The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: The Abominable Snowmen
The Abominable Snowmen - Part One (30/09/07)
Not exactly action packed this week, but a more sedate, laid back beginning that seems in keeping with the Doctor's arrival at a Tibetan monastery. It seems that the previously shy Yeti (of the title) have begun attacking people, killing a British explorer at the start of the episode. His companion, Professor Travers, saw a Yeti but is now blaming the Doctor (who he thinks is a reporter after a story to ridicule him) because the Doctor's wearing a big fur coat that, unfortunately, makes him look like an Abominable Snowman. And the only reason the Doctor went to the monastery was to return their Ghanta (though what he was doing with it is anyone's guess!).
Meanwhile, Jamie and Victoria have found the Yeti's cave (in which there's an odd pyramid of silver balls - eggs?) and are being attacked by its inhabitant. After the relative action adventure of the Cyberman story, this was an interesting change of pace and, whilst the episode wasn't devoid of action, it did seem to have an overall air of calm. Very enjoyable since it's so different to stories we've had in the past - this seems to have more in common with the Historicals that William Hartnell had (I'm mainly thinking of the Caveman one and the 1066 story). This, obviously, is a good thing since I miss the Historicals - we haven't had one since Jamie joined (you can't really count The Evil Of The Daleks because that started in the present and ended on Skaro). I don't know whether this more stately pace will suit Patrick Troughton's energetic Doctor, but we'll see. If it continues as it's begun, it should be a pretty good story.
The Abominable Snowmen - Part Two (07/10/07)
Getting much more interesting. Have a few points to make, though:
1) The Yeti (who are robots) are SO CUTE! I want one! They're so cuddly-looking, it's quite weird to think of them as the MONSTERS that have been KILLING the Monks and Travers' mate.
2) The Tibetan Abbot is clearly from Kensington, or some such posh place in London; you can tell just by looking at him!
3) There's no music. So far, every episode has had incidental music, be it specially recorded, stock music or random 'alien effects' - this has absolutely NOTHING! The closest you get is the sound of the wind or the background chanting of monks, and that's it! I have to say, it adds to the drama and believability of the story (already quite good anyway) and makes the whole story much more accessible. You don't have any BOM-BOM-BOM-BOM music every time a (SO CUTE!) Yeti appears, or any eerie sonic sounds interrupting the decidedly creepy and obviously evil Padmasambhava's speeches about how the Doctor mustn't know he's there (not entirely sure who this hoarse, whispery person is, but I reckon he's higher than Abbot Kensington).
Anyway, Jamie and Victoria have escaped from the (SO CUTE!) Yeti and joined the Doctor, persuading Travers they weren't responsible for his mate's death after all (not sure how, but hey). The Doctor returned the Ghanta via the (oddly very fit - not sure how but he is) Tibetan Monk, Thonmi, and the Yeti have been revealed as robots. It looks like the pyramid of silver globes are control units cuz Jamie arranged the capture of a Yeti and the cliffhanger was the silver globe that had fallen out of it moving on its own and possibly making contact with another that Jamie nicked from the Yeti's cave and had, for some reason, placed in front of the temple Buddha. Not sure I follow it all, but nevertheless this is a really good story so far. Better than the Cyberman one.
The Abominable Snowmen - Part Three (14/10/07)
Another good yet slow episode. The atmosphere has remained calm and creepy. Following the capture of the Yeti, Khrisong has confined everyone to the monastery until he's sure of who's controlling the fake Yeti. However, Travers ignored him and went off after the real Yeti. More Yeti came to retrieve the globe Jamie stole and attacked Khrisong who was saved by the Doctor and Jamie, and he now at least trusts them.
Meanwhile, Victoria is determined to get into the Sanctum where the dodgy Padmasambhava is, tricking the fit but clearly thick Thonmi on more than one occasion. The Abbot has been given a crystal pyramid by Padmasambhava and taken it off to the Yeti, and it seems that the whole plot is so that something known as'The Great Intelligence' can come down to Earth. Who knows why, but I suppose you need some sort of global threat in Doctor Who else it wouldn't be exciting.
Anyhow, the Doctor and Jamie have gone in search of the Yeti and Travers on Khrisong's behest, and Victoria has been scared off of the Sanctum by Padmasambhava's creepy voice and wandered into the courtyard where they've tied the captured Yeti up in a Spirit Web. However, the sphere Jamie stole (I actually think the Yeti retrieved the sphere that was knocked out of the captured Yeti) has made its way into the captured Yeti and is about to attack Victoria. Again, sedate but fun.
The Abominable Snowmen - Part Four (21/10/07)
Not bad. Victoria is turning out to be a right wily little minx spending most of the episode avoiding being locked up. Khrisong is disobeying the Abbot and helping the Doctor by fighting against the Yeti, but Padmasambhava has ordered the Monastery be evacuated.
Meanwhile, the Great Intelligence appears to be manifesting itself as a mass of foamy goo coming from the spheres and crystal pyramid, and Victoria has finally made it into the Inner Sanctum where Padmasambhava has been revealed to be a wrinkly old man.
Not bad.
The Abominable Snowmen - Part Five (28/10/07)
Quite a lot of stuff happened this week. Victoria found out that Padmasambhava is controlling the Yeti but he immediately put her in a trance and tried to use her to get the Doctor, Jamie and Travers to leave. More successfully, he had the Yeti infiltrate the Monastery and persuaded the monks to leave. The Doctor wasn't taken in by hypnotised Victoria and visited Padmasambhava himself. The Great Intelligence made it look like Padmasambhava died while the Doctor was there but, if he actually did die, the Intelligence has now possessed him.
Travers can't remember anything he saw in the cave and, as a result, he and the Doctor have decided to head off back up the mountain to find out what's going on. On the way they realised the Yeti are still being controlled from the Monastery and the episode ended back there where Victoria and Travers remembered that Padmasambhava is behind it all and there's a pyramid of spheres in the cave up the mountain spewing out the gooey manifestation of the Great Intelligence.
The pace this week picked up this week to a mid-trot and the atmosphere veered between creepy and exciting. This is definitely one of the most atmospheric stories so far, managing to steer clear of becoming dull solely because of this fact. Looking forward to next week's conclusion.
The Abominable Snowmen - Part Six (04/11/07)
Looks like they saved all the running around for the final episode! The Doctor took the Abbot away from Padmasambhava and out of his control, but not before the Great Intelligence had had him kill Khrisong. Oddly affecting, that; Khrisong was one of the least likeable characters, but his death was actually quite sad!
Anyway, while the Doctor formulated a plan to confront the Great Intelligence in the Sanctum, Travers and Ralpachan headed off up the mountain to destroy the Great Intelligence in its cave. The Doctor had Thonmi teach Victoria a prayer of protection and they began their assault on Padmasambhava/The Great Intelligence - who was very unforthcoming when asked why it was doing all this - but were held off by his psychic powers. It was only when Travers returned and revealed that he hadn't been able to reach and destroy the control pyramid in the cave that the Doctor realised that there had to be a corresponding pyramid in the Sanctum to have a hold on Padmasambhava, and Jamie and Thonmi destroyed it, releasing the aged Padmasambhava to die and blowing the summit off the mountain as the Great Intelligence was destroyed. Cue the Doctor et al.'s trademark departure before they're thanked by everyone, and comedy moment as Travers finally got to chase after a real Yeti!
All in all quite a good story, and definitely one of my favourite Troughton stories so far. It echoed some of the Hartnell Historicals and had a similar feel to the first story with the Monk, with ecclesiastical settings, very little (in this case, no) incidental music, and an ad-hoc mix of anachronistic Sci-Fi elements. Really enjoyed it!
Not exactly action packed this week, but a more sedate, laid back beginning that seems in keeping with the Doctor's arrival at a Tibetan monastery. It seems that the previously shy Yeti (of the title) have begun attacking people, killing a British explorer at the start of the episode. His companion, Professor Travers, saw a Yeti but is now blaming the Doctor (who he thinks is a reporter after a story to ridicule him) because the Doctor's wearing a big fur coat that, unfortunately, makes him look like an Abominable Snowman. And the only reason the Doctor went to the monastery was to return their Ghanta (though what he was doing with it is anyone's guess!).
Meanwhile, Jamie and Victoria have found the Yeti's cave (in which there's an odd pyramid of silver balls - eggs?) and are being attacked by its inhabitant. After the relative action adventure of the Cyberman story, this was an interesting change of pace and, whilst the episode wasn't devoid of action, it did seem to have an overall air of calm. Very enjoyable since it's so different to stories we've had in the past - this seems to have more in common with the Historicals that William Hartnell had (I'm mainly thinking of the Caveman one and the 1066 story). This, obviously, is a good thing since I miss the Historicals - we haven't had one since Jamie joined (you can't really count The Evil Of The Daleks because that started in the present and ended on Skaro). I don't know whether this more stately pace will suit Patrick Troughton's energetic Doctor, but we'll see. If it continues as it's begun, it should be a pretty good story.
The Abominable Snowmen - Part Two (07/10/07)
Getting much more interesting. Have a few points to make, though:
1) The Yeti (who are robots) are SO CUTE! I want one! They're so cuddly-looking, it's quite weird to think of them as the MONSTERS that have been KILLING the Monks and Travers' mate.
2) The Tibetan Abbot is clearly from Kensington, or some such posh place in London; you can tell just by looking at him!
3) There's no music. So far, every episode has had incidental music, be it specially recorded, stock music or random 'alien effects' - this has absolutely NOTHING! The closest you get is the sound of the wind or the background chanting of monks, and that's it! I have to say, it adds to the drama and believability of the story (already quite good anyway) and makes the whole story much more accessible. You don't have any BOM-BOM-BOM-BOM music every time a (SO CUTE!) Yeti appears, or any eerie sonic sounds interrupting the decidedly creepy and obviously evil Padmasambhava's speeches about how the Doctor mustn't know he's there (not entirely sure who this hoarse, whispery person is, but I reckon he's higher than Abbot Kensington).
Anyway, Jamie and Victoria have escaped from the (SO CUTE!) Yeti and joined the Doctor, persuading Travers they weren't responsible for his mate's death after all (not sure how, but hey). The Doctor returned the Ghanta via the (oddly very fit - not sure how but he is) Tibetan Monk, Thonmi, and the Yeti have been revealed as robots. It looks like the pyramid of silver globes are control units cuz Jamie arranged the capture of a Yeti and the cliffhanger was the silver globe that had fallen out of it moving on its own and possibly making contact with another that Jamie nicked from the Yeti's cave and had, for some reason, placed in front of the temple Buddha. Not sure I follow it all, but nevertheless this is a really good story so far. Better than the Cyberman one.
The Abominable Snowmen - Part Three (14/10/07)
Another good yet slow episode. The atmosphere has remained calm and creepy. Following the capture of the Yeti, Khrisong has confined everyone to the monastery until he's sure of who's controlling the fake Yeti. However, Travers ignored him and went off after the real Yeti. More Yeti came to retrieve the globe Jamie stole and attacked Khrisong who was saved by the Doctor and Jamie, and he now at least trusts them.
Meanwhile, Victoria is determined to get into the Sanctum where the dodgy Padmasambhava is, tricking the fit but clearly thick Thonmi on more than one occasion. The Abbot has been given a crystal pyramid by Padmasambhava and taken it off to the Yeti, and it seems that the whole plot is so that something known as'The Great Intelligence' can come down to Earth. Who knows why, but I suppose you need some sort of global threat in Doctor Who else it wouldn't be exciting.
Anyhow, the Doctor and Jamie have gone in search of the Yeti and Travers on Khrisong's behest, and Victoria has been scared off of the Sanctum by Padmasambhava's creepy voice and wandered into the courtyard where they've tied the captured Yeti up in a Spirit Web. However, the sphere Jamie stole (I actually think the Yeti retrieved the sphere that was knocked out of the captured Yeti) has made its way into the captured Yeti and is about to attack Victoria. Again, sedate but fun.
The Abominable Snowmen - Part Four (21/10/07)
Not bad. Victoria is turning out to be a right wily little minx spending most of the episode avoiding being locked up. Khrisong is disobeying the Abbot and helping the Doctor by fighting against the Yeti, but Padmasambhava has ordered the Monastery be evacuated.
Meanwhile, the Great Intelligence appears to be manifesting itself as a mass of foamy goo coming from the spheres and crystal pyramid, and Victoria has finally made it into the Inner Sanctum where Padmasambhava has been revealed to be a wrinkly old man.
Not bad.
The Abominable Snowmen - Part Five (28/10/07)
Quite a lot of stuff happened this week. Victoria found out that Padmasambhava is controlling the Yeti but he immediately put her in a trance and tried to use her to get the Doctor, Jamie and Travers to leave. More successfully, he had the Yeti infiltrate the Monastery and persuaded the monks to leave. The Doctor wasn't taken in by hypnotised Victoria and visited Padmasambhava himself. The Great Intelligence made it look like Padmasambhava died while the Doctor was there but, if he actually did die, the Intelligence has now possessed him.
Travers can't remember anything he saw in the cave and, as a result, he and the Doctor have decided to head off back up the mountain to find out what's going on. On the way they realised the Yeti are still being controlled from the Monastery and the episode ended back there where Victoria and Travers remembered that Padmasambhava is behind it all and there's a pyramid of spheres in the cave up the mountain spewing out the gooey manifestation of the Great Intelligence.
The pace this week picked up this week to a mid-trot and the atmosphere veered between creepy and exciting. This is definitely one of the most atmospheric stories so far, managing to steer clear of becoming dull solely because of this fact. Looking forward to next week's conclusion.
The Abominable Snowmen - Part Six (04/11/07)
Looks like they saved all the running around for the final episode! The Doctor took the Abbot away from Padmasambhava and out of his control, but not before the Great Intelligence had had him kill Khrisong. Oddly affecting, that; Khrisong was one of the least likeable characters, but his death was actually quite sad!
Anyway, while the Doctor formulated a plan to confront the Great Intelligence in the Sanctum, Travers and Ralpachan headed off up the mountain to destroy the Great Intelligence in its cave. The Doctor had Thonmi teach Victoria a prayer of protection and they began their assault on Padmasambhava/The Great Intelligence - who was very unforthcoming when asked why it was doing all this - but were held off by his psychic powers. It was only when Travers returned and revealed that he hadn't been able to reach and destroy the control pyramid in the cave that the Doctor realised that there had to be a corresponding pyramid in the Sanctum to have a hold on Padmasambhava, and Jamie and Thonmi destroyed it, releasing the aged Padmasambhava to die and blowing the summit off the mountain as the Great Intelligence was destroyed. Cue the Doctor et al.'s trademark departure before they're thanked by everyone, and comedy moment as Travers finally got to chase after a real Yeti!
All in all quite a good story, and definitely one of my favourite Troughton stories so far. It echoed some of the Hartnell Historicals and had a similar feel to the first story with the Monk, with ecclesiastical settings, very little (in this case, no) incidental music, and an ad-hoc mix of anachronistic Sci-Fi elements. Really enjoyed it!
It's the highlight of the season for me. I agree that it sets its own pace, but that was obviously a wise move, as it never really sags. And yes, it's very atmospheric. Troughton's Doctor seems very much perfectly formed by this point as well. I doubt anyone mistook the Welsh countryside for Tibet, but this was really the show's first 'overseas shoot' and for all that it doesn't really look like the place it's meant to represent, it does look great.
ReplyDeleteChoosing between this and The Enemy Of The World as my favourite of this thematically samey season is tough, but since they're so very different I'm inclined to call it a draw. Both are very overlooked in preference of The Web Of Fear or Fury From The Deep, but the latter two just pale in comparison to me. The Abominable Snowmen does something which the show had never done before and really spread the atmosphere and mystery very thickly. Season 4 experimented with genres and ways of telling different stories, but despite all but one serial in Season 5 fitting the 'base-under-siege' description, the diversity of the stories is well exploited and placing this subtle number after the crowd-pleasing Cyberman story breaks the run up in a very interesting way.
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