THE STORY
The TARDIS materialises in Iceworld, a space trading colony on the dark side of the planet Svartos. The Doctor and Mel encounter Glitz and learn he has come to Iceworld to searc hfor a supposed treasure guarded by a dragon. Also on Svartos is Kane, a - literally - cold-blooded criminal who has been imprisoned on the planet by his own people from the planet Proamon. The Doctor and Mel, aided by Ace, a recently fired waitress with a perchant for explosives, discover that the dragon is biomechanoid and the treasure a power crystal held within its head. Kane is desperate to obtain the crystal and the Doctor uses it to bargain with him for Ace's freedom. it turns out that Iceworld is a huge spacecraft and the crystal, the'Dragonfire', the key Kane needs to activate it. Iceworld takes off and Kane determines to return to Proamon and take revenge on his people. The Doctor reveals that Proamon no longer exists. Kane despairingly opens a viewing port, allowing bright light to flood into the control room, causing him to melt. Mel decides to stay with Glitz, while the Doctor agrees to take Ace with him in the TARDIS.
CAST:
The Doctor (Sylvester McCoy), Mel (Bonnie Langford), Ace (Sophie Aldred), Glitz (Tony Selby), Kane (Edward Peel), Belazs (Patricia Quinn), Kracauer (Tony Osoba), Customer (Shirin Taylor), Anderson (Ian Mackenzie), McLuhan (Stephanie Fayerman), Bazin (Stuart Organ), Zed (Sean Blowers), Pudovkin (Nigel Miles-Thomas), The Creature (Leslie Meadows), Announcer (Lynn Gardner), Stellar (Miranda Borman), Archivist (Daphne Oxenford), Arnheim (Chris MacDonnell).
FACTS:
This story sees the departure of Mel from the series, and the arrival of Ace, real name Dorothy as the Doctor's new travelling companion.
The cliffhanger of Part One, which sees the Doctor using his umbrella to climb down a sheer ice wall, to reach a lower path, is poorly edited to give the impression that the Time Lord has taken leave of his senses!
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