The Snowmen (TV story)
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.
Plot
It is winter in 1842. Children are playing outside. Standing away from the others is a little boy building a snowman. A woman asks him if he'd like to play with the other children. He says that he doesn't need anyone else. The woman tells a man that he's always so alone, and that it's unhealthy. As they leave, he says that he doesn't want to talk to them because they are silly. To his surprise, the snowman he is building repeats this. He runs away as it tells him not to believe anyone else. He starts to walk back to it and it tells him that it can help him. He asks it how.
Fifty years later, Walter Simeon is overseeing men as they carefully scrape snow from snowmen into glass jars. The jars are loaded into a carriage where they are driven to Walter Simeon's institute. Doctor Simeon carries one of the jars up to a large glass sphere filled with snow. He tells it that the last of the arrivals have been sampled. The same voice from the snowman speaks from within the sphere, saying the swarm is approaching, and that as humanity celebrates, it will end. It asks if the final piece is ready, and Doctor Simeon says it's in hand. The voice asks how he will keep his secrets from getting out of the men who helped him. Doctor Simeon says it's been taken care of. He says he promised to feed them. Back at the work site, one of the men says that he doesn't see any food. Doctor Simeon says he does, and as the men look around, the snowmen rise up. Simeon coldly says that he promised to fed them, but he "didn't say who to."
At an inn called The Rose & Crown, a barmaid walks outside with a tray. She is surprised to see a snowman standing there that wasn't there before. She asks the Eleventh Doctor, who is walking past, if he built it. The Doctor says he didn't, and walks away, but stops when she tells him that it just appeared out of nowhere. He walks back and walks around the snowman, inspecting it. He says he wonders if the snow can remember how to build a snowman, which the maid thinks is silly. She makes the Doctor smile. He asks her what her name is. She says it is Clara, which he says is a nice name. He walks away, leaving her somewhat annoyed in the alley with the snowman. Clara sees the Doctor leave in a carriage and runs after it, managing to climb onto it.
In the Doctor's carriage (which is being driven by Strax), he talks to Vastra through a phone built into the roof. She insists that he should resume his previous life of investigating unusual and strange occurrences. Speaking in the third person, the Doctor tells Vastra that he is retired. At that very moment, Clara opens a hatch on the roof and pops her head inside, shocking the Doctor. She asks "Doctor Who?"
He quickly locks Clara in the carriage, infuriating her. As she yells to be let out, the Doctor examines the mysterious alien snow; he asks Strax what he would look for next after finding something new in the world that he's never seen before. Strax answers "a grenade", obviously not amusing the Doctor. He orders the Sontaran to get a memory worm to erase Clara's memory. They open the door of the carriage and explain to Clara that they'll be erasing her memory of them. Strax mistakenly calls Clara a male, which the Doctor cynically jokes is because Sontarans have trouble remembering there's more than one gender. Waiting, the Doctor sees Strax return without the worm, making him realise he forgot to wear the protective gauntlets; it erased the last hour of Strax's memory. With the worm now under the carriage, the Doctor has Strax retrieve it. However, the Sontaran forgot to wear the gauntlets again and now thinks he's been run over.
Highly amused Clara passes the gauntlets to the Doctor, who shoves the memory worm into a jar. Clara questions him about the snowman; one suddenly arises out of the snow. The Doctor asks Clara if she was thinking about it, which she admits to. Several more arise from the snow and begin snarling at them. The Doctor explains that the snow was sentient and mirroring the thoughts of people around it, the Doctor ordered Clara to picture them melting. The Doctor explains he cannot erase her memory now as it would make her forget how to defend herself. He warns her to not follow, and forget him. The Doctor sends her away in Strax's carriage but Clara sneaks off without Strax.
Following the Doctor, Clara sees him pull a ladder out of nowhere in the park and climb up it. After letting the Doctor get a few minutes ahead to avoid him noticing her, Clara mimics his actions and pulls the ladder down. She climbs up to a platform, which could be easily seen by people passing by; she yells to people, but they don't notice her. She continues onward, climbing a a hidden staircase in the sky reaching to the clouds. Clara then sees the TARDIS. Clara knocks on the door and hides at the side of the TARDIS just as the Doctor pops his head out saying "Hello?" As the Doctor follows the sides of the TARDIS, Clara sneaks down the stairs. The Doctor hears her footsteps. The Doctor picks up a piece of cloth that dropped from Clara's dress as she sneaks away which he then smells. He saw her running down the spiral staircase which led up to the cloud, but dismissed her, still determined to stay out of what was happening on Earth.
That same night, Vastra and Jenny confront Dr. Simeon. Despite their attempts at getting him to reveal his plan, Simeon remains unfazed, even after unveiling Vastra and seeing her true face, commenting she may have been the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes and that they make an odd couple. Jenny defends herself and Vastra by saying that unlike them, Dr. Simeon hasn't married. He scoffs at this and leaves, assured they cannot stop him. However, Vastra says that there IS one person who can, making Simeon slightly uneasy.
The next day, Christmas Eve, Clara heads for her second job as governess to "Franny" and Digby Latimer, children to Captain Latimer, under the alias "Ms. Montigue". Captain Latimer explains that he is having trouble connecting with his children and hopes Ms. Montigue can get through to them; Franny also seems troubled. She greets them, and at their request, performs her "secret voice" (which is her real one). The children express how much they like her over their last governess, who drowned in their pond last year. Dr. Simeon pays an unexpected visit to the Latimer home, showing interest in the pond. This disturbs Clara, who thinks the Doctor may be of some use.
Clara goes back to the park, but can't get the ladder down, forcing her to call up to the Doctor. Jenny, watching with other confused patrons, takes her to Madame Vastra. Clara is slightly disturbed at the sight of her, but remains calm. Vastra explains what she is drinking ISN'T red wine and that Clara had better be truthful. Jenny explains that Vastra will ask questions and Clara must answer them with one word only; Vastra believes the truth can be said in one word while lies were a string of them. Though their meeting, Vastra tells Clara that the Doctor once saved many lives, but suffered a loss so great that it forced him to retire. She then says that she will give the Doctor a message, but just one word; Clara thinks carefully about what one to say.
In his darkened TARDIS, the Doctor is reading a book while wearing Amy's reading glasses. He receives a call from Vastra who explains Clara came to her and passed the "One Word Test." Unamused, the Doctor asks why she's called, hearing that Clara has said the one word that could get the Doctor to come and save the world again; "Pond". The Doctor takes off his glasses and stares at them for a moment, finally deciding to investigate what was happening. Dressing in an outfit he previously wore in his fourth incarnation, the Doctor goes to Dr. Simeon's institute, pretending to be Sherlock Holmes. Greeting Simeon, the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to lock the doors of Simeon's office to prevent interruption. After examining the large glass sphere and seeing a newspaper article about a governess who drowned in a pond, the Doctor realises why Clara used that word to warn him of the danger. Simeon's servants manage to break down the doors, distracting him long enough for the Doctor to discretely make his exit.
The Doctor arrives at the Latimer home and examines the pond where the woman drowned. After being visited by Strax who asked if he needed any "grenades" before admitting that Vastra had used the word "help". The Doctor claims he's not investigating, saying "Who do you think I am?" to which Strax replies "Sherlock Holmes" He sends the Sontaran away saying "You're not clever, and you've got tiny little legs", just as he notices Clara waving at him through a window and decides to go and visit her.
Clara is telling Franny and Digby a bed-time story about the Doctor, claiming that all he ever does, all day, is to keep children from having bad dreams. However, Franny pokes a hole in her story, saying that she's been having bad dreams about their previous governess. Clara quickly says that the Doctor has been on vacation, and has just got back. The door opens and she begins to introduce the Doctor only to see the reincarnation of the previous governess to the Lamiter family (created from her genetic sample), the Ice Governess. She attacks them, intending to discipline the children as she believes they have been very naughty. Clara quickly locks them in a playroom for safety. The Ice Governess breaks in and all seems lost until a puppet (operated by the Doctor) destroys her with the sonic.
The Doctor notices a mirror which shows him that he's wearing a bow tie now, something he hasn't done in a while. Clara realises the temperature of the room has dropped, noting that, "It's cooler." The Doctor thinks she is complimenting his bow tie, replying "Bow ties are cool." The Ice Governess begins to reform, so the Doctor, Clara and the children escape downstairs, meeting Captain Latimer. The Doctor hastily explains his presence in the house by claiming that he is Clara's "gentleman friend" and they had been upstairs kissing.
Meanwhile, Dr. Simeon arrives and activates a device outside the Latimer property, causing snow to fall on the frozen pond; ice begins to accumulate in the middle.
Vastra, Strax and Jenny arrive, trapping the Ice Governess behind a force field. Strax then says Captain Latimer's office is a strategic place to make their stand and everyone hurried inside. After explaining Simeon's plan, which is to use the Ice Governess as a template to evolve the snowmen into an army of ice for Simeon to conquer Earth with, the Doctor orders everyone to stay in Latimer's office. However, Clara disobeys and kisses him in the hallway. After recovering from the surprise, he confronts Dr. Simeon at the front door. Simeon warns the Doctor they have five minutes to give him the Ice Governess. The Doctor seizes an umbrella and used his sonic screwdriver to deactivate the force field that trapped the Ice Governess. He and Clara sprint up the stairs towards the roof. At one point Clara grabbed the Doctor's hand and took the lead which the Doctor was unused to since he was usually the one who did the hand grabbing.
The Ice Governess follows. Clara quickly realises why the Doctor lead them up to the roof and uses the umbrella he took from downstairs to pull down the ladder that led up to the spiral staircase; the wind had moved the cloud the TARDIS was parked on. They run up the staircase with the Ice Governess in pursuit. The Doctor explains that they are drawing the Ice Governess away from the power that is constantly reviving her; once far enough away, they can destroy the creature and lock her remains away in a container that the signal can't get through.
After reaching the Doctor's cloud, the Doctor shows Clara the inside of the TARDIS which has changed since Amy and Rory left. He expects Clara to say that it's bigger on the inside like everyone else, but instead she says "It's smaller on the outside" which the Doctor notes is a first. Clara then asked if there is a kitchen on board, mentioning that she likes making souffles, a remark which catches the Doctor's attention. The Doctor then gives Clara a key to the TARDIS, having decided to take her with him. However, just after taking the key Clara is grabbed by the Ice Governess. Clara and the Ice Governess topple off the cloud on to the Lamtier lawn below; the Ice Governess is shattered, and Clara critically injured.
The Doctor uses the TARDIS to get Clara's body into Latimer's office where Strax uses alien technology (the same used to bring him back after the Battle of Demons Run) to revive her. However Clara's injuries are more fatal than the ones Strax were, leaving her in a dying state. The Doctor asks Clara if she would travel with him and she agrees. He then storms out to face Simeon, and his Snowmen, brandishing a box which he claims contain the Ice Governess' shattered remains. He tells Simeon he'd "see [him] at the office", using the TARDIS to take himself and Vastra to Simeon's institute. Vastra wondered if the Doctor was making a bargain with the Universe and the Doctor said that the Universe owed him for all the times he had saved it, hoping that if he saved the world, the Universe would allow Clara to live.
The Doctor and Vastra meet Simeon in his office and the Doctor reveals that the giant snow globe is actually a reflection of Simeon himself. Simeon explains that the snow had spoken to him as a child when he was building a snowman and the Doctor informs him that he had accidentally started putting all of his deepest, darkest thoughts and feelings into the snow, making it as intelligent as it was fifty years later. Although Simeon is shocked to learn that he was the reason the snow globe was sentient, this doesn't stop him from attempting to continue his plan. He grabs the box containing the Ice Governess remains from the Doctor. When he opens it however, he finds the memory worm instead. It bites him, erasing all the memories of his adult life.
However, the snow globe explains that the plan will still go through; the Doctor is now perplexed as to how this can be as it is a reflection of Simeon's dark side. The snow globe explains that the "dream had outlived the dreamer", zapping Simeon with electricity. Without the memories the worm erased, there was plenty of room for the entity; Simeon was now its puppet, rather than the other way around. After hurling Vastra aside, the possessed Simeon attacks the Doctor but then pulls back in apparent pain as the snow in the globe turns to rain. Simeon perishes as the entity is defeated, and the Doctor says that all the snow at the Latimer house was mirroring the grief of the Latimers as Clara drew closer to death. Rushing back to the house, the Doctor stands beside Clara as she dies. Before she passes away however, Clara murmurs words that another version of her had said once before; "Run you clever boy. And remember."
During Clara's funeral, Vastra hands the Doctor a card for Simeon's institute , which reveals the entity was the Great Intelligence. However, while the name rings a bell, the Doctor has trouble remembering when he met it before. He then goes to Clara's grave, which contains her full name... Clara Oswin Oswald. The Doctor remembers that name from the woman he had met in the Dalek Asylum, who went by the name Oswin Oswald and also enjoyed making souffles (having not noticed the connection before since he never saw her human face). This leaves the Doctor greatly confused; someone has died twice in completely different lives in time and space. Eager at solving the mystery of the woman who has died twice, the Doctor runs off. Jenny wonders why the Doctor is suddenly so happy. Vastra remarks "maybe the Universe does make deals after all.".
Decades later, the cemetery has long ago ceased to be maintained. Tall weeds have taken over, and many of the gravestones are neglected; Clara's remains legible but is well-worn. Another Clara, identical in appearance to Clara Oswald and Oswin Oswald walks through the brush ahead of her friend. As she nears Clara Oswald's gravestone, her friend begs her to leave because she thinks the graveyard is creepy. Standing above her doppelgänger's corpse, Clara confidently dismisses her friend's phobia, asserting, "I don't believe in ghosts."
Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor is now hell-bent on finding this Clara and making her his new companion. Flipping switches on the console, the Doctor yells "Clara! Oswin! Oswald!" and pulls up a picture of Clara from 1892 on the TARDIS scanner. Then he exclaims, "Watch me run!"
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.
- 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
- 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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