Doctor Who (Classic): The Mind Robber
Created by: Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber, Donald Wilson
Directed by: David Maloney
Produced by: Peter Bryant
Written by: Derrick Sherwin and Peter Ling
I'll admit it: I'm a sucker for graphics and CGI. Today's technology makes my imagination explode with its ability to bring us anywhere and make anything come to life. This is exemplified in shows like Rings of Power, Wheel of Time, and The Sandman, all of which bring impossible worlds to our doorstep.
But then I watch classic Doctor Who and I remember... some stories don't need all that.
The Mind Robber is next in a very slow progression I'm making through Doctor Who's classic era. I started this journey once I became a huge fan of the series after I caught up with the 2005 reboot, at that point in its Peter Capaldi years. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to find a (legal) source to stream the Classic stuff, especially in order. Britbox seems to be the only decent way, but there's nothing else on the service I'm interested in watching. So I've been restricted to libraries. (Not that that's a bad thing.) But anyway, I digress.
This is another arc in Patrick Troughton's years, the second doctor, and he's still voyaging with 18th-centruy Scottish clansman Jamie and 21st-century astrophysicist Zoe. That's one thing I appreciated about the Classic era: the Doctor often traveled with multiple companions. This only happened once on a consistent basis in the modern era, when Matt Smith's 11th Doctor traveled with Amy Pond, Rory Pond, and even River Song.
The titular Mind Robber is a human hooked up to a supercomputer which turns his creative energy into reality. The serial (a term for all episodes in this story arc) begins as the TARDIS is targeted by psychic attacks from this Robber, and soon the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe are transported directly out of the TARDIS and to the Mind Robber's planet, where they're plagued by obstacles and enemies of his creation. We eventually find out that the Mind Robber is targeting the Doctor specifically and--furthermore--the Mind Robber himself is being coerced by other beings who are the true enemy.
Just a few things annoyed me about this serial. In the first episode, as I mentioned above, Jamie and Zoe are plagued by psychic attacks from the Mind Robber. He plants images of their respective homes into the TARDIS viewscreens: Jamie sees majestic Scottish highland plains, and Zoe comforting scenes from her space colony. I can understand why this might be fooling at first--anything can happen in the TARDIS--but Zoe counters, telling him that she's not seeing the same image on screen. Instead of recognizing that they're seeing different things, the characters choose to bicker and insist that "No, you're wrong, the TARDIS is showing the Scottish hills right now!" They've been traveling together on the TARDIS for a long time at this point, so I would think they'd be past all that and more adept and figuring out what's going on--or at the very least, that they don't know what's going on.
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Thankfully, this in-fighting doesn't last long, and most of the serial is filled with more thoughtful investigations. Once the three of them are transported to the Mind Robber's planet, they're separated and forced to be on their best behavior to have any hope of figuring things out. I was only impressed by this point on, and not only by all three characters' ability to take on intellectual and physical challenges, but also the producers' ability to make it all work. A behind-the-scenes featurette included with my library DVDs commentated on how the show was riding on a very meager budget at this time (not to mention the rather limited abilities of that time). Just like the original Star Wars trilogy, they succeeded in creating impressive new worlds, technology, and fantasy with very little in their pockets. It takes a little more suspension of reality on the viewer's part to believe these clunky people-in-cardboard-boxes are robots, but the acting meets you halfway.
See you next time in The Invasion, Jamie and Zoe!
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