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“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.

14.02.2022

It's fine. I enjoyed the constant barrage of crises to be solved. The Ice Warriors' depiction is one of the strongest I've seen (or rather heard) so far. The message about honor is great, though rather flat in this play.

Sometimes you still get lost though. I caught myself not understanding how we got to this point in the story several times. Also mirroring attempts between Ice Warriors and humans don't really go anywhere and aren't really addressed, and I expected it to be the most interesting part of the story when they went there. Still, a solid story. 3/5

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.

MR 008: Red Dawn

A fairly straightforward story of humans coming into contact with the last ice warriors on Mars. A corporation funds an expedition to Mars with NASA. Naturally, of course, the corporation has other motives than just putting a human on Mars for the first time.

This is also the first time we're getting a Five/Peri story! That's actually pretty exciting. I think Peri makes Five more interesting. Much like he is most of the time, the Fifth Doctor is very passive in this story. He's led around by the nose, observing what's happening while other people do things and then ultimately getting kidnapped. It's Peri who actively participates in the plot. And she's a queen. She takes control of the situation when she's kidnapped by the evil corporation rep. She helps land a shuttle. She negotiates with the Ice Warriors.

The corporation is here because they've already found evidence of alien habitation on Mars and they want even more. They ideally want an alien to bring back and dissect with the ultimate goal of making Human/Ice Warrior hybrids. Like with a lot of Ice Warrior stories, the Ice Warriors themselves are not at fault here.

It ends up being an average "humans suck" story, and I'm generally here for those kinds of stories, particularly when the human that sucks is doing it for a corporation. He kidnaps one of the Ice Warriors and then when that doesn't work he plants a bomb on the remains of a warrior that the other Ice Warriors are guarding.
He gets away with hostages and agrees to a hostage swap with the Ice Warrior commander. The other Warriors will not fire to kill their commander and so the commander sacrifices himself in the "Red Dawn." The atmosphere is too thin to protect from UV radiation which kills him as soon as the sun comes up. Thus leaving the warriors open to attacking the shuttle. It's a nice ending and fitting for Ice Warriors.

There's also an Ice Warrior/Human hybrid already that had been cloned in a lab. The corporation brought her as insurance for when they needed to use the Ice Warrior technology. She decides to stay as an ambassador to humanity, which is also a nice ending.

Despite it being fairly straightforward and average, I still liked it. Just a nice little tale about human greed running headfirst into the honor of the Ice Warriors.

it's okay, nothing too extraordinary but it's nice. a little slow to get to the point, with a very irritating villain!