The Yeti and Terrance Dicks

 

Of all the people associated with Doctor Who, Terrance Dicks casts a long shadow. It was he who devised the history of the Doctor in the final second Doctor story "The War Games." He guided the Doctor throughout the Third Doctor's time as script editor, building and deepening the mythology of the Time Lords, and his home planet of Gallifrey. Not only did he write further stories for later doctors, but he novelized more Doctor Who stories than any other writer. For decades, the only way to follow the second Doctor's adventures with the Yeti was through his novelizations of Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln's stories "The Abominable Snowman" and "The Web Of Fear."

Terrance Dicks died recently. Given how much he contributed to the program, his death was a little hard to take in. Perhaps in response, I picked up my paperback of The Abominable Snowmen, and followed his simple, fast-paced narrative. Unlike other authors, Dicks never sought to rework the TV scripts, but related the scenes as they had been filmed. He never sought to impress readers with dazzling wordplay, or elegant turns of phrase. Hence, readers don't get an alternative version of the TV story, but a faithful literary adaptation. 

Perhaps that is the secret to Dicks' success in life. When approaching a new story, he never sought to break the mold, or reinvent the wheel. When the production team asked for a story, he gave it to them in the requested time. When publishers asked him for a novelization, he handed in his manuscripts on time. He did his best without agonizing over every single word or scene. He produced proficient and exciting stories. He always entertained.

I will miss seeing Terrance Dicks in new Doctor Who Making Of specials. But at least I can still listen to his commentary on the DVDs. He wasn't the most insightful presence in those audio recordings, and he often repeated himself. But he contributed so much to Doctor Who that it's hard to think of the program without him. 

He didn't create the Yeti in Doctor Who, but he wrote novelizations of their adventures. When he wrote "The Five Doctors" for the show's twentieth anniversary, he included the Yeti in one short scene. And yes, of all the doctors he could have used, he had the second doctor encounter them. It was the perfect way to include the Yeti, and cap off their involvement in Doctor Who, at least during the classic series era. 

I can only imagine the kinds of stories he might have contributed, had he worked on the newer series. These stories, filmed in Wales, boast production values and special effects that Terrance Dicks could only have imagined in the 1960s and '70s. Might he have pitched a new Yeti story, had the producers asked? It hardly seems unlikely, given the return of so many classic aliens, such as the Ice Warriors and the Zygons, and how today's audiences have enjoyed their return.

Farewell, Terrance Dicks. Thanks for so many great stories.

Dragon Dave

The Yeti in Snowdonia National Park

The Yeti don't get much love in Doctor Who. Sadly, the two second Doctor stories in which they figured prominently, "The Abominable Snowmen" and "The Web of Fear," went missing from BBC archives for many years. Aside from a cameo appearance in the twentieth anniversary story "The Five Doctors," the Yeti silently slipped away from Doctor Who, never to rival the popularity of Cybermen and the Daleks.  

Thankfully, one episode of the six-part "The Abominable Snowmen" still exists, and five of the six episodes of "The Web of Fear" were returned to the BBC in recent years. So by watching the fan-produced reconstruction of "The Abominable Snowmen" and the BBC-reissued "The Web of Fear," fans can get an idea of the menace the Yeti posed for the second Doctor in the 1960s. Still, with so many established alien races, and the program constantly introducing us to more, it seems unlikely that the Yeti will ever rise higher than curiosities in the Doctor Who universe.

Nonetheless, my wife and I thought of the Yeti, and "The Abominable Snowmen," when we drove through Snowdonia National Park in Wales a few years ago. For it was in this area that the second Doctor and his companions Jamie and Victoria encounter the elusive creatures. Or at least this was where the location filming took place. Transformed by the production team, the TARDIS actually lands in the Himilayas, where the heroes protect priests at a Buddhist Temple from the Yeti, and a malevolent entity called the Great Intelligence.

While shrouded in mist, Snowdonia National Park proved rich in character. Towns with seemingly unpronounceable names proved picturesque and inviting. Grass, foliage, and trees burst forth from the hard ground and stark rocky hillsides. We wondered how harsh the winters in Wales might be, given the rugged terrain, and were glad we had arrived in summer, when conditions were cool but comfortable.

I would have liked to have visited the actual spot where the Doctor Who production team filmed the Yeti. Sadly, this area lay far off the beaten track. So my wife and I confined ourselves to well-traveled roads, and enjoyed getting a taste of the area that had doubled for the remote Himilayas in "The Abominable Snowmen."

South of Snowdonia National Park lies the city of Cardiff, where the current Doctor Who production team is located. Perhaps we'll have to return to Wales someday, and see the locations the ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth Doctors have visited. I wonder if, by the time we travel there, the Yeti will have returned to Doctor Who? Fans of the Yeti can only live in hope.

Dragon Dave

Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman in Colorado Springs

After flying into Denver International Airport, we drove our rental car south to Colorado Springs. Along the way we passed through the concrete canyons and big box store forests of urban sprawl. When we reached Colorado Springs, we ate lunch at a popular chain restaurant before touring the U.S. Air Force Academy. Then we drove along the freeway, and through wide paved streets lined by strip malls to our hotel. 

It wasn't until the next day, as we hiked in Garden Of The Gods, that I realized we were actually in Colorado Springs, where Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman was set. In the TV series, Dr. Michaela Quinn travels from Boston, Massachusetts to Colorado Springs in 1867, because the townspeople of modern Boston refuse to visit a female doctor. At first, the inhabitants of this frontier town refuse to trust Michaela also. But gradually, she wins their respect, and becomes a valued member of the community.

While Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman was filmed in California, this is the area in which the TV series was set. There may not have been a real Dr. Michaela Quinn. Nonetheless, the issues the character battles, and the events she lived through, were very real indeed. When you see General Custer leading his army troops against nearby Native American tribes, this is where those battles actually took place. When you see Army troops killing herds of buffalo to drive away Native American communities, and clear the land for homesteads and ranches, this is where that occurred. When you see the townspeople striving to attract the interest of the railroads, and thereby develop their town, this is where that occurred.

In the series, all that occurred, or at least began, in 1867. In the one hundred-and-fifty years hence, townspeople like shopkeeper Loren Bray and barber Jake Slicker won. The train came to Colorado Springs, and the town grew. Now there's far more than one school or church in Colorado Springs, let alone one doctor. The town has grown out all proportion to its original size, and has reaped all the benefits of becoming a modern city, as well as the accompanying traffic and overcrowding issues. 

In Garden of the Gods, the beauty of the land in which Colorado Springs was planted remains. This was the place where people like Dr. Michaela Quinn demonstrated that all people are equal, regardless of gender, race, or beliefs. I'm so glad it remains free to enter, and accessible to all.

Dragon Dave