Speaking at Los Angeles’ Gallifrey 2013 convention, Doctor Who Series 7 showrunner Steven Moffat revealed that the return of fan-favourite alien reptiles the Ice Warriors – first seen in the 1967 Patrick Troughton story ‘The Ice Warriors’ and last seen in the 1974 Jon Pertwee romp ‘The Monster Of Peladon’ – wasn’t something he had any initial enthusiasm for.
“It was Mark Gatiss‘ idea – it was very much his pitch,” said Moffat. “He’d been pitching for Ice Warriors for a while [and] I wasn’t tremendously persuaded, I’ll be honest.
“I thought they were maybe the default condition for what people thought of as rubbish Doctor Who monsters – they moved very, very slowly and spoke in a way that meant you couldn’t hear a word they said.”
Moffat said he changed his mind when Gatiss put forward “really stormingly good ideas” for the episode, entitled ‘The Cold War’.
“It’s an absolute cracker of an episode,” he added.
Doctor Who series 7 returns on 30 March 2013. You can buy Doctor Who Series 7: Part 1 on DVD for £16.79 at Amazon.co.uk and watch the full Gallifrey 2013 interview below:
