Return of the Adorable Snowmen?

Peter McKinstry is a designer on Doctor Who, and on his website recently, he posted a cross-section of what can only be a Yeti. Are they set to appear in the next series?The Yeti are the kind of mash-up idea that could only happen in Doctor Who. They're robots controlled by The Great Intelligence, an evil Buddhist deity/Lovecraftian god, and are apparently the basis for the Abominable Snowmen. They have only three appearances in Classic Who (the last, rather slim at that, and I of course don't count the Basil Brush sketch), but they've always been considered part of the Big 5 (along with Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans and Ice Warriors). Getting them into the next series would probably put them over the Ice Warriors, a blow to the Martians' PR.

I'd love to see the Yeti though, and a redesign is definitely in order. In their first appearance ("The Abominable Snowmen"), these guys were entirely too cute and fluffy:
A fact compounded when their next apperance ("The Web of Fear"), when a redesign made them even more cutesy-wootsy despite the addition of a web-gun.
Yes, a web-gun. Mash it all up, I say!

Of course, there's every chance that the reason McKinstry can post the "spoiler" is that it's not commissioned work, just a bit of fun he did for himself. The fact that it's more or less hidden on the site and not in any design gallery might however give us hope! Let's send the production team to Wales' Himalayas again!

Comments

Tim Knight said…
Bleeding Cool claimed that the Yeti would be appearing in the Christmas special.
Siskoid said…
And if the Doctor's phone call WAS actually the next adventure, that would be the mash-up to end all mash-ups: Yeti + Egyptian Goddess + Orient Express + ...in SPACE!!!
LiamKav said…
...IN THE FUTURE!!!!!

(Or past, maybe.)
Jeff R. said…
The Yeti are on a "big five" list that the Silurians/Sea Devils(/Eocenes) aren't? Or, for that matter, the Autons, who have gotten two New Who outings (but whose name apparently can't be spoken on TV anymore)...

Not really impressed by the Yeti. Probably a by-product of being introduced to Who during the 4th/5th doctors timeframe, but still...
Siskoid said…
I wonder why they can't say the word "Auton" anymore. True, the Autons should be Big 5 by now, though of course, the term was only ever used in relation to Classic Who monsters (so 2 appearances).

I think the Silurians evade the Top by virtue of only really showing up twice, with the Sea Devils also twice and these new Reptilians once. In any case, that's all semantics.

And no, the Yeti AREN'T formidable. They're quaint. They're googly. They're a nostalgic and memorable "awwww, look how badly they failed". And maybe that's why they should be revamped. Can't do any worse, can they?