Red Snow (2014) Review

I know I usually pick an appropriate picture from the televised episodes,
but this is really some lovely artwork.

One of the best parts of any fandom is the fanfiction. They can be indulgent or showcase remarkable imagination worthy of the show's best writers. Today, I'm going to celebrate the Doctor Who fandom by taking a look at the first fanmade audio drama by beloved Second Doctor impersonator, Chris Thomson(who very kindly did a recording for my mother's birthday, thanks Chris!). 

Red Snow is a traditional Earth invasion story that combines a remarkably good understanding of the relatively underused Ice Warriors with a lovely Christmas mood. With a story that has more holes in it than Swiss cheese. 

WRITTEN BY

Chris Thomson. I hope to see him in Big Finish someday!

PLOT

After a TARDIS malfunction carries the Doctor away from Jamie and Victoria, he's stuck in 2013 London that has been buried under ice by an invading force of Ice Warriors. Why are they invading Earth? Why do they need the Doctor? Check this link to find out...

ANALYSIS

It's clear that the production team(can I call them that?) were primarily concerned with nailing the feel of 60s Doctor Who and they succeed, more or less. Most of the sound effects and music is straight out of that era(although there is some very Peter Davison-y electronic cues used in the Episode 1 cliffhanger). There is the sense that this is the first time they're doing this sort of thing(some odd moments where you're not really sure what's going on), but that's hardly a fault, more like the same charm you get when noticing the flaws in the original stories.

The big problem for me was that some of the most important plot points just didn't make much sense: I didn't understand why it was so important to the Ice Warriors that the Doctor be the one to destroy the Earth. What were they going to do if he didn't show up? And wasn't the whole point of the deception that it was a natural disaster?
And then later on, the Ice Warriors seal the TARDIS in ice, freezing the people inside. But, doesn't the TARDIS have an internal atmosphere(not to mention a closet filled with warm clothes)? So how does that work? 

Regardless of those flaws, I enjoyed this story and do recommend it, as there's some lovely character work here, and the entire guest cast gets to shine. In fact, let's talk about the story's strongest suit, shall we?

CHARACTERS

This is not an embellishment: I could see Patrick Troughton when I heard Chris Thomson deliver his lines. I was literally picturing him in my head. That's the highest possible compliment I can give an impersonator. It wasn't pitch-perfect(no impersonator is), but Thomson nailed Troughton's fussy and fast-thinking persona well enough that I was completely invested from the get go. 

I'm not sure who voiced Jamie or Victoria(it's not stated on their website) in the beginning of the story, but they both did a really good job too. Jamie's voice could be a little faster(Frazer Hines was always very lively in his delivery). 

Allan Rafferty's Scott serves as the de facto companion in this story, a teenager whose father sacrifices himself to hold back the Ice Warriors. He gets a nice little arc in which the Doctor and him muse over the meaning Christmas holds and will hold for them. 

Christopher Johnson's Lord Kryzon is definitely my favourite Ice Warrior ever. He's got a great, polite evil bad guy voice(speaking of the Ice Warriors' voices, they sound a lot less whispery in this story, and more like Cybermen) and has a very simple, understandably pragmatic motivation. It's almost a shame he had to die. 

Benji Clifford's Captain Durant was a really cool, confident and likable military figure. It's nice to know the Doctor has friends in the regular army as well as UNIT(it'd be really cool to revisit Durant some 40 years later, as with professor Travers). He's basically the Duggan of this story, providing the Doctor with backup muscle. 

NOTES

*The TARDIS is very echo-ey in this, sort of like in Tomb Of The Cybermen.

*I like the tinkly An Unearthly Child-esque music when the TARDIS dematerialises. 

*So apparently, the Doctor uses WD-40 oil to clean his TARDIS... would've been nice to mention what WD-40 is, by the way(I had to look it up).

*So, after he's left Jamie and Victoria and arrived in 2013 London, why does the Doctor randomly say "Jamie, you best put some trousers on"?

*The military officers(and Scott) take a bizarre interest in the Doctor's backstory. No offense, but in that situation, the Doctor's family and whether or not he hates Christmas would be the last of my concerns.

*And speaking of which, why does the Doctor place so much value on Christmas, anyway? It's very cute, but... it's still an Earth holiday. 

*I can't decide whether employing the London Underground in this story is unwise or not, as it obviously inspires direct comparison with The Web Of Fear. 

*The scene in which the Doctor suggests to Scott that he celebrate Christmas for his father's act of bravery rather than mourning his loss, is simply wonderful.

*A crime that the TV series itself is often guilty of... the Doctor tells Scott to run away from his captors within earshot of the Ice Warriors meant to escort him!

*Couldn't the Ice Warriors have found a colder, uninhabited planet away from Earth? I mean, if they have spaceships... and with all that ice, surely they have cryogenic freezing technology or can survive in space for multiple generations...

*Points for a rather shocking moment in which the Doctor threatens to shoot himself, leaving Kryzon with no one to activate the machine(can't he just trick some human to do it?).

*Why does the Doctor get rid of his gun after this trick, by the way? Couldn't the Ice Warriors take it and then go back on their promise to give him ten minutes?

*Somehow, I don't find it plausible that a rusty lever would prevent the Doctor from taking off in the TARDIS mid-crisis. Just get someone to help you move it! Or just break the darn thing, it's worth it.

*The Doctor shows a remarkable lack of concern over leaving Jamie and Victoria somewhere in the 13th century. I mean, how many times was he able to go back to someplace he'd already been to in the 60s? Not more than 3 or 4 times.

*Kryzon compares to no other dictator he's ever run into, eh? What's funny is that I can't actually remember any big dictator he ran into in the 60s(I mean specific people, not a race like the Daleks). So this could very well be honest.

*So, the TARDIS's communication system can reach Mars? I mean, it's plausible, but we certainly never saw something like this happen back in those days. 

*Did Scott kill Kryzon? If he did, that's a bit dark, isn't it? And the Doctor's like "oh, thanks mate!"

*The Doctor seems very certain that Mars will regain its freezing temperatures... is this a reference to something? 

*How exactly did the Ice Warriors remove Kryzon's ship so fast? I imagine a giant sucker arm came out of the ship and dragged it away with them.

*Heating the Earth up with the Ice Warriors' terraforming device seems more than a little bit dodgy to me... is the Doctor a fan of climate change?

*Scott's voice sounds oddly tinny in the final scene. I think he's in a car or something, but that's a very odd effect in that case. 

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

Nothing, really! Very refreshing and very true to that era of carefree monster tales.

BEST QUOTE

DOCTOR: "The Ice Warriors do have a sense of morals... I hope."
SCOTT: "But they admitted to eliminating everyone regardless!"
DOCTOR: "Well, perhaps they'll make an exception for me... and hopefully everyone else."

CONCLUSION

Iffy plot aside, this is a great tribute to Patrick Troughton's tenure as Doctor Who and a genuinely good outing for one of my favourite monsters, the Ice Warriors.