Doctor Who - The Mind Robber [1968]

Customer Reviews:

"The Land of Make Believe".......2008-02-13

Uncle Pat is back and in one of his more unusual outings. They land in a void, then get drawn into a world where fictional characters have come to life and the Doctor must create his own fiction to escape but with the risk he may turn his friends into fictional characters.

The 1st episode is a creepy 1, set in a white void with only some White Robots (accompanied by a disconcerting sound effect)and no other life froms. The remaining 4 episodes offer a colourful mix of fictional characters including the stolid Gulliver and a rather sweet Rapunzel, as the Doctor draws nearer the centre of the mystery, facing a unicorn & a Medusa as threats.

A really clever twist is the appearance of strip cartoon character The Karkus from Zoe's time (which is way after ours). The moment where the Doctor denounces his sci-fi weapon as impossbile and it vanishes is priceless, just watch The Karkus' reaction!

The regulars have tremendous fun here, (Jamie temporarily inherits a new body) while they both try to reason with fictional characters and doddge soldiers and Robots. The Doctor is used to remind us that there is a threat and Pat is as good as ever.

Emrys Jones is an unpleasant & ultimately sympathetic villain called The Master(long before the Doctor's best enemy nicked the name).

Some effects and props date the story rather; a forest of words looks terrible, Jamie & Zoe being literally "lost in a good book" as the pages close on them looks pathetic too & a fightbetween Zoe & The karkus looks dire but on the whole, it works well and has some atmosphere still.

We get a good documentary about the story, with Frazer Hines, Wendy Padbury and Christopher Robbie (The Karkus) Hamish Wilson (Jamie mk2), along with the designer, director and writers. It captures the spirit of the story very well.

A commentary is good value with director David Maloney, Wendy Padbury & Frazer Hines and the back up Jamie Mr. Wilson, which is full of fun anecdotes. Not up to the standard of a Tommentary or the Jan & Pete show commentaries of Davison stories, but still good.

A Basil Brush sketch showcases the Troughton monster the Yeti and Highlander is an overview of Frazer Hines Dr Who work.

A good support package for a fun story. Possibly for fans of later versions of the show, definitely for anyone who enjoys classic Who.

Poor production and plot line.......2007-12-04

I really feel that this story would of been a classic if it had been lost... but its not, its here to stay and unfortunately doesn't do the Troughton era any favours... the remaining stories - war games/krotons/dominators are much much better.... ok maybe not the dominators....

Brilliant Who.......2006-11-06

Having recently enjoyed Troughtons seeds of death and tomb of the cybermen I decided to get another of the Troughton DVDs and this was just as good as the rest. Although I disliked Hamish Wilson who played Jamie in episode 2/3 because Fraser Hines couldn't I thought that the way they made the switchover was brilliant. It is most enjoyable and i think that it all fits in well together

Fantastic Buy

Something different........2006-08-19

This is a very good DVD release, which I enjoyed watching. The Doctor and his companions Jamie and Zoe are transported into a mysterious land of fiction. There they encounter Gulliver, Medusa, the unicorn, the minotaur, and ultimately the Master, who is controlling the whole domain. (Note: this is not the same Master who would appear later in the series!) In addition to this, Jamie suffers the fate of having his face changed for a while!
Here's a story that is thoroughly imaginative and rather different from any of the surrounding stories. The excellent Patrick Troughton, in his third and final year as the Doctor, performs as well as always, and there is a fine showdown in the final episode between him and Emrys James as the Master. Mentioning the final episode, reminds me of one disappointment regarding the story - the ending! It seems to be quite abrupt and unsatisfying.
There are some good extras on the DVD too. I'm not keen on the Basil brush segment. However, there is a good documentary featuring Fraser Hines, giving his memories of his time on the series.
Certainly a better story than 'The Dominators' which preceded it. A good addition to the Doctor Who DVD series.

One of the better Troughton stories.......2005-07-04

Considering that most of the Patrick Troughton era of Doctor Who is now lost, the BBC are somewhat stuck for choice when it comes to DVD releases. The Mind Robber is generally above the mediocre level of the Troughton era, but not by much. The story is confused and, ultimately, boring. One or two ideas in the whole story are good and interesting, but they are overused, and become dull long before the end.

The performance of the actor playing the Master (not the character introduced in the later Pertwee era) is, to put it politely, bizarre; it is certainly very hammy and misjudged. In short, only buy this story if you are curious about Doctor Who in the late 1960s; everyone else will find it rather thin gruel. The story is 100 minutes long, but it lasts more like a century. With badly acted/written/directed drivel like The Tomb of the Cybermen already released, along with the rather dull Seeds of Death, we can no doubt look forward to the future release of utter tat like The Dominators (not as interesting as it sounds...) and The Krotons. The War Games, in my humble opinion, is the only Troughton story worth waiting for to be released on DVD.

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