Doctor Who: The Abominable Snowmen

This is a good story, but unfortunately, five of the six episodes are missing. I liked it, but it would be much more enjoyable to watch if five of the episodes weren't reconstructions. Here's hoping that the BBC will animate more of these lost stories.

The TARDIS lands in Tibet in the Himalayas, so the Doctor puts on his warm coat and ventures outside. Jamie thinks he sees "a great hairy beastie" on the screen, but then he sees the Doctor. Jamie and Victoria soon follow, even though the Doctor told them to stay put.

Jamie looks cold in that kilt.

Jamie and Victoria start exploring a cave, but they get trapped and find a bunch of spheres...right before a Yeti attacks them...

The Doctor arrives at Detsen Monastery, where he has been before, but is accused of killing someone (because he looks like a Yeti in his coat?) and thrown in a cell.

I had to mention this because I needed to include this screen shot of the Doctor in a cell playing his recorder. It's one of the Second Doctor's signatures, and it's endearing. Let's skip forward to the Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria are all together and no one thinks the Doctor is a murderer anymore. In fact, his accuser, Travers, is actually not a bad guy. But now the Yeti are attacking the monastery.

Hugable, snugable Yeti

I think the Yeti are cute, and I'd like to hug them. They never come across as menacing to me because they look like giant fluffy teddy bears. Remember those spheres? There's a spot in every Yeti for one, and that's what controls them. Take out the sphere, turn off the Yeti. I haven't yet mentioned that the Yeti are robots.

The Doctor and Jamie go back to the TARDIS, but there is a Yeti outside. When Jamie asks the Doctor what he's going to do, the Doctor says, "Bung a rock at it." The Yeti is inactive and doesn't move, but one of those spheres tries to get itself back inside the Yeti, and Jamie has to put a rock in the Yeti to stop it.

Let's skip ahead again and say that in the end, the Great Intelligence is defeated, the robot Yeti are deactivated, and the monks are free to live in peace. This was a good story that suffered from having almost all the episodes missing. Fortunately, most of the stories from here on out are either complete or have animated missing episodes.

THE RUNDOWN

Doctor: Second
Companions: Jamie, Victoria
Episode: #38, "The Abominable Snowmen," six parts
Adversary: the Great Intelligence and the Yeti
Classic Lines: Jamie, to the Doctor: "Are you sure it's quite safe?"; to which the Doctor replies: "Well, quite frankly, no, Jamie, but there's only one way of finding out!"
Tuck This Away to Impress Your Friends: This story is the first appearance of the Yeti and the Great Intelligence.
Next Up: "The Ice Warriors"