Friday Creature Feature - Clara's Snowmen

After doing my creature feature about Calvin’s snowmen, it only made sense to do a post about the snowmen from Doctor Who. However, as much as I enjoy Clara’s snowmen, this post will probably spend more time exploring the intelligence behind the snowmen, instead of the creatures themselves. But first to the snowmen:

The Snowmen

So once upon a time in Victorian England, a non-sentient snow-like alien substance fell to Earth and its telepathetic field latched onto a lonely (and possibly disturbed) boy. With the telepathic “snow” mirroring his thoughts over the ensuing fifty years, the alien substance started taking on a mind of its own. By the time the Eleventh Doctor and Clara took on this “intelligence” it’s able to create carnivorous snowmen just at a thought. End goal: the “snow” wanted to become the ultimate combination of human and ice (sounds like a Power Rangers villain, to be honest). This all culminated with an ice lady chasing after the Doctor and Clara. After Clara fell to her death (again), her family’s grief over her loss spilled into the telepathetic field, melting the snowmen and the Intelligence. 

But the Doctor rightly theorized the Intelligence didn’t stop there. It’s hard to say where things went next though…

Miss Kizlet and the Wi-Fi

In 21st Century England, the wi-fi started absorbing people’s minds. The person seemingly behind it, Miss Kizlet, said she was feeding those minds to her “client” who was later revealed to be the Great Intelligence. Again, the Great Intelligence was acting like a parasite, feeding off the mind of a child; when Kizlet’s mind was “reset” she was mentally a kid again, after facing the Eleventh Doctor. No idea what happened to the Great Intelligence at that point.

Whispermen on Trenzalore

The next time the Eleventh Doctor saw the Great Intelligence was “The Day of the Doctor” when lured to Trenzalore with Clara. After the Great Intelligence got into the Doctor’s time stream (possibly explaining the Second Doctor’s encounters with the Great Intelligence), Clara jumped in to resolve the interference. So yay? No sign of the Great Intelligence since the Eleventh Doctor era though.

The Abominable Snowmen in Tibet

Way back when, an expedition in Tibet led by Professor Travers hunted down a supposed yeti. Turns out, the Yeti was a robot controlled by the Great Intelligence. The Second Doctor, his companions, and Travers take the yeti and the Intelligence out of commission. And as the Doctor and the TARDIS team departed, Travers started hunting down a real yeti.

Webs in the London Underground

Decades after Travers explored Tibet, his souvenir Yeti robot got activated again and the Great Intelligence (somehow reawakened–not entirely clear on how this happened). By the time the Second Doctor and his friends arrived on the scene, the London Underground was covered in massive cobwebs. Eventually the Doctor was able to trick the Intelligence and stop its plans. Oh and we also got the introduction of a longstanding ally to the Doctor: Allistair Lethbridge-Stewart (before he was Brigadier).

Other than the obvious progression of Trenzalore happening after the snowmen and the London Underground happening after Tibet, these incidents with the Great Intelligence are very timey-wimey. Difficult to place their order. But there’s every chance the Intelligence could return again. Especially with the wibbly-wobbly nature of its stories.