The wife started watching The Abominable Snowmen animation with me and by episode three asked for a divorce. I blame Gary Russell.

The Macra Terror is the closest that Doctor Who ever got to George Orwell. Anyway, it's good to have this animation at last.

Funny thing is this story is very likely to return in the future since this was included in one of the three batches that was sent to Nigeria back in the 70s. It was in the second batch, the same one with the Web of Fear and Enemy of The World, both of which has been found so maybe a closer look or a second search there will reveal where the story is.

A fair and balanced critique, Josh. I enjoyed the animation, although I felt the Doctor's fur coat should have been more bulky. I always thought it was meant to be a subtle nod to the Yeti.

Josh Snares while showing shot of the villain literally floating: they really elevated the finale. Nice touch

The really sad thing for me is Season 1 is only missing 1 story now. Season 2 is missing 1, season 4 is missing 2, season 5 is missing 1 and season 6 is missing 1. We are so close to having entire seasons back and now they stop 😢

I am hoping with the Disney + stuff going on, possible Disney could throw in some money to do animations like these. I think it would be neat to see a Disney style Doctor Who Animation.

Two things I loved the most about this new animation: 1: The animators occasionally attempted to mimic Gerald Blake's fluid camera style and obsession with extreme over-the-shoulder shots, and when they didn't/couldn't, they tried other nifty techniques to make the visuals "pop". 2: The "flashbacks" in the last couple of episodes seriously livened up what could have been some very staid and static dialogue scenes. Other than that, I agree with so many of your observations. The colour palette is absolutely gorgeous, and the expanded sets look utterly amazing, while not being as alienating as the ones in Galaxy Four. (I watched the surviving 'Air Lock' with the B&W animation and by Episode 4 I had no idea where any of the characters were!) Animating the characters as actually looking Tibetan was a terrific move - though it's interesting that the animators gave them some fairly unsubtle physical identifiers, as though they were worried "all Tibetans look the same". Much more successful than the Asian background characters in Fury, who were less likely to have been hired for a British project of that sort in 1975.

I can remember back in 2016 when I got Power of the Daleks for christmas and how amazing it was to be able to simply watch a classic Doctor Who story whenever I wanted (this and Enemy of the World were the only doctor who dvds i has for several years after) Despite not knowing the full history behind the story, just seeing a story animated in such a different way to how most other animation studios went about things was incredible It's such a shame now, knowing that we may never see another animation whatsoever but I am thankful that we did get what we got

Since your documentary videos about missing episodes are some of my favourites (would honestly consider them better than some similar ones included on box sets) I would love if the next step, now that we are at a long hiatus in animations) for a documentary on the history of missing Doctor Who episodes being animated.

Josh Snares videos are like buses. You wait ages for one and then get three! I love buses. I love Josh more! 😍

While Abominable is my favourite art style wise, Macra is hands down the best animated story (in my opinion). I never expected to love it so much, never underestimate psychedelic oppressive crab regimes I guess.

All we had for decades was the Target novelisation, and Terrence Dicks's writing was very atmospheric. I'm pleased with how the animation recreated that atmosphere

I wish they'd take on 'Marco Polo', but charge more to really go to town on the animation; and make it fluid with a more 'rotoscoped' look like the 70s 'Lord of the Rings' animation. Or crowd fund it. I can dream.🙂

Story wise I like it a bit better than Web of Fear with it's mysterious buildup and the elevating final episode. Helps that I enjoy it being in Tibet and the whole mysticism of it all. Plus I like the characters. Khrisong turning around to help the Doctor (and then getting the stupidest death scene I've ever seen in an episode lol), Travers being as brilliant as ever, and finding Thonmi adorable. The allowance with the animation to see Padmasambhava floating and the cliffhanger with his glowing eyes was so cool. And the freedom to put back in a cut scene. So far I think this, The Invasion still and Evil of the Daleks have the best animations. Wish episode animations would continue, hopefully with Bad Wolf productions because I really want The Massacre, Marco Polo and The Crusades. Since its release I've watched the Abominable Snowmen I few times already

This one had a scooby do vibe for me which was a bit strange but overall, I enjoyed it. As for the importance of these animations, Patrick Troughton is my favourite doctor so these animations have meant so much to me. I was in so much disbelief when Macra Terror came out, I was amazed, it was my favourite doctor but in colour with better camera work and the villain looks so much better. I know some of the remaining missing episodes have their difficulties like the remaining Troughton stories being less popular and some of the Hartnell stories being difficult to animate but I hope we continue to get more than telesnaps representing these missing stories. Also I feel like this is a good time to say I really appreciate this channel for keeping classic doctor who conversations going for young fans like me. the animations have played a part in keeping my passion for classic doctor who alive but this channel has played a big part too.

I really really hope that RTDs new era and the partnership with BBC and Bad Wolf, now owned by Sony will give the show a reason to animate Doctor Who on a better scale. Because I couldn’t agree more. Might not love all the animation styles, but am I grateful I can now watch these stories? Bloody hell yes. If it wasn’t for the Power of the Daleks animation. It wouldn’t be one of my favourite stories of all time.

If kindly voices are heard - wishing for new animations - if it is clear there is a ready market and a growing one - there may be more animated stories to come

Pour one out for Wheel in Space, one day you'll get animated too. I hope.

This is the first story I can remember seeing live when I was 5.

Victoria is wearing the wrong dress at the start of the animation! She is wearing her Fury From The Deep minidress, she should be wearing her Tomb summer frock from the previous episode (see telesnaps)

can't wait until more animations come out, your videos are really the highlights that go along with viewing those lost classics I've wanted to see for many years.

Yet another great review Josh !! 😊😊totally agree with your opinions 😊such a great shame only 1 episode exists in the archives 😢

Great hearing your thoughts on it! I was one of the people that were able to see it at the BFI before release and it definitely felt like it went on a bit longer than it should!

Lovely review and I was happy to see a new video from you! I enjoyed this release - it was beautifully done.

Loved this vid josh. I mainly comment because I know it helps channels. Your content is always so well crafted and you seem to care so much. Keep keeping on. Watched this as soon as it came out, grew up on legends of this series. My brother who is three years older than me would tell me about the Yeti. I was born in 65 so am too young to remember it. Weirdly, my first ever memory was of the end episode 3 of the Invasion, with the cyberman bursting out of its casing. It had such an effect on me, that it made me a lifelong Doctor Who fan. Imagine your first conscious though in the world being terrified by a Cyberman as you hid behind the sofa. I distinctly remember that our family and many others turned off the room lights to watch TV in the evenings. This was quite traditional in the 60s, TV had only been a thing for about 10 years or so by then, and it was a hang over from the 60s. So watching TV back than was like watching a movie at a cinema there was that same kind of hush. It made Doctor Who much more scary and I remember the dull lighting had so much more effect in the dark and it is still the best way to watch these vintage TV shows from the 60s. I love them so much because I have that sense of missing out and hearing about them from older family members, my only experience of these episodes growing up was reading the novelizations. It is insane that they were publishing books about these episodes, whilst at the same time systematically destroying the originals. Just criminal cultural vandalism. They knew what they were doing was morally wrong and they still did it anyway.

Thank You for all the videos this year, keep on working. I will keep on watching Terry @ Tardis Spider

Excellent review - really detailed and clear with some great advice for viewing it. You always do such a good and fair job of reviewing these. I laughed out loud when you said you would be okay with getting attacked by a Yeti because they're cuddly! :)

I'm hoping if the rumors are true about the Toymaker returning, then someone at the beeb will commission an animation for The Celestial Toymaker. We're closer than ever of getting animations of Season 3 serials and tbh I never thought we'd get the Troughon Dalek serials animated.

I preordered mine almost a year ago and still waiting on it to arrive this video has help me so much thank you

Where did you get that pillow?? I love it :) (the select audio one :p)

Thanks, as always, for these videos, Josh. It's certainly a leisurely story but a delight to have it, and I find if you watch an episode a day it's easy to carry on having a bit of an appetite for the next episode. All the best.

I’m excited to get my hands on this animation. I have enjoyed every full animation I’ve seen maybe I’m weird haha. The 2nd doctor is my favorite, but I was also happy that the 1st got the this treatment as well!

Someday I’ll see all of the animations. I’m waiting for The Collection sets to come out. Looking forward to Hartnell’s.

Thanks for the video josh, excellent as always

I had not seen the story before but i loved it. I watched first in black and white then I watched it in colour on Blu Ray. A lot of hard work had gone in to making this which I appreciate but I think that actual black and white photos of Troughton and Hines etc would be better than the cartoon look.

I’m just glad we get something. Thanks for the info

Love your DW videos, please keep it up!

Yay, my favourite 60s companion run is complete.

Looking at the changed design of Padmasambhava I think they were going for the Tibetan mummy look - that's what it reminds me off. This has always been my fav story of the 2nd Doctor ever since I read the Target novel of it as a child in the late 80s lol. I agree it's a shame the original doesn't exist anymore - well never say never it maybe still out there lol. Maybe one day they may redo the missing adventures using the same CGI they used to bring Peter Cushing back to life as Tarkin in Rogue One.

Looking forward to seeing this unfortunately it doesn't come out in the states till December.

I liked it in truth and for once I actually loved the coloured animation, it gave it a whole new perspective. The extra's were great in particular 'Troughton in Tibet' and Frazer Hines personal video footage. The animation itself may divide opinion, but given we only have Ep 2 saved for real, I am happy with the animated results that have been made. Thank goodness for telesnaps too!

Three Josh videos in recent memory? They're serving

Gotta wait till December here in the States!

Heya! The level of effort, commitment and detail in your work is mind-blowing. "TheAlgorithm" only just now decided I might enjoy this content. They weren't wrong! Massive life-long fan of Doctor Who since the 70s. One thing I have to say, as a West Australian, your pronunciation of "Polo" and "Abominable" hits weirdly...

I’m looking forward to the animation I found the recon quote awkward due to the atmosphere which is kinda missing in just pictures so I’m looking forward to properly experiencing the story Skoogy is also amazing

I love this particular story I think that this animation is great - very sad that the animation programme is currently paused.

I look forward to this one. I actually liked the extra details in the background of Fury from the Deep...it feels like a detailed set where they just have very Doctor Who-type budget characters, and idk, it just fits Edit: I'm still really waiting on "The Highlander" since I've always wanted to see Jamie's intro story done right.

Still would like The Crusade from the Season 2 boxset out on SD-DVD. Two surviving eps and two eps of telesnaps, same as The Underwater Menace.

Great review

Well I said I’d get The Evil Of The Daleks by the end of last year and I did just after Christmas 2021 and really enjoyed it (especially that brilliant zooming shot going into Maxtible’s house in Episode 2) and hopefully this year I’ll finished it with The Abominable Snowman.

Where can I watch besides britbox?

I love the animations and I’m disappointed that we may not get anymore for a while. I’d been looking forward to seeing this story

AAAARGH, I'M IN THE STATES & WE GOTTA WAIT TILL DECEMBER!!!! For the disk, I mean.

i love your reviews, thank you

Disney is adding its name to the ring, can U imagine them doing a line drawing/CGI version of some of these eps??

This might be sacrilegious but I would really enjoy cut down versions of these 6+ parters to a 4 parter length because they really tend to drag out a lot

Can U make another audio animation ???

I bought it and hope if someone has the episodes they have a heart and release it. I loved this serial and would love to see it in Black and White.

Hi Josh. Hi Scoogy. Thanks for the review.

love to see if one of animated adventures and compare to episodes if they turn up

I hope this the abominable snowman may be the last animated Doctor who episode. But I hope they do more in the future like Marco Polo and underwater menace. What two stories that you would like to see them do in the future. Also I do think underwater menace is criminally underrated.

I hope this comes out of Blu Ray in the US. We usually only get the DVD version here, which does not make sense since it is next to impossible to find a new DVD only player in the US.

If the Yeti ever come back let's hope they don't fuck it up the way they did with the Sea Devils. Legend of the Sea Devils was a disgrace!

I'm a New Who fan and, primarily, a Big Finish fan. But I'm watching Classic Doctor Who for the very first time from the start. I'm enjoying it waaaay more than I thought I would. I just watched this one and I loved it. This was a pretty interesting story, different than what came before. The Great Intelligence as an enemy never really impressed me, but it was kind of interesting here. More so than the three episodes it was in new who, at least. I do agree that it drags a bit. It's rare that I think a story deserves more than four episodes, honestly. It usually just ends up being padding. I'm glad that the designs of the monks and Tibet were much more accurate and I liked the design of the older master. I especially liked that climax, which wouldn't have been possible at the time. I feel like this animation gives a "more accurate" version of the story they were trying to tell than live action could have done. I know it exists, obviously, but there should be an official animation of The Web Planet too because that was so bad live action, but I'm sure it would be ok animated. I've really liked the animations for the Second Doctor so far. I love how so far the Second Doctor has very much so been: Doctor Who: The Animated Series because most of season 4 is missing and a lot of season 5. But the animations have been very good. They elevate the material over telesnaps, for sure. I really loved Power of the Daleks, The Macra Terror, The Faceless Ones, The Evil of the Daleks, and now The Abominable Snowman because of the animation. Not so much The Underwater Menace, not a lot to be done about that story.

i get that the episodes were done in more segments back then but how is it that for instance with the abomidable snowmen 1 or 2 segments survived while others didnt? i realize BBC didnt preserve things back then how they do now but werent the episodes archived together ? at least thats what one might think or they would come across as being incomplete

I'm just glad these official reconstructions exist, and wish there were more.

Haven’t seen it yet. I’m in the US, my copy is still in transit.

and the next thing filmed in snowdonia a few months after with thomini was carry on up the Khyber with wales doubling for india

I just watched this and was surprised just how much I enjoyed it with the existing episode 2 and the rest in colour watched all 6 in a row 👍👍

It's not a bad animation. Worth the money, although I bought the DVD this time instead of the Blu-ray. After the 'Abominable Web of Fear 'animation' all other animations look great. What's become of the character animators from The Moonbase? Have they all died or something, because they really knew how to draw faces? I saw the story when it first came out and I'm still unable to say or write Padmawhatsisname, so you're excused if you can't say it either. 😁He was kept hidden in the original which made the big reveal a big impact. The animators have really made this story have made this a very slow story with periods where the characters take ages to walk down an empty corridor. Something I don't remember from the original. The Yeti control board seems to be lacking in detail. I couldn't tell where the Yeti figurines were supposed to moving from and to. I'm sure they would have used Tibetan actors in 1967 if any were available, but I very much doubt if there was a single one. Racist, sexist, homophobic, bigoted? There was a little in An Unearthly Child where the Doc was talking about Red Indian savages, and in The Talons of Weng-Chiang, but not much elsewhere. People always bring up Toberman as an example, but there were the same type of white characters in the Peladon stories and no one complains about them. I see very little sexism in the classic series. Barbara and Zoë are particularly strong characters. Zoë pushes back against the sexism a lot. The modern writers have inserted sexism where there was none before. A terrible example of it being in Twice Upon a Time. I can't think of any examples of the classics being homophobic. I watch the stories two at a time. Always from 1.00am to 2.00am while chomping on Giant Strawbs,. (My vegetarian jelly baby substitutes). 😁

@Josh Snares , do a reconstruction of katarinas death , like do the whole thing make sure it ends with showing Katrina in space , try best as u could.

I really enjoyed the Abominable Snowman, thought animation looked really good. just a shame it's the last for now. I was really hoping to get wheel in Space or Daleks Masterplan next.

I'm still waiting for that story to be released in My Australia on Blu-ray Dude!😉☮️

i enjoy your skog, i wish we had skogs in america bc i had to get a knockoff lmao

I was at the BFI screening of this, and Gary Russell said they changed Padmasambhava into an older, more decrepit looking character, so he looks over 300. And the animators were told not to look at Episode 2 before animating it, so it looks different.

15:04 I saw that Josh!

The animation was good. But sometimes i actually prefer the telesnap reconstructions. I like seeing stills from the actual episodes with the audio. The telesnaps on the bluray didnt have writing at the bottom telling you what was happening tho, and it had some god awful cgi moments which were horrendous to say the least. One scene i remember from the telesnaps when the doctor is surrounded by yeti wanting the control sphere, he rolls it down a hill and the yeti chase after it. But in the animation he simply throws it into a group of approaching yeti :( I did like the inclusion of the giant snow globe control from the 2013 christmas special 'the snowmen' they added in with animation.

THANKS FOR UPLOADING JOSH!! made my day 😊

I can't decide which I love more, your sweater or your Djungelskog. Ik neither of them have much to do with Abominable Snowman but I just had to say.

I recently watch the Abominable Snowmen and loved it but it also answered a question for me. I often wondered why the 5th Doctor always said "Brave Heart Tegan" as it was a very random catch phrase until the 2,Nd Doctor says to Victoria "Brave Heart Victoria" in this story and I went "Oooohhh it's a throw back" hahaha

fair choice to make Tibet people way they should as want to make it better as it was with animation

1966: Flying Beastie! 2022: GREAT BIG HAIRY BEASTIE!! How times change.

Since Big Finish is its own money making endeavor, is there a chance that they may try to self finance further animation releases that could then be included on the Blu-ray sets as a quid pro quo?

Padmasambhava's redesign is to make him look more like an actual Tibetan mummy. Look up Sangha Tenzin - I reckon he was their visual inspiration. I really enjoyed this one. Shame it's the last one for the foreseeable future. Ironically when they finally have enough assets made that they could reuse many of them. They could probably have done "The Wheel In Space" or "The Highlanders" too.

People who complain about the animations not matching the original episodes, have obviously never read a Target novelisation. The books often went on huge flights of fantasy compared to the original transmitted stories. Great video Josh, btw did you notice the Yeti don’t roar?

You don't have to watch it all in one go just because it's animated, Josh.

Cool!

Saw it at the bfi in the big screen

Nice review! I enjoyed the animation very much, although I'd have liked more close-ups rather than static long shots (and I acknowledge the creators are doing their best). I'm all for a complete rework with them. They *aren't* the original footage, so why create a half-baked ersatz version? Fans who are interested in the TV history can enjoy the telesnaps. The animations are an *addition* to those, not a replacement, and a chance to give 50-year-old recordings a new life.

Where is the animated Highlanders?

Shame we probably won't get any more animations any time soon.

Watched the black and white version and really enjoyed it, leaps and bounds over what was done in fury from the deep. Currently working through the color version, on episode 3 now. Great video as always, Josh!

Jay Bay Hiffy hasn't delivered mine yet. I refuse to talk about it while it's got liver in it!!!

Skoogy is my g. Absolute legend.

The perfect animation in my eyes is Macra Terror; I think they got a perfect balance of honouring the original episode whilst bringing it to the 21st century. My problem with these new big finish animations is the 3D assets mixed with the 2D characters. It’s just too jarring for me - those hyper realistic surroundings with the simplistic character designs is too distracting!

Just commenting in order to support a fellow former speech therapy...student, patient? Also, congrats for having an incredible sweater.

Love Skoogy. Best channel mascot. :)

As someone looking forward to Fury from the Deep, the moment they started doing cut aways to not have to lip sync I immediately was pulled out of the story and started to look at all of its faults, but with Galaxy 4 the animation just seemed a lot better and I fell in love with the story even though some of the sets were a bit distracting (in their details from time to time), but I'm excited to see this one but also very cautious. Can't wait to watch it when I can finally get my hands on it in either Feburary or March next year since it takes forever for it to release instore at JB HiFi in New Zealand.

I enjoyed the story, I'm glad I now have a complete collection of Great Intelligence stories. When I first watched it it was at the start of a Great Intelligence marathon. I found watching 2 six part stories, three modern episodes and a direct-to-video film easy. Honestly I prefer longer stories as it gives the plot time to develop and characters to be fleshed out more. But in terms of the racial controversy I am mixed, namely due to the fact instead of white actors playing characters who should be Asian it's now white actors voicing characters who are Asian. It seems to be trying to fix a controversy by making another one. I agree with Phadmasambhava's redesign looking silly especially his mouth design but that said he does look more like how a three hundred year old human would probably look. As much as I love the references to the other Great Intelligence stories the Globe kind of confused me, I thought it was just a background extra. It makes me wonder what the original globe was in the story, was it just another control sphere or something else? 13:29 Planet 55? Don't you mean The Tenth Planet?😆