Right I thought I would go for a Doctor Who hattrick as we are now into August and I've just done 50 posts so far this year, which considering we are now 8 months into the year its not an awful lot so its time to add the tally. And this post will be on a Patrick Troughton Doctor Who story, The Mind Robber, one of my favourties of the Troughton era, so let's give this one a look....
So the story begins just after the events of the Dominators with the Doctor (Troughton) and his companions Jamie (Frazer Hines) and Zoe (Wendy Padbury) try to escape from the planet Dulkis, just as a volcanic eruption has happened on the planet. However the TARDIS is engulfed in hot lava, which prevents it from dematerialising properly as a fluid link is blown in the ship's console, which forces the Doctor to use the TARDIS's emergency unit which takes them out of the reality of time and space. The TARDIS soon lands in a white void, however as the Doctor repairs the fluid link, Jamie and Zoe are lead out by strange white robots. The Doctor also has to fight the influence of a powerful external source but he manages to rescue Jamie and Zoe from the robots and they get back into the TARDIS and try and take off, however the TARDIS explodes and the Doctor and his companions are scattered into the void.
They then all end up in a strange forrest in which the trees appears in the shape of large letters at first separated, but the Doctor after having to solve some riddles, soon finds Jamie in a cardboard cut out form without a face, he uses pieces of Jamie's face to put him together again, but the Doctor get's it wrong and Jamie ends up with an altered appearance (played by Hamish Wilson). The Doctor and Jamie soon also find Zoe and they soon encounter a fictional character from literature, Lemuel Gulliver (Bernard Horsfall) who leads them to being captured by toy soliders. The soldiers lead the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe into the edge of the forrest where a unicorn charges at them, but they manage to turn it into a statue by saying "it doesn't exist". They soon reach a house where Jamie encounters an English redcoat from his time period who shoots him he turns back into cardboard without a face, but this tme with Zoe's help they get Jamie's face right again and back to normal (i.e. Frazer Hines is back!).
The house turns out to be the entrance to a labyrinth and the Doctor and Zoe leave Jamie behind and soon encounter a minotaur and Medusa but they defeat them the same way as the unicorn. Meanwhile Jamie climbs up a rock face with the help of the very long hair of another fictional character, Rapunzel (Christine Pirie) and enters a citadel but he sets of an alarm with more toy soldiers persuing him. The Doctor and Zoe then encounter another fictional character, this time from Zoe's time period, the Karkus (Christopher Robbie) who the Doctor has never heard of, but Zoe has and uses her martial arts skills to force the Karkus into submission and he becomes their ally. The Doctor and Zoe soon reunite with Jamie in the citadel but Zoe sets off the alarm again and this time they let the toy soldiers lead them to the main control room where the meet the Master (Emrys Jones) a British writer who is the behind writing all the stories and the Doctor has been summoned to take over from him. And from here the Doctor has to use his wits to defeat the Master who is controlled by the Master brain computer so they can break free and return to normality....
There is little doubt that The Mind Robber is one of the most purely entertaining Doctor Who stories in the original series and it was the very first story to enter the realms of fantasy as the Doctor has to take the TARDIS out of time and space. The fictional literature characters also adds a fun dimension to the story as well as the use of the riddles and having the forrest of words also shows it to be quite an imaginitive and unique story, which sets itself apart from most other stories. The story was also notable for being one of the most unusually lengthed stories in the series as the first four episodes were between 19 and 22 minutes in length and the final episode being 18 minutes, which remains the shortest ever episode of the series. The production of the story also saw some other changes as Frazer Hines was forced to drop out for a couple of weeks as he contracted chickenpox and was replaced by a Scottish actor, Hamish Wilson in episodes 2 and 3.
Which brings me onto the performances section and the cast all do a fine job here with Patrick Troughton being great once again as the Doctor and he has quite a few good moments in this story. And one good scene Troughton has is when he warns Zoe of stepping outside the TARDIS into the white void after they moved out of time and space. And the Doctor says "If we move outside the TARDIS, we step into a dimension about which we know nothing. We should be at the mercy of the forces outside out of time and space as we know it". Another good and fun moment for Troughton is where the Doctor is confronted by some children in the forrest who keep throwing riddles at him once of which is about Adam and Eve and Pinch me go down to the river and Adam and eve drowned, so who was saved and the Doctor says "Well pinch me, obviously" and the children all pinch him and the Doctor whinces "Oh stop it! Don't do that!". Another amusing scene is where the Doctor in the forrest has to make up Jamie's face but he ends up getting it wrong and he says "Oh no! I got it wrong!" and later on sheepishly admits as much to Zoe, who helps the Doctor restore Jamie's normal face. And lastly Troughton has another good scene near the end of the story where he is strapped into a device where he wears a headset and has to use his imagination to create stories to rival the Master's storytelling, which all comes to live. And the Doctor defies the Master who thinks his mind is under control from the Master brain and the Doctor says "Are you so sure?? You couldn't control my mind before and you certainly control it now!" and as the Master demands he submit the Doctor says "No! You've now given the equal power! Its now a battle of wits between you and me!".
Frazer Hines also provides another fine turn as the Doctor's regular companion, Jamie McCrimmon, a Scotsman from the 18th century, who travels with the Doctor for most of his tenure. Hines also has some good moments such as the scene in the first episode where Jamie is enticed by pictures of Scotland on the TARDIS monitor screen, which tempts him to go outside. Another fun scene is where Jamie teases Zoe, who still wears her dusty clothes from the Dominators story previously, and he says to her "I'm away to change, and I suggest you do the same. You look like a wee McLarty!" and Zoe puzzled asks what he said and Jamie says "A ragamuffin, a... Oh never mind!" and walks off. And later when they fix Jamie's face again Zoe tells him and the Doctor gives him his mirror and say "Oh that's right so it has! Oh, that's so much better!".
Wendy Padbury despite being slightly over bubbly at times also is good in her part as Zoe and she has one of the most defining scenes in any Doctor Who story at the end of the first episode where the TARDIS breaks up and we see Zoe hold onto the TARDIS console for dear life as they spin through the black void and while this happens we see her nice tight bum! ;-) And in the scene Wendy delivers the immortal line "Jamie the Doctor!" followed by the mother of all screams, as we see the Doctor still seated in the void spinning away from them. And when Zoe and the Doctor have to arrange Jamie's face again she looks accusingly at him and says "And that's how Jamie's face got changed. You got it all wrong!" only to have Zoe get it right! And later Wendy has another fun scene where she fights the fictional character the Karkus as she recognises him as a fictional cartoon character from her time period in the 21st century. And in the scene Zoe uses her martial arts skills to wear down the big Karkus fella and has him in a headlock and eventually submits and she afterwards says to the Doctor "We all follow his adventures in the strip sections of the hourly telepress". And the Doctor says "well I've been to the year 2000 but I didn't have time to stop and follow the strip cartoons" and Zoe says "Well you better start following this one. He's half way up that cliff!".
As for the other cast members Emrys Jones provides both a charming yet sinsiter performance as the Master, a British writer who's will is controlled by the Master brain, the computerised mastermind behind the fictional world. And clearly his character was also captured in the void and transported to the citadel to carry out the master brain's plans. Beranrd Horsfall, who was something of a stalwart in the late 60's and 70s of the show also provides an excellent performance as the fictional character Lemuel Gulliver, who the Doctor evenutally twigs who he is. Horsfall has a few amusing scenes in the story such as where he unwittingly gives away the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe to the toy soldiers, as he can't see them, he says out loud while they pass "I could not forebear similing, sir. What you told me is mistaken. There is no army here!". And later on when Jamie is trapped in the citadel comes along Gulliver and he asks how he can out of the citadel and Gulliver says "After some consideration I was of the opinion that this was altogether impossible!".
Christopher Robbie also provides some amusement as the German character, the Karkus, who grows furious at the Doctor in his first scene when the Doctor makes his anti-molecular ray gun disappear because he says it doesn't exit. And the Karus outraged shouts "I will tear you limb from limb! You will be mince meats!" before Zoe fights and overwhelms him after which he meekly follows her commands by the snap of her fingers. Christine Pirie is also amusing in her role as Rapunzel and get's one of the stories most laughable lines when the Doctor asks if they can use her hair to climb down and she says "No, of course not. Everyone else uses it so I don't see why you shouldn't". And lastly Hamish Wilson is great as the alternate Jamie when the Doctor get's Jamie's face all wrong when he has to rearrange it in the forrest. Wilson has some good scenes in the story where the Doctor works out the riddle to find Zoe who is trapped in a jar, after the Doctor susses the riddle "when is a door not a door... when its a jar!" and we see Zoe shouts "get me out!" and Jamie says "Not unless you promise to be a good girl!" and he lifts her out. And Zoe starts baffled at Jamie's changed appearance and asks who he is and Jamie "Oh don't you start, Zoe, I've had enough from the Doctor. It's me! Jamie!".
Getting onto the director of the story, David Maloney, who provides a fine debut here in the show as a director and keeps things moving along nicely and he even allows for some tense and creepy moments epseically in the first episode where there is a tremendous sense of unease where the external forces outside the TARDIS lure Jamie and Zoe into the white void. And the first episode ends on quite a memorable moment with the TARDIS suddenly breaking up, leaving the Doctor and his companions spinning through the black void. After this Maloney paces the story nicely and turns it into a more enjoyable romp with its fictional characters and the Doctor and his companions having to use their wits to survive oncoming dangers.
As for flawsssssssss.... well The Mind Robber isn't overly flawed but perhaps the lack of a real villain is possibly what makes the story's final episode fall a bit flat in the end as the main baddie is a big computerised brain yet the story's real meance comes from the shadows when the villain is unseen so its unveiling in the end is a bit underwhelming. The story is also a bit silly and comical in places especially where the Karkus is concerned given Christopher Robbie's over the top albeit enjoyable performance and it has characters such as Rapunzel who just happened to turn up out of the blue at certain moments, which makes the story feel a bit muddled. It also has to be said that the story's ending isn't the best and you sense it was all rather rushed given the fact that the story was initially a four parter but was extended to five given the reduction of the Dominators from six to five episodes.
However despite all that The Mind Robber is still one of Patrick Troughton's most enjoyable, unique and above all surreal stories which is well worth watching if you are a fan of the black and white era.
And with that I shall bid yee farewell.
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