Serial 41: The Web of Fear

Doctor: Patrick Troughton  (2nd Doctor)

Companions: Jamie, Victoria

Written by: Mervyn Haisman & Henry Lincoln

Directed by: Douglas Camfield

Background & Significance: Almost a year ago we talked about "The Abominable Snowmen" and how The Doctor went to a far off and exotic location to fight some Yeti, or rather, more correctly, he fought a disembodied sentience who created massive creatures (Yeti) to carry out their bidding. The story met various degrees of success when it was first out. I found it middling, but I know others quite like it.

Then again, those people probably knew more than I did when I watched it for the first time... They'd already seen this one, the one that made the Yeti transcendentally legendary.

It's not hard to see why "The Web of Fear" would be legendary. I mean, in terms of check lists, it is the televisual return of the Yeti, thereby elevating them above other such popular monsters like Zygons, Wirrn, Krynoids, and Macra by proving their viability as recurring monsters and meaning that in eventual Doctor Who visual companions The Yeti can get, say, a page to themselves whereas other monsters like the Zygons will still get a page but that page is much more padded and stretched because there's possibly less to say about them. I jest, but the point remains that I feel like more people would care to see the new series bring back the Ice Warriors (who had four classic appearances) than they would, say, Zygons.

So yes, the Yeti are back.

But there's more! This is the story that really kicks the door down to allow The UNIT era to happen. It's the first time The Doctor teams up with the military to take down an evil foe (the first time hardly counts) and that means he's back on Earth to deal with a problem at home. It's also the introduction of The Brigadier in the first of many, many recurring appearances and he's cast by director Douglas Camfield, who had previously directed "The Daleks' Master Plan" and "The Time Meddler" and would go on to direct other such greatnesses as "The Terror of the Zygons" and "The Seeds of Doom". He's an action man through and through and who better to direct this story?

So let's get to it!

Serial 38: The Abominable Snowmen

Doctor: Patrick Troughton (2nd Doctor)
Companion: Jamie, Victoria

Written by: Mervyn Haisman & Henry Lincoln
Directed by: Gerald Blake

Background & Significance: When putting together and determining the order for this (what I assume many, many people consider "infernal") popcorning order, I try to make it so that we here at Classical Gallifrey don't spend too much time focusing on any particular set of sequential stories in both "the grand scheme" of the blog itself or in terms of the chronology of a particular Doctor. Granted, saying that now comes just after covering The Return of The Master trilogy, but you know what? Box sets are cool.

But here we are. At the thematic start of the Troughton era.

It's strange that the last Troughton we talked about just last month was "Tomb of the Cybermen" (and oh holy god how good was that even still!) and this, "The Abominable Snowmen" comes from Troughton's next sequential story. Not intentional, I can assure you.

And yet, I almost feel like it continues a oeuvre unique to Troughton. "Tomb of the Cybermen" comes from Troughton's second season, and yet it doesn't seem to fit the mold of those stories that came directly after it. Troughton's second season (season five in the overall scope of the show) is a season that many have referred to as "Monster"-based. It's here that we have The Doctor going up against Cybermen, an introduction to The Ice Warriors (who will return in the next season), evil seaweed, more Cybermen (do Cybermats count? NO NO WE'RE NOT TALKING CYBERMEN), and the Yeti, who appear in this story and a story just a little later called called "The Web of Fear". Which I know we'll talk about eventually.

So in a lot of ways, "The Abominable Snowmen" is the kick off for this era of monsters and it's a real fitting place to start now that I feel comfortable discussing stories that are at least partially missing. But it's also important for other things.

The most obvious, as we talked about just a second ago (literally! Just seconds!) is the start of this Parade of Monsters, and famous monsters at that, although this is (ironically) not their most famous of stories even though you'd totally expect it to be. The Yeti are legends in their own rights, but not for this story. I mean, every time we're reminded about the Yeti, we're reminded of  how many times The Brigadier fought The Yeti (but in the London Underground)?

But that's a different story ("Web of Fear"! Coming eventually!). This is the start of something different. For one thing, this is the return of the long story, which would prevail all throughout the rest of Troughton's era. The past two seasons of the show made a concerted effort to tell smaller, less rambly four part stories, but every story from here until Troughton's departure in "The War Games" is more than four parts (excepting one), and it... shows. And it hurts the overall result of the era, I think. Longer stories feel more epic and sprawling and big and old school and all that, but that only works if you can effectively fill the time with something compelling (See "The War Games" or "The Invasion"). This is one of those stories that suffers from being not only six parts but also missing. I think it'd be different if I wasn't having to deal with bootleg/fan re-constructions of events because episode two (as we'll discuss) is a total change in everything what with being able to see it.

But thank goodness it survives in whatever form and we get to talk Troughton some more and so soon (and even more soon too!). It's also the return of Innes Lloyd as producer and Peter Bryant as script editor after a small detour we got in "Tomb of the Cybermen". And it's nice to see him back. I find I quite like Innes Lloyd and what he brings to the show overall. And then we also get some more Victoria (always cool) and Jamie (although it's not his best) and we get to start talking about this big ol' procession of Monsters thing that will persist throughout the rest of Troughton's era. And I love that we get to talk about all that.

Sigh. I just wish it all existed and only existed as a four parter.

So let's get to it!