Stories Television Doctor Who Season 6 Serial: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 The Mind Robber Original Story Tales of the TARDIS Original Story Tales of the TARDIS 1 image Overview Episodes Characters How to Watch Reviews 13 Statistics Related Stories Quotes 3 Transcript Overview First aired Saturday, September 14, 1968 Production Code UU Written by Derrick Sherwin, Peter Ling Directed by David Maloney Runtime 100 minutes Time Travel Alternate Reality Tropes (Potential Spoilers!) Clockwork, Lost the TARDIS, Robots, The Doctor Falls Location (Potential Spoilers!) The Land of Fiction Synopsis To escape from the volcanic eruption on Dulkis, the Second Doctor uses an emergency unit. It moves the TARDIS out of normal time and space. The travellers find themselves in an endless void where they are menaced by white robots. Having regained the safety of the TARDIS, they believe they have escaped — until the ship explodes. They find themselves in a land of fiction, where they are hunted by life-size clockwork soldiers and encounter characters like Rapunzel, the Karkus, and Swift's Lemuel Gulliver. Watch Watched Favourite Favourited Add Review Edit Review Log a repeat Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Owned Save to my list Saved Edit date completed Custom Date Release Date Archive (no date) Save 5 Episodes Episode 1 First aired Saturday, September 14, 1968 Runtime 20 minutes Written by Derrick Sherwin Directed by David Maloney UK Viewers 6.6 million Appreciation Index 51 Synopsis The TARDIS arrives in a white void, having made an emergency take-off to escape the volcanic eruption on Dulkis. The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe find themselves in the Land of Fiction, where characters from the imagination come to life, and The Master, the mysterious ruler, chooses the Doctor to take his place. Episode 2 First aired Saturday, September 21, 1968 Runtime 20 minutes Written by Peter Ling Directed by David Maloney UK Viewers 6.5 million Appreciation Index 49 Synopsis With the TARDIS destroyed, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe find themselves in a strange forest patrolled by mysterious soldiers. Episode 3 First aired Saturday, September 28, 1968 Runtime 20 minutes Written by Peter Ling Directed by David Maloney UK Viewers 7.2 million Appreciation Index 53 Synopsis The Doctor realises that the travellers are trapped in a world where fiction is real and where creatures are a threat if people believe in them. Episode 4 First aired Saturday, October 5, 1968 Runtime 20 minutes Written by Peter Ling Directed by David Maloney UK Viewers 7.3 million Appreciation Index 56 Synopsis The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe reach the citadel at the centre of the land, where they finally encounter the Master of the Land of Fiction. Episode 5 First aired Saturday, October 12, 1968 Runtime 20 minutes Written by Peter Ling Directed by David Maloney UK Viewers 6.7 million Appreciation Index 49 Synopsis With Jamie and Zoe having been turned into fiction, the Doctor must find a way to save them without suffering the same fate or becoming part of the Master Brain. Show All Episodes Characters Second Doctor Patrick Troughton Jamie McCrimmon Frazer Hines Zoe Heriot Wendy Padbury Medusa First Appearance Minotaur First Appearance The Karkus First Appearance Show All Characters (6) How to watch The Mind Robber: Watch on iPlayer DVD The Mind Robber VHS The Mind Robber (VHS) Reviews Add Review Edit Review Sort: Date (Newest First) Date (Oldest First) Likes (High-Low) Likes (Low-High) Rating (High-Low) Rating (Low-High) Word count (High-Low) Word count (Low-High) Username (A-Z) Username (Z-A) Spoilers First Spoilers Last 13 reviews 2 April 2025 · 123 words Review by CptnOfTheYellowSub The Land Of Fiction was such a creative setting. The could do so much with it. They should bring it back. You get the sense anything could happen in the land of fiction. They stole my dear Jamie's face! I like Zoe's sparkly jumpsuit. There is a character in this one called the Master but he isn't THAT The Master, and that was confusing for my IRL friend who is not as into Doctor Who history as me, and so does not know Our The Master doesn't show up until the 3rd Doctor's era. I didn't set the record straight. I just let him think the Master was being oddly nice this time. My friend is a pudding brain who must be protected. CptnOfTheYellowSub View profile Like Liked 0 1 April 2025 · 57 words Review by greenLetterT The Mind Robber is one of those stories that feels like it was made for me, fan of metatextual nonsense, specifically. I love it when stories acknowledge their fictional nature! I had a great time! A couple of the middle episodes slowed a bit but part 1 is perhaps the single best episode in all of Doctor Who greenLetterT View profile Like Liked 0 20 March 2025 · 59 words Review by Scottybguud A fun story. Unlike new who were fictional characters sometimes turn out to be real, here they're written and controlled by the Master (not thee master). We also get Jamie played by another actor as he has a face change for a short while. But Troughton is the stand out as always. One of my favourites of his tenure. Scottybguud View profile Like Liked 0 14 March 2025 · 42 words Review by Azurillkirby when did the second doctor get good This was great! Reminds me a lot of The Celestial Toymaker, which I also loved. Really, really fun and imaginative. Also, best excuse so far for a cast member being absent for a week. A+. Azurillkirby View profile Like Liked 0 26 February 2025 · 179 words Review by dema1020 Spoilers This review contains spoilers! The Mind Robber reminds me a lot of The Celestial Toymaker, yet a much better version of it. On the one hand, both stories are creative. Plus, The Mind Robber has better, and makes much better use of its companions. Jamie and Zoe make for highly effective a highly effective TARDIS team with the Second Doctor. Production also puts a lot more effort into production, so The Mind Robber looks great and holds up a lot more than The Celestial Toymaker on every front. In both stories, we face these larger than life threats that are imaginative and very creative. The Land of Stories is a very cool setting that shows just how different the setting of the Doctor Who universe can be. With all that being said, this feels like a longer serial than five episodes, and that definitely has something to do with how repetitive this story can be. At a certain point, we get it, and it feels a little drawn out after a while. I did like the stuff with Rapunzel, that was pretty silly. dema1020 View profile Like Liked 0 Show All Reviews (13) Open in new window Statistics AVG. Rating500 members 4.30 / 5 Trakt.tv AVG. Rating492 votes 3.87 / 5 Member Statistics Watched 865 Favourited 207 Reviewed 13 Saved 4 Skipped 1 Related Stories Main Range • Episode 133 City of Spires Rating: 3.38 Story Skipped Audio Drama Reviews(2) More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: Big Finish Main Range Set of Stories: Big Finish Main Range 101-150 Set of Stories: Main Range: Sixth Doctor Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Tales of the TARDIS (Minisode) The Mind Robber (TOTT Minisode) Rating: 4.05 Story Skipped Minisode Reviews(1) More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: Tales of the TARDIS Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Virgin New Adventures Conundrum Rating: 4.19 Story Skipped Book Reviews(1) More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: Virgin Books Set of Stories: Virgin New Adventures Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Other adaptations of this story: We define an adaptation as a recreation of a similar story but on a different medium or with different characters. Target Collection Doctor Who: The Mind Robber Rating: 3.76 Story Skipped Book Reviews(1) More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: Target Collection Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Other variations of this story We define a variation as another way of experiencing the exact same story - like an autiobook, a reconstruction or an omnibus edition. Tales of the TARDIS • Episode 2 The Mind Robber (TOTT version) Rating: 4.13 Story Skipped Television Reviews(3) More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: Tales of the TARDIS Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Quotes Add Quote Link to Quote Favourite DOCTOR: Which way, do you think? ZOE: To the right. DOCTOR: They both look equally unattractive to me. ZOE: But it must be to the right. I've been working it out as we went along. JAMIE: Doctor. DOCTOR: Shush. How? ZOE: Well, as soon as we avoided the dead ends, it soon fell into a clear pattern. One left, two right, three left, four right and so on. It's a simple arithmetic progression. JAMIE: Yes, but Doctor. DOCTOR: Shush, Jamie. DOCTOR: What it is to have an arithmetical brain. What do you want? JAMIE: The thread's run out. Now, should we not go back? DOCTOR: No, you stay here. JAMIE: Ah. DOCTOR: And Zoe and I will explore a little further. There must be another way out of this maze and I mean to find it. — The Mind Robber Show All Quotes (3) Open in new window Transcript Needs checking Episode One [Outside the TARDIS] (The former atomic test island on Dulkis is having a small volcanic eruption.) JAMIE: Doctor, come on, will you? Look!DOCTOR: Oh, my word! Come on, Jamie. Into the TARDIS, quickly! [TARDIS] Show Full Transcript Open in new window
