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