The Abominable Snowmen

They came to get their ball back.

The introduction of the Great Intelligence, the Yeti and the Second Doctor in probably his most recognizable costume. I actually did this one backwards as I saw The Web of Fear before The Abominable Snowmen. Of course, I actually saw The Snowmen before in The Web of Fear so I'm all kinds of backwards with this adversary.

Plot Summary

The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe land in the Himalayas in the first half of the twentieth century. The Doctor, recognizing the area, opts to return a holy bell to the local Buddhist monastery that he had gotten possession of three hundred years earlier. Jamie and Victoria also look about, despite the Doctor instructing them to stay in the TARDIS. Upon reaching the monastery, the Doctor is accused of being a newspaper spy by an explorer named Travers. He is accused of also killing Travers' companion. The monks also accuse the Doctor of controlling the Yeti who have attacked the monastery recently. The monks decide to tie the Doctor to the gate to see if the Yeti will attempt to rescue him.

Meanwhile, Jamie and Victoria find a cave with a stack of metal spheres. Jamie takes one and they are attacked by a Yeti. Jamie caves part of the roof in on it and they escape before it can dig itself out. They make their way to the monastery where they convince Travers they are not a rival expedition. A younger monk named Thonmi took the bell from the Doctor and presented it to the Abbot who orders the Doctor released. The Doctor has Jamie set a trap and they capture one of the Yeti, which goes inert when it's program sphere is knocked out. The Doctor examines and realizes the Yeti are robots and are controlled through the spheres. The Yeti retrieve the knocked out sphere before the Doctor can retrieve it and the one Jamie removed from the cave activates and rolls away.

Travers leaves the monastery and follows the Yeti. The Doctor also convinces the monks that if he and Jamie go back to the TARDIS, they can get equipment that will help them track the spheres. Meanwhile, the Abbot sneaks out of the monastery with an electronic prism. He meets the Yeti with the extra sphere and places both on the stack in the cave, observed at a distance by Travers. The Doctor and Jamie get their equipment and after dodging a few Yeti, return to the monastery.

Meanwhile, the sphere Jamie took inserts itself into the inert Yeti and reactivates it. It fights its way out and because Victoria saw it rise, she is accused of reactivating it. She is imprisoned with Thonmi, who stood up for her, but she manages to escape. The returning Abbot orders the monastery to be evacuated and confines the Doctor and Jamie due to Victoria's escape. Victoria sneaks into the sacred place and meets with the holy one, Padmasambhava. There she is hypnotized.

Padmasambhava sends the Yeti to attack, killing one monk, and convincing all that they must leave. Victoria is sent out under the control of Padmasambhava, reassuring the monks that they must leave and take the Doctor, Travers, and the two companions with them. Victoria also implores the Doctor to take her away. The Doctor realizes that she is under the control of some force and suspects that Padmasambhava may also be under the control of something as he appears to be the same man who gave the Doctor the holy bell three hundred years prior. He goes to Padmasambhava who appears to die as he is confessing that something terrible is coming. The Doctor then attends to Victoria, bringing her out of her hypnosis with some of his own.

The Doctor and Travers take another set of readings and learn that the control of the Yeti is coming from the monastery itself and Travers suddenly remembers that he saw the Abbot with the Yeti at the cave. The chief warrior Khrisong goes to confront the Abbot but is killed. The Doctor sees this and the Abbot is subdued. Under hypnosis the Abbot tells the Doctor about the Yeti controls. Travers and one monk head towards the cave to destroy the pyramid while the other monks leave the monastery. The Doctor, Jamie, Victoria and Thonmi head into the inner chamber with Padmasambhava.

Inside the chamber, the Doctor locks wills with the Intelligence controlling Padmasambhava. Jamie and Thomni rush in and smash the controls in a secret room beyond but the Intelligence is unaffected. He summons the Yeti. The Doctor calls for Victoria to destroys the control pieces but she is also neutralized. Jamie destroys the Yeti control sphere which stops them but the Intelligence itself is still in command. Travers enters and attempts to shoot Padmasambhava but he is unaffected and taunts Travers. But his taunt triggers an idea and the Doctor shouts at Jamie to destroy anything that looks like a pyramid. Jamie destroys it and the Intelligence shrieks as its power disappears. Padmasambhava dies and the control unit in the cave also is destroyed. The monks return to the abbey, Travers spies a genuine Yeti and goes to investigate while the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria head back to the TARDIS.

Analysis

Like a lot of six-parters, this was a bit slow to start and it being mostly a recon didn't help. It did flow a bit better in Episode Two (which is the only existing episode) but even then, there was a feel of a long set up. Fortunately, that set up was fairly evenly paced so that although it was slow going until Episode Six, it was a steady build and did not leave you with the feeling that any particular episode should have been cut.

There was a nice balance of characters in this story. No one felt underdeveloped (except maybe the Abbot) and everyone had an understandable role in the story. Khrisong and Travers did a little bit of "the enemy of the Doctor becomes a loyal friend" that is a bit of a trope in 60's Doctor Who but their conversion is done a bit better in this story rather than others.

It would have been nice to have a better view of the final confrontation between the Great Intelligence and the Doctor. Being a recon always has it's drawbacks but the final fight seen would have been very energetic with a lot of facial acting from Patrick Troughton that is a shame that we cannot see it.

Other than that, I can't think of much more to say about the episode. The Yeti are what they are given that this is the season of monsters (or men dressed up as monsters). I give the production team credit for trying a more nebulous concept like the Great Intelligence as an adversary. Of course there were the Yeti to fall back on, but to have an enemy that you cannot see and exists more as an idea is a fairly radical idea and it plays out rather well given that there is little to latch on to.

I would like to see this one again if found to see how that improves engagement. It does well, but at six episodes I feel that it is just too slow for casual enjoyment without the visuals to engage you. Not bad, but not overly compelling either.

Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5