Ice Lord
The Ice Warriors are a fictional extraterrestrial race of reptilian humanoids in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Natives of Mars, the Ice Warriors wear bio-mechanical armour to protect themselves from attack and temperature fluctuations. In their debut, the 1967 serial The Ice Warriors, they fought the Second Doctor. Two years later, they reappeared in The Seeds of Death. In 1972's The Curse of Peladon, they were allied with the Doctor, reverting to antagonists in The Monster of Peladon two years later. The Ice Warriors did not appear again on-screen until the show's 2005 revival series in the episode "Cold War" (2013), followed by the 2017 episode "Empress of Mars". They have also appeared in spin-off media for the series.
Writer Brian Hayles created the Ice Warriors out of his interest in life on Mars at a time when the production team was looking for new recurring antagonists. The Ice Warriors were conceived as something akin to cyborg Vikings. Designer Martin Baugh, inspired by their name and influenced by crocodiles, designed them to appear reptilian; this prevented the species from being visually similar to another fictional species who were cyborgs, the Cybermen. The costumes for the Ice Warriors often proved heavy and cumbersome for actors during filming. For the show's 2005 revival, showrunner Steven Moffat originally did not want the Ice Warriors to return, only allowing them to come back after writer Mark Gatiss pitched the idea of an Ice Warrior outside its shell. The Ice Warriors received a design overhaul for the revival but were largely the same visually; "Cold War" also showcased the creature beneath the armour.
The Ice Warriors have been received positively, and are among the series's best-known antagonists despite the large gaps in between their appearances. Their design and role in the two Peladon serials, as well as in "Cold War", have been the subject of commentary and analysis.
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