They came from Mars...

The Beeb have released an official image of the new Ice Warrior design, set to appear in the third episode of the upcoming run of Doctor Who (which should see them appearing on Saturday the 13th of April). Actually, the image started appearing on the internet a couple of days ago, but it's very much out there now. Personally, I love it, and I'm looking forward to seeing the Martians return; although they were never the most scintillating of enemies for the Doctor, there's something about a big green Martian lizard-man that's just hard to beat. 

The first thing every fan does - well, the second, after the little squeak of joy at seeing a brand new Ice Warrior - is compare it to the original design. The most obvious point is that the redesign is astonishingly faithful to the original, certainly the most faithful monster remake of the new series. Even the Autons looked more apart from their forebears than this, and they were just walking mannequins. 

There are plenty of differences when you look at the two designs together. Apart from the obvious things, like the use of more modern materials and so on, the main difference is an altogether more streamlined appearance when compared to the very cumbersome original. The hips in particular have been slimmed down. However, it's not all that different, in silhouette, to the 'Ice Lord' upper-class that commanded the Warriors in their 60s and 70s appearances (I do hope we get to see a Lord). The new version's shoulders are more built up, making its arms appear a little short compared to its body, and it lacks the tufts of hair found on its forebears (although the one pictures does seem particularly hairy).  The new Warrior's shell is more clearly divided into plates, but the overall effect is much the same, down to the boots and turtle-neck torso armour. One major difference is the hands; the original Ice Warriors had clamp-like pincers, while the new version appears to have bulky but clearly differentiated fingers. I am also very pleased to note that on its right arm, the new Warrior sports some kind of implanted device; I'm hoping this is the sonic weapon favoured by the originals, which made the screen go all wibbly when they shot people.

The status of the BBC foam machines is presently unknown.