Big Finish Productions Lords of the Red Planet

Written by	Brian Hayles, adapted by John Dorney
Format	Compact Disc
Released	2013

Starring Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury

Synopsis: The TARDIS crew land on Mars, home of the Ice Warriors, far back in its history. The Doctor is convinced it's much too early for them to meet their frozen foes, but the Doctor is wrong. Far below the surface of the planet an evil scheme is in motion. A scientist works night and day at the command of an insane despot. A despot intent on creating a terrifyingly familiar army.

• This is the Hour of Life Drink by Jacob Licklider

This is the Hour of Life Drink by Jacob Licklider 3/12/25

I am so glad this story was left for the Lost Stories and not made for television. Not because of how bad it is, but just because of how good it was and how it couldn't have been realized on television without having many scenes either cut or their setting moved to a small studio, while Brian Hayles' script calls for expansive mines and the landscape of a dying Mars. Picking John Dorney to adapt the script into audio was a stroke of genius considering his past work for Big Finish. He even was able not to change much, showing just how strong the actual script was from its conception back in the 1960s. The plot is essentially Genesis of the Daleks, but years before Genesis of the Daleks was even written, as the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe arrive on a dying Mars. There is oxygen on the Red Planet, but there is only one city still standing after the planet started naturally dying. The survivors are living in the city, but due to genetic mutation, they need to consume life drink to continue living. The life drink and the city is controlled by Zadur, a ruthless dictator queen who rules with an iron fist and is carrying out experiments on mutating the race further into the Ice Warriors that we will come to know later on. The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe have to team up with Professor Quendril, the man responsible for the genetic mutation, to find a way to stop Zadur and allow the mutation to progress naturally. The ideas present in the script are genius, especially the life drink. You can really imagine the planet being forced under the thrall of Zadur as they have no choice but to drink or die. Late in the story, when one character drinks too much, you see just how much power Zadur has over her people as the life drink would cause death when too much is had.

The plot for a six-part story actually has a really good pace for the era. There really isn't any drag in Episodes Four or Five, and the action doesn't really let up at all. I think this is down to the quality of the original scripts, as Dorney used two versions of the story, and the wonderful direction from Lisa Bowerman. Up until this point, the Lost Stories featuring the first three Doctors have been done in the style of the Companion Chronicles, but for Lords of the Red Planet, Bowerman realized that she could get the narration down to a minimum and hire a full cast. Many of the Martians are already similar to or already are Ice Warriors, so she brought in Nicholas Briggs to voice them, only needing three more parts to cast. It really does work for the story, as the narration doesn't take you out of it and only enhances the descriptions of the Martian landscapes in your mind's eye. Bowerman must be commended for her ability to do this, as it isn't an easy feat.

Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury reprise their roles as the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe. This story is their best performance outside of the powerhouse that is The War Games. Padbury does a great job of communicating a sense of dread when Zoe is captured without having to say it, and Hines does his usual best as Patrick Troughton, so much so that Michael Troughton became emotional during recording, as he was reminded of his late father. Jamie and Zoe of course share their usual great relationship in the story, making the plot feel even stronger when everything starts to fall apart on Mars.

Bowerman's push to bring in a full-sized cast also really paid off, as each member of the supporting cast is great. Michael Troughton is extremely sympathetic as Professor Quendril, who has this great relationship with the Second Doctor in some truly funny scenes among the descent into madness. You feel for his plight as he wishes to save his people, especially considering he's the one who caused a lot of the mess the planet is currently in. He is the reason Zadur is in power, and he is in so much guilt over it. Zadur is played by the wonderful Abigail Thaw who, like Hecuba in The Queen of Time is the embodiment of the femme fatal, and I love that that is how female Ice Warriors would be portrayed, long before Empress of Mars.

Zadur's sister is the Princess Valtreena, played by the wonderful Charlie Hayes. Valtreena is an airhead with a heart of gold who gets to have a lot of touching scenes with Jamie, and they form a connection. She has a failed experiment for a butler, which is really touching, and her final fate will have you in tears, as it really is a tragedy performed right in front of you. The rest of the Ice Warriors are played by Nicholas Briggs, who is again doing his best here like he always does. His first Ice Lord has this great relationship with Zoe, which allows the race to have their noble personality and their code of honor. It really allows Zoe to shine as it is her kindness that makes the Ice Warriors different from your typical science-fiction trope of invading Martians. The subversion of the usual tropes allows the story to fill the weird storyline gap between The Seeds of Death and The Curse of Peladon. Briggs also does a great job at making each Ice Warrior their own character and not having them sound the same.

To summarize, Lords of the Red Planet was meant for an audio-drama treatment. Big Finish have worked their magic to make everything come together in a way that allows for a near perfect story. Better than any of Brian Hayles's television stories, this story has the perfect cast, ideas and villain to bring everything together. The closing lines are simply hilarious, and a treatment from one of the directors of the time would have made the story one of extreme hope for the future. I can only give it a score of 100/100.