Latest / A Hamster With a Blunt Penknife - a Doctor Who Commentary podcast / Talks to Robert Valentine about his choice of The Abominable Snowmen (2/6)

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Talks to Robert Valentine about his choice of The Abominable Snowmen (2/6) · A Hamster With a Blunt Penknife - a Doctor Who Commentary podcast

• 0:23
  None. Hamster with a blunt.
• 0:34
  Penknife for doing quicker, quicker.
• 0:39
  Welcome back to a hamster with a blunt penknife.
• 0:42
  My name is Rob Valentine, I'm here with Mr. Joe Ford and this
• 0:46
  is the Doctor Who Commentary podcast.
• 0:48
  I got those bits the wrong way around memory, but you know
• 0:53
  where we are and what we're doing.
• 0:54
  We are talking about Doctor Who, the Abominable Snowman, and you
• 1:00
  said so too. I've been doing some some sort
• 1:03
  of facts and figures myself, you know, I think somewhere in our
• 1:07
  Abominable Snowman release will be the 700th episode of The
• 1:11
  Hamster. Of blood.
• 1:12
  Penknife. That's.
• 1:12
  Come out 700 man. 700. Terrifying, right?
• 1:19
  That's that. Well, congratulations and
• 1:24
  commiserations. Think of all those.
• 1:28
  And we're at the 103rd guest as well, All of them friends now.
• 1:35
  I mean, what? That's an achievement, right?
• 1:37
  103? Oh.
• 1:37
  Yes. Yeah, it's it's it's a it's a
• 1:39
  it's a bit the ham fam is a big fam, yes.
• 1:43
  Although I will say to you the day you, you know, you've
• 1:44
  written 700 Big Finish episodes, all right, That's an
• 1:47
  achievement. Come back to me then, all right.
• 1:54
  I so they feel very tired and very old, Yes.
• 1:58
  They're fabulous. Oh, Ashley, do you know what?
• 2:00
  Completely off topic. Do you mind if I do this?
• 2:03
  What? You don't know what I'm going to
• 2:04
  do, do you? No, I don't.
• 2:05
  What? Please everybody go and oh
• 2:08
  bugger me. I can't remember the name.
• 2:10
  The Alpha Centauri One in the 9th, 9th Doctor Adventures.
• 2:14
  Oh, what, my 9th Doctor adventure with Doctor Curry?
• 2:17
  Oh, it's called Run. Oh, how did I forget that I had
• 2:20
  like 3 meanings? Yeah.
• 2:23
  Well thank you. Yeah, I like, I like, I like
• 2:25
  titles that what have layers and yeah it's on a it's on a a box
• 2:29
  set called Travelling Hope. A fantastic box set, the best of
• 2:33
  the bunch. One of the best.
• 2:35
  Listeners, I had last year, and if you don't believe me, go
• 2:38
  check out My Trap One episode I did on that one.
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  We all absolutely loved it. Man, that was.
• 2:43
  Bloody good. I mean, they're all brilliant,
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  Yeah. Don't get me wrong.
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  Well, that was one of my favourites of last year.
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  Oh, thank so that was, that was a fun one.
• 2:52
  That was a fun one. Anyway, on certainly Abominable
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  Snowmen episode 2. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes.
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  We are. I I'm going to contradict what I
• 3:01
  said last episode. We are in fact going to watch
• 3:04
  real life moving pictures, a stunning new innovation.
• 3:09
  Yeah, I I was When you. I didn't realise that not
• 3:12
  watching the actual thing was an option.
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  But I don't know. I don't want to miss the actual
• 3:18
  thing. So you.
• 3:19
  Looked a little baffled that they had animated episode 2.
• 3:22
  Look, I yeah, I don't pay attention to things.
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  That's absolutely fair enough. Well, and and this isn't on the
• 3:30
  iPlayer, so how would you know? Exactly, exactly.
• 3:34
  I'm yeah. I think this is the one time,
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  and I'm so sorry because I know you know I'm talking about you
• 3:39
  every time I do this on how so I'm Penknife and start talking
• 3:42
  about directors. You know it's you.
• 3:44
  Right that I'm talking about. Go on.
• 3:47
  Well, every time I mention, you know, directors can't make an
• 3:50
  impact. On.
• 3:52
  I I refer myself back to I. Think it was our Sharda
• 3:55
  conversation that we had where where you said that that that
• 3:59
  just wasn't a priority for you. And I'm coming to learn that the
• 4:05
  storytelling, the influences, everything, sort of bar is more
• 4:12
  your interest. Yeah, I think, well, yeah.
• 4:15
  I think I kind of pretty overstated my position on that
• 4:18
  front simply because of where I came in on Doctor Who, where it
• 4:22
  was, you know, I was watching it in the 80s.
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  I don't. I don't think it's, you know.
• 4:26
  You know, I'm not sure it was being directed at that point.
• 4:29
  Yeah, I mean like just going back to our Gunfighters chat, I
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  mean actually the Gunfighters is a beautifully directed bit of
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  TV, you know, which I thought was phenomenal, you know, so.
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  The point I was sort of lazily trying to get to was that now we
• 4:45
  can actually experience, just for one episode, the direction
• 4:48
  of this story. And I think it's quite
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  impressive. I think it's more about
• 4:53
  atmosphere and mood than sort of action and dynamism, but there's
• 4:58
  absolutely a place for that and he really creates a great mood.
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  He does sort of languid camera pans and and he's bringing in
• 5:06
  sort of monks chanting and things like that.
• 5:08
  He's doing lots to create a lot of mood and I think it's.
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  And the and the soundscapes on this are really atmospheric as
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  well. The last thing, That's what I
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  love about this. I want to be transported up into
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  up into a monastery on top of a mountain with monsters outside.
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  You know, that's what you want. It's the atmosphere.
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  Yeah, well, well, shall we head there now then?
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  Let's do it. Let's do it.
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  OK, oh oh, sorry. I totally took over that intro
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  there. I'm really sorry.
• 5:39
  No, I I false habit. I don't have to say the
• 5:43
  beginning, beg and do I? No, you don't.
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  No, no, no. We're no, no, we're done.
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  Don't worry. We're done.
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  Good, good, good. Right.
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  And you did very well. You did.
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  Thank you. Patronize me, Top.
• 5:55
  Down yourself, I'll. I'll get.
• 5:58
  I will remember it and get it right, considering I've probably
• 6:00
  listened to it what 700 times? Nearly coming up for you think
• 6:04
  I. I thought you had a slightly
• 6:07
  psychotic look in your eye. Well, well, you know, firstly
• 6:11
  this morning first I did, you know, I didn't, didn't want to
• 6:14
  give it up. So I the latest episode of
• 6:18
  Hamster had dropped you, you and all all born.
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  Yeah. So yeah, I listened to to that,
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  that was. 1st And the wind That was the sailing I was at the
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  time as well. Exactly.
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  Speaking of wind, the sailing is Oh yeah, yeah, let's get yeah,
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  yeah. That was that was that was
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  atmospheric Joe. That was an atmospheric
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  location. Recording is how we'll sell it
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  to people. Oh, Rob, I love doing this of
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  you. Honestly, right.
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  Count us in. Come on.
• 6:46
  I counted in last time. Oh, I'll count us in, Yeah.
• 6:49
  Count us in joke. 543. Two if anyone actually does
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  this. Alongside the episodes, one I
• 6:59
  certainly never have apart from when I recalls.
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  Yeah, same, same. Yeah.
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  You don't need it here. And I like to potest one of the
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  podcasts and stuff so much as you can do all the things you
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  know. Actually, do you know what off
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  Mike? I'm going to ask you what other
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  podcasts you listen to. Some recommendations.
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  Oh yeah, sure thing will do. I actually think there is
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  something in the the influences of TV and film.
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  You know there is a podcast in that everything that we talked
• 7:27
  about in the last. Yeah.
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  Tracing family. Oh, yeah, Yeah.
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  I mean, I'm in Hog's heaven with that kind of thing.
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  Oh, here we are. OK, well, Jamie, the roof.
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  This this is a fantastic way out of A solution to being attacked
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  in a cave. Is causing a cave in.
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  Yes. Although.
• 7:45
  Fraser Hines is appalled when he watches this because you can see
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  the mark on the timber where they said the marks just there
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  hit it there. He can see it, he can see it,
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  but then he goes and says it. But never share your bet.
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  Noise in public. Well, was that?
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  Yeah, how great. Looks at this look how crisp and
• 8:02
  how well lit is this? It looks fantastic.
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  It looks great and just seeing seeing its claw and just bit
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  this bit. See, wait, wait, he goes over to
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  the the the ball pyramid and it's a really fun Indiana Jones
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  move. He does here where he takes one
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  and then he goes straight to his little knapsack.
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  That's a real indie move, that is.
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  Jamie So what are where are we now?
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  This is his 7th, 8th adventure. He knows what's important, you
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  know he knows what's. And something the claw twitches,
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  so we know how strong these. It does look a little bit like a
• 8:44
  load of balls of wood, but never mind.
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  Oh yeah, but that's only because it's so powerful.
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  Yes. And then they run out of The
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  Cave and suddenly we're on location, the location working
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  this. Look at this.
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  It's. Beautiful, isn't it?
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  And it feels it does feel desolate, which is kind of the
• 9:01
  idea. Yeah, yeah, I've loved a bit of
• 9:02
  snow, but you know, that's that's me.
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  That's me wanting the moon on the stick.
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  Here the Doctor in this recorder again.
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  The one thing you get when you cut back to live action is
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  trousers face acting, which you just can't get into.
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  Yeah, yeah, that's the only, That's the only.
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  That was one of the main things you lose with You know when you
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  listen, when you're listening along and towards long silences,
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  it's it's the, it's the, it's the performances you're missing
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  that we've lost. Or are, you know, happy to be
• 9:31
  recovered. His face is so fluid, isn't it?
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  It's always. Expressing an emotion.
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  Yeah, and Tommy's telling him the Yetis have turned on the
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  monks. And this is a new thing because
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  the monks know the Yetis are peaceful.
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  How do these are peaceful? Because that's what Nigel Neil
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  wrote. But they borrowing wholesale
• 9:53
  from this movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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  If you watch it, basically what Peter Cushing starts off in the
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  the monastery then goes off on an expedition with an American
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  Yeti hunter. But in this one, essentially
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  they state you state the monastery becomes the base that
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  is under siege. Is that film?
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  Is it filmed in Tibet? Has it got fabulous Tibetan
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  location work? It was.
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  It's filmed. I think it's filmed at at
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  Pinewood or Shepperton, but it's got mountain, it's got location
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  work. They sent a small crew out to
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  the Pyrenees, so it does have beautiful snowy mountain
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  photography. Yeah, I'm going to watch that
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  before we do four to six, you know.
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  Oh. No, you should.
• 10:41
  You should. Yeah, you should.
• 10:42
  Yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's very,
• 10:44
  very online. So you'll find it, yeah.
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  I think, yeah, the the artistic rendering of the monks, it's not
• 10:51
  that much different, is it? Really it's it's quite subtle.
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  What do you oh do you mean compared to the animations?
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  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I I I don't think the animation
• 11:02
  is as radical as people are suggesting.
• 11:05
  No, no, no. And also we know from this one
• 11:07
  that the Doctor was last there in 1630, so is that.
• 11:11
  Important. Well, it's it's what it is in
• 11:13
  that it's one of those things where this is a place the Doctor
• 11:16
  has been before, which which starts getting done, you know,
• 11:20
  later with like the 7th Doctor. Happens a lot, you know.
• 11:23
  We we assume that's Hartnell. I don't.
• 11:26
  I think they recognise this doctor, don't they?
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  I can't. They they can't recognise them
• 11:32
  because they they're all that was 1630.
• 11:34
  Look at that shot with them running down the hill with the
• 11:37
  Yeti menace and behind. I love this.
• 11:39
  I love how I love how the yetis are.
• 11:41
  Big fluffy things. I.
• 11:43
  Wanted to ask you about that because obviously they are
• 11:46
  slightly cute. And I know Doctor Who can sort
• 11:49
  of strand this line between being a bit ridiculous and being
• 11:53
  frightening, and I think they achieve that here, but do you
• 11:57
  think they should have gone for something more traditionally
• 11:59
  scary looking? If you're if you're going to do
• 12:05
  on you just start from you know blank page clear head blue sky.
• 12:11
  You're going to think what's the yes you're going to look like
• 12:13
  it's going to look more like an 8 foot man.
• 12:15
  It's not going to look it's going to look more like
• 12:17
  Chewbacca really. But they are robots so they're
• 12:22
  going to need to be opened up and have working bits inside.
• 12:26
  So maybe I don't know what the thinking was, but other than it
• 12:31
  within this story, Yetis are supposed to be benign, peaceful,
• 12:35
  Placid creatures, aren't they? And the fact they're terrifying,
• 12:38
  aggressive things is a turn up for the books because the monks,
• 12:43
  all the monks will know them as peaceful, and Travers believes
• 12:46
  they're peaceful as well. So.
• 12:47
  Because the I'm trying to find an in story reason here as to
• 12:50
  why they're so cute. Because the real life.
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  Yetis are very cute and Placid. That's what the great
• 12:56
  intelligence based them on, to create them so they could blend
• 12:59
  in. OK, yeah, sure.
• 13:02
  And it's got nothing to do with the fact that we've got to make
• 13:04
  the monsters look like Patrick Trout in a big woolly coat.
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  Or insulate them because they're up Snowdonia and it's bloody
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  cold. That too.
• 13:13
  That too. Yes.
• 13:15
  Yeah, I've got some notes here. Travers is a jerk.
• 13:20
  Some of the Monks are assholes, especially Croissant.
• 13:23
  But they do think, but they do think the Doctor is a murderer,
• 13:27
  so why would they be nice to him?
• 13:29
  So that's it's kind of permissible but.
• 13:32
  Yeah, it is one of those situations where you can see
• 13:35
  both sides. You know, the Doctor, Zenith and
• 13:36
  Traveller coming in, being mistreated and somebody has been
• 13:39
  murdered and those that are, you know, the Doctor is visiting.
• 13:44
  Yeah, I think think that he is, you know, the villain of the
• 13:47
  piece at this point. But I I do.
• 13:50
  Like I said in episode one, I do think Crystal changes very
• 13:53
  quickly. Yeah, from the Nigel Neal is
• 14:00
  that when the American explorers turn up at the monastery,
• 14:04
  they've got a little relic of a Yeti claw and that they're
• 14:08
  returning to the monastery. So and the doctor is also
• 14:11
  returning a relic to the monastery.
• 14:14
  So that's just another little detail since you know, there's a
• 14:16
  lot of business with the Ganter in this one.
• 14:18
  I'm scared I'm going to watch this movie, you know, and think
• 14:21
  they copied an awful lot from the Abominable Snowman.
• 14:24
  Oh, yeah, I wouldn't. I wouldn't say they've ripped it
• 14:27
  off, but you know, they have ripped it off.
• 14:31
  Well, no, no, they have. It's it's no, it's what they've
• 14:34
  done is what good Doctor Who should do.
• 14:36
  They've taken another property and absorbed it into the Doctor
• 14:42
  Who universe. Yeah.
• 14:45
  Because, I mean, by this point, you know, Tintin, it's not, it's
• 14:48
  eight, it's 9 or 10 years since Tintin went to Tibet.
• 14:52
  So, you know, pop culture has been there, the the doctors
• 14:56
  quite late to the party in many ways, you know.
• 15:00
  Well, yeah, yeah. But you know, so doing a Doctor
• 15:02
  Who story that is kind of based on the Yeti, the Lost Horizon,
• 15:08
  etcetera, and also based on a major sci-fi property because
• 15:13
  the Abominable Snowman, it was a, it was a BBCTVTV story.
• 15:17
  The Creature by Nigel Neal, then it was a hammer movie.
• 15:20
  So it's, you know, so it's it's just, you know, it's that's what
• 15:24
  Doctor Who does, and I love it when Doctor Who does it.
• 15:27
  I'm trying not to be cynical and think, you know, the producers
• 15:30
  of Doctor Who are thinking, well, that movie was quite
• 15:32
  popular. Let's do a riff on that, you
• 15:34
  know, and instead Heisman and and Lincoln went, you know what
• 15:38
  would be a great idea if Doctor Who went to Tibet and met the
• 15:41
  Abominable Snowman? Yeah, but it's also it's it's
• 15:44
  it's a compulsory thing almost in certain types of genre
• 15:50
  material. You know if you're doing a
• 15:51
  series like Danger Mouse, you know, you know it's almost
• 15:55
  Danger Mouse has to meet the Yeti because that's what it's
• 16:00
  it's become so all pervasive in pop culture.
• 16:03
  You know the the Scooby gang. You know, you know it's it's
• 16:07
  it's yeah, it's you you have a Yeti episode episode, you've got
• 16:11
  it. You have a you have a vampire
• 16:12
  episode, it's kind of, you know? I'm trying to think of other
• 16:15
  shows that have done it. I remember The X-Files did the
• 16:18
  Jersey Devil, but that just turned out.
• 16:20
  Completely, yeah. Completely inaccurate.
• 16:22
  Had, Yeah, that episode had nothing to do with.
• 16:24
  Everyone, wasn't it? Yeah, because the Jersey Devil
• 16:27
  is fascinating. But they do.
• 16:30
  It's the episode The Jersey Devil has got nothing to do with
• 16:33
  actual Jersey Devil. I heard he is The doctor is
• 16:36
  being tied up to the front gate to be left for the Yeti.
• 16:43
  Which is a great situation to put him in, right?
• 16:45
  He's bait for the Yeti. But yeah, but but I was going to
• 16:49
  say, yeah, yeah, just the I've got just a note here.
• 16:52
  Just a thought, yeah. The 2nd Doctor returning
• 16:55
  somewhere after an unseen adventure to return a Macguffin
• 16:58
  where an ancient evil awaits is the kind of thing the 7th Doctor
• 17:02
  would do later it. Is, yeah, it is.
• 17:05
  It is, yeah. That could.
• 17:07
  Almost be the plot of about 15 new adventures as well.
• 17:10
  You know and. It probably was.
• 17:14
  I do think Travis changed his mind very.
• 17:16
  Quickly though, you know. The second they say to him,
• 17:18
  well, we could lead you to the Yeti.
• 17:20
  Oh, actually, do you know what? Maybe you didn't murder him
• 17:22
  after all. I do love how Floren Trout looks
• 17:26
  when he's tied up. This location stuff is great.
• 17:30
  Look at these rocks. Yeah, and the sad day is is the,
• 17:34
  you know, the the massive valley with the river winding through
• 17:37
  it and the tarts. All that stuff's missing.
• 17:40
  But they took photographs and it's vast.
• 17:42
  It looks incredible. I bet that location might look
• 17:45
  amazing. Here's yeah, Travellers found
• 17:50
  them. There is just summit.
• 17:54
  There is a. Twinkle Between Jack and Debbie
• 17:56
  Watling, obviously. I know.
• 18:02
  I think it's worth noting as well, this is only Victoria's
• 18:05
  third story and she's slotted in just straight away.
• 18:10
  Yeah, yeah, she she she works, you know, conceptually.
• 18:15
  It's just, you know, how well has she used I I do love the
• 18:17
  fact here that you know, Jamie's no fool and you know, Travis is
• 18:23
  sort of he's clearly, you know, obsessed to the point of just
• 18:27
  being a complete yet. I think season five is basically
• 18:37
  where that's the last time they used Jamie as a character.
• 18:41
  Six, he is the Doctor's mate and that's basically it.
• 18:46
  But there are several moments in five where they actually use him
• 18:49
  as a character in a story. It's kind of sad that I, I, I
• 18:54
  always say six. You could run with the 2nd
• 18:56
  Doctor and Zoe and I don't think you'd need to change an awful
• 18:59
  lot. And you know, on the commentary,
• 19:09
  Toby Haddock says to Gary Russell like, this looks like it
• 19:12
  was shot last week. It's so pristine.
• 19:16
  And I think he's right. You know, apart from the fact
• 19:17
  that it's in black and white, it's gorgeous.
• 19:20
  No, it is. It is beautiful.
• 19:21
  I have tommeny speaking with Padma Sambhava.
• 19:30
  Is that how you say it? Isn't it?
• 19:33
  I can't remember. I always say, Pat, Padma
• 19:36
  Samnava, yeah. You're right.
• 19:38
  Yeah. I'll go.
• 19:40
  You know what? On Mark's podcast, I just said
• 19:42
  Paddas. Paddas.
• 19:44
  Yes. Yeah.
• 19:45
  It's not. Yeah, I I Well, you know, if you
• 19:47
  could do it. Get it right.
• 19:49
  Do your best too. Actually, this is the Abbott
• 19:51
  with who Chris Song is with, isn't it?
• 19:53
  Yeah, tell me about. Song Sen.
• 19:56
  Song Sen Yes, this is the Det Sen Monastery.
• 20:00
  I looked it up. Det Sen was an emperor of Tibet
• 20:03
  in AD 577 I think it was. So it's name.
• 20:09
  Yeah. So the names have been cribbed
• 20:11
  from places. Actually one thing the guy who
• 20:16
  plays Hadas. He's played by He's played by
• 20:22
  Wolf Morris, who also played a character called Kusang in the
• 20:29
  The Hammer. Nigel Neil, the Abominable
• 20:33
  Snowman. Really.
• 20:34
  Yeah, so. Pillaging actors as well.
• 20:37
  Yeah. So there's even there is even
• 20:39
  crossover. You must.
• 20:42
  Have picked up the script and went this.
• 20:43
  Looks very familiar. Yeah, yeah, this is.
• 20:46
  Well, this is a bigger part we probably said yesterday.
• 20:49
  The actor who plays Tommy is, I think it's Stephen Pencer is his
• 20:53
  name. He was the partner of Victor
• 20:56
  Pemberton, who wrote Fear From the Deep and script edited the
• 21:01
  first couple of stories of this season like an openly gay
• 21:04
  relationship, which was unusual at the time.
• 21:09
  I would actually say, since we mentioned Toby Heydoke,
• 21:12
  obviously, you know, the, the Tibetan act, the monks in this
• 21:15
  are all played by white guys, but he did.
• 21:21
  But also we know what the discussion people don't tend to
• 21:24
  have with this one is, you know, it's more taken in in in the
• 21:27
  spirit in the same way, you know, the the English actors are
• 21:30
  wrong as the Cowboys and the gunfighters, you know, yes,
• 21:34
  technically they're kind of in yellowface, but not, but they're
• 21:39
  in kind. You know, they're they're
• 21:42
  playing Tibetans. But I just wanted to mention, as
• 21:46
  I said, Toby did a really great podcast, one of his his
• 21:50
  indefinable magics called Breaks in Time, where he talks with
• 21:55
  Professor Tom Atta about something of the the historical
• 21:59
  casting of white actors in non white roles.
• 22:02
  And it's a really kind of nuanced and humane kind of
• 22:05
  discussion about it and also just about the kind of the
• 22:07
  production practicalities in the context of you know this this
• 22:12
  kind of you know casting. You know it's it's not like it's
• 22:16
  not like the whole kind of yellow peril properly racist
• 22:20
  stuff in Wang Chiang Yang this is you know but yeah I just
• 22:24
  thought you know that there is there is possibly a discussion
• 22:27
  to be had there but to be honest but but it's been kind of done
• 22:32
  and Toby Haydock and Tom After did it brilliantly on
• 22:35
  indefinable magic so that's that's that's a that's a
• 22:39
  two-part conversation to to seek out talking also talking about
• 22:44
  podcast recommendations. Well done.
• 22:47
  I'm not sure you can. I would call it thoughtless even
• 22:51
  because it was an accepted practice at the time.
• 22:54
  So I just don't think they knew any better.
• 22:57
  No, that's that's not an excuse. But no.
• 22:59
  But it was also, it was a done thing.
• 23:02
  Toby Hayert podcast is great. It talks about, you know, the
• 23:05
  production practicalities of of doing it, you know, of, of, of
• 23:09
  casting, period. Yeah.
• 23:12
  But yeah, so all I'm saying really, there's, there's an
• 23:17
  interesting conversation to be had about this stuff.
• 23:20
  It's and it's done elsewhere very well.
• 23:22
  So let's not bother. Masterfully deflected.
• 23:27
  Well done, yeah. Well, it's not very deflection.
• 23:29
  It's just, you know, I'd rather pass it on to some experts to do
• 23:34
  to do well, you know. I mean, if that was if that was
• 23:37
  the case, this podcast wouldn't exist.
• 23:39
  At all, you know, now these are, I think these are tricky scenes
• 23:45
  to shoot. These long scenes of happen
• 23:49
  sound about talking and just people being completely still.
• 23:54
  How do you make that visually interesting?
• 23:56
  Well, look at it. You have you have camera
• 23:58
  movement, you have flames, you have gorgeous production design
• 24:01
  and you have a really fucking spooky voice.
• 24:04
  I love it when you look through the curtain and you can just see
• 24:08
  the sort of the outline of padders.
• 24:11
  Yeah and and the the the High Llama in this he's looks very
• 24:18
  similar to the one in the Nigel Neal film and in the in the
• 24:22
  Nigel Neal film there is the implication that the Yeti and
• 24:26
  other found because the Yeti have a psychic communication
• 24:30
  with the High Llama. So the the whole kind of this
• 24:35
  goes on and they start figuring out what the mystery is with the
• 24:37
  great intelligence the hot and you know and that you know and
• 24:42
  pad is having the you know encountering the great
• 24:47
  intelligence on the astral plane.
• 24:48
  All that kind of, that's all kind of, you know, comes from
• 24:53
  the Yeti, the Yeti psychic power thing, things which even Nevi
• 24:59
  Segun knows about. I'm assuming the Yetis weren't
• 25:03
  robots in that though, right? No, no that that it's a very,
• 25:07
  very Nigel Neal thing. The Yeti are essentially kind of
• 25:14
  you know, there are, there are, there are offshoot of one of the
• 25:20
  species, You know one offshoot is US, another offshoot to them.
• 25:24
  We're the ones who invented nuclear weapons and are
• 25:27
  destroying the world and each other.
• 25:29
  But they're a higher more, they're benign, peace loving
• 25:34
  form of man who is wiser and than us and cyclically powerful.
• 25:43
  So it's, yeah. He's very good at making a
• 25:45
  point, Neil, isn't he? Yeah, yeah, we, well, you know,
• 25:47
  the man was brilliant. But it's also, it's just, you
• 25:50
  know, it's a very, very Nigel Neil use of the Yeti material.
• 25:55
  I'd love to see again another bit of lost TV.
• 25:57
  I'd love to see the creature which was that was Peter Cushing
• 26:04
  again, but it was Stanley Baker from Zulu was in it as well.
• 26:11
  The production design on this is is fantastic as well.
• 26:15
  That's the one thing they got right in five, wasn't it?
• 26:17
  They they trialled it out in 10th Planet and Moon Base.
• 26:21
  Realised if they spend a ton of money on one big set they can do
• 26:26
  it really, really well. Rather than spreading going to
• 26:29
  different locations and spreading the money across the
• 26:31
  cereal, just have a centrepiece set that looks incredible.
• 26:35
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it works.
• 26:37
  Yeah, and if you're going to have a base under siege, the
• 26:40
  tricky I think if you're trying to do it is pick a base which is
• 26:44
  unique and look at those Yeti. Oh, this?
• 26:48
  Wobbling along, I think. I think, yeah.
• 26:50
  Then again, I I'd have to think back to Paradise Towers and the
• 26:53
  Cleaners and me at 7 years old, thinking they were the best
• 26:57
  thing ever. Well.
• 26:58
  No, because the idea is they're really cute.
• 27:01
  Yeah, fine. They're coming, this lumbering
• 27:03
  teddy bears walking towards them, and it's just taken out
• 27:05
  three men. Yeah, yeah, look.
• 27:07
  It's really cute until it murders you.
• 27:09
  I love that thing. Wiped out here, Yeah.
• 27:11
  And also the thing about people who, you know, might wring their
• 27:15
  hands about, you know, again, I do, I suppose, about bits of
• 27:18
  production, design, certain shots, whatever.
• 27:22
  TV in the 60s was a thing that was on the screen, on the in the
• 27:26
  box, in the corner of the room once you saw it and then it
• 27:29
  lived forever after in your memory.
• 27:32
  Generally tiny screens as well. Yeah, yeah.
• 27:35
  Tiny. Yeah, exactly.
• 27:36
  Exactly. So really your your mind is
• 27:38
  where Doctor Who lived far longer than that brief silver
• 27:43
  flicker across the living room. I really love the sort of jigsaw
• 27:48
  piece plotting of establishing the Yetis, finding the balls in
• 27:53
  The Cave, the Doctor, then capturing the Yeti and then
• 27:57
  realising the ball belongs in the Yeti.
• 28:00
  Yeah, yeah, exactly. I've got a note here actually,
• 28:02
  this is early Doctor Who and it's establishing the form, but
• 28:05
  it's a narrative that relies on different factions
• 28:08
  misunderstanding and distressing each other whilst we know
• 28:11
  they're all at cross purposes. Yeah, it's a bit frustrating,
• 28:14
  but it's still, you know, this is kind of, you know, this feels
• 28:18
  like, you know, like trad. This is what Doctor Who does and
• 28:21
  will continue to do. But it's great.
• 28:23
  I find that the ball's a bit like Cyber Max as well.
• 28:26
  Yeah, I just like the simplicity of it and just the noise and a
• 28:31
  rolling ball and that's all you need.
• 28:33
  I mean, kids can play that at home, you know?
• 28:38
  And here we go. It's not a Yeti, it's a robot.
• 28:41
  A devil's warrior, yes. And he's got a ball shaped hole.
• 28:48
  I love he's he's reading that how robots don't let your
• 28:52
  imagination run away of your man he's a good.
• 28:57
  Character actor Jack Walling, isn't he?
• 29:00
  I would like he's actually he's he's in one of my favorite Orcs
• 29:04
  and Wales films Mr. Arkadian. He's yeah but he was a film
• 29:09
  star. He was a film star, you know,
• 29:10
  but. I think this is an underrated
• 29:13
  cliffhanger as well, because they're.
• 29:14
  Establishing that you just need. The ball inside the Yeti, for
• 29:17
  the Yeti to be activated and kill everybody and the ball
• 29:20
  starts moving, you know? Yeah, yeah.
• 29:22
  It's not an obvious cliffhanger. It's not a moment of jeopardy.
• 29:25
  It's a. Moment of jeopardy is coming.
• 29:28
  Yeah. And while it is, you know, it's
• 29:30
  sci-fi, it's a robot, just the just the visual of a silver ball
• 29:34
  just moving on its own through a kind of a Tibetan monastery
• 29:37
  setting, has a kind of a a mystical vibe to it, which I
• 29:43
  dig. I'm just, I'm just using 60
• 29:46
  terms here. Groovy, yeah.
• 29:49
  I'll dig you, Rob. You know, so we've established
• 29:52
  the Yeti. We found out that they're
• 29:53
  robots. Where do we go from here?
• 29:59
  Friends become enemies. Enemies become friends.
• 30:02
  That's my guess. We do do a bit of that.
• 30:04
  What I love is, is they they do play about with action set
• 30:08
  pieces, but then this sort of takes on a huge sort of
• 30:12
  psychological horror aspects and that's that's my bag, that's
• 30:17
  what I love about this story in those layers.
• 30:19
  So.