Some intelligences are greater than others – and the latest issue of Doctor Who: The Complete History is testament to that!
Issues 20 of the partwork covers four Second Doctor stories, including classic villains who returned in the show’s 50th anniversary year: the Ice Warriors and the Great Intelligence. Here’s what’s inside:
The Abominable Snowmen
When the TARDIS lands in the Himalayas, the Doctor is accused of murder and finds the once-timid Yeti are being directed by a sinister alien intelligence.
The Ice Warriors
In the far future, the Earth is in the grip of a new ice age. Unearthed from the ice, an alien warrior is revived and threatens the efforts to hold back the approaching glacier.
The Enemy of the World
When the TARDIS lands in Australia in the early twenty-first Century, the Doctor is mistaken for the politician, Salamander.
The Web of Fear
Arriving in London, the Doctor must once again confront the Great Intelligence and its deadly foot soldiers, the robot Yeti.
The vast majority of episodes in the latter two serials were, of course, returned to the BBC, and released on DVD in 2013, so all could experience the glory of the Yeti in the underground and the evil machinations of Patrick Troughton’s possibly-Mexican Salamander! But man, that synopsis above makes The Enemy of the World sound really boring! Fortunately, it turned out to be a surprisingly-good piece.
The Ice Warriors, too, can be seen (mostly) on DVD – and you’ve got to love Bernard Bresslaw as Varga! – but sadly, The Abominable Snowmen is largely missing from the archives. The unusual setting and clever enemy make it a great story, and its soundtrack is well worth a listen.
And with this collection so far planned to reach to issue 80, can you believe we’re already a quarter of the way through?!
Doctor Who: The Complete History #20 is out now, priced £9.99 or $24.99 in Australia and New Zealand.
