The Ice Warriors showing up at the end of part three is one of those expected unexpected moments, like the Daleks making their entrance at the end of part one, or the Master turning up halfway though episode three. There are only two Peladon stories, yet somehow you just intuitively know that the Ice Warriors are in both of them.
The Ice Warrior commander Azaxyr has been paying attention to the story so far, and he recaps it to Ortron and Gebek (though really it is for the benefit of any cats that may have been having important sleeps during the earlier episodes):
"You say that the miners have rebelled against their proper rulers, but Gebek here says that the nobles have cheated them of their rights. You say that the Doctor here is a spy and a saboteur, but the Ambassador says that he is an old and valued friend. You say that your god appears to you because he is angry, but the Doctor here is sure that the appearances are caused by trickery."
The Doctor agrees with me:
"An excellent summing up, Commander Azaxyr."
But he soon changes his opinion about Azaxyr when he threatens to start killing hostages if the miners don't go back to mining Trisilicate for the Federation. Oh noes - a choice between death or W-word, a most terrible dilemma!
Meanwhile, Ettis captures a soldier and does a classic bit of 'shut up and tell me' comic patter while threatening the soldier with a phaser:
"Silence! Now listen, where is Gebek our leader? Speak or you die!"
Ettis and the miners burst into the throne room and are quickly pewed by the Ice Warriors. All the extras are killed and only Ettis (presumably because, as a named character, he has more hit points) survives and runs away.
Do you think Commander Azaxyr's helmet is a bit... Judge Dredd-y?
"Must I remind you yet again, Ambassador, here on Peladon I am the law!"
Yes I thought so too. He wants to execute the Doctor, but the Doctor talks his way out of it by bluffing that he knows all about Operation Grand Slam he is of more use to them alive and mediating with Gebek and the miners.
Queen Thalira, Gebek and Ortron have been united by their shared hatred of the Ice Warriors, and they have teamed up to resist them. The Doctor tells Gebek the miners should "pretend to cooperate" with the Ice Warriors.
Gebek makes a speech where, even with an Ice Warrior there to witness it, he gets his intended meaning across to the miners, one that is different to the words he says:
"We are going to cooperate with Commander Azaxyr, in the same way that we have been cooperating with Ortron. Oh, you remember how we cooperated over the Federation armoury, how we cooperated over the sonic lance? Well, that is the kind of cooperation we are now going to give Commander Azaxyr. Are you with me?"
Azaxyr is fooled and talks with the Doctor.
Azaxyr: "I still do not trust you, Doctor, but I think you have realised that your only chance of survival lies in full cooperation."Doctor: "Oh but of course. I've always been very keen on survival."
I'm not surprised, it is one of the very best Doctor Who stories after all.
Ettis speaks with one of the miners, but is too stupid to realise they are only pretending to go along with the Ice Warriors, and so he has decided to use the sonic lance (which he still has "hidden in a cave") to blow up the citadel.
"That's right! Kill them! Kill them all! The queen, the chancellor, the guards! They all betrayed us. And kill the Ice Warriors, just the way they slaughtered us."
The miner quite rightly points out that he is mad, and Ettis stabs him to try to stop him from pointing it out to anybody else.
The Doctor has a plan to defeat the Ice Warriors by turning the heating up (it's been tried before). There's a moment where it looks as though he's forgotten his lines until Sarah reminds him:
Doctor: "Well, if they don't get out of the mines, they'll get groggier and groggier until..."Sarah: "They collapse?"Doctor: "Right."
When the Ice Warriors start to notice the heat, they ask Gebek why it is getting hotter, to which he replies:
"We have a saying on Peladon. If you can't stand the heat, keep out of the mine."
Don't give up the pretense at your day job, Gebek. Mew.
When the Ice Warriors are so hot they need a sleep, the miners attack them. Gebek notices the manny Ettis stabbed, who is still alive and tells him all about Ettis and his plan. Gebek tells the Doctor, who rushes off to look for Ettis and stop him.
"I don't believe you. It's a trick. You're working for them. You've sold out. You're like Gebek and the rest of them."
Ettis does some properly mad acting when the Doctor tries to talk him down. I doubt even the Actor Kevin Eldon could have done a better job. They have a swordfight (the Doctor having been given a sword by Gebek in the preceding scene, very conveniently) which I suspect was added into the script at the request of Jon Pertwee.
Back at the communications set room, Azaxyr watches the fight on his TV set and comments on the Doctor's skill, which I suspect was also added into the script at the request of Jon Pertwee.
Ettis knocks the sword out of the Doctor's paw, and then the Doctor regenerates, mid-fight, into the Fourth Doctor, Terry Walsh.
What a twist!
Ettis knocks the new Doctor out, and then tries to activate the sonic lance. But Azaxyr has booby-trapped it, so that it explodes - cliffhanger!
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