182 The Ice Warriors: Three

EPISODE: The Ice Warriors: Three
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 182
STORY NUMBER: 039
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 25 November 1967
WRITER: Brian Hayles
DIRECTOR: Derek Martinus
SCRIPT EDITOR: Peter Bryant
PRODUCER: Innes Lloyd
RATINGS: 7.4 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who: The Ice Warriors
TELESNAPS: The Ice Warriors: Three

"Don't you understand? They're ruthless killers and they'll stop at nothing. Now please, listen to me. There's no time to lose!"

Varga frees his four warriors from the ice: Zondal, Turoc, Isbur and Rintan. Arden and Jamie return to the base for the proper equipment. Storr won't believe Penley's tale of a warrior in the ice. They are visited by Miss Garret who tries, unsuccessfully, to get Penley to return to the base. He does however tell her to look at his notes on the Omega Factor to help with the ioniser. Zondal is ordered to locate the ship an excavate a cave as a trap. Penley's notes help the Doctor in his attempt to remedy the Ioniser. Entering the cave Arden and Jamie are shot down by the Ice Warriors. Clent cannot contact them and the Doctor is worried. Penley enters the cave after the Warriors have entered their ship and checks the bodies. Arden is dead but Jamie lives: he takes him back to the building he and Storr are living in. Victoria sneaks away from the Ice Warriors and, finding Arden's body, uses his communicator to contact the base. The Doctor is concerned when he hears what has happened but all Arden is interested in is details of the ship which leads Victoria to become hysterical. Meanwhile the Martians are training their cannon on Victoria and preparing to fire....

This episode seems to be all about arguing.

CLENT: Well, this is all very impressive, Doctor, but don't you think it'd be simpler to use a computer?
DOCTOR: Four. What computer?
CLENT: The base computer.
DOCTOR: Six. Yes, they're useful for digital analysis, but I very rarely use them, except when I have to. There is one thing you could do for me which would be very important.
CLENT: Yes, yes, anything. What is it?
DOCTOR: Lend me a pencil.

We've got arguing about if humans are better than computers

DOCTOR: Possible? It's perfect! Well, it's nearly perfect.
CLENT: We shall see.
DOCTOR: Oh, it'll work, all right.
CLENT: The computer will confirm that, I'm sure.
DOCTOR: Computer?
GARRETT: Well, everything's checked.
DOCTOR: I resent that!
CLENT: Just normal practice, Doctor.
DOCTOR: It should be the other way round.
CLENT: We have to be quite sure. It'll only take a matter of seconds. Copy all this down, Miss Garrett, and then we can feed it through the computer and do a simulator run. I'll just go and set it up.
DOCTOR: I shall demand an apology, you know.

Arguing about science's use over human abilities:

PENLEY: You're fit enough now. To do the cooking, at least. Thanks to science.
STORR: Science! Och, it wasn't science, it was just good plain doctoring.

Arguing about being able to choose a way of life over others needs:

GARRETT: But you can't just step aside. A man like you, living like a scavenger? It's utterly wrong. Civilisation needs you.
PENLEY: Jane, I chose this existence. I chose it because I refuse to be sucked into that computerised ant-heap you call a civilisation. I'm a man, not a machine. I will not return.
GARRETT: Not even to save the world?

And when they're not arguing they're traipsing about in the snow: Miss Garrett from the base to Storr & Penley's hideout and back, Arden & Jamie from the base to the spaceship, Penley from the hideout to the spaceship and then back again with the unconscious Jamie! There's a lot of travelling in a very short amount of screen time which makes the three locations seem right on top of each other! Throw in Victoria's attempts to escape from the Ice Warriors and, as I remember it, you've got the pattern for the rest of the story!

We're missing what look like a couple of great sequence with the Ice Warriors here as Varga digs his crew out: Zondal, Turoc, Isbur and Rintan. I think this is the first non humanoid race we've seen with individual names since the Tenth Planet Cybermen.

The Ice Warriors then get to work creating the cave outside the spaceship which serves as one of the main sets in the rest of the tale.

We get to see the Ice Warriors sonic guns used for the first time as Arden is killed and Jamie is injured. I remember these from pictures as a youth just being a tube on the arm but here the sonic gun appears in the form of a short tube protruding from a rounded box on the arm.

It would appear the memory I have of the sonic guns appearance comes from pictures of The Ice Warriors on their first return appearance in Seeds of Death rather than here and in particular their leader Slaar. Of course at the time I became a Doctor Who fan Ice Warriors was completely missing from the archives so there were limited visuals from this story!

Lets have a look at the Martian members of the cast and attempt to tell the difference between them! Bernard Bresslaw, appearing as Ice Warrior leader Varga, needs no introduction. He became famous appearing in The Army Game, an ITV military comedy, alongside the then future first Doctor William Hartnell. Hartnell went onto appear in 1958's Carry On Sergeant, the first of the Carry On films, and although that was the only one of the series Hartnell appeared in Bresslaw later joined the series appearing in 14 of the films frequently as a sidekick to Sid James.

Varga's lieutenant Zondal looks very similar to his superior. His helmet is perhaps a little thinner and pointier but his mouth looks a lot wider than Varga's. If you see another Ice Warrior talking in this story, then it's Zondal! Unfortunately Roger Jones, who plays him, is the only Ice Warrior without and Doctor Who connections either in the past or future!

Turoc is played by Sonny Caldinez, who was previously Kemel in Evil of the Daleks. Caldinez will be the main hench Ice Warrior from now on, returning as an unnamed warrior in Seeds of Death, Ssorg in Curse of Peladon and Sskel in Monster of Peladon.

What we can see of Turoc's costume in the next episode, and in particular his helmet, is markedly different from the other Ice Warriors. Like Varga's initial helmet, seen clearly in the episode one climax, it's lacking a chin guard and does look more like a helmet belonging to a Viking, like Arden initially thought Varga was!

We hit a slight problem with the last two Ice Warriors: we don't know which is which! The picture on the right has both of them in, with Zondal on the left and Varga on the right. Both seem to have much smaller mouthpieces that the other two in the picture with one having larger eyes.

Tony Harwood, playing Rintan, was a Cyberman in Tomb of the Cybermen and a Yeti in Abominable Snowmen so he's been in three stories on the trot. Like Sonny Caldinez, he's back as another Ice Warrior in Seeds of Death and plays the Ice Warriors brief cameo in The War Games episode 10.

Isbur is Michael Attwell's first Doctor Who appearance. He's probably best known as Kenny Beale in East Enders but he's got a memorable return Who appearance as Bates in Attack of the Cybermen. He appears to have been in just about everything and taking a peak at his CV I realise that I can remember his Sykes in the Classic Serial Olive Twist very well (Producer: Terrance Dicks) There's a few other Who personnel involved with that too!

181 The Ice Warriors: Two

EPISODE: The Ice Warriors: Two
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 181
STORY NUMBER: 039
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 18 November 1967
WRITER: Brian Hayles
DIRECTOR: Derek Martinus
SCRIPT EDITOR: Peter Bryant
PRODUCER: Innes Lloyd
RATINGS: 7.1 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who: The Ice Warriors
TELESNAPS: The Ice Warriors: Two

"Our spaceship crashed at the foot of the ice mountain. As we came out to investigate, a great avalanche of snow buried us. I will free them. Then we will return to the Red Planet!"

The Ice Warrior rises, clubs Jamie to the floor, and takes Victoria hostage. The Doctor bursts into Clent's meeting and explains his concerns about the Ice Warrior having come from another world: If his spaceship is still in the glacier and is nuclear powered it could cause an explosion when exposed to the Ioniser. Jamie then arrives and tells them the creature has taken Victoria. The Warrior tells Victoria that he is Vaaga and comes from Mars. His ship crashed here millennia ago, his warriors are still trapped in the glacier and he wants to revive them. The computer suggests Arden should investigate the spaceship: Jamie goes with him. Storr is weakening so Penley decides to return to the base for medication. Arden has difficulty getting a radiation reading on the glacier. Vaaga forces Victoria to find him powerpacks to defrost his warriors. Clent enters the room and is clubbed to the floor by Vaaga who leaves with Victoria. Penley finds Clent and is treating him when the Doctor arrives allowing Penley to leave with the drugs. Back at the glacier Vaaga uses his sonic gun to start digging the warriors out. Storr shows signs of recovery after treatment. Vaaga begins thawing his crew.

Vaaga sounds great in this and I know that Bernard Bresslaw , the actor playing him who was 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) tall, would have towered over Deborah Watling, a mere 4 ft 11¾ inches(152cm!) high, producing a good visual image as the Telesnaps show.

The trick of casting large actors has been used already with the Cybermen and Yeti towering over the relatively slight Troughton, it's here the idea meets it's fulfilment. Reading the book as a child I really thought the Varga/Victoria scenes were important so it's a shame that the visuals for these two episodes are missing.

CLENT: Well, that'll be just too bad. Obviously I can't release men for an extensive search outside the base.
DOCTOR: But she may be in danger of her life! You can't take that decision!
CLENT: Very well. You want an impartial opinion? I shall ask the computer.
JAMIE: Oh, not the computer.
DOCTOR: It's a waste of time asking the computer.

The base crew make me want to slap them for their reliance on the computer, but then the reliance on technology is really that's what this story is all about!

ARDEN: Well, I shall need at least one guard.
JAMIE: Well, what about me then? I could go with him.
DOCTOR: Yes, he's a capable lad.
CLENT: Well, the computer said one investigator only.
DOCTOR: That was from your staff, Jamie's extra.
JAMIE: Aye.
GARRETT: The mission must be carried out. The computer has ordered it.

When the surviving episodes of the Ice Warriors were released on video, a short condensed reconstruction of episodes 2 & 3 was included along with a CD of the full soundtrack for these episodes. At the time of first blogging I said

Hopefully when the DVD comes out a full reconstruction in the manner of Tenth Planet 4's vhs release will be attempted.

By the point DVD was released in 2013, one of the last regular titles in the series, animation had become the standard method of dealing with missing episodes.

Things look ok at the start of the episode attempting to replicate the style of the episode credits:

Unfortunately the style of the animation looks quite crude compare to previous stories, especially The Invasion and the movement doesn't look good at all.

The closing shots of the Ice Warriors in the ice, something of a departure from what the telesnaps show aren't bad!

The Ice Warriors 2 & 3 are the only 2 episodes of the race's 22 episodes existence in Doctor Who that is missing. By contrast, until recently, only two of the Yeti's 12 episodes remain though thanks to the 2013 Web of Fear recovery that now stands at 6 out of 12. 22 Episodes from Dalek stories (totalling 81 episodes) are missing and 9 Episodes from the 41 the the Cybermen star in are also missing.

180 The Ice Warriors: One

EPISODE: The Ice Warriors: One
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 180
STORY NUMBER: 039
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 11 November 1967
WRITER: Brian Hayles
DIRECTOR: Derek Martinus
SCRIPT EDITOR: Peter Bryant
PRODUCER: Innes Lloyd
RATINGS: 6.7 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who: The Ice Warriors
TELESNAPS: The Ice Warriors: One

"In two hours the ioniser will be useless. And then the glaciers will move again. Five thousand years of history crushed beneath a moving mountain of ice!"

A computer voice announces evacuation as the limping Clent, leaning heavily on his stick, enters the control room. Miss Garret protest they need Scientist Penley, but is ignored. Arden and his team, Davis and Walters, are at work at a glacier when they discover a figure trapped in the Ice. Arden has them drill it out. Clent is trying to contact Arden without success. The Tardis materialises in the ice and snow outside a prefabricated dome. Jamie thinks they're still in Tibet and have materialised further up the mountain. They hide behind the Tardis as the raggedly dressed Storr and dishevelled Penley leave the dome clutching packages of food that they have stolen. The Doctor and friends enter the dome and find themselves within a preserved Georgian mansion. Finding the control room the Doctor intervenes preventing the base's reactor from exploding. Clent collapses and is taken to the medical unit, the Doctor and friends accompanying him. Arden has dug out what looks like a man in armour: Walters dubs it an Ice Warrior. Penley & Storr watch, Storr criticising the scientists. Davis comes outside and is killed by an avalanche which injures Storr, breaking his arm. Clent sets the Doctor a problem which he easily solves causing Clent to invite him to join their staff. A reduction in plant life, due to artificial food production, has led to a reduction in carbon dioxide levels which has caused the Earth to cool entering a "second" Ice Age. Arden brings the Ice warrior into the medical unit and sets it to slowly defrost. Clent & the Doctor go to a meeting leaving Jamie & Victoria behind as the Ice falls away from the Warrior and it awakens.....

The first appearance of the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria gives a nice link to the previous story. Here's their parting words in the previous week's Abominable Snowmen 6:

DOCTOR: Well, that we shall never know, Jamie. What's the matter with you? Are you cold or something?
JAMIE: Oh it's all right for you in your home made Yeti kit.
DOCTOR: Yes, I suppose there is a little bit of a nip in the air.
JAMIE: A nip? A nip? Just look at my knees. They're bright blue.
DOCTOR: What a horrible sight.
JAMIE: Could you not land us somewhere warmer next time?
DOCTOR: Jamie, you never know, do you?

Unfortunately they're straight back in the cold and snow again this week and Jamie doesn't think they've moved that far at all!

JAMIE: Oh no, not again. Tibet was bad enough, but I think you've put us down just further up the mountain!

Like Tomb of the Cybermen we've got a variation on a classic movie theme: here (also influencing Tomb) it's "something frozen in the ice". Everything else is dressing round that idea.

But.... Oh dear the science in this episode makes my head hurt!

For a start there's been considerably more than one Ice Age before, Leader Clent take note!

CLENT: I present you a problem. All the major continents are threatened with destruction under the glaciers of the second ice age.
DOCTOR: Yes.
CLENT: How would you halt the ice surge and turn the climate back to normal? Forty five seconds starting from now.
DOCTOR: Oh, possible causes. The reversal of the magnetic field.
CLENT: No such change has occurred.
DOCTOR: Interstellar clouds obscuring the suns rays? An excessive burst of sunspot activity. A severe shift of the Earth's angle of rotation.
VICTORIA: Come on, Doctor.
DOCTOR: There aren't that many alternatives. Gigantic heat loss?
CLENT: I asked for an answer, not a question. Twelve seconds left.
DOCTOR: Oh. Oh, well, in that case the answer's simple. A severe drop in the carbon dioxide level in the Earth's lower atmosphere. Is that it?
I would use ionisation.
JAMIE: Well, is he right?
CLENT: Yes, he is.
VICTORIA: Oh. But I still don't understand.
DOCTOR: Well, the carbon dioxide level in the Earth's atmosphere helps retain the sun's heat. Take that gas away, and there's a sudden freeze up.
JAMIE: Oh, where does the gas go to?
DOCTOR: Well
CLENT: You know how efficient our civilisation is, thanks to the direction of the great World Computer. And you also know how we conquered the problem of world famine a century ago by artificial foods.
CLENT: On the land that was once used to grow the food we needed, we built up to date living units, to house the ever-increasing population.
DOCTOR: Up to date?
CLENT: Well, there were exceptions, of course. I mean, this house was classified as being of historic interest. So, the amount of growing plants on the planet, was reduced to an absolute minimum.
DOCTOR: No plants, no carbon dioxide.
CLENT: Then suddenly, one year, there was no spring. Even then it wasn't understood. Not until the ice-caps began to advance.

The explanation of Greenhouse Gasses being needed to maintain the Earth's temperature is pretty good apart from one awful error: plants don't give off Carbon Dioxide: they absorb it using photosynthesis which creates Oxygen as a by-product. Removing all the plants will cause Carbon Dioxide levels to RISE drastically. Deary me, that's a pretty elementary error, and although our understanding of Greenhouse Gasses has come on much in recent years I'm pretty certain that Photosynthesis was properly understood in 1967. I'll assume Kit Pedler, the show's unofficial scientific advisor, wasn't hanging round the Doctor Who office when this was made.

VICTORIA: Oh, Doctor, it's just like my home.
DOCTOR: I know!

The Georgian mansion annoys me too: was it in Brian Hayles' script or did the crew nick an existing BBC set of a Georgian Mansion as a cost saving technique and stuff it full of computer equipment?

THEN we have Arden's archaeological techniques:

ARDEN: A fantastic discovery in the ice.
CLENT: Your task was to set up movement probes in the ice, not indulge in amateur archaeology.
ARDEN: This is a man!
CLENT: Oh, congratulations. Makes a change from fossils. Now leave it and return.
ARDEN: I'm bringing the body back with me.

Dig it out the ice, fair enough, but ....

DOCTOR: You see, this fellow Arden has set the electricity so that the ice melts very slowly, allowing for the resistance.
VICTORIA: It's working quite quickly.
DOCTOR: Well, I suspect there are some impurities in the ice.

NO! You don't melt it, you stick it straight in the deep freeze to preserve it! Idiot!

I've been entertained by episodes of Doctor Who, bored by them and failed to follow them so far: this is the first time one's *really* annoyed me!

Onward onto the stuff I liked: The idea of thinking it's a trapped and preserved Viking Warrior is a good one, and similar preserved archaeology has been found in glaciers in this way.

Of course there are some problems with the body. Arden spots something while it was in s in the ice:

ARDEN: A giant among prehistoric men.
WALTERS: See the kind of armour he's got on?
ARDEN: Yes, that's rather strange. He looks pre-Viking. But no such civilisation existed in pre-historic times, before the first ice age.
WALTERS: Proper Ice Warrior, isn't he, sir?

Then Doctor finds something else:

CLENT: What's odd, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Well the helmet, it's wrong. When this man was frozen to death only primitive cavemen existed.
ARDEN: Well I say it's an undiscovered civilisation. Think of the implications.

DOCTOR: I say. Look at that.
JAMIE: What is it?
DOCTOR: It's an electronic connection. I'm sure of it.
VICTORIA: It can't be.
DOCTOR: Now you wait here, and don't touch anything.

Leaving Jamie and Victoria by themselves leads to one of the biggest bits of flirting yet between the Doctor's two friends!

JAMIE: Victoria?
VICTORIA: What?
JAMIE: You see how those lassies were dressed?
VICTORIA: Yes, I did. And trust you to think of something like that.
JAMIE: Well, I couldn't help thinking about it.
VICTORIA: Well, I think it's disgusting, wearing that kind of thing.
JAMIE: Oh, aye, so it is, so it is. You don't see yourself dressed like that then?
VICTORIA: Jamie!
JAMIE: Oh, I'm sorry. It was just an idea.
VICTORIA: We will now change the subject, please.

Jamie definitely has an eye for Victoria!

One of the major themes of the story is introduced in this episode: over-reliance on computers to tell you what to do:

CLENT: Jolly good. Jolly good. Miss Garrett will give you some background information. You've worked with computers, I presume?
DOCTOR: Only when I have to.
GARRETT: Well, Miss Garrett is our computer specialist. She'll help you.
DOCTOR: Oh, I'll try and remember that.
GARRETT: Here we are completely computerised.
DOCTOR: Well, never mind.
GARRETT: Every decision is checked to eliminate risk of failure. Because of course, all decisions, all actions, must conform to the common good.

This will be picked up again in later episodes.

These episodes have their own special story title, writer and episode number captions, against a snowy background and accompanied by vocalisation, that appear after the title sequence. Interestingly the Episode Numbers appear as One, Two etc with no word, neither the Episode used from the Savages or Part used from Time Warrior.

Original theme makes appearance on end titles
Still at least we can see it.

Have you tried down the back of the fridge?

If you loose something it's almost always there!

Of all the stories concerning the episodes of Doctor Who "returned" to the BBC this is easily the funniest because the episodes never left the BBC at all! In 1988 BBC Enterprises were re-locating from their home in Villiers House. Prior to departure a search was made of the building and a pile of old film cans was found. Included was a missing episode of Adam Adamant lives, 4 episodes of The Ice Warriors labelled as episodes Two, and Four to Six, plus a film can for Fury from the Deep Six which sadly later turned out to have a completely different program in it. The can for Episode Two contained Episode One. At the time of it's finding The Ice Warriors became the most complete season 5 story.

Davis, who left us in this episode, is played by stuntman Peter Diamond probably due to the fall in the avalanche which causes his demise! He'd previously been in the series as a stunt double in The Rescue, Delos in The Romans, which he also fight arranged, a Morok Technician/Guard in The Space Museum, again he was the fight arranger here too a role he repeated for The Chase episode 5: The Death of Doctor Who. He next appears as a Sailor in The Highlanders before fight arranging The Evil of the Daleks episode 5. He'll return next story as an Extra in The Enemy of the World episode 1 and The Doctor/Salamander in The Enemy of the World episode while in the War Games he's a Confederate Horseman in episode three, an Alien Guard in episode 9 and the fight arranger for episode ten. His final Doctor Who work is on The Dæmons episode three as a stunt double and as the fight arranger) for episode four.

Diamond had previously been in Out of the Unknown: Sucker Bait as the first First Crewman, who I presume meets a grisly end involving a stunt! I've seen it, it's on the Out of the Unknown DVD Set but can't recall him or his character! He's also one of the few people who was in all three original Star Wars films: he's the Tusken Raider that attacks Luke in Star Wars as well as a Stormtooper and a Death Star Trooper. In The Empire Strikes Back he's the Snowtrooper Gunner that gets shot but the Millenium Falcon's gun in Echo Base's hanger and in Return of the Jedi he's the Biker Scout pushed off his Speeder Bike. He's been in everything that's ever been made for television as a stuntman too.

Playing his supervisor Arden is George Waring. You can see him in Doomwatch: The Islanders as Busby and Survivors: Reunion as Walter.

There's a number of actors playing Control Room Operators in this story. Most prominent is
Monique Bryant who IMDB thinks is in all six episodes. Apparently she's also a technician in The Seeds of Death too which is something of a coincidence and sets off my "IMDB has got confused" radar warning! Apparently she's also a Woman Watching Show in Snakedance part three. Outside of Doctor Who she was in Moonbase 3 as a Technician in Achilles Heel, Castor and Pollux & View of a Dead Planet and Blake's 7 Project Avalon as a Mutoid.

Other technicians in the Control Room include Kathy Fitzgibbon who had previously been an Inferno Customer in The War Machines: Episode 1. Gary Dean would return as a German Soldier in The War Games: Episode Three and a UNIT Soldier in Doctor Who and the Silurians: Episode 3. as well as playing a man in Doomwatch: Project Sahara.

It will come as a surprise to no one to find out that Roy Skelton, previously a Monoid voice in The Ark, the Cybermen voices in Tenth Planet and Dalek voices in Evil of the Daleks, is the Computer Voice. Earlier in the year Ice Warriors was made and shown he had voiced the robots in the now missing Out of the Unknown episode The Prophet.

When I first Blogged Doctor Who stories this episode was the point where we gave the VCR it's first use in the Troughton era followed by a two episode CD break for the missing episodes. Now we're on DVD for the whole story with the next two episodes being animated.

179 The Abominable Snowmen: Episode Six

EPISODE: The Abominable Snowmen: Episode Six
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 179
STORY NUMBER: 038
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 04 November 1967
WRITER: Mervyn Haisman & Henry Lincoln
DIRECTOR: Gerald Blake
SCRIPT EDITOR: Peter Bryant
PRODUCER: Innes Lloyd
RATINGS: 7.4 million viewers
FORMAT: CD: Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Volume Four(1967)
TELESNAPS: The Abominable Snowmen: Episode Six

"This things that's here, this evil, it will spread. It has to be stopped and I think I can do it."

The glowing substance pours from the cave down the mountainside. Travers tells The Doctor he remembers that Abbot Songsten took the pyramid up the mountain. Khrisong pursues the Abbot to Padmasambhava's sanctum where the Abbot kills him under Padmasambhava's hypnotic control. The monks turn on their Abbot, but the Doctor saves him saying that he has been controlled by Padmasambhava who in turn is under the influence of another. Travers and Ralpachan leave for the cave with the intention of destroying the pyramid. The Doctor learns from Songsten that the Great Intelligence has broken out of the cave and that the control device for the Yeti is behind Padmasambhava's throne in the sanctum. Padmasambhava summons three yeti to the monastery who pass Travers and Ralpachan on the mountainside. The Doctor gets Thomni to teach Victoria the Jewel of the Lotus prayer to protect her mind from Padmasambhava's control. Travers and Ralpachan discover the entire mountain top glowing: they can get nowhere near the cave and must return to the monastery. The monks leave the monastery, taking Songsten with them but leaving Thomni to assist the Doctor. The Doctor confronts Padmasambhava who attacks him with his psychic powers, while Jamie & Thomni attempt to smash the yeti control. Victoria tries to prevent Padmasambhava moving Yeti into the room, but can't. They enter and are about to kill the Doctor when Jamie and Thomni smash their control mechanism causing the Yeti to explode. Travers enters and shoots at Padmasambhava who catches the bullets. The Doctor instructs Jamie and Thomni to look for a pyramid which they find and destroy, blowing up the area of mountain covered by the secretion from the cave and severing the Intelligence's link to Padmasambhava allowing the old man to finally die in peace. The monks are summoned back to the monastery as the Doctor and his friends leave.

Walking up the mountainside to the Tardis with Travers they see a real Yeti and Travers runs off after it leaving the Doctor and friends to depart.

DOCTOR: What's the matter with you? Are you cold or something?
JAMIE: Oh it's all right for you in your home made Yeti kit.
DOCTOR: Yes, I suppose there is a little bit of a nip in the air.
JAMIE: A nip? A nip? Just look at my knees. They're bright blue.
DOCTOR: What a horrible sight.
JAMIE: Could you not land us somewhere warmer next time?
DOCTOR: Jamie, you never know, do you?

That's just brilliant, loved it, what a great climax to a superb story. I think that's my favourite Who story so far, certainly the best of the missing ones. There's not a duff performance in there.

Khrisong's death at the hands of his Abbott is a big shock! There's been so few on-screen deaths so far this story, just Travers' companion John in the first episode and Rinchen in the fifth.

But as is made clear The Abbott is not in control of his actions and following Khrisong's dying plea for mercy for Songsten and the evident effect the death has had on him the monks take him into their care. Khrisong's death allows Ralpachan to step forward and take a larger role in the remaining episode and it's quite interesting that he gets paired with Travers who earlier deceived Ralpachan while he was on guard duty at the gate.

Like I said in the previous episode it just sounds so good. Usually putting the telesnaps together with the soundtrack sheds light on what's happening but here it's almost easier just listening to the soundtrack as the telesnaps don't do the battle justice. In particular the telesnap of the levitated incense burner does little to convey the threat and the one shot of Jamie and Thomni smashing the control apparatus is indistinct as is the white out effect as the control spheres explode. There's also VERY few telesnaps of the Yeti this episode too: not one of John Cura's better weeks.

There is a hint in the telesnaps that the climatic model sequence of the mountain blowing up might have been rather good though!

Fabulous story from start to finish. Like Power of the Daleks it doesn't feel stretched to fit six episodes. The production team obviously agreed they'd got a good thing here as they commissioned a sequel immediately from the same writers, Mervyn Haisman & Henry Lincoln, bringing back both the Yeti and Travers in three stories time. If anything that story is even better than this one! Although we don't see the Monks of Det Sen Monestary again Doctor Who would later return to Budhist themes periodically during Jon Pertwee's time as Doctor Who.

Quite rightly Abominable Snowmen was the first Troughton story to be novelised, Terrance Dicks' third novelization after The Auton Invasion and Day of the Daleks. It's either the second or third Troughton book I bought after The Cybermen (Moonbase) and, perhaps, The Ice Warriors. An audio CD of the book, as read by Patrick's son David Troughton is available, and the short clip I've heard sounds superb. The novel was reissued in 2011.

The soundtrack for the story has been released as a CD, in the Yeti Attack 2 pack with it's sequel, Web of Fear, as an MP3 CD with Web of Fear again and as part of Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Volume Four(1967)

Only the second episode of this serial, recovered in 1982, exists and that has been released as part of Doctor Who - the Troughton Years VHS in 1991 and Doctor Who - Lost In Time DVD set in 2004. However a set of prints of these was recorded to have been sent to BPTV in Jos, a city in Nigeria, in 1974 along with Enemy of the World, Web of Fear and Wheel in Space. While Enemy of the World and most of Web of Fear has been recovered from BPTV's successor in 2013 there's been comment made as the fate of the other 2 stories that they should have had. Similarly the same four stories, plus the Ice Warriors and Fury from the Deep were sold to GBC in Gibraltar in 1973 and the fate of their prints is also unknown according to Wiped! Doctor Who's Missing Episodes. So Abominable Snowmen has a better chance than most stories that it might one day be returned to the BBC. Personally I'd love to have it back, it's at the absolute top of my "most wished for returns" list.