This article is about the Doctor Who serial. For the hypothetical creature called Abominable Snowman, see Yeti. For the fictional portrayal of this creature in this and other Doctor Who stories, see Yeti (Doctor Who).
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 the serial's 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, 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 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
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.[2] 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,[2] which had recently been written out of the program. The Yeti, alongside other monsters such as the Cybermen and Ice Warriors, were one of many attempts by Lloyd to create such a replacement.[3][4] 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.[2]
The Yeti costumes were designed by Martin Baugh for the serial.[5] 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.[6] A real Yeti, seen briefly at the end of the serial, re-used the original Yeti costume, and likewise was portrayed by an actor. This Yeti had much of the stuffing and framework removed to allow it to run away, as actors could not move quickly in fully formed Yeti costumes due to the costume's weight.[6]
Mervyn and Haisman went to great pains to ensure authenticity with the Tibetan monks in the serial, reflecting this by naming Padmasambhava after a real-world master of Buddhism.[2] Troughton was given a large fur coat for filming the serial, and was worn by the Second Doctor during its events. This costume would later be re-used for the Second Doctor's re-appearance in the 1983 episode "The Five Doctors".[7]
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.[2] Bryant, alongside the production team, predicted the serial would be popular, and thus commissioned a sequel story for the serial, 1968's The Web of Fear, featuring the Yeti three days before The Abominable Snowmen had even aired.[2]
Casting and characters
Troughton, Hines, and Watling reprise their roles as the Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria from prior serials, respectively.[2] Professor Travers is played by Jack Watling, and is the father of Deborah Watling.[8] Watling recommended her father for the role, with Lloyd agreeing he was a good fit for the part.[2]Wolfe Morris portrayed Padmasambhava and the Intelligence, Charles Morgan portrayed Songsten, and David Spenser portrays Thonmi.[2] Reg Whitehead portrays a Yeti and appears in promotional photography for the serial in costume.[9] Other Yeti were portrayed by Tony Harwood, Richard Kerley, and John Hogan.[10]
Filming
The TARDIS on location during filming at Snowdonia
Scenes for the cave were filmed in Ealing Studios from the 23 to 25 of August.[2] The North Wales mountain pass at Nant Ffrancon in Snowdonia doubled as Tibet for the filming of this serial.[8] Location filming was done there from 4 to 9 September 1967.[2] This six day shoot was, at the time, the longest on-location shoot for the series.[11] 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. The slopes needed for the serial's location also became slippery, making filming hazardous for Yeti actors. Hairdryers were used to re-fluff the Yetis' costumes after they got too wet.[2] The remainder of filming was done in at Lime Grove Studios, with filming wrapping on 14 October 1967.[2]
According to Jack Watling one of the actors playing the Yeti fell hundreds of feet during filming and was feared dead, but was merely inebriated and fortunately cushioned by the foam rubber inside the costume.[8]
The Abominable Snowmen aired from 30 September to 4 November 1967. The serial garnered a healthy audience appreciation rating, ranging from 50 to 52 across the six episodes.[2]
The BBC ordered all six episodes of the serial destroyed in 1969. Though they were retained until 1974, they were confirmed destroyed by 1978. Episode two was kept in the hands of a private collector and returned in 1982 after a search for missing episodes was carried out. This episode was aired subsequently over the years, and is the only surviving episode of the serial.[2] The other five remain missing; of these five missing episodes, all that remains are two short clips, tele-snaps, and an audio recording of the episodes made by fans.[14]
Critical reception
A Yeti interacting with children during the filming of the serial
The Abominable Snowmen is regarded as a classic serial from the show and is well-regarded by fans.[10][15] In The Television Companion (1998), David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker praised the serial, highlighting its atmosphere and the usage of the Intelligence and Yeti as antagonists.[10] Mark Braxton of Radio Times similarly highlighted its atmosphere, also noting the strong supporting characters and guest performances, particularly Morris's.[16]John Kenneth Muir, a literary critic, highlighted the introduction of the Yeti, finding them to be a well-thought out and creative antagonist.[17]
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.[18] 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.[15]
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.[17] In the show's 2005 revival, the Great Intelligence would serve as a major antagonist during the revival's seventh series.[19] Travers would return in The Web of Fear, and would recur in later Doctor Who media.[17]
Haisman would later attempt to repurpose The Abominable Snowmen as a novel titled The Yeti, substituting elements of the series such as the Doctor for original characters. Haisman would be unable to find a publisher, and later attempt to adapt it into a feature film called The Intelligence, with the Doctor replaced by the character Professor Challenger from the 1912 novel The Lost World. Haisman attempted to pitch this to Walt Disney Studios, though it was not adapted.[2]
A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in November 1974. It was the first novelisation of a Second Doctor story.[2] Some of the monks' names were changed for this adaptation as Letts, a follower of Buddhism, believed Haisman and Lincoln's name changes to have been unnecessary and risked causing offense.[10]
The audio soundtrack, along with additional linking narration by Frazer Hines, has been released on MP3 CD, along with The Web of Fear.[2] A collection box entitled "Yeti Attack" contains both Yeti adventures on normal CD.[2] A vinyl release of the soundtrack, also with the Hines narration, was issued by Demon Records on 27 September 2019. This release has since become rare and difficult to come by.[2]
In 1991, Episode 2 was released on VHS as part of "The Troughton Years". In 2004, that episode, along with a handful of clips gathered from other sources, were digitally restored and released on the Lost in Time DVD.[2]
Animated recreation
On 23 November 2021, it was announced that the story would be released on DVD and Blu-ray, with animations of all six episodes alongside the surviving Episode Two.[20] The animation would alter the designs of the Tibetan monks to more closely reflect real world monks.[21]
It was released on 5 September 2022.[22] Earlier that January, press reports emerged claiming that the BBC would no longer pursue animated reconstructions of serials with missing episodes due to BBC America withdrawing funding for the project.[23] Two days after the animated version of The Abominable Snowmen released, animation director Gary Russell confirmed the claims, additionally speculating that the BBC may revitalize the effort to reanimate missing episodes after an indefinite hiatus. Russell noted a preexisting precedent with prior reconstructions, stating that "these things are cyclic."[24]
Notes
↑Wolfe Morris also supplied the voice of the Great Intelligence, uncredited.
↑Two stock from the BBC library of recordings of prayers by the Monks of Sakya Set were featured diegetically in episodes 2, 3, 5, and 6, with no other music arranged for the serial.[1]
References
↑Ainsworth, John, ed. (2016). "The Abominable Snowmen, The Ice Warriors, The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear". Doctor Who: The Complete History. 11 (20). London: Panini Comics, Hachette Partworks: 26–29. ISSN2057-6048.
123456789101112131415161718192021Ainsworth, John (1 June 2016). Doctor Who: The Complete History: The Abominable Snowmen – The Ice Warriors – The Enemy of the World – The Web of Fear. Hachette Partworks, Panini Publishing. ISSN2057-6048.
12Ainsworth, John (1 June 2016). Doctor Who: The Complete History: The Abominable Snowmen – The Ice Warriors – The Enemy of the World – The Web of Fear. Hachette Partworks, Panini Publishing. ISSN2057-6048.
* Story is missing all episodes. † Missing content has been or is due to be reconstructed for commercial release using animation. ‡ Missing content has been or is due to be reconstructed for commercial release using available visual material.
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