The Mind Robber DVD NTSC Region 1 DVD PAL Region 2 VHS Video NTSC A NTSC B NTSC PAL

(Doctor Who Story No. 45, starring Patrick Troughton) written by Peter Ling (episodes 2-5) and Derrick Sherwin (episode 1) directed by David Maloney produced by Peter Bryant featuring library music tracks 5 episodes @ 18-22 minutes each Story: Desperate to escape an erupting volcano, the Doctor takes the TARDIS out of space/time reality. He and Jamie and Zoe find themselves in a bizarre struggle to maintain their identity and their control over their own minds, as they are confronted by all-too-familiar people, creatures, and settings that shouldn't really exist....

DVD Extras include:

• Audio commentary by actors Frazer Hines(Jamie), Wendy Padbury(Zoe), Hamish Wilson(Jamie 2), and director David Maloney.
• Story production featurette, with writers Peter Ling and Derrick Sherwin, designer Evan Hercules, actors Christopher Robbie (The Karkus),
  Frazer Hines, Wendy Padbury, Hamish Wilson, and director David Maloney.
• Frazer Hines' career featurette
• Basil Brush Yeti segment
• Pop-up Production Notes
• Photo Gallery
• "Who's Who" actor biographies (text only, may not be included on the Region 2 PAL version)

The season six story that I originally looked forward to viewing least actually turns out to be one of the very best of the year, and of its particular "candy-horror" genre, for that matter.

Episode One - by Derrick Sherwin

Jamie does manage a complaint against Zoe's appearance in her eye-sore Dulcian outfit which sizes it up pretty accurately. Thankfully, as soon as common sense and continuity allows, she swaps it for something much more practical and better looking, and sticks to better fashions for the rest of her travels.

Episode one focuses on the three regulars, and is a fair demonstration of their relationships with each other and their life aboard the TARDIS interior, something that Doctor Who rarely gives us enough of. In scripting and in execution, this episode is by far better done than "The Edge of Destruction" (story no. 3), which basically attempted to do the same: fill a hole in the production schedule with in-TARDIS only scenes and characterizations. Here, the masterful use of white space, robots, the villain's voice, and the growing mental seduction/battle add much in the way of menace, anticipation, and believability to the rest of the "Mind Robber" story. I wouldn't have this adventure any other way.

Episodes Two through Five - by Peter Ling

Bernard Horsfall's Gulliver is very enjoyable and watchable all the way through, particularly the very humourous exchange he has with Jamie as they try to agree on who they are hiding from. One of season six's best moments, for my money. Emrys Jones succeeds in bringing out several interesting personas from the almost schizophrenic character of the poor old story editor slaved to the master computer, including a sneaky schemer, a harsh commander, and an absent-minded likeable old fogey. Rapunzel, the Karkus, and the rest of the odd assortment of characters also get well-done, their crisp fresh dialogue keeping the story both light and interesting all the way through.

This is director David Maloney's first work on Doctor Who, and although he doesn't attract as much attention as a spectacular director as Douglas Camfield, he knows how to turn in solid work, and seems to be able to turn any story with a good script into something extremely appreciable. The number of all-time classic Doctor Who stories that he has helmed is extremely impressive. "The Mind Robber" is no exception, being perhaps the very best example of this style of story in Doctor Who.

Sudden illness for Frazer Hines throws an interesting twist into episode two, where Hamish Wilson takes over the role of Jamie for, basically, that episode. Wilson does not fail to do the role justice, and this has to be one of the all-time best, and funniest, companion "absenses" that there is on Doctor Who. The extra scenes inserted to take care of this are excellent and enhance the strangeness of the setting extremely effectively: another unexpected bonus for the story. The episodes threaten to under-run the usual time-limit, but thankfully no unnecessary padding was added anywhere - only good stuff. The pace remains good all the way through. Even though a basic pattern emerges for the central conflict of the middle episodes, threatening to get repetitive, exploration and discovery rule the day, and the simple odyssey plot moves quickly and steadily ahead to the revelations, satisfying confrontations, and exciting conclusion in the castle. A lot of twists are thrown into the final battle of the minds between the Doctor and his adversary, achieving a great deal of humour without losing dramatic realism or impact. The final scene works, but wraps up just a little too quickly and enigmatically for my taste, serving of course as a bit of a cliffhanger between the fifth and sixth recording blocks. Although it may benefit the television stations to bring viewers back, it doesn't do much credit to this story or the next.

"The Mind Robber" is extremely good, the most unusual gem of season six.

DVD NTSC Region 1 for the North American market: in the U.S. in Canada	DVD PAL Region 2 for the U.K.	VHS Video NTSC A in the U.S. NTSC B in the U.S. NTSC in Canada PAL for the U.K.

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