The Snowmen (TV story)
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The Snowmen was the 2012 Doctor Who Christmas special. Like the previous two specials, it took its name and some of its themes from a famous piece of winter-themed literature.
It notably included a number of significant changes to the programme.
A brand new title sequence replaced the Framestore version that had been in place since The Eleventh Hour, and this change necessitated a new Murray Gold arrangement of the theme tune. This new sequence briefly incorporated Matt Smith's face, making him the first actor to be depicted in the title sequence since Sylvester McCoy in the concluding episode of Survival. Furthermore, a new, if narratively-unexplained, control room debuted in this episode, along with two similarly unexplained versions of Clara Oswin Oswald.
It also confirmed previous continuity by re-introducing Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint and Strax in roles previously established in A Good Man Goes to War.
Synopsis
After losing Amy Pond and Rory Williams, the Doctor retires to Victorian England, where Strax, Jenny Flint, and Vastra assist him. The Doctor eventually meets Clara Oswald, a young barmaid with a double life as a governess, to whom he takes a liking. At the same time, a sinister plot is unfolding; snowmen are randomly appearing around London, growing in size and power. All they need to take over the world is some human DNA in ice crystal form, and the frozen body of a drowned governess can give them just that.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX IS COOOOOOOOL
Cast
- The Doctor - Matt Smith
- Clara Oswald - Jenna-Louise Coleman
- Captain Latimer - Tom Ward
- Dr Simeon - Richard E Grant
- Jenny - Catrin Stewart
- Madame Vastra - Neve McIntosh
- Strax - Dan Starkey
- Digby - Joseph Darcey-Alden
- Francesca - Ellie Darcey-Alden
- Alice - Liz White
- Uncle Josh - Jim Conway
- Walter - Cameron Strefford
- Walter's Mother - Annabelle Dowler
- Bob Chilcott - Ben Addis
- Lead Workman - Daniel Hyde
- Clara's Friend - Sophie Miller-Sheen
- Voice of the Great Intelligence - Ian McKellen
- Voice of the Ice Governess - Juliet Cadzow
Notes
In the programme information for BBC iPlayer, The Snowmen credits Ian McKellen as "Voice of the Snowman". Sophie Miller-Sheen's character is "Girl".
Crew
| Executive Producers Steven Moffat and Caroline Skinner |
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| Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources. |
References
Culture
- Simeon suggests that Arthur Conan Doyle based Sherlock Holmes on Madame Vastra.
Communications technology
- Vastra has a telephone that can call the phone in the Doctor's TARDIS. She can also communicate with a phone or radio installed in her carriage.
The Doctor
- The Doctor pretends to be Sherlock Holmes.
- The Doctor has kept Amy Pond's reading glasses and seems to be using them to read.
- The Doctor attempts to use a Memory worm to erase Clara's memory.
- The Doctor has renewed his acquaintance with Vastra and Jenny, and utilizes Strax as an assistant.
Individuals
- The Doctor is convinced to investigate the snow after hearing Clara's one-word plea to Vastra - "Pond."
- Strax was revived after the Battle of Demon's Run via an unexplained method.
Locations
- The Doctor uses a tin with a map of the London Underground on it.
TARDIS
- Upon first entering the Doctor's TARDIS, Clara describes it as "smaller on the outside" (which the Doctor describes as a first, as most describe it as "bigger on the inside"), and then asks if it has a kitchen (another first).
Story notes
- This episode had four prequels, the most of any episode up to this point: TV: The Great Detective, WC: Vastra Investigates: A Christmas Prequel, PROSE: Devil in the Smoke: An Adventure for the Great Detective, and WC: The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later, with Battle of Demons Run actually not released until just prior to the broadcast of TV: The Bells of Saint John in late March 2013.
- This is the first full-length episode of the Eleventh Doctor era in which Amy Pond does not appear.
- Like all previous opening titles of Series 7, this episode's "Doctor Who" logo texture matches with the theme of the episode; the letters appear to be made of ice and snow.
- As is routine for Christmas specials, a "coming soon" trailer for the next series was shown at the end of the episode. This "coming soon" trailer featured clips from the second half of Series 7.
- The episode features a first-ever special effect for the series: a single camera shot following a character from the outside of the TARDIS, through the doors, and into the console room. A similar shot had been accomplished for the 1993 documentary Thirty Years in the TARDIS and the fan production Devious, but this was the first time it had been done in the series proper, according to the behind-the-scenes featurette uploaded to the BBC's Doctor Who website after broadcast.
File:Doctor Who Series 7 Special The Snowmen Logo.jpg
The Doctor Who logo with a snowfall texture and new time vortex graphics.
- As with all of the Series 7 episodes, this episode has individually stylized opening credits: following the revamp of the opening title sequence, the time vortex has changed to a vibrant red with several nebula-like effects, and the Doctor Who logo resembles a fresh snowfall in color and pattern.
- In an interview published in DWM 455, published before the broadcast, actor Dan Starkey revealed that a scene was filmed showing what happened to Vastra, Jenny and Strax two days after the events of TV: A Good Man Goes to War. Starkey says he wasn't sure if it was "a preview online, a DVD extra or what." (Ultimately, this ended up being the prequel WC: The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later.) The same article recalls that in DWM 438, an e-mail by Starkey was printed in which be accurately predicted the story line that would see Strax living in London in the 19th century as Vastra's butler.
Ratings
to be added
Filming locations
- Fields House (The Orphanage)
Production errors
If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
- Before Clara first goes up the invisible staircase she is not wearing her shawl but when she first sees the TARDIS at the top of the staircase she is wearing it again.
- When the Doctor returns to see Clara right before she dies her right hand is seen hanging by her side. On the next shot as he kneels down beside her, her hand is seen resting on her stomach holding the TARDIS key. A few shots later her hand is back at her side.
- The direction of the spiral staircase leading to the TARDIS is inconsistent, as while the main body of the staircase spirals clockwise for up, anti-clockwise for down; the direction of the final few steps is anti-clockwise for up, clockwise for down.
- The Doctor never heard Oswin Oswald say, "Run you clever boy and remember," so he shouldn't have compared Oswin and Clara as the same person.
Continuity
- The Doctor is shown to be retired and living in the past. The Sixth Doctor had previously done this in PROSE: The Spindle of Necessity.
- How long the Doctor has been retired is not indicated; however, dialogue between the Doctor and Vastra, and later the Doctor and Clara, suggest he has been living in his "cloud" for some time as of the start of the episode.
- Clara mentions baking souffles, as Oswin did. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
- Strax still is confused about the difference between human males and females. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War and PROSE: Devil in the Smoke) Another Sontaran, Linx, was likewise confused when he met Sarah Jane Smith. (TV: The Time Warrior)
- The Doctor shows the Great Intelligence a lunchbox with a map of the London Underground, circa 1967. In The Web of Fear, which was filmed in 1967 and 1968, The Great Intelligence lures the Doctor to a trap in the London Underground. The Web of Fear may be set in the 1960s or 1970s, depending on one's view of the UNIT dating controversy.
- The Doctor uses Amy Pond's reading glasses. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan) He seems to use them as his "brainy specs", as discussed between the Fifth and Tenth Doctors. (TV: Time Crash)
- The Doctor reiterates that bow ties are cool (TV: The Eleventh Hour et al.) It is implied through dialogue and costuming that he has not worn bow ties in a while.
- This is the second Christmas special in a row with a character named Digby, after the unseen Uncle Digby. (TV: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe).
- The Doctor previously dressed in Holmesian attire while visiting London of 1889. (TV: The Talons of Weng-Chiang)
- Strax's revival, and his decision to join Vastra and Jenny, are later revealed in WC: The Battle of Demon's Run: Two Days Later. Strax apparently did not die during the battle, but merely fainted (although he was unconscious for two days); this contradicts the Doctor's statement to Clara that Strax was somehow brought back to life, suggesting he may not be aware of the actual events.
Home video releases
to be added
External links
to be added
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