches, and my own reports.

PENLEY: Are you going to include... (He turns.) Well where's the Doctor?

(But the Doctor and Jamie are already on their way to joining Victoria back in the TARDIS.)

24. OUTSIDE THE BASE

(The now upright TARDIS dematerialises.)
{"type": "series", "show": "Doctor Who", "episode": "05x16 - The Ice Warriors - part 6"}