Mindwarp

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Mysterious Planet

And after such a great start, we're back to Season 22 quality again. The courtroom framing device is still very effective here, and Michael Jayston only gets better as the Valeyard. This story was especially good as you begin to see how the narrative is being twisted and the Doctor is losing favour in the court. I really enjoy how helpless the Doctor is here, it greatly adds to the tension.

The actual plot here is very weak. This story seems to think that the reason Vengeance on Varos was so well-recieved was Sil. I despise Sil. Brian Blessed's King Yrcanos is the definition of hammy Classic Who acting, but atleast they're self aware about it. While I think he's a fun character, I don't like the romantic narrative being set up with Peri.

The idea of mind transfers was pretty interesting, but no matter how much they say it will affect the fate of the universe, I just can't see why the Time Lords care so much. It's also baffling to me why they make Colin Baker's Doctor evil for half this story, it's genuinely impossible to tell whether he's being influenced or if he's genuinely just had a change of heart, that's how erratic and unstable his Doctor is.

Getting rid of Peri like that was ridiculous and the only reason I tolerate it is because of Colin Baker's performance when the Doctor finds out. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt for now though as I haven't watched the rest of the season. Overall, a big step down though not particularly awful mostly thanks to the courtroom scenes.

Next Story: Terror of the Vervoids

Mindwarp had the potential to be so much better were it not for the whole. Well. Everything about the production of s23

The Doctor not knowing if the Matrix had been edited or if he simply forgot his cruelty was a good idea! Peri's death was a good idea! The Doctor having to face consequences of his actions was a good idea!

Ah well. At least Brian Blessed seemed to be having fun

After the BBC's initial axing of Doctor Who was reversed into merely an extended break, the production team found themselves having to hastily rework their planned serials for the show's twenty third season. Very few of the story ideas survived this hasty reshuffle, causing an entirely different season to emerge. However there are tiny remnants of one such concept for the original season that did make the transition. I'm speaking, of course, about Mission To Magnus, the planned return of Sil (Nabil Shaban).

This story was reworked from the ground up, for what became 'Mindwarp', the second serial to make up the Trial Of A Time Lord arc. It's great to see Sil here, and Nabil Shaban is on fine form; you can tell he is relishing returning to the role. It's also really fun that the story takes place on his home planet of Thoros-Beta. It adds an extra layer to the world building of the series, as we finally get to see the planet that was teased in his debut adventure Vengeance On Varos.

Strangely, however, he takes more of a back seat here to a new member of the Mentor race, Lord Kiv (Christopher Ryan), a Mentor who is slowly dying and wishes to transplant his mind into another body in order to prolong his life. Sil is made more of a comedic presence, which is a somewhat bizarre creative decision given that he is known to offer a more threatening presence. I do in general really like the narrative on display here however; I think the idea of an extra-terrestrial being attempting mind transference into another body is a really strong one for a Doctor Who episode, and it's executed very well here. Especially as we get to see the results of the mind transference twice, and the outcome as Kiv's mind essentially finds itself in two different bodies at different points of the narrative.

This serial is known in particular for starring Brian Blessed as King Yrcanos, and he's every bit as you would expect. He delightfully hams it up, bringing this enormous sense of fun to proceedings. There's never a dull moment with somebody of Brian Blessed's screen presence around, and he's pretty much perfect casting as Yrcanos here. He has the booming voice of a King, somebody who you could easily imagine ordering servants around and watching over an interstellar kingdom.

Yrcanos's equerry Dorf (Thomas Branch) is something of a tragic figure. A result of the Mentors' experiments, he's become this wolfman who is clearly not very happy about his predicament, and I really found myself feeling for this character. It feels so needlessly cruel the way he was transported into this mutated body, which really establishes the nature of the threat they are up against. Only a cruel and heartless mind could do this to the poor man; these are clearly people who need to be stopped.

 
What I didn't quite buy was the Doctor's sudden betrayal and teaming up with the serial's antagonists. This didn't make much sense for me, for very much the same reasons as Colin Baker himself has stated. The story is very vague on whether the Doctor is simply stringing Sil and Kiv along, or if the Valeyard (Michael Jayston) has been tampering with the matrix in order to portray the Doctor as the bad guy and it doesn't feel purposefully vague either. It's like they didn't realise in the production of the serial how unclear it was, and it has the affect of making the Doctor seem too unlikeable when he tortures Peri for information, or alerts the guards to her presence when she appears as a servant to the Mentors. Hell, at one point I was wondering if the mind experiments attempted on the Doctor earlier in the serial had done something to his brain in order to affect his behaviour, but this isn't clarified either.

The ending, on the other hand, is sublime, as Peri's mind inside her body is replaced with that of Kiv's. It's a brutal and tragic way for a companion to go, Peri ultimately becoming nothing but a vessel for the primary antagonist of the serial. The performances of both Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant both really sell it too, as the Doctor is moved to tears in the courtroom whilst Peri on the screen intonates the precise speaking tones of Kiv. It's a shame that this ending is later reversed, as if it had stuck it would have easily been one of the greatest companion exits of all time.

Overall, whilst Mindwarp has its problems, it's still an extremely entertaining serial which provides an enjoyable hour and a half of television. Peri's initial exit in particular is very strong stuff, and Brian Blessed is every bit as larger than life as you would hope. Unfortunately there are some very bizarre creative production choices on display here, such as the Doctor betraying his companion and their new allies for no good reason, and Sil becoming more of a comedic secondary antagonist to the main villain. With more substantial rewrites this could have been one of the best Doctor Who stories out there, but as it is it's still a great adventure for Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor.

The best way to enjoy Mindwarp is to imagine that it’s a pantomime - this way you are more likely to appreciate the hammy acting, including the bombastic, larger than life turn from BRIAN BLESSED.

It’s nice to see Sil’s return and get a better idea of what his home planet is. Predictably for this era of the show it is all dark, gory and camp - a queasy mix.

It moves from below average but entertaining to something less palatable once they start blurring the lines over whether The Doctor is a megalomaniacal villain or not and whether he has harmed Peri. Peri has been consistently mistreated by this Doctor, a Doctor it is not easy to warm to, so when you see this you can’t help but feel that it’s yet more negative, poisonous screen time for Colin Baker. This storyline could work, if done rightfor another Doctor and companion, but it does not work here.

After seeing Peri chained to a rock (which made me feel particularly sad) she ends up being dispensed in a brutal way. Head shaved, mind controlled and then shot. She didn’t even die as herself. Poor Peri. She was an excellent companion, consistently put through hell since day one.