Day 90 — March 31st 2021
The Abominable Snowmen Episodes Three and Four
The Abominable Snowmen — Episode Three
I’m fairly sure that the last time I did this story, I struggled to grasp the correlation between the Great Intelligence and the Yeti. I’m not having any such trouble this time around, though, and I actually feel like the concept is quite simple, so maybe I’m misremembering? As far as I can tell, the Intelligence is a disembodied consciousness which longs for physical form. It’s able to possess people — as it does here with Padmasambhava — and it can control the robot Yeti by placing itself inside the hollow control spheres. I think that’s right? Answers on a post card please.
I know I certainly tried to spend a lot of time working out the Intelligence’s timeline before, because it ends up being quite an important returning figure across the history of the programme. Obviously we get a return later this season with The Web of Fear, but then we’ll have a third appearance right at the end of my current marathon — I’ll be watching Downtime on December 30th. When I last watched this story in the spring of 2013, the Intelligence had just made an unexpected return to the series in three new adventures, too, so perhaps it felt more ‘pressing’ at the time?
But The Abominable Snowmen actually ends up being an important story for the programme generally, quite apart from the Intelligence. The sequel this story spawns ends up setting up the next half-decade of the show, and introduces the Brigadier. All of that is still to come, of course, but it’s a journey we can trace back to here.
Anyway, the episode itself. I’ve found more to enjoy here than in the last one, and that pleases me. I’m impressed to find Victoria given so much to do (but I’ll talk about that under the next episode), and it feels like we’re finally starting to get the creepier stuff I remembered from this one.
I’m a particular fan of the game board and the model Yeti that are used to control the robots — and I have a feeling that these were an area that confused me last time around, too. They’re a brilliant design, and I’m honestly amazed that we’ve not had a replica of them produced in recent years. Maybe that’s one for the Figurine Collection?
The tele-snaps show that there were loads of the models, too, so even though we only ever see a few Yeti on screen at any one time it really lends weight to the idea that there’s lots of them roaming around the mountainside. That said, it does make it a little silly that Travers has been on the hunt for so long and yet failed to spot one!
It sounds like I’m having a bit of a pop about there only being three Yeti costumes, but I’m honestly not. I’ve spent a lot of time lately saying how impressive it is when we get loads of Cybermen on screen at once, but that same amazement can be achieved with just three Yeti simply because they’re so large! There’s something genuinely amazing about them. It’s also helped by that same thrill that accompanied the War Machine on the streets of London — seeing the monsters out and about in a real location somehow makes the threat more real and down to Earth. There’s a story that this story came about because Patrick Troughton claimed to be sick of ‘space’ and wanted something more Earthy, and it’s hard not to see why that might be a good idea.
A step up from the last episode, I think. 7/10.
The Abominable Snowmen — Episode Four
I’m genuinely amazed by how well Victoria is served by this story. I commented yesterday that it was brilliant to see her being the one leading Jamie into the action on the mountainside, and that lust for adventure continues in both of today’s episodes, too. She’s been largely separated from her friends and paired up with Thonmi instead, and she’s leading him into trouble now.
We get a bit of it in Episode Three, with her trying to find out what’s in the inner sanctum (‘aren’t you the tiniest bit curious?’ she asks Thonmi), and she’s been involved in both of today’s cliff hangers — present when the Yeti woke up at the end of the last episode, and getting to see the true face of Padmasambhava in this one. I’ve spent so long thinking that she falls into the ‘Generic Doctor Who companion’ roll almost immediately, but both The Tomb of the Cybermen and this story have been great for her. She certainly feels every bit as involved as Polly at her best. It pleases me, and it makes me think that perhaps I wasn’t so far of the mark when I said she was a great companion!
And, I have to admit, I think I’ve got a bit of a crush on Victoria, too.
My favourite material with her in this episode is when she talks to her new friend about their travels in time;
Thonmi: ‘No, it was given to a stranger, for safe keeping during a time of trouble. It was never returned.’
Victoria: ‘A stranger? Of course, the Doctor. They’re one and the same man.’
Thonmi: ‘But three hundred years?’
Victoria: ‘Oh dear. Well, I know this sounds silly, but the Doctor can travel through time and space. He has a machine, you see, and, well, I don’t really understand it myself. It’s rather difficult to explain.’
Thonmi: ‘There is no need. I understand perfectly.’
Victoria: ‘You do?’
Thonmi: ‘Yes. You see, it is said that our Master, Padmasambhava, can free himself from his earthly body and travel great distances. But this can only be obtained after many years of strict discipline and self training.’
Victoria: ‘You mean, you mean that you might be able to do that sort of thing?’
Thonmi: ‘Perhaps, one day.’
There’s something oddly beautiful about that, and it harkens back to the early historicals in which Ian would usually be the one explaining the TARDIS to the guest cast. It also made me think… Marco Polo said he had ‘seen Buddhist monks make cups of wine fly through the air unaided’. I wonder if he ever visited Det-Sen? If nothing else, here’s an idea for a Big Finish play in that! Marco Polo fights the Great Intelligence.
But enough about Victoria! This episode is a great one for Doctor Who and Jamie, too. They’re split apart from the rest of the story almost entirely (To the point where I checked if they were on holiday that week, appearing only in location footage, but no) and get to spend much of the day investigating a Yeti outside the TARDIS. Their interactions include some brilliant dialogue, and I’m especially fond of;
Jamie: Have you thought up some clever plan, Doctor?
Doctor Who: Yes, Jamie, I believe I have.
Jamie: What are you going to do?
Doctor Who: Bung a rock at it.
It’s also made me wonder about Doctor Who’s screwdriver. I know he doesn’t gain his Sonic Screwdriver until a little later in the season (and he has to explain to his companions what it is when we reach Fury From the Deep), but this is the second time in a few stories that he’s used a screwdriver. In my own head canon I like to imagine he’s in the process of building the Sonic at this stage, and is testing out some elements of it as he goes along. The tele-snaps make the Screwedriver he uses looks a bit like the one we’ll see cropping up next season, so I don’t think it’s a massive leap to make!
I’ve praised the dialogue a lot already for this episode, but for some reason it’s all really landing for me here. I really like the description of the Yeti coming back to life (‘was it also your idea to breathe life into the Yeti?’), and even Doctor Who’s description of the Yeti (‘it’s a robot, Jamie. It merely follows instructions’) sounds brilliant to me. And then there’s the big description of the Intelligence’s plan coming together;
‘The Great Intelligence will focus upon this planet. Soon it will begin to grow and at last take on physical form. At last its wanderings in space will be at an end. My work will then be done.’
With all that it’s a shame that the cliffhanger was slightly let down by my not being able to hear what was being said — I had to double check the camera script to discover it was ‘come in. You have no alternative’.
I also have a bit of an issue with the pacing in this episode; we see the Yeti come to life in the cliffhanger for Episode Three, and it breaks free of the monastery in the opening minutes of this episode, and yet Doctor Who’s realisation that the sphere could reactivate it doesn’t come until about 20 minutes later. It feels like that revelation needs to happen as the Yeti comes back to life. As it is, the whole idea sort of lacks punch. I wonder if that also ties into my feeling like the pacing was off in the first two episodes — there’s a great story in here, it just needs a bit of tweaking to really fill the potential.
Even with those few caveats, I’ve really enjoyed this one, and it’s getting an 8/10 from me. It feels like the story I remembered being quite good is finally starting to shine through, and I couldn’t be much happier.
