The Abominable Snowmen is the mostly missing second serial of the fifth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in six weekly parts from 30 September to 4 November 1967. In this serial, the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton), Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines) and Victoria Waterfield (Deborah Watling) arrive in Tibet in 1935, where they face off against the malicious Great Intelligence and its robot Yeti, who seek to conquer the world. This serial marks the introduction of both antagonists to the series, with both recurring in subsequent Doctor Who media.
The serial was written by Henry Lincoln and Mervyn Haisman, who, after discussing the series with lead actor Patrick Troughton, decided to base a story set on Earth that featured yeti. This led to the creation of the robot Yeti and subsequently the Intelligence. Filming for the serial was done on location in Nant Ffrancon Pass in Snowdonia, and at the time was the longest location shoot performed for the series.
The serial is considered one of the best in the series by fans, with critics highlighting its atmosphere and the Yeti, though some felt the Yeti were too cute to be intimidating antagonists. Only one of the serial's six episodes survives, with the rest remaining missing. Due to the predicted popularity of the serial, a sequel, dubbed The Web of Fear, was commissioned before The Abominable Snowmen had finished airing, and would air in 1968.
Plot
The TARDIS lands in Tibet in the Himalayas, where the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) finds a dead body amid the remains of a campsite. The Doctor arrives at Detsen Monastery, where he meets Professor Edward Travers (Jack Watling), who is attempting to find the yeti. Travers believes the yeti cannot be the culprit due to their shy nature, but Victoria (Deborah Watling) and Jamie (Frazer Hines), the Doctor's companions, find a cave of metal control spheres, and a Yeti attacks them.
The Doctor is accused of controlling the Yeti by the monks of the monastery, though Jamie and Victoria are able to convince Travers he is innocent. The latter three return to the monastery and show a control sphere to the group. Padmasambhava (Wolfe Morris), the immortal master of the monastery, instructs one of the monks, Thonmi (David Spenser), to release the Doctor. Shortly afterward, the Yeti attack the monastery, during which one of them is overpowered and rendered dormant. The Doctor deduces it is a robot, controlled by a missing spherical unit from its chest cavity. Padmasambhava orders all of the monks to evacuate.
The Doctor and Jamie find the TARDIS guarded by a Yeti, but the Doctor takes out its control sphere. They head back to the monastery, where Padmasambhava orders Abbot Songsten (Charles Morgan) to open the gates of the monastery, allowing the Yeti to attack. Victoria realises Padmasambhava is the one commanding the Yeti robots, but he wipes her mind and places her in a trance-like state, which the Doctor is able to free her from. Padmasambhava reveals to the Doctor that he is under the control of a being called the Great Intelligence, who possessed him and used his body to partake in an experiment.
The Doctor and Travers learn from Songsten that the Intelligence originally agreed to remain in the cave, and Padmasambhava and some of the monks aided in constructing the Yeti robots, but the Intelligence broke its promise and is bent on controlling the mountain of the monastery and conquering the world. The Doctor, Jamie, and Thonmi destroy the equipment being used to control the robotic Yeti. Padmasambhava dies as the Intelligence leaves him, its plans thwarted. Travers spots a real Yeti in the distance and pursues it as the TARDIS crew departs.
Production
Writing and design
thumb|269x269px|A Yeti as depicted during filming of the serial
The serial got its start after writers Henry Lincoln and Mervyn Haisman had spoken with then-lead actor Patrick Troughton, who expressed disappointment in the lack of Earth-bound stories in his first season as the Doctor. Lincoln chose the stories of the yeti as a suitable concept around which to create a serial of the program, as it was a creature viewers would be familiar with; it could also reasonably be adapted as the creature was never found, and thus was not proven to actually exist. Lincoln and Haisman brought up the idea with Troughton, who was interested and had wanted to be in a story with Yeti. Producer Innes Lloyd was interested in doing an episode set in the Himalayas and also saw the monsters as a potential replacement for the Daleks, The Yeti's debut serial was commissioned for six episodes. Lincoln and Haisman, before they had started scripting, ironed out designs for the Yeti, including the original concept for the Yeti's control spheres. They wanted the Yeti to look cuddly and friendly so that their strength would come as a surprise to viewers. The pair quickly realized the Yeti would likely not be sentient, resulting in the creation of their in-universe master the Great Intelligence to act as their controller. The original Yeti costume used latex hands and feet, and Cybermat props were reused for elements of the control spheres in the costume's chest. The costume's main body used a bamboo base and was largely one piece, with a second head piece placed on top of the main body. A small slit was available underneath the Yeti's "nose" to act as eyeholes for the actor. Four of these Yeti costumes were produced for the serial. A central box was placed in the costume's chest for the control sphere, which was largely covered by the costume's fur, which could be lifted as needed for shots requiring the control sphere. Actors had to dress lightly underneath the costumes to avoid overheating as it could get hot inside the costumes.
Victor Pemberton performed the initial story editing, though Peter Bryant would briefly fill in the post mid-way through the writing process and serve the bulk of the script editor role. Watling recommended her father for the role, with Lloyd agreeing he was a good fit for the part. Other Yeti were portrayed by Tony Harwood, Richard Kerley, and John Hogan. Filming in Snowdonia was plagued by heavy rain, which interfered with the first two days of filming, and caused there to be significantly less snow than expected. Rainy weather on location made the Yeti costumes "flop" and thus appear more "cuddly" than originally portrayed. Hairdryers were used to re-fluff the Yetis' costumes after they got too wet. Mark Braxton of Radio Times similarly highlighted its atmosphere, also noting the strong supporting characters and guest performances, particularly Morris's. John Kenneth Muir, a literary critic, highlighted the introduction of the Yeti, finding them to be a well-thought out and creative antagonist.
Paul Cornell, Martin Day, and Keith Topping in The Discontinuity Guide (1995) wrote that the serial was effective, though felt the Yeti were too cute. Paul Mount, writing in Starburst following the release of the serial's animated reconstruction, responded negatively to the serial, finding there to not be much going on, and that the Yeti were too cute to act as intimidating antagonists.
Legacy
The Intelligence and its Yeti minions would serve as recurring antagonists in the series following the serial's airing. Both would appear again in the 1968 serial The Web of Fear, which served as a sequel to The Abominable Snowmen, and would recur in other media for the series. Travers would return in The Web of Fear, and would recur in later Doctor Who media. The animation would alter the designs of the Tibetan monks to more closely reflect real world monks. The reconstruction was released on 5 September 2022. Two days after the animated version of The Abominable Snowmen released, animation director Gary Russell confirmed that it would be the final animated reconstruction produced, though left the door open for revivals of the reconstructions in the future.
Notes
References
External links
- <!--Official BBC channel-->
- Photonovel of The Abominable Snowmen on the BBC website
- Doctor Who Locations – The Abominable Snowmen