Insomnia

[cosmolinguist]

I tried to stay up to find out what happened to the Yeti in an audio version of the Doctor Who story Web of Fear (I love them as a villain, you don't see them much and their motives are obscure -- probably because, as Andrew explained to me, they've got a weird grab-bag of traits: they're yetis who are robots controlled by aliens and they shoot webs and they live in the London Underground -- but best of all has to be that last. I first realized what a good idea it is as a villainous lair when I noticed how odd and poignant it sounded to hear these military guys saying "now we only have Monument" or "the Circle Line is lost"; even as little as I use the tube, the names are familiar enough to carry that frisson of horrors on your doorstep. Especially as the Yeti force them to seal off and blow up their own Underground, to do some of the dirty work of ruining things themselves. The tube cannot here be a spirit-of-the-Blitz safe haven; instead, the maddening conclusion that "they're right under our noses" must weigh heavily on these military men, even as they have to resort to an underground headquarters at Goodge Street (whose lifts, I was recently reminded, Stuart Maconie said looked like they belonged in an abbatoir).).

But I fell asleep on the couch for the last hour of the story, I was so tired. I got up, put my pajamas on, brushed my teeth, and went to bed...where I've laid awake ever since, despite still feeling like my brain is stuffed with cotton wool. My hips hurt; I wish I had a better bed. So I lie awake and try to ignore them and instead think about villains on the London Underground.

Comments

[cosmolinguist]

Andrew told me that he liked this entry and that, by writing it, I'd unknowingly taken sides in an argument that's been going on between Doctor Who fans for 40 years, which is apparently called "yeti in the loo." He explained and I protested that I'd always thought the equivalent of "a yeti in the Himalayas is not as scary as a yeti in your loo in Tooting Bec," but Andrew said, "if you say it about Doctor Who, you're taking sides!"

[haggis.livejournal.com]

What is the opposing argument? It seems pretty much a statement of the obvious to me.

(Unless they mean that yeti-in-the-loo means NEVER yetis-in-space or that yetis-in-the-loo are always superior to yetis-in-space but that is pretty stupid argument for a longrunning TV show with space for lots of plots.)