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Sunday, 15 September 2019

The Abominable Snowmen

Season 5, Story 2/7, Serial NN: 6 x 25min episodes, 30th September to 4th November 1967, Writers: Mervyn Haisman & Henry Lincoln, Director: Gerald Blake, Script Editor: Peter Bryant, Producer: Innes Lloyd






EPISODE ONE
30th September 1967

On a Himalayan mountainside, Edward Travers' campsite is attacked... 

...by an enormous shaggy figure that mangles his rifle with a single blow... 

Some time later, the TARDIS arrives nearby...

The Doctor recognises the Himalayas immediately and is thrilled to be back there.

Jamie doesn't know the Himalayas are on Earth.

Nor does he want another tangle down the Cybermen's tomb. 

Victoria's geography's nearly as bad as she thinks they're in India.


The Doctor rummages in his chest of bric-a-brac, searching for "the ghanta"; a bell, a holy relic, with a dragon on it. Jamie finds a broken set of bagpipes, but says he could fix them easily. "Yes, I was afraid of that, " replies the Doctor.

The Doctor puts on a huge fur coat. He intends to take the bell to the nearby monastery where he says it will "guarantee us the welcome of a lifetime." So when did he first obtain the Ghanta? In his 1st incarnation? Or maybe between The Power of the Daleks & The Highlanders? 

Jamie finds an impressive Scimitar and, glancing at the viewer screen, nearly mistakes the Doctor for a "hairy beasty". 

A mysterious figure watches the Doctor as he scouts around. 

He returns to the TARDIS to collect the Ghanta and tells his friends to stay put. 

Needless to say, they don't stay in the TARDIS for long.

The Doctor finds the remains of Travers camp, including his dead colleague. 

He arrives at the monastery with a rucksack he found at the campsite. 

He starts to look around inside.

He soon has company, though...

...and when the Warrior Monks see Travers' rucksack and his Yeti-like fur coat, he's accused of murder!

Travers tells Khrisong that the Doctor must be dangerous, but the younger Thomni is not so sure.

The Doctor is hauled off to a cell. Not exactly the "welcome of a lifetime."

Jamie & Victoria find the beastie's lair...

...and are trapped inside when giant hands move a boulder across the cave entrance.

The Doctor tries to get a better view from his cell. Can't see the sea.

Travers knows that the Doctor isn't a killer, but thinks he's the competition in his search for the Yeti. 

The monks disagree as to what the Doctor's fate should be; Rinchen's stance is that only the Abbot can decide, whereas Khrisong wants to test him by making him bait for the Yeti.

The warriors are on edge because the Yeti have inexplicably turned savage...

As Jamie & Victoria go further into the cave they discover a strange pyramid of silver spheres, but no time for that, as the Yeti attacks! Cliffhanger!

EPISODE TWO
7th October 1967

As the creature lumbers into the cave and towards them... 

...Jamie's able to bring the roof down to trap the Yeti.

Jamie and Victoria breathe a sigh of relief as the creature is buried.

Time for a closer look at the spheres. 

Jamie pockets one.

They edge past the stricken Yeti to leave the cave...

...as the creature twitches back to life.

Leg it!

The Doctor passes the time with a thoughtful rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star".

He is visited by the youngest monk, Thomni.


The Doctor muses that no one seems to want to listen to him and everyone is jumping to the wrong conclusions. He wonders why the Monks are so afraid.

Thomni explains the recent out of character aggression from the Yeti.

The Doctor gets the chance to show off his knowledge of the Monastery's history, in particular the incident in 1630 when it came under attack. This seems to be a reference the unseen adventure that saw the Doctor take possession of the Ghanta.

Khrisong arrives to take the Doctor away, leaving Thomni alone in the cell.

Taking the Doctor's hint, Thomni is astonished to find a small bag concealed beneath the bed.

Inside - the Ghanta!

If that's the bell, what exactly was *this* contraption, then?

Jamie and Victoria exeunt pursued by a Yeti... 

Back at the Monastery, Rinchen is still trying to talk Khrisong out of his plan to use the Doctor as bait.

Travers abandons the Doctor to set off after the Yeti, still convinced he's a murderer. He tells the Doctor that as men of peace the Monks won't harm him, which isn't entirely convincing with Khrisong on the warpath.

Sapan joins Rinchen's condemnation of Khrisong's tactics.

But their appeals fall on stony ground and the Doctor is led away.

Thomni goes to plead The Doctor's case to the Abbot and shows him the Ghanta.

Songsten is astounded to see the long lost relic.

Their Master, Padmasambhava, invites them in, speaking with two voices, a quiet, gentle one, and a harsher, rasping one: "The Doctor. So. He has returned..."

As the Doctor is strung up, still protesting his innocence...

...Khrisong "reassures" him that if he is innocent, and the Yeti attack him, his warriors will rescue him.

Jamie and Victoria bump into Travers, and ask for directions to the monastery. 

Jamie promises to show him the Yeti's cave if he takes them to the monastery. 

Padmasambhava and the other voice seem to have Thomni and the Abbot under some form of hypnotic control. They order Thomni to release the Doctor, but attribute the order to the Abbot in his memory. 

Who's the other voice that Padmasambhava apparently takes his orders from, and what is 'the great plan'? 


The monks think the Yeti are approaching, which sends the Doctor into a panic...

...but thankfully it's just Travers and the Doctor's friends.


The Doctor is released at last...

...but in the inner sanctum, the mysterious voice tells the Abbot that he must be persuaded to leave.

As he examines the sphere that Jamie recovered from the cave, the Doctor begins to suspect there's more to the creature that attacked them than meets the eye.

Travers insists the creatures are shy and elusive: "Fear makes us imagine all sorts of things."

The Doctor's suspicions begin to take shape: "Including creatures that don't seem to be flesh and blood..."

When the Yeti congregate nearby...

...Khrisong recruits Thomni and Jamie to help fortify the defences.

Jamie starts to hatch a plan to capture one of the Yeti.

"Victoria, I think this is one of those instances where discretion is the better part of valour: Jamie has an idea! Come along!"

Songsten tells the brothers that Khrisong can be relied upon to protect them.


Jamie prepares his trap.

One of the Yeti breaks away from its' pals and lumbers closer.

When it's close enough, the monks drop a net. 



The creature is suddenly lifeless. 

Puzzlingly, the other Yeti simply shuffle away.

Unnoticed by the group carrying the lifeless Yeti inside, though, a silver sphere pushes through the mud.

Inside the gates, one of the monks picks up Jamie's sphere, examines it, and puts it back down near the shrine. Once he's moved on, though, it begins to roll away.

The Doctor was right; the Yeti are robots! 

Robots with a sphere-shaped hole in their chests... 


The sphere outside begins to communicate with Jamie's, which starts to make its' way toward the Yeti... 

Cliffhanger!

EPISODE THREE
14th October 1967The Doctor has sussed that the spheres are control units for the robotic Yeti.



Khrisong refuses to let them outside to search for the other sphere.


Travers still believes there are real Yeti to be found and asks for an exemption. Khrisong refuses; anyone could be controlling the Yeti - even Travers!

Jamie's sphere is nowhere to be found.


The monks contemplate the nature of their ensnared Yeti. The Abbot inspects their work.


The Abbot hears the summons of their master.


In the Sanctum, a hand moves miniature Yeti across a board, movements mirrored outside. 


Phadmasambhava and the other voice grow concerned about The Doctor's interference. 




Khrisong finds the missing sphere but is mugged by the waiting Yeti. 


Reunited with its sphere, the Yeti makes its' escape. "They came to get their ball back!" notes the Doctor.


The abbot is instructed to take a glass pyramid to the cave on the mountain. 

"The Great Intelligence will focus upon this planet. At last its wanderings in space will be at an end." Looks like part of the Key to Time. 

The Doctor needs to get a proper look at one of the control units. Khrisong determines to get one.

Victoria's determined to get a look inside the sanctum, whatever the others say...
The Doctor and Jamie spy on some dormant Yeti.



Victoria slips into the sanctum, and hears the voice of Padmasambhava. 

The sphere returns to its Yeti...



...and the creature comes to life before her!


EPISODE FOUR
21st October 1967
With its control sphere in place, the Yeti rises from the table. Effortlessly breaking its restraining chains, the robot approaches Victoria.

She screams for help, and Thomni rushes to her aid. Victoria runs out of the room as the monk throws an incense burner at the Yeti.

Thonmi flees from the relentless robot and heads for the courtyard.

Victoria and Sapan rush into the courtyard. 'Khrisong!' says Sapan, 'The Yeti, it's alive!'

Its arrival announced by a burbling electronic noise, the Yeti strides into the courtyard. 'Get back!' warns Khrisong, brandishing his weapon.

The monks club the Yeti with sticks and fire arrows at it, but nothing slows it down.

Victoria and Thomni open the gates and the Yeti marches straight through them.

Oblivious to the chaos in its wake, it heads back for the mountains.

Nearby, The Doctor finds the eerie silence disturbing. 'There's something happening on this mountain,' he tells Jamie.

Travers observes Abbot Songsten and the three obedient Yeti that appear to guard him.

The two Yeti with the recovered sphere approach the cave. Another one pushes aside the huge boulder concealing the entrance. Sonsgten takes the sphere into the cave.


A lone Yeti stands guard outside the TARDIS. 'I wonder what he's waiting for?' asks Jamie.


'It's a robot,' says The Doctor. 'It merely follows instructions.' Much to Jamie's alarm, The Doctor stands up in full view of the Yeti.


In the inner sanctum, Padmasambhava communicates with his master. 'Oh, Great Intelligence, have I served you well? How long before your great experiment begins and I can rest?' An unheard voice tells him the experiment is about to begin.

In the cave, Songsten places the sphere into a circle with the others. He puts the transparent pyramid he received from Padmasambhava in the centre.

It begins to glow and emit a sonorous drone. 
Bathed in the light from the pyramid, Songsten steps back and leaves the cave with his Yeti escort. When they have gone, Travers gingerly enters the cave.

'What are you going to do?' asks Jamie. 'Bung a rock at it,' replies The Doctor. The Yeti remains impassive as The Doctor edges closer. 
'It's either switched off, or not receiving,' he says.

The Doctor uses a screwdriver to prise out the motionless robot's control sphere. 
With the screwdriver clenched between his teeth The Doctor removes the silver sphere. 'Catch!'says The Doctor, throwing it to Jamie.


Travers watches as the glowing pyramid cracks open, discharging a foam-like substance which spews across the floor of the cave. He clutches his ears as the droning noise reaches an almost unbearable volume.


The Doctor emerges from the TARDIS with a tracking device, just as the silver sphere starts bleeping. Jamie is barely able to prevent it flying back into the Yeti's chest. He buys them time by jamming a rock inside the robot's cavity.

The sphere stops bleeping and drops to the ground. 'These things are programmed to return to their Yetis,' says The Doctor, who realises that the one that went missing from the monastery wasn't stolen – it moved by itself.

Khrisong is furious that Thomni opened the gates, allowing the Yeti to escape. 
Victoria says that there was no alternative and bravely claims responsibility for the idea. 

'Was it also your idea to breathe life into the Yeti?' enquires Rinchen. Victoria says she was simply hiding in the meeting room – but falls silent when they ask her what she was hiding from. Rinchen accuses Thonmi and Victoria of being conspirators. Khrisong orders them to be locked up.

On their way back to the monastery, the Doctor and Jamie's sphere begins emitting a different level of bleeping. Elsewhere, Songsten's Yeti escorts stop and turn back. Songsten continues his journey alone.

While the Doctor seizes the opportunity to trace the main transmitter, Thonmi asks Victoria how the Doctor
could have had the ghanta for the 300 years it had been missing. 'I know this sounds silly,' she replies, 'but the Doctor can travel through time and space.'

To Victoria's surprise, Thonmi claims to understand perfectly. 'It is said that our master, Padmasambhava, can free himself from his earthly body and travel great distances.'

Victoria asks him if he too may ever attain this state. 'Perhaps,' he replies, 'one day.'

Khrisong is openly critical of the absent Songsten and queries the very existence of Padmasambhava. He asks Rinchen to inform him as soon as The Doctor returns.

Ralpachan answers a knock at the gate and Songsten steps inside. 'Sleep Ralpachan,' says the Abbot, once again hypnotising him. 'You have not seen me.'

'You have done well, Songsten,' intones Padmasambhava from behind a veil in the inner sanctum. 'The Great Intelligence has begun to take on a material form. It must expand – and that is why the monks must leave the monastery.'

The sphere's signal leads The Doctor and Jamie to two Yeti. Jamie turns around to be confronted by a third.

'Jamie,' says the Doctor, taking hold of the sphere. 'When I say run, run. Run like the wind.' The Doctor throws the sphere over his shoulder as the third Yeti advances.

The three Yeti ignore the Doctor and Jamie, and instead close in on the discarded sphere. 'It worked,' says a relieved Doctor.

Victoria's attempts to break out of the cell are interrupted when Ralpachan enters with refreshments. Victoria sips the drink and soon after clutches her throat.

Victoria collapses in agony, and Ralpachan rushes out to get some water. When Thonmi's back is turned Victoria quickly gets up and locks the door behind her. 'I'm sorry, Thonmi,' she says before running off.

Abbot Songsten tells the monks that Padmasambhava has ordered the evacuation of the monastery.

Khrisong tells the Abbot that The Doctor has returned, bringing with him equipment to defeat the Yeti. 'I mean to fight!' he exclaims.

Sonsgten reassures the other monks, claiming that Khrisong has been led astray. Ralpachan reports that Victoria has escaped.

Khrisong tells the Doctor they must act quickly, before the Abbot intervenes.

There is a pounding at the gates. An hysterical Travers staggers in. 'Doctor,' he babbles, 'up there... the pyramid...' He collapses at their feet.

Khrisong defends the outsiders from Rinchen, but the Abbot reappears and orders him to obey. 'We will not leave,' asserts Khrisong.

'Khrisong, do not defy me,' replies the Abbot. 'Find the girl. Instruct your warriors.'

Songsten enters a trance to communicate with his master. 'Advise me, Padmasambhava. Khrisong turns his warriors away from the path of obedience.'

'Well,' replies the disembodied voice, 'if they will not be led then they must be driven from the monastery. 
'I understand,' says Songsten, and sends the last remaining monk out of the courtyard. He opens the gate and goes outside.

Padmasambhava's ancient hands manipulate the Yeti effigies, pushing them closer to the monastery. Meanwhile, an inquisitive Victoria approaches the inner sanctum.

'Come in, my child,' invites the whispered voice, and Victoria opens the bronze doors. As she approaches the shadowy figure at the end of the room the veil lifts to reveal Padmasambhava.

'Come in,' the voice repeats, echoing around the chamber. 'You have no alternative...'
Cliffhanger!

EPISODE FIVE
28th October 1967
'Come in my child,' beckons Padmasambhava. 'You have no alternative.' Victoria nervously enters the inner sanctum.

'I'm sorry to intrude,' says Victoria, as she gazes at Padmasambhava's lined face. He interrupts her to position the Yeti effigies on the board in front of him.

'Come closer,' he tells her. 'Look...' Victoria sees the miniature Yeti on the map.

'It's one of those horrible creatures,' she says. 'Indeed,' replies Padmasambhava. 'But you have not seen it.' He places his hand on her forehead and she falls into a trance.

Padmasambhava moves the Yeti effigies onto the part of the map representing the monastery courtyard. The huge robots duly march through the gate.


Accompanied by an electronic burbling noise, they split up and head for different parts of the monastery.

Travers regains consciousness and resumes his hysterical rambling. 'What happened?' asks The Doctor. 'Where did you go to?'

'A blinding white light and a noise - a piercing noise that went right through my head - I can't remember any more,' Travers rambles.

Thonmi reminds Travers that he mentioned a pyramid when he returned. 'Evil,' continues Travers, 'A feeling of evil... a shadow on my mind.'

A distant crashing noise brings Jamie rushing to the door. Rinchen announces that the Yeti have broken in. He blames Victoria, and renews his pledge to find and stop her. The Doctor, meanwhile, consults his tracking device.

Khrisong apologises to Abbot Songsten for failing to defend the monastery. The Abbot replies that recent events are destiny.

Khrisong is furious that Rinchen is refusing to take cover with the others and is instead searching for the girl. Ralpachan reports that the Yeti are turning back.

In the courtyard, the Yeti continue to devastate the monastery.

Rinchen confronts the Yeti. 'Stop! Stop!' he shouts in defiance.

'She-devil, wherever you are,' he cries, 'call off these monsters! Spare us!' The Yeti topple the statue of Buddha, which crashes down on Rinchen. The robots turn away, marching through the gate and back towards the mountain.

Khrisong discovers Rinchen's body. 'He's dead – the monastery of Detsen is accursed.'

Padmasambhava removes the last Yeti effigy from the map. 'Now the monks will leave,' he addresses the Great Intelligence. 'By nightfall the monastery will be emptied, the mountain yours.'

'And now,' he turns to Victoria, 'we must consider the problem of you and your friends.' He recruits the hypnotised Victoria into helping him ensure The Doctor leaves.

The Doctor is close to discovering the source of the transmissions. Travers awakes, still with no recollection of the traumatic events in the cave.

The Abbot instructs Sambhota and Ghentun to take Rinchen's body.

The Abbot announces that, following meditation, they and the strangers will evacuate the monastery. Padmasambhava, however, will remain.

Victoria appears, holding the holy ghanta. The monks drop to their knees before it.

Victoria speaks with Padmasambhava's benevolent voice. 'This is a time of much danger. I have chosen to speak to you myself through the lips of this maiden.'

'She bears the holy ghanta. Bear it away to safekeeping. Treat this child with kindness. She and the strangers are innocent of any malice towards you.' The monks listen in hushed silence as Padmasambhava insists, 'Detsen must be abandoned.

Sapan asks if they will ever return to Detsen, but Victoria collapses before there is an answer. The Abbot arranges care for her, and orders the strangers to be freed.

Victoria is reunited with The Doctor and Jamie, but behaves strangely. She repeats that there is great danger, and begs to be taken away.

Thonmi explains Victoria's encounter with Padmasambhava, and how she subsequently spoke with the master's voice. The Doctor realises that the man he last met hundreds of years ago is still alive. Aware that Victoria is reacting to his voice, the Doctor tells Jamie to wait while he pays a visit to a very old friend.


'Oh, Intelligence,' says a weary Padmasambhava. 'You promised to release me, yet still I feel your grasp upon this frail body.'

'What is happening?' he asks, in response to an unheard instruction. 'This was not your plan?' Realisation dawns on Padmasambhava that if the Great Intelligence continues to expand then the world will come to an end.

The discharge from the pyramid engulfs the cave, which resonates with a piercing buzzing noise.

The Doctor cautiously enters the inner sanctum. 'It's good to look upon your face again,' says Padmasambhava. 'So many years...' The Doctor draws nearer. 'So it's true,' he says. 'But how?'

'I have been kept alive so many years,' says Padmasambhava. He tells The Doctor that during an astral projection he made mental contact with an intelligence in space. 'It used my mind... it controls my body...'

'But why?' asks The Doctor. The tormented old man does not answer, but pleads for The Doctor's help.

The Doctor promises to help, but says he first needs to know why the monks are being driven away, the purpose behind the robot Yeti and the location of their control source.

Padmasambhava struggles against an unseen force and, exhausted, slumps forward. The Doctor is unable to revive him.

The Doctor sadly turns away and leaves the inner sanctum.

As soon as the door closes behind him, Padmasambhava opens his eyes and snaps back to life.

The Doctor tries to reassure Jamie, who is anxious about Victoria's trance-like condition.

The Doctor attempts to break Victoria's relentless insistence that she be taken away. He hypnotizes her, convincing her that she is in fact safe in the TARDIS.

'Look at my eyes,' he tells her. 'You're very tired, very sleepy.'

Victoria falls into a deep sleep at The Doctor's command. 

He tells Jamie that the important thing now is to remove the growing fear that has been planted in her mind. The Doctor tells the hypnotised Victoria to forget everything that happened after she was locked in the cell with Thonmi. 'You're feeling happy, but a little tired,' he tells her.


The Doctor counts to three and clicks his fingers. Victoria opens her eyes.

'Oh, I must have dropped off,' says Victoria with an expansive yawn. A relieved Jamie smiles at her. 'What are you grinning at?' she asks.

The Doctor and Travers head for the mountain to get the reading he needs to discover the source of the Yeti transmissions. The dormant Yeti are oblivious to their presence.

Travers gets an uneasy sense of déjà vu. The Doctor assembles the equipment and asks Travers to take some readings.

Travers offers to 'stir things up a bit' instead, leaving the Doctor with the tracking equipment.

The Yeti lurch into life, and head towards The Doctor and Travers.

The Doctor takes his final reading and hurries back to the monastery with Travers. In the courtyard the Doctor reveals that the transmissions emanate from within the monastery itself!

The realisation that Padmasambhava may be at the heart of the transmissions uncovers buried memories for Travers.

"It's all coming back to me! There was this cave," he begins. As he explains, glowing discharge from the pyramid spews out from the cave and pours down the mountainside...

EPISODE SIX
4th November 1967
In the mountain cave, the Great Intelligence grows in strength. The glowing discharge from the pyramid spews out across the mountainside.

Travers tells the Doctor that Abbot Songsten took the pyramid into the cave. The Doctor and Thonmi pursue Songsten to Padmasambhava's inner sanctum.

Outside the sanctum Khrisong tells the Abbot to come away. The menacing voice of Padmasambhava fills the air. 'Don't try and frighten me,' says a defiant Khrisong. 'Who are you?' He tells the Abbot that Padmasambhava has been controlling the Yeti.

Padmasambhava tells Songsten that Khrisong is no longer permitted to leave. He places the Abbot in a trance and invites them both into the sanctum.

'Are you afraid?' sneers Padmasambhava as Khrisong reluctantly relinquishes his weapon to the Abbot. As Khrisong enters the sanctum, Songsten stabs him in the neck.

Looking up at the Abbot in disbelief, Khrisong slowly sinks to the ground.

'You have done well Songsten,' says Padmasambhava, rising from his throne.

'Why are you making me do this?' asks the aged Master, his voice softening as he wrestles with the Great Intelligence. His voice changes again: 'Songsten ... you will now go forth with the monks. You will never return.'

Thonmi and Travers find Khrisong, fatally wounded. Travers demands the truth from the Abbot. Padmasambhava orders: 'Songsten - kill them!'

Jamie and Thonmi pin the possessed Songsten to the floor. 'Get him out of here!' says the Doctor.

The dying Khrisong tells the Doctor that his fellow monks should not blame the Abbot, who was in a trance. As Khrisong's life ebbs away, Padmasambhava's mocking laughter echoes around the room.

Thonmi tells his brothers that the Abbot has murdered Khrisong.

Songsten appears, and a disbelieving Sapan asks him if it is true.

Without warning the Abbot launches into a frenzied attack. He is soon overpowered by Jamie. 'Kill them!' snarls the Abbot. 'Kill them!'

'Songsten is merely a puppet,' says the Doctor. 'Who has done this to him?' asks Sapan. Thomni says the Master put Songsten in a trance, but the Doctor adds that Padmasambhava is also being controlled.

The monks decide to follow the Doctor's advice to leave the monastery. The Doctor declares he will stay, and asks Thomni to help him. Songsten slips into unconsciousness and the Doctor prepares to question him.

Meanwhile, Travers persuades Ralpachan to accompany him to the cave. He intends to destroy the pyramid by shooting it.

The physical embodiment of the Great Intelligence begins to swamp the mountainside.

The Doctor learns from Songsten that the Intelligence has broken its promise and is no longer confined to the cave. 'Now it demands the whole mountain,' says Songsten. He tells the Doctor that Padmasambhava laboured for nearly 200 years building the Yeti 'and the other wonderful machines.' The Doctor asks him for the location of the device that controls the Yeti.

Songsten tells him it is in the inner sanctum, in a room hidden behind the throne. The Doctor asks how he can gain entry to the room, but Songsten slips back into unconsciousness.

Padmasambhava's withered hand places three of the Yeti effigies closer to the monastery.


On their way to the cave, Travers and Ralpachan take cover as three Yeti march past them, heading for the monastery.

The unconscious Songsten is cared for by Sapan. The Doctor plots to gain access to the hidden room and smash the controls as soon as the monks have left.

'Padmasambhava will use super-normal powers if necessary,' warns the Doctor. 'For a start,' he tells Victoria, 'he'll try to hypnotise you again.' The Doctor asks Thonmi to teach Victoria the Jewel of the Lotus prayer to help concentrate her mind for the coming ordeal.

Travers and Ralpachan cannot get anywhere near the cave. The glowing substance has now spread down the mountainside and threatens to engulf the monastery.

The monks leave the monastery in sombre mood. 'We shall pray for you,' Sapan tells the Doctor.

The Doctor outlines his plan - he will enter the sanctum first and deal with Padmasambhava. He tells Jamie and Thomni to make for the curtain behind the throne.

As the monks file out, a group of Yeti hover by the gates. Travers observes from a distance, nervously looking over his shoulder as the glowing mass seeps down the mountainside.

The Doctor, Jamie, Victoria and Thomni find the doors of the inner sanctum locked. 'Why are you here?' spits the disembodied voice. 'Who are you?' asks the Doctor.

'You know well it is I, the Master, Padmasambhava who speaks,' replies the voice. 'Oh no it isn't,' replies the Doctor. 'I know Padmasambhava; he's my friend. Where have you come from? Why are you using his body in this fashion?'

'Such a brain as yours is too small to grasp my purpose,' replies the voice. 'I am much power.' A nearby incense burner lifts off the ground and hovers in the air.

'Simple levitation,' dismisses the Doctor. 'A childish trick. Now stop playing games and open these doors. Or are you afraid to meet me face to face?'

'You are rash,' warns the voice as the doors swing open. The Doctor walks through them.

The Doctor screams in agony as Padmasambhava unleashes the awesome energy of the Great Intelligence.

Padmasambhava rises from his throne and prepares for the next assault.

The Doctor resists, but Padmasambhava fixes him with his stare and concentrates. The sound of howling wind fills the room.

The Doctor shouts 'No!' and resists the assault on his mind.

Jamie and Thonmi crash into the room and head for the throne, but their way is barred by an invisible forcefield. The Intelligence's echoing laughter fills the air, as the Doctor continues to defy the mental onslaught.

Padmasambhava retreats and the forcefield vanishes. Jamie and Thonmi gain access to the hidden control room.

While Jamie and Thonmi smash everything in sight, Victoria notices Padmasambhava moving the Yeti effigies. Still locked in mental conflict, the Doctor tells her to knock the models over.

Victoria tries to halt the advance of the Yeti by knocking the models over, but Padmasambhava tries to bring her back under his hypnotic spell. The Doctor urges her to recite the Jewel of the Lotus prayer.

Travers and Ralpachan follow the Yeti to the monastery, while Victoria starts to succumb to the hypnotic power of Padmasambhava.

The Yeti continue to advance, even though Jamie and Thonmi have destroyed the machinery. Jamie notices an undamaged control sphere amidst the wreckage.

As marauding Yeti raise their fists to strike the Doctor, Jamie and Thonmi smash the giant sphere in the control room. There is a blinding flash. Outside, the spheres inside the Yeti explode and the robots fall to the ground.

Travers bursts in and empties his rifle into Padmasambhava. 'One stroke of fortune will not save you,' says the oblivious Master, holding out the bullets. 'Stupid man. Did you not feel enough of my power when you were in the cave?'

The Doctor realises the significance of the cave. 'Jamie,' he calls out, 'there was a pyramid in the cave!' Jamie replies 'There's one here too!' The Doctor tells him to destroy it. 'No!' cries Padmasambhava.

Jamie brings Thonmi's stave crashing down on the pyramid and it disintegrates with the force of the blow. Padmasambhava falls to the ground, and the second pyramid in the cave explodes.

One side of the mountain is blown away in an enormous eruption.

As the noise of the distant eruption subsides, the Doctor cradles the dying Padmasambhava. 'At last... peace...' says the old man. 'Thank you, Doctor.' The Doctor lowers him to the ground. 'Goodbye, old friend.'

'The Intelligence is destroyed,' declares the Doctor, who then tells Thonmi that the monks can return.

Travers accompanies the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria back up the mountain. On the way they come across a deactivated Yeti. The Doctor suggests it could be a trophy to take back to England. 'Nobody would believe me,' says Travers. 'They'd think I'd had it made.'

In the distance a large grunting beast spots the humans and clambers off in the opposite direction. Excited to finally discover a real Yeti, Travers sets off in pursuit. the Doctor smiles, produces his recorder and leads his friends back to the TARDIS.





TTFN! K.
Coming Soon... City of Death