The Monthly Adventures #008 - "Red Dawn" by Justin Richards

Sometimes you don’t have much to say on a story, and that’s fine. What you have to say is what you have to say but it can make writing a review rather hard. Is Red Dawn one of these stories? Yes, obviously. I wouldn’t be talking about this if it wasn’t. I can’t imagine this review will be too long so I might as well get started, we have our second legacy villain in a row with the Ice Warriors in a story about everything from the weapons trade to genetic cloning and hybridisation.

Finding themselves in an anomalous structure on the surface of Mars, the Doctor and Peri join forces with the first manned mission to the red planet after a tomb of frozen Ice Warriors awakens and threatens to destroy the peace aboard the space shuttle.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Red Dawn isn’t a boring story per say (though, following on from The Genocide Machine, watching paint dry would be a Michael Bay movie), it only clocks in at roughly 90 minutes after all, but it feels quite narratively bare. On one hand, you have some nice political messaging weaved in, most revolving around our antagonist: a villainous member of the NASA team, trying to extort weapon technology from the Ice Warriors and spark an intergalactic war to boost sales in his company. I like that there’s something being done with the story and I’ve certainly seen worse political messaging than here. Adding onto this, I like how we have a decidedly human enemy and the Ice Warriors are actually quite reasonable lifeforms and decide to join forces with the Doctor. I much prefer the Ice Warriors when they act as allies, it makes them feel a lot more developed as a species and I actually think Red Dawn’s greatest strength is the fleeting glimpses we see into Martian culture. Our side cast is one of my problems here, and I’ll get to that, but I did quite like Peri, especially in the first part, when we got her and the Doctor exploring the Martian catacombs. All her notes and observations really made her feel equal to the Doctor and Bryant gave a great performance, which was needed amongst the other American accents. Other than that, I noticed the music here was particularly good. I don’t usually talk about the music or sound design unless it’s especially great or especially terrible but I really jived with Red Dawn’s soundtrack, it gave some great atmosphere to the quieter moments.

Unfortunately, it’s in the plot where Red Dawn falls short. The whole story is pretty rushed and the narrative feels very underdeveloped, around halfway through part two the story halts and never really picks up again, the plot very quickly loses its fervour. On top of that, it’s very much small in scale; it’s a story you’d imagine would take place in a whole nation with diplomatic meetings and the such, but it really takes place over a couple of hours in one tomb, with a lot of characters standing around arguing. These characters are also just quite underdeveloped. Perfectly serviceable but if anyone lived or died I just felt nothing, nobody had particularly notable features (except for one character, who’s revealed to be a Martian-human hybrid, mostly for plot convenience - it doesn’t really work). All in all, everything actually on the page falls flat, not bad, just unimpressive.

Red Dawn is a weird little in-betweeny story. It definitely has some positives but it also has literally nothing that makes it stand out. It’s the first appearance of the Ice Warriors in the Main Range, but that doesn’t seem to help it. There’s just not a lot to talk about, it’ll go in one ear and out the other and I’m sure that by tomorrow, I will have forgotten most of it, even if I did enjoy it.

6/10

Pros:

+ Great glimpse into the culture and world of the Ice Warriors, and I love it when they’re not antagonists

+ Has a tightly written political backbone to support the story

+ Peri stands out amongst the cast and has a nice amount of agency

+ Really fantastic score that added some nice atmosphere where needed

Cons:

- Dull and underdeveloped sidecast

- Story that grows stagnant very quickly

- Feels too small, like it should be done on a grander scale but is confined to a single tomb complex

- Really weird twist that doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the narrative

Red dawn is pretty fun and I like the characterisation it gives the ice warriors, probably the most interested I've been in them from anything I've them in seen yet (only revival who). That said, this feels kind of pain by numbers. Not bad by any stretch of the imagination, just kind of meh, not something I can ever see myself going back and relistening to.

If this is what the ice warriors are like on big finish (or in classic) though, I understand the hype for them and wish they were used better in the revival.

Overall a solid and high 5/10.

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

“Red Dawn: A Cool Reception for the Ice Warriors' Big Finish Debut”

Red Dawn brings the Ice Warriors to Big Finish for the first time, but unfortunately, the adventure struggles to breathe life into these iconic creatures, offering little development beyond what fans already know from their TV appearances. While the story includes some interesting elements, it ultimately fails to rise above mediocrity.

The opening episode is underwhelming, with the Doctor and Peri preoccupied with opening doors while astronauts undergo an elaborate landing process that doesn’t translate well to audio. Much of the story mirrors the format of the Ice Warriors’ classic Doctor Who outings from the '60s and '70s: noble Ice Warriors contrasted with villainous humans, space exploration as a backdrop, and the Ice Warriors’ questionable prowess as actual warriors.

One slightly engaging aspect is the exploration of the Ice Warriors' origins, but this potential is diluted by the lack of substantial plot progression in the first three episodes. The cliffhangers—aside from the first, which is spoiled by the cover—fail to inject any real tension. The narrative plods along, focusing too heavily on space flight, which feels flat in an audio format.

Episode 4 delivers a small twist that makes sense and adds an emotional touch, particularly with Zzaal’s ultimate fate, which highlights the Ice Warriors’ honourable nature. However, the twist lacks the impact it should have had, given the underwhelming buildup.

The characters also leave much to be desired. The astronaut crew are largely forgettable, hampered further by unconvincing American accents. Georgia Tennant’s performance is serviceable but unremarkable, a far cry from her later standout work in Doctor Who. Matthew Brenher, as Zzaal, fares better, capturing the gravitas of an Ice Lord without falling into excessive theatricality.

The Fifth Doctor feels oddly passive, often relegated to shouting instructions without much direct involvement in the story's resolution. Peri is more dynamic, proving useful as she pilots an unfamiliar spaceship under Ice Warrior pressure, but even she can’t salvage the thin plot.

Paul Webster, the main human antagonist, is a cookie-cutter villain with generic motivations, offering little depth or intrigue. While the Ice Warriors aren’t the primary villains, their portrayal suffers from the same issues as in their TV appearances: their hissing voices and over-the-top dialogue can be grating. Still, the story does retain their honourable and multifaceted nature, reminiscent of their portrayal in The Curse of Peladon.

On a technical level, Red Dawn makes effective use of familiar Ice Warrior sound effects, such as their weapons and vocalisations, which add authenticity. The editing also features a few clever moments, particularly during transitions between parallel conversations. However, the pace, while brisk in parts, fails to disguise the lack of meaningful tension or resolution.

📝Verdict: 3/10

In the end, Red Dawn suffers from a lot of noise with little substance. Despite flashes of potential, the story feels stagnant, bogged down by a thin plot, unremarkable characters, and a lack of innovation in handling its titular monsters. While it demonstrates the Ice Warriors’ complexity, it also underscores the limitations of their traditional portrayal, resulting in a disappointing first Big Finish outing for these classic adversaries.

Red Dawn had a lot of potential. It's got a pretty great start that has all the ambition of human space exploration brought to the forefront with some pretty impressive special effects. However, after a while, things just sort of fall into a very typical Ice Warriors story. The sort of thing that's been done a lot before and especially with these characters.

I think the problem with the Ice Warriors is that they represent this sophisticated race that isn't simply villainous, and sometimes (too often in lesser Ice Warrior stories) the plots don't live up to that sophistication. And I guess I just want or expect these sort of stories to dig a little deeper than just shrugging our shoulders and wondering "can't we all just get along?" It's not a bad message, it just feels a little reductive, and Red Dawn makes things too easy for listeners by making the humans too over-the-top (or at least the one guy bossing everyone around) while the Ice Warriors are a little too bland and inoffensive. It's not even necessarily unrealistic - one bad faith actor can spoil delicate situations like this in real life, and a lot of politics come to mind to that end - it's just the sort of thing we see a lot in these sorts of stories. It results in a story where the conflict feels less organic and more forced.

I did appreciate Peri being in this story and Nicola Bryant's dedication to this role. Maureen Oakley wasn't too bad either. On the other hand, the Doctor doesn't really get to stand out much here. Overall Red Dawn was very uneven. Bristling with unused potential, competently made but very lacking in the writing department. I don't think I'd recommend it, but it is a shame as it feels like the talent behind the scenes went to waste, to a degree.

Red Dawn was a solid idea, let down by a combination of poor writing and an overdramatic acting choice. The basic premise has a decent amount of things going for it, and to start with everything was good, but about 1/3 of the way through there is a dramatic 'twist' that unfortunately makes the rest of the story almost unbearable. Mostly this is down to the way one character is written and, ultimately, portrayed. The overdramatic performance makes it so about 2/3 of the way through the story, there is little imaginary set left to chew on. There are little gems left here and there, but ultimately it doesn't save this story, which is a shame because the Ice Warriors are well realised in this story.