Synopsis: As mainland Britain is plunged into a new ice age, researchers at the Britannica scientific base uncover a giant man refrigerated in the frozen landscape. The figure thaws and emerges from suspended animation, announcing himself as Varga, a warrior from Mars. He aims to uncover his spaceship and crew, which have lain dormant all this time. And doing so could risk the destruction of the Britannica Base…
Chapter Titles
- 1. Battle Against the Glaciers
- 2. Two Minutes to Doomsday
- 3. Creature from the Red Planet
- 4. Back from the Dead
- 5. The Omega Factor
- 6. Under the Moving Mountain
- 7. Diplomat in Danger
- 8. The Martian Ultimatum
- 9. Counter-Attack
- 10. On the Brink of Destruction!
Background: Bryan Hayles adapts his own scripts for the 1967 serial.
Notes: Jamie is described as a ‘rugged-faced lad’ and Victoria as ‘a pretty, doll-like girl’. Zondal is a lieutenant and Jamie says there are six warriors although only five are named (as per the TV show). The escapade with the bear is missing. The Britannica Base computer is named here, ECCO. The Doctor threatens Varga with a sonic blast set to ‘Frequency Seven’, which will affect the Martian as his body has a higher fluid content than humans (a detail mentioned on TV and then forgotten). Varga notes that Frequency Seven is used ‘in the prisons of his home planet as a form of aversion punishment, continuous doses of it could destroy the brain, leaving the body a living vegetable’.
Cover: Chris Achilleos recreates a couple of publicity photos – Victoria screams and Varga looms behind her with sparks flying from his clamp-hands; it’s a simple but very effective design – and the first not to feature the Doctor!
Final Analysis: While the Ice Warriors themselves are an inventive creation that just about manage to avoid being totally generic aliens, much of the dialogue among the Britanica Base staff has a degree of technowaffle that feels fake and artificially hysterical for no real reason. Hayles follows the main flow of the TV episodes faithfully, with just the odd tweak here and there, but despite the story’s revered status, it’s deathly dull and the book doesn’t really salvage that.
Bryan Hayles died in 1978, aged 47.
Escape to Danger 
I think this was one of, if not THE, first 2nd doctor novel I ever read.
I remember reading this around winter time which made it even more special, but I think the book is my preferred version of this story, as you’re right, the TV version does plod!
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I mainly got annoyed that the world computer “ECCO” seemed to be an acronym that was never spelt out! Fantastic cover though. Orangey-green is the proper colour of monsters (See also the original and best Zygons).
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A little trivia: two years after the novelisation, “Frequency 7” was the title of the b-side of “Tar,” the 1978 début single by Visage. At the time, I was convinced that it was inspired by “The Ice Warriors.”
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