Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Yeti attack!

Dr. Who Yeti attack! / by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln ; starring Patrick Troughton ; linking narration by Frazer Hines.-- Hampton, NH : BBC Worldwide Ltd., 2001
5 sound discs (5 hr., 10 min.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.
ISBN: 9780563526551
"Two original BBC Television soundtracks."--Container.

The abominable snowmen (serial NN) by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln; directed by Gerald Blake. Original television broadcast September – November, 1967. Cast: The Doctor, Patrick Troughton; Victoria Waterfield, Deborah Watling; Jamie McCrimmon, Frazer Hines; Khrisong, Norman Jones; Padmasambhava, Wolfe Morris; Ralpachan, David Baron; Rinchen, David Grey; Sapan, Raymond Llewellyn; Songsten, Charles Morgan; Thonmi, David Spenser; Professor Travers, Jack Watling; Yeti, Reg Whitehead, Tony Harwood, Richard Kerley, and John Hogan.

Web of fear (serial QQ) by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln directed by Douglas Camfield. Original television broadcast February – March, 1968. Cast: The Doctor, Patrick Troughton; Victoria Waterfield, Deborah Watling; Jamie McCrimmon, Frazer Hines; Professor Travers, Jack Watling; Anne Travers, Tina Packer; Captain Knight, Ralph Watson; Col. Lethbridge-Stewart, Nicholas Courtney; Corporal Blake, Richardson Morgan; Corporal Lane, Rod Beacham; Craftsman Weams, Stephen Whittaker; Driver Evans, Derek Pollitt; Harold Chorley, Jon Rollason; Julius Silverstein, Frederick Schrecker; Soldier, Bernard G. High; Soldier, Joseph O'Connell; Staff Sgt. Arnold, Jack Woolgar.

1. Doctor Who (Fictitious character) – Drama. 2. Doctor Who (Television program : 1963-1989) 3. Human-alien encounters -- Drama. 4. Science fiction television programs. 5. Yeti – Drama.

791.4561

You would expect to find some Yeti in Tibet, so that’s where English explorer Professor Travers goes looking for them in 1935. He does find some just outside a monastery, but they’re not at all what he expects them to be, rather then abominable snowmen, they turn out to be robots, furry and cute but ferocious and controlled by small metal globes concealed in their chests. And controlling the globes is a disembodied alien, the Great Intelligence, as it modestly calls itself, trying to control the monastery as a first step toward world domination. Fortunately for Travers, the monks and the rest of the world, The Doctor and his two human companions, Jamie and Victoria, also happen to drop into this particular bit of space-time, just in time to foil the Great Intelligence and set the monastery back to a more orderly and orthodox discipline.

Thirty years later, in its next attempt at planetary conquest, the Great Intelligence casts aside all attempts at subtlety. It invades the London subway system. Yeti with glowing eyes run amok spraying most everything with a sticky and deadly web-like substance that they shoot from guns. Once again double agents are working behind the lines, and it’s hide-and-seek with glue guns in the dark. This time it takes the Doctor, his friends and the entire British Army to dig out the evil doers and clean up the mess.

Since video recordings of several episodes of these vintage 60s television science fiction shows have gone missing over the years these audio soundtracks with voice-over narration are a good way to recapture most of the fun of the originals.

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