As a sequel to The Abominable Snowmen, this story feels the need to include recurring elements from the previous story. Here, we're going to discuss one major element, being Professor Travers. In this story's predecessor, he came across as a fairly one note character, a man driven to find the Yeti, and who was at first against the Doctor, but then grew to admire him as an ally. But here, fighting the Yeti again, he's a far more interesting character. he's older for a start, meaning that we get to see the effects of time travel on people who aren't in the TARDIS (something not often discussed in the early years of the show). But also, by being older he's been able to develop off screen. Were it not for the fact that they were played by the same actor, it would be impossible to tell that the two characters were the same, that's how different they are. And whilst the older version of the character is good, and brings another strong element to this story, it's also noteworthy that he exists as a 'second try' at his younger version, one that is better characterised and comes across as a more well rounded character.
And all of that seems to me, as I write it, as somewhat negative, so I'll redress the balance by saying that him discovering Jamie and Victoria is one of the loveliest scenes that we've had so far in the series, and it's a pleasure that we're able to see it today.
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