I had really hoped to start this post with "what a difference a day makes", but sadly I am still in a slump. That's four consecutive days back above 280, which is frustrating as hell. I expect my son is going to run me ragged around Walt Disney World this weekend, so hopefully I will be moving back in the right direction shortly. The good news is, this morning I was able to go the full 55 minutes for the first time in days. This is going to be a long, long battle.

Anyway, I finished watching The Abominable Snowmen this morning. Let's talk about that.

The Abominable Snowmen - Episodes 5 & 6

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

Episode five has the monastery under a full-on yeti attack, plus Victoria put into a trance by Padmasambhava. Up in the yeti cave, the physical manifestation of the Great Intelligence starts pouring out into the surrounding mountainside. In episode six the Doctor is able to free Victoria from the trance, and then stages a final showdown. His basic plan is "distract Padmasambhava while Jamie and one of the monks goes into the hidden control room and smashes things." I gotta say, they manage to blow stuff up real good. At one point the entire mountain is glowing under the presence of the Great Intelligence, until Jamie finally finds the pyramid that is channeling the energy and smashes it. At that point, all of the yeti blow up, Padmasambhava is released from the control of the Great Intelligence, and the Great Intelligence itself is kicked right out of this plane of existence, never to be heard from again. I mean, aside from when it shows up again three stories from now. But then it definitely is never heard from again, at least for 44 years.

I really don't have much else to add, or any great insights. It was a solid story, well told. Loose Cannon did an excellent job as usual with the reconstruction, going so far as to include some CGI bits to animate the yeti and a few other details. For the next three stories (and eighteen episodes) I am back to watching DVDs. In fact, I only have three recons left that I haven't seen yet. I can't believe I am already nearly halfway through with the Second Doctor. Time flies!

STATS:

Doctor(s): Second
Companion(s): Jamie McCrimmon, Victoria Waterfield
Episode(s): The Abominable Snowmen - Episodes 5 & 6
Steps Walked: 7,052 today, 613,352 total
Distance Walked:  3.48 miles today, 292.29 miles miles total
Weight: 281.08 lbs (five day moving average), net change -26.22 lbs