Break the Ice

I had a great time with Break the Ice. After basically dragging myself through Ravagers, this was a much needed and refreshing change of pace. Jack Frost was a really fun choice for a villain, and was both introduced well through the scientists' experiments and used well as an alien menace of sorts. He's a pretty chilling (apologies for the pun) villain, and when he first reveals himself I thought it was really well done and an excellent use of sound effects, even if the music was pretty standard.

There isn't a lot to this story in terms of making it outstanding against other Doctor Who stories, but it feels very unique and fresh just in how well it was all executed. Jack Frost and Nine feel as though they are on equal footing, and have to work to out-think one another in a way I found quite entertaining. Eccleston feels well used here and on the whole this was a proper audio adventure for him - something that probably wouldn't have looked good on film, especially back in the days of New Who Series One, but feels like a welcome addition to the story of the Ninth Doctor's character. This reminds me of the Doctor going up against something big, powerful, and larger than life, such as Sutek, the Dream Lord, or even the things from Can You Hear Me?

I really liked Break the Ice. I think it could even be a little competitive against some of the Ninth Doctor's better material overall, at least in my opinion. It's a very simple story but so nicely reflects Nine's character. I also really like Lenni Fisk as our one-off companion. She reacts a lot more like how I feel more characters should in these stories - genuinely shaken and it is well performed by Thalissa Teixeira. Even little details like knowing Jack is wearing a paper crown through a ton of this just make it a bit more special from your average "monster of the week" kind of story and that sort of levity with him and others like Fisk go a long way at balancing this story nicely. It's not all miserable or menacing, which made it a very pleasant, if somewhat simple or forgettable, experience overall.