Millions of years BC, the Martian civilisation faced strife when Arakssor led like-minded Ice Warriors in an attempt to take over his people's government. His aim was to turn his race from a noble, peaceful species into a conquering one. He was stopped due to the intervention of the Seventh Doctor and the Martian elder Geldar. Arakssor and his band of war criminals were banished to primitive Earth, where they were imprisoned in the ice of the Antarctica under a sentence of life imprisonment. During a skirmish in the prison, all the individuals within the facility were frozen, including the Doctor and Geldar.