Day 91 — April 1st 2021
The Abominable Snowmen Episodes Five and Six
Before we start today a bit of housekeeping — I’ve been looking back over the scores I’ve given previous episodes and have decided that there’s been a gross mishandling of the scores for The Web Planet. I mostly gave it ones and twos when all six episodes are clearly 10/10, so I’ve adjusted the scores on my spreadsheet and it’s now my highest rated story, with a perfect 10/10 across the board, placing it a whole point higher than The Power of The Daleks, which now holds second place.
The Abominable Snowmen — Episode Five
Companions getting taken over by the enemy is something of a recurring theme in the Innes Lloyd era, isn’t it? It hadn’t happened at all before The War Machines, but since then we’ve seen Dodo, Polly, Ben and now Victoria all possessed or brainwashed at one time or another. That’s not me complaining, though, because each of those occasions has made it work well, and it’s impressive that they all feel sufficiently different to each other — even when Dodo and Polly were brainwashed by the same enemy in the same story!
The Abominable Snowmen takes the award for doing this type of thing in the scariest way, though. The impact is lessened a little because we don’t get to actually see it in action, but Victoria opening her mouth and the voice of Padmasambhava spilling out is brilliantly scary. And even once she’s got her own voice back she’s left as a puppet, only able to repeat a stock phrase in the presence of Doctor Who.
I actually think if we could see it, this might well be the scariest episode of Doctor Who so far. I listened to the Narrated Soundtrack on the way to the post office, and found Padmasambhava’s eyes snapping over after Doctor Who has declared him dead only a little creepy. But then when I got home and looked at the tele-snaps… my God! How brilliant does it look? I’m so pleased that we’ve got images that cover both the before and after of that shot — I bet it genuinely scared the shit out of kids in 1967. It’s way more scary than Cybermen or Daleks. I’ll admit that I don’t think the make up is particularly effective or scary on its own terms, but put together with the performance… yeah, there’s something there.
I know when I last watched through I struggled a bit to get to grips with exactly what the Great Intelligence wanted, and I think I’m hitting the same issue again on this occasion. I get that it’s a disembodied consciousness that wants to (re)gain physical form. That’s fine. I understand that bit. But… is all the foam coming out of the cave the Intelligence taking form? I think it is, but I’m not entirely sure. In the same way that in The Web of Fear (and Downtime) I think it manifests as the web. Possibly? If that is the case… wouldn’t it be better off sticking to the heads of various humans? It’s kept Padmasambhava kicking around for 200 years building robots, and surely that’s a far more convenient form than a load of foam on a hillside?
A 7/10 for this one, but I think that if it were to show up and be available to actually watch then it would very likely be pushing at least a point higher.
The Abominable Snowmen — Episode Six
On the whole, I’ve found The Abominable Snowmen a really frustrating watch. Every so often it toys with brilliance. The last episode was pretty good, the one before that even better, but the whole thing just feels a little bit off. The pacing is all over the place. Episodes One and Two move glacially, with not very much happening at all, while this final episode feels like it has to pack everything in very quickly to make the resolution fit.
Mostly I find myself tempted to read the Target book version of the story, because I wonder if it works better freed from the confines of a six-part television serial? It’s another one to add to my ‘when this marathon is over’ list.
This final episode does still contain some brilliant moments. Although Victoria got to be brilliantly spooky in the last episode it did leave her with little to do having been so pro-active earlier in the story, so I’m pleased to see her right back alongside Doctor Who here, including for this beautiful little exchange;
Victoria: ‘Doctor, you’re not going to send me away with the monks, are you?’
Doctor Who: ‘Yes, Victoria. I think it best.’
Victoria: ‘Well… I won’t go!’
Doctor Who: ‘No, I didn’t think you would.’
We also get a rather brilliant little speech as Doctor Who goes into battle, which calls back to his one from The Moonbase last season when he says ‘I have to [stay and fight]. This things that’s here, this evil, it will spread. It has to be stopped and I think I can do it.’
But as for the final battle itself… once again I think we’re into the realms of saying that it would be so much more effective if we could actually see it. The climax hinges on a battle of gurning between Doctor Who and Padmasambhava and when you can only see a handful of tele-snaps you certainly lose something from that. Everyone talks about how effective it is that we hear our hero scream only moments after entering the Inner Sanctum, but I’ll admit that I missed that moment while listening and only remembered it happened when a friend mentioned it in conversation afterwards.
So yes, a frustrating story. And mostly, I think, because I’d love to see it properly. I’m giving this final episode a 6/10, which brings the average for the whole story to 6.67… and places it bang smack in the middle of my ratings so far. There are 18 stories which have rated lower than this, and 18 which have rated higher. That feels spot on for a story I’ve been so close to loving but never quite got there with.
No, of course The Web Planet isn’t a 10/10. But I love an April Fool, and I’ve not had time to do a proper one again this year. And let’s be honest, I’ll never top the time I brought back Battles in Time.
