Doctor Who “The Ice Warriors Part 6”

You know, this seems like one of those instances where talking might have helped.  Of course, it helps when both sides feel like talking.

The Doctor, of course, would prefer talking.  But he knows the compound needs to finish its important work even if Clent and the others there just won’t do anything without the computer’s say-so.  Sure, the Doctor did temporarily stun the Ice Warrior’s gunner, but the others went over to, er, negotiate with Clent and the others.  By this point, one guy has finally flipped out over the whole “the computer decides everything” bit, and Penley the scavenger that used to work for Clent really wishes that the others would just, you know, act on their own initiative once in a while.

Is that too much to ask?  Apparently.  Then again, the Ice Warriors’ idea of negotiation is basically to demand the compound’s power source.  They don’t know what the compound runs on and assume it’s something the Doctor said (it isn’t), and when they hear the thing can burn hot enough to melt rock, they assume it’s a weapon and not just, you know, a standard power source.

By then, the Doctor and Victoria have rigged the Ice Warriors’ sonic canon to something that the Doctor thinks will cause the Ice Warriors to make a run for it.  Plus, Penley turned the thermostat up since the Ice Warriors, despite being some sort of lizards, can take the cold much better than the heat.  It’s enough to drive them away and to get the Doctor to come back to the compound with instructions for Victoria to get into the TARDIS since they might have to make a quick run for it.

What follows is the Ice Warriors trying to take off and cause trouble while Clent and most of the others at the compound won’t do anything because computers, unlike humans, won’t take risks.  Penley will, and he remembers the ionizer can melt rock.

So, yeah, he’ll act, the Ice Warriors go boom, the compound can finish it’s work, Clent learned to not ask the computer about everything, and any question about what to say about the Doctor in the official report will be even less clear because he and Jamie joined Victoria in the TARDIS and left.

Oh, and someone set the thing upright at some point.  That was helpful.