The Abominable Snowmen

"I have brought the world to its end."

Writers: Mervyn Haisman & Henry Lincoln 

Format: TV (Animation)

Released: September 2022

Season: 5.02

Featuring: Second Doctor, Jamie, Victoria

Synopsis

In the 17th century, an old Tibetan friend of the Doctor's reached out and touched the mind of an alien disembodied energy, known only as the Great Intelligence, giving it a conduit to Earth.

300 years later, the Doctor revisits the Himalayas because he wants to return the Holy Ghanta, an ancient relic he was given many centuries ago by the grateful monks and their master, Padmasambhava, at Det-Sen Monastery. On arriving however, the Doctor is treated as a villain – blamed for a series of brutal murders in the area. Jamie and Victoria meanwhile discover the true culprits – the previously peaceful Yeti that live in seclusion on the mountainside have apparently turned violent. 

The Doctor must convince the monks that not only is he not their enemy, but the real foe – and the power controlling the Yeti – is living amongst them.

Verdict

The Abominable Snowmen was a decent animation of the mostly missing classic serial from the fifth season. This story has something of an iconic status and to be honest I think it might be slightly overrated. It's been eleven years since I watched the Loose Canon reconstruction of the story accompanying the soundtrack and while at the time that was incredibly welcomed as a way to cover the adventure, I think animation does a really good job in bringing missing episodes to life. It's important to note that this is a completely new interpretation of the story because the animators have free reign and I think it's the right move to try and modernise things and take advantage of not being constrained by the tight studios of 1960s BBC. This is bold and it's wonderful to be able to watch the whole story in a complete form, even if it is different to what was broadcast six decades ago. The essence is still there. I would say the novelisation is probably the most complete form of capturing this story as intended now and I definitely enjoyed it a lot more than this version! I just think it drags a little over the six episodes and with it being quite slow, the animation felt like it was just waiting around on a large number of occasions. For the most part, the animation was really good and I loved the injection of colour into the serial. It absolutely works and the setting of Det-Sen certainly benefits. It's also expanded very nicely and the symmetry across the monk attire was striking. I don't think the Doctor's infamous wooly coat was quite bulky enough compared to the images and that of which he was wearing in The Five Doctors, but I thought the way Jamie and Victoria were presented was really strong. It was one of the best from the companions across these animated reconstructions. One thing that I think lets the animation down is actually the animation of the Yeti themselves. They're an iconic monster and I can't believe there hasn't been a Character Options figure yet, but they look so much better in black and white in costume. I think they just come across looking a bit too cartoony which I know shouldn't be a problem in animation, but unfortunately it just does. They lose all kind of fear factor of what made them so iconic which I think is then detrimental to the story. It's a massive shame as on the DVD cover art they look magnificent! It's when they get moving that things go south for me. One big benefit of the animation that couldn't be captured back in 1967 was the use of Padmassambhava. He was almost mummified in being animated by the Great Intelligence and that was something that came across as being eery. I was a big fan of that. I particularly appreciated the flashback sequence of how he came to be in contact with the Great Intelligence and lured him to Earth by accident after communicating on the astral plane. I thought that was magnificent. The animated effects of the Intelligence's web spreading out of the caves for the part five cliffhanger was also really good. I understand the animation only has a set budget, but I do think more could have been done to fill the gaps that come from the slow dialogue or just lengthy gaps. There was just so much standing around and it almost felt like Patrick Troughton was ill in filming this serial. He lacked a lot of enthusiasm and energy which is a shame and the animation doesn't do much to combat or hide that. The one moment of zooming in on his face when he doesn't say anything is just strange. I chose to watch the colourised version of the animation but I wonder if the Yeti come across better in black and white? Overall, a superb thing to have animated this classic and be able to view it in a completed form with some impressive set redesigns and expansion, but it falls slightly short of its status amongst fandom for me. Six episodes was just too long and animation wasn't all that suited to the story at hand. Still, I'm so glad I've watched it. Oh, and a special moment to the sequence where the Doctor is trying to reverse Victoria's hypnotism and Jamie starts falling asleep! Glorious.

Rating: 7/10