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TARDIS Guide

Overview

First aired

Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Runtime

98 minutes

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.

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3 reviews

I'm usually not a huge fan of these recent Classic Who DVD trailers and Tales of the TARDIS shorts, not to say they're bad at all, it is always wonderful seeing the old actors for the companions and even the Doctors show up for like a mini story hyping up the main story/season you're about to watch, they are what they are in being these overly happy and emotional shorts, I'm just not a fan of the idea of making them canon with the show, or even Big Finish and how they seem to be derailing a lot of previous projects. Case and point the recent Trials of a Time Lord seemingly forgetting Peri's second travels with the Sixth Doctor because apparently it's actually wonderful that Peri remained as a queen married to King Brian Blessed and not something that was utterly ridiculed by fans and even Nicola Bryant.

But this short for The Mind Robber I've no complaints about, Jamie and Zoe are two of my favourites and seeing Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury together again just really brings warm feelings to my heart. It has a bit of that sappy fairy-tale logic with Zoe saying all they have to do is close their eyes and they'll remember their travels with the Doctor but I appreciate it just leaves it as a suggestion


Omnibus format somehow works better for classic some how


This review contains spoilers!

This one feels the most important to the Doctor's future, considering that the opening and closing scenes follow two companions who had their memories wiped like the Doctor. I can see the emotional throughline where Zoe speaks of the cruelty of memory wiping flowing into Donna's situation, and the hint that Jamie and Zoe may get to keep their returned memories perhaps suggests an optimistic end for Donna too.

 

Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury are a delight, and effortlessly slip back into their roles. Frazer Hines, in particular, is excellent, with a somehow even more convincing Scottish accent than when he was in the show.

 

The story itself, The Mind Robber, is a wonderfully unique affair. I admire the fantastical edge of this void where fictional creations such as Gulliver and Rapunzel can meet, and the TARDIS's collapse is a stunning visual. Jamie doesn't get a ton to do, which admittedly is partly due to Frazer Hines' illness at the time of recording, but they at least find a creative solution for Jamie's brief recast, with the Doctor getting his face wrong during the facial puzzle.


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AVG. Rating77 members
4.14 / 5

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