The Abominable Snowmen: Episode 3

Nooooooo! After the cliffhanger from episode two we now have to go back to the audios and sadly I feel that any goodwill that was created from the previous episode may start to fade and despite the progress that was made in terms of plot it feels like the story is moving slowly again. The start was quite good with them trying to find out where the sphere had disappeared to. After that I lost track of what was going on and that’s the fault of the script.

There isn’t much that I can really say about this episode so there wont be much to read for todays episode. There aren’t many good things that I can say about episode three but there are some things that save it from being one of the worst episodes that I’ve watched. First is a strange one, when we get the location footage again and the wind blowing it reminds me of the great location shots from the previous episode. A time when the story seemed like it had some hope. Another positive that I can find from this episode is Deborah Watling. She points something out in the first half of the episode that you would have expected to have come from Jamie or the Doctor. She continues this impressive change in character and I think that if I had a ‘Regular of the Episode’ award then it would definitely go to Deborah Watling. It’s one of the rare instances where Jamie and the Doctor are rather ordinary. I can’t really find anything that they do which is memorable. That’s not because of Frazer Hines or Patrick Troughton but just that they are poorly served in this story.

Sadly I think that this was another episode where not a lot happens. It’s a shame really as I think that had this episode existed on DVD then there would be something to look at whilst the nothingness was happening. As it stands this remains one of those stories that has potential but is restricted due to the fact that its running time is longer than it should be.

The Abominable Snowmen - Episode 2

The second episode is the only one of the six to exist on DVD. So its back to the ‘Lost in Time’ DVD set and the first thing I notice is that the cliffhanger from episode one wasn’t the greatest.  I love how Victoria asks Jamie what weird looking things are when its clear that he wouldn’t have an idea what it is. The Doctor’s situation goes from bad to worse as he is used as bait to lure the Yeti to the monastery whilst Jamie and Victoria spend the early part of the episode running away from the Yeti. I am surprised at how few Yeti we have seen so far. It’s not until towards the end of the episode that we see more than one. It’s quite a good sight seeing several Yeti roaming over the hills. It does show what we are missing by this not being on DVD which makes it more infuriating.

The mysterious voice that seems to come out of thin air is one of the few eerie things to come out of the episode. It’s good that we don’t see where the voice is coming from though clearly due to a shot in one scene its clear that its not too far away. It’s good how Travers admits that the Doctor isn’t the one that they are looking for. It ends that initial stage of the story and speaking of Travers its funny to see him in the scenes with his daughter. When I watch them I don’t think that they are father and daughter but instead two completely different people who have never met before.

As this is the only episode to exist on DVD it’s the only chance that I will have to comment on the direction. I think that its rather well done. The best part was when Jamie and the monks were attacking the Yeti and the camera was shaking all over the place. A technique used 40 years before Steven Spielberg would make it famous. I don’t know whether it was due to people knocking into it or whether it was intended it. Either way it’s a nice moment even if its too brief.

Performance wise, this episode works quite well. The regulars all did well and I like the joke that the Doctor does when Jamie comes up with an idea. It seems like it was a Troughton/Hines co-production. The supporting cast were all quite good but for me it was Jack Watling that was at the top of the pile.

The final moment comes after they discover what the woolly figure that has been attacking them is and it turns out that they are a furrier version of the Cybermen (but can’t talk). The final shot is of the sphere/ball moving of it own volition. It’s a good way to end the episode and my impression of the story has changed somewhat. I know that the next four episodes are back to audio but it does feel like the action is starting to take shape even if it is doing so at a infuriatingly slow pace.

The Abominable Snowmen - Episode 1

The Abominable Snowmen is arguably the Troughton era’s most popular and successful creation outside of the Dalek and Cybermen stories. Recently five of the six episodes of The Web of Fear were found but sadly this one remains lost.  It’s quite noticeable for many reasons but firstly its that this story features Deborah Watling’s father Jack Watling who plays Professor Travers in this story. After the futuristic story featuring the Cybermen, its time to take Victoria to her first proper story in history. The episode starts quite good because we get screams and no clear sign as to what has happened. It’s quite surprising at how sort of afraid Jamie is portrayed because he unwilling to go out with Victoria and does what the Doctor tells him. This soon changes when Jamie decides that he’s going to take on the trouble that is in front of them. It doesn’t take long for them all to be separated and it also doesn’t take long for the Doctor to get into trouble.

Our first meeting of Professor Travers isn’t a particularly positive one as he is the one that is convinced that the Doctor has killed his friend and caused all the trouble. I know that this is all part and parcel of the early stages of a Doctor Who story but sometimes it’s a bit tiresome but with six episodes to fill there has to be some sort of padding and its not the worst padding device ever. In terms of performances from the regulars, I think they all do rather well though I am confused by the swapping of roles between Watling and Hines. It almost seems like the writers couldn’t quite make up their minds about these two after spending a lot of time working on what Patrick Troughton was doing and I must say that his side of the story was quite enjoyable (if predictable).

I must say that after the Tomb of the Cybermen this story was always going to feel a bit of a let down but so I didn’t have my expectations to high and I think that the issue with a six parter is going to rear its ugly head during the next five episodes. There’s going to be a lot of padding but I think (or hope) that once it gets going it will be better than I think it is. I haven’t listened to this story in a long time so something’s are a bit hazy when I try and remember this story so hopefully this story will spring a surprise on me.

The Tomb of the Cybermen - Episode 4

The final episode has to end the story on a high note after the previous three episodes have been very good. The previous episode ended with a close up of Klieg’s gun with the Doctor being warned to watch out. The episode basically has to do two things such as defeated Klieg and Kaftan and defeat the Cybermen. Due to the way that the story has been written this looks like it wont be an easy thing and that’s what so good about this episode.

Toberman as a Cybermen doesn’t look or act any different to before. It seems like his only purpose is to pick the Cyber Controller up and he’s been as much use to the story as he had been in the previous episodes and I feel like they could have done more with the character apart from just being the muscles of the story. The scene where Toberman picks up the dummy Cyber Controller and throws him onto the controls is rather poorly done. It’s clear that it’s a dummy when he’s in the air and its falls a bit to badly. I like the effect of the Cybermen going back into their tomb. It might have just been a simple reversing of the footage but it was effective.

There’s a nice comedic moment in this episode where the Doctor asks Jamie if he’s tied the knots tightly with Jamie being very confident before the Cyber Controller bursting out of the chamber. To be honest I think that Victoria and Jamie haven’t been quite as good as in previous episode but that’s more because they weren’t given much to do but that said what they are given to do they do it well.

Kaftan’s death was effective as she suffered a firey death. She bit the dust on the 10 minute mark and that means that Klieg is left and his death seems far more graphic without us actually seeing him die. I thought that the death of one of the Cybermen was quite graphic and it was the best death in the episode because when the Cyberman Controller dies it’s ok but not as good as the death before. Toberman’s death was a shame really but it was probably the right thing to do because if he was part Cybermen he probably wouldn’t want to be like that but it was actually quite a noble death.

I like how the ending with the Cyber Controller seemed to be one final twist before our heroes get out. It means we get one final death and the goodbye between the archaeologists and the regulars was quite sad. I do question why they left Toberman to just seemingly rot which does seem quite a weird ending to the story. That said I still think that this story is a very good one and it easily the best Patrick Troughton story that he has done so far.

The Tomb of the Cybermen - Episode 3

As we approach the second half of the story we finally get some things explained to us. Firstly why did the Cybermen go to the trouble of locking themselves in a tomb. Though they never explain the furniture in the main room. By locking themselves in the tomb, only the smartest would be able to get in. It’s quite a clever (if slightly convoluted) way of doing things. They want to use the cleverest of people to convert and this is basically the plot for the story. The first 10 minutes of the episode move quite quick as there is quite a daring rescue by Captain Hopper.

There’s a great scene between Klieg and Kaftan where Kaftan becomes a bit more of a villain as she does her Lady Macbeth moment when the pair are locked in the room with the dummy Cyberman.  It’s my one of favourite scenes in the entire episode. The second is the scene between the Doctor and Victoria when Victoria talks about her father and how she misses him and is worried about forgetting him. It’s the Doctor that tells her that she will remember him but in the back of her mind because of all the adventures that she will be about to embark on. There is a brief moment when the Doctor talks about his family. It’s the first time in a long since (possibly since the first episode of An Unearthly Child) that the Doctor talks about his life. It’s a great moment.

The build up to the cliffhanger is perhaps as strong as the cliffhanger itself. After the emotional and low key scene between the Doctor and Victoria, the drama gets cranked up with the Cybermats finally making their way to the main room and just as the Doctor and co think that they have given the cybermats a “full metal breakdown”, Klieg and Kaftan make an appearance. What’s so good about the ending is that it looks like the Doctor has been shot and there is a yell but the camera focuses in on the gun so there is a nice mystery about what has happened and leads to a good final episode.

This is the first time that the directing slips a bit. There’s one bit which doesn’t quite work and it’s when Toberman is fighting the Cyberman and the location where they filmed the tomb bit doesn’t blend in with the studio filming. This is made even worse when you can clearly see the strings that are about to lift Roy Stewart into the air, it seems like they are deliberately trying to draw our attention to it which is a shame. Apart from that brief moment I did think that Morris Barry directed another sound episode. As a story its still just as great as I remember it and I think that it’s the best opening story to a series in Doctor Who (so far). The writing is great, the claustrophobic setting is perfect and the supporting characters working well with the regulars are helping to make this a great Cybermen story.

The Tomb of the Cybermen - Episode 2

One of the things that I like about this story is apart from the fact that it’s a Cyberman story and its one of my favourites. It’s that it exists entirely on DVD and so I feel that I am enjoying it more than when I have to stick on the CD. I said in the previous episode that I remember listening to this on my cassette tape version and it was just before it was discovered in Hong Kong and I remember listening to it and trying to imagine what it would look like and my young imagination couldn’t have come up with what I would see. The tight setting of the story is one of the things that works so well in this episode.

It’s this episode where we are treated to the first glimpse of the cybermats. Compared to the ones that we have seen recently on TV they are fairly simplistic and look like they would be hitting toy shop shelves pretty soon but I think that they are quite fun. Something that didn’t strike me when watching the previous episode and that is why have the Cybermen gone to the trouble of building a table and putting stools with it? The choice of furniture is not something that you would think Cybermen wouldn’t bother with. There is a line where Hopper says that its going to take 72 hours to repair the damage and its like a sign to the viewer that the story is going to happen over a short amount of time.

The idea that the Doctor is manipulating people continues in this episode where he helps Klieg raise the hatch to the tomb. I find Patrick Troughton’s performance in this episode to be comforting. It feels like he’s having enjoying himself and gives a very good performance. Both Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling give good performances but they are somewhat overshadowed by Kleig and the Doctor.

Viner is a hysterical worrier and some might say that there’s nothing wrong with this considering the situation but I to admit that I think that it gets slightly annoying. It wasn’t so much of a problem in the previous episode but here it seemed like a big issue. He is more hysterical than Victoria should be (or at least has been portrayed recently). Thankfully he meets a grisly ending towards the end of the episode. Captain Hopper seems like the only one with any proper sense. He might come across as a bit abrupt but he is a good on screen presence. George Roubicek plays the part well and I like how he seems to see everyone else as a problem. Hopper is another solid character. Kleig continues being the villain of the story and George Pastell is brilliant from start to finish. I also think that Shirley Cooklin is in second place as Kaftan though her star will rise by the end of the story.  As a double act they are quite the piece and with the lack of Cybermen involvement take centre stage and they do well with it. There’s a nice moment when Victoria realises that the world she finds herself in now is very different to the one that she knew before she boarded the TARDIS.  When she is being served some food she must have been assuming a plate of food but is instead given a OXO cube.

The tomb set is very impressive. It’s done in two parts with the shot of the tomb being the first and then the second is the studio set. It’s edited together rather well and it all feels like one big set.  The tomb part is the more spectacular as it’s surprising that they built something so big for this show when normally they would have done it

The lack of Cybermen must have been a problem for viewers in 1967 as apart from the dummy Cyberman at the beginning we don’t see anymore Cybermen until the 20 minute mark when the temperature is raised and they start climbing down the ladder. When they do get involved its quite an impressive moment as the Cyber Controller’s entrance is easily one of the best entrances that I can remember.

This is another cracking episode and it continues to build on the good work that was achieved in episode one. We get more Cybermen (even though its left until the end) and it feels like the story is building towards something instead padding until we get to the business end of the story. Good stuff.

The Tomb of the Cybermen - Episode 1

The Cybermen have been chosen to open the fifth season of Doctor Who and its their third story in less than a year which shows why the 1960’s were the golden era for the Cybermen. With the Daleks on a plane going towards America, the Cybermen take the crown of number one villain. This is also the first complete Patrick Troughton story that I will have watched which is quite remarkable considering that this is now the eighth story with Patrick Troughton as the Doctor. This was one of the first stories that I remember hearing as a Doctor Who fan. I remember listening to it on cassette tape as me, my mom and dad drove home from food shopping. So I have a fondness for this story that I don’t think will diminish over the next  four episodes.

The opening shot is of the TARDIS on Skaro and it feels like it’s the shot that should have finished at the end of The Evil of the Daleks. The TARDIS set has a weird echo as opposed to a normal studio feel in previous adventures. Not sure whether this was what they were planning for in the future or whether it was an emergency measure for this episode but it doesn’t seem right.

This story is another under siege story although the story does start on the outside with archaeologists desperately trying to get inside but it soon turns into that sort of story that I like. I like that we get a couple of scenes with the archaeologists and how they don’t seem to be singing from the same hymn sheet. There are three people of particular interest such as Eric Kleig (George Pastell), Kaftan (Shirley Cooklin) and Toberman (Roy Stewart) are the more entertaining and stronger characters. In this episode its Kleig who is the standout as he has a bit of a rivalry with the Doctor. Patrick Troughton is really good in this episode. Once the Doctor discovers that they are dealing with the Cybermen it almost seems like he is helping Kleig into trying to get into the Tomb. Deborah Watling goes 18 minutes before being put in peril.

I haven’t been a massive fan of Morris Barry’s direction in the past but the location scenes were really quite fun. He has managed to make scenes filmed in a quarry seem quite entertaining. When the story does get inside the Tomb main room, there is a nice claustrophobic feel to it. It’s all dark and that’s a nice contrast to the bright outside. Even though once they get in there are only three rooms, he manages to make it feel like its quite a big place and keep the rooms quite small. The writing isn’t particularly special but I suspect that the good stuff is kept for the remaining episode.

It seems like it’s a tradition that when a monster returns that they don’t appear until the final moment of the story. This is the case for this story because all we see is a Cyberman appears from out of nowhere. It doesn’t say anything or even move and so the camera just focuses in on its face. We will learn why in the next episode but its not quite the best ending to an opening episode ever. That said I have enjoyed this episode because it introduces the regulars and also the supporting cast. A good opening episode.