The Mind Robber

 

No room for any missing adventures here... 

...we carry on right where the Dominators left off... 

50dw50 @50dw50 · Jamie clings onto the Doctor and instigates a whole branch of fan fiction!

James Smith @thejimsmith · Although the novelisation inserts a lengthy amount of business here, visiting a volcano (as it doesn't follow The Dominators in print).

Yes, Jamie, that is a big one. The volcano, I mean.

That bloody fluid link's always on the blink. Wasn't the TARDIS in for repairs when he nicked it? Sure it was that. 

Dunno why they're panicking, it's only one of those foam volcanos. 

The Doctor isn't keen on using the emergency unit but that foam volcano threatens to engulf them. 

Shame about the photographic blow up roundels.

 Jamie convinces him to take the plunge...

 ...which seems to have done the trick, for now.

Zoe goes off for a quick costume change. 

She did look like a wee McLarty, to be fair. 

50dw50 @50dw50 ·  Pat and the TARDIS crew are utterly adorable, one of the best teams ever?

David MacGowan @SpaceyBox ·  AGREED :) Thank heavens so much of season 6 exists.

Zoe wants to go out but the Doctor is wary of the forces that might exist outside of time and space. 

Hell's teeth, it's the bagpipe channel. Switch over! 

Zoe thinks Jamie's been at the Glenmccrimmon special reserve. 

Jamie saw Scotland, Zoe sees... erm, wherever she's from in the future. 

50dw50 @50dw50 ·  Zoe appears to live in a drawing of a city, she has a great catsuit though. 

David MacGowan @SpaceyBox ·Good spooky sound effects in this one.

Really creepy, that eerie, woozy, windy sound...


Zoe goes out and fades away. 

50dw50 @50dw50 ·   nice to see other rooms in the TARDIS 

Despite the Doctor's protests, Jamie follows, and he fades too... 

The Doctor comes under some form of mental attack; "Who are you?" he asks, detecting a controlling intelligence. 

Pat's got tinitus. 

Love the white void. Shame that with the super duper restoration you can see the join now. 

David MacGowan @SpaceyBox · Ah... the white void with dvd-visible studio floors. ... :( (vhs was better lol)
James Smith @thejimsmith ·  Is it the same void from Edge of Destruction and/or Warriors' Gate?

Ooh, nice thought. The Doctor describes it as outside of time and space; could be the point between E&N spaces...

David MacGowan @SpaceyBox · no no no, this is the 'TV Comic' void.... starts out as a blank white page then John Canning draws on it... :)

Jamie hears the phantom bagpipes again. 

I feel confident that's not the 1st time Zoe's had to give Jamie a slap. 

The pair are surrounded by white robots... 

...then see uncanny kryptonian versions of themselves beckoning them. 

James Smith @thejimsmith · That, combined with Wendy's scream, is a really disturbing image.

50dw50 @50dw50 ·  in another universe the white robots had their own song! #OutOfTheUnknown #DeliaDerbyshire

Ah yes. IIRC weren't they originally painted black in Out of the Unknown, then painted white to suit the void in this?

James Smith @thejimsmith · Blue.

Wow, never knew that (obviously only seen b&w photos)! :-) 

Pat's having nightmares about Jamie & Zoe wearing white. TARDIS laundromat can't cope, with the fluid link on the blink. 

Love the white TARDIS. So weird. 

So anyone buy the theory that *everything* after they leave the TARDIS is fictional? e.g. the mental attack is in fact the Time Lords catching up with him (similar sound FX).

David MacGowan @SpaceyBox · hadn't considered that. I've only just come round to the 'dream' theory (apparently intended by the production team?)

James Smith @thejimsmith ·  That's far duller than the alternative, it reduces what Dr Who is capable of being & showing & doing. IMHO.

One of those "fanwank" theories that doesn't really bear any scrutiny, I think, though IIRC it may have gained credence from a short story in the 1992 DW Yearbook that seemed to link Gulliver with the Time Lord in the War Games played by Horsfall.  

James Smith @thejimsmith · Which doesn't work as in The Three Doctors, Troughton knows Benton, whom he doesn't meet until "Next Week - The Invasion". 

The Doctor gets them back aboard the TARDIS, but they're not free yet... 

When they get back in, it says "Producer Peter Bryant" on the TARDIS scanner... 

The Doctor tries to take off... 

Jamie dreams of unicorns. Doctor Freud, over to you... 

 

50dw50 @50dw50 · "I can feel it too, in my head..."

I'm pickin' up alien vibrations / 

She's giving me excitations... 

Really scary, spooky stuff here as the TARDIS explodes... 

...the console floats away... 

...of course there's *that* shot of Zoe.... 

They knew what they were doing, the dirty beggars. *That's* "iconic"! 

Joey-Elijah Sneddon @d0od ·This photo appears in my stream at least once a week without fail. I do not complain. ;) 

..and the Doctor appears to be dead in space. 

Love that whole first episode, another great "mother of invention" affair from Doctor Who! 

Now part 2, and in fact, the original 4 part story, begins! 

Jamie is in trouble straight away, shot by his nemesis, a redcoat... 

Unkind comments about Jamie's cardboard performance not welcome ;-P

...while Zoe comes a cropper through a creepy castle door... 

David MacGowan @SpaceyBox  · Ooh... I love a good 'Tardis crew being monitored by security scanners' scene... and evil chuckling too! 

The Doctor awakes to hear his companions calling him. 

"Jamie is that you?"
Nah, sounds nothing like him. 

James Smith @thejimsmith ·  My theory with these episodes; they're structured like an old fashioned child's annual of the 40s or 50s. You've blank pages (the void), pages of puzzles & pictures & proverbs, then the unicorn is like a full page illustration. The adventures of figure from classic kid friendly literature, in Gulliver, then classical myth figures. Educational & fun! They're walking through a big format kids' book. 

That's a lovely fit :-)

David MacGowan @SpaceyBox · It's the first canonical appearance of the TV Comic Jamie. They'll be fighting Cybermen on skiis any second... 

Gah, BBC Victorian kids. Irritating and creepy at the same time. 

David MacGowan @SpaceyBox · Good job the Doctor isn't being menaced by MODERN creepy kids.... #HappySlapperWithAnASBOandRingtone  

Scottish... Fishfingers... Bank... Hand? 

Nah, I'm stumped. 

Jamie may be safe and well but the Pat in the hat's about to rearrange his face. 

Fair play to Hamish Wilson, he really sells the idea that this is exactly the same character.  

atruedrwhofan @atruedrwhofan ·  it's a great twist on regeneration. The one time the companion has to convince the Doctor its the same person with a new face!

Good point! Never really thought of that :-)

The Comic Book Show @ComicBookRob ·  I believe he and Frazer were related.

James Smith @thejimsmith ·  I'm amazed Big Finish've never found opportunity to use Wilson's version of Jamie, especially as they've done Land of Fiction stuff. 

"I think we're in a place where anything is possible." Ah, TV Centre... 

Bernard Horsfall's so good as the personification of Gulliver. That's a tough act to pull off. 

Gulliver can't see the robots at all... 

The TARDIS crew wish they couldn't see Jamie's unicorn. (Not a euphemism). 

Not sure I approve of how they lashed up this "unicorn." 

50dw50 @50dw50 ·  Cor these are quick episodes! 

Each is closer to 20 minutes than the usual 25, making it the equivalent to a 4 parter in overall running time. 

 

The Unicorn turns to cardboard when the Doctor convinces his companions it can't be real. 

Although with hindsight people make much of "the Master", the villain as he's appeared on screen so far seems to have much more in common - in mannerism & MO - with the Great Intelligence. 

When Jamie is "shot" again... 

...The Doctor has to come clean to Zoe that it was him that messed up Jamie's face, and she helps fix it.  

Jamie's back! He's actually really only gone for the length of 1 epsiode. 

50dw50 @50dw50 ·  i had imagined Jamie2 would have been in it longer, Frazer must have made a quick recovery. 

Basically just the 1 week really.

MAW Holmes @MAW_H · The cover illustration shows the third Jamie, who's appearance was changed back when the rash went away... 

The Master's quite fond of his little ant farm for glowing dots. 

They stumble into the lair of another mythical beast... the Minotaur. 

The Minotaur lives at the heart of the labyrinth, where he spends his days twiddling his balls like Bowie. 

That looks nothing like Dave Prowse. 

Again they're able to wish it away. 

The Doctor rumbles that Bernard Horsfall is playing a well known fictional adventurer in extraordinary lands... 

The giant toy soldiers are really effective, and I love their marching sound effect. 

And all of a sudden, Jamie's on location. 

Wierd. Don't know why they bothered, really. 

50dw50 @50dw50 ·   Jamie climbs past a newly regenerated 5th Doctor...

David MacGowan @SpaceyBox Needs saying, the clockwork soldiers are a brilliantly simple spooky design. Peg dolls in the New Series work on same lines. 

Rapunzel is not very impressed that Jamie is only the sweet talking Son of a Piper-man. 

She's a bit of a horsey rah, isn't she? 

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Mrs. Baddeley's Plum Pudding. 

Jamie doesn't like the looks of the script... 

 

The Doctor & Zoe come "face to face" with Medusa. 

It's a weeping angel! I mean, Medusa! End of part 3! 

David MacGowan @SpaceyBox · Love the stop motion animation here! For a cobbled together story there is a LOT of story and production flair in these eps!

50dw50 @50dw50 · i have bad hair days like that

David MacGowan @SpaceyBox ·  LOL. Take two bottles into the shower? I just use Medusa's Wash and Go...!

The sword is a trap; if the Doctor uses it he'll become part of the fiction. 

The Doctor evades Medusa by going off script. Tom Baker would've been fine all day long here.  

Jamie is bemused by Gulliver's inability to see the White Robot. 

Approaching the citadel, the Doctor & Zoe are confronted by comic strip superhero "The Karkus"!  

The Karkus' muscle suit is just bizarre. 

The Karkus is from a comic strip in the year 2000. That must have been cancelled after a very limited run. Probably best not to google "strip cartoons". 

Pat breaks out the Doctor Von Wer accent to impersonate the Karkus and get into the citadel.  

His preference for entering from below prevalent over a decade before the Five Doctors. 

David MacGowan @SpaceyBox ·An Interview with the Master. Wasn't Tom Cruise in that one? 

Eric Roberts, I think... 

The trio are brought before the Master, who seems an amiable enough old buffer except when he's not.  

Reminds me a bit of older Travers in The Web of Fear. 

He was the ultimate hack writer, the likes of which the season 6 production team would've killed for.  

Did you hear of the adventures of Captain Jack Harkaway? Started off on BBC3 but a US co-production murdered it. 

MAW Holmes @MAW_H ·  "Beacontimber"

"The intelligence I serve..." Hmmm.

Who's the real Master here? Seems to be that Cyber-planner style computer/globe thing he's wired up to. 

The Master threatens Jamie & Zoe's lives in the hope of persuading the Doctor to take his place... 

Much of a writer is he, the Doctor? I suppose he's quite imaginative...

MAW Holmes @MAW_H · Uses a dum-de-dum-de-plume...

David MacGowan @SpaceyBox · maybe he makes up his 500 Yr Diary to make life interesting... and this is that Diary! New theory? (....nah!) 

And that bookends part 4! (sorry.)

David MacGowan @SpaceyBox ·Yay! The return of the episode 1 robots and their sound and video effects! :) 

The Doctor refuses to give in and makes a break for it. 

David MacGowan @SpaceyBox · "We will play your game. .. a little longer." (Evil chuckle) Ain't no evil chuckle like a Dr Who Villain evil chuckle.  

MAW Holmes @MAW_H · Anyone for "Buck-A-Roo"...?

This all seems too good to be true; and Jamie & Zoe are repeating themselves a bit... 

David MacGowan @SpaceyBox ·Yay! The Karkus is back! Teaming up with Rapunzel too... it's like Spidey and the Xmen joining to help Cap. Sort of. 

Rapunzel obliges the Doctor with a quick tug & he nearly makes a mess on the page.

50dw50 @50dw50 ·  if i ask you for an innuendo will you give me one?

David MacGowan @SpaceyBox · stop shoving this down my throat!

Is now a good time to ask if everyone enjoyed Peter Capaldi's debut in Deep Throat?

I hope you're noticing the Doctor doesn't write any silly slash-fic about him and the Master. *Grumpy face* 

50dw50 @50dw50 · he is to busy writing about him and jamie (what tumblr was invented for).

He realizes (again) that he can't write himself into the fiction. 

The Master dispatches his fake companions... 

...to trap the Doctor in "the TARDIS". 

The Doctor: Mint In Box. 

"SAUSAGES! Sorry, I wasn't paying attention, what were you saying?"

The Doctor pits his wits against "the Master"... 

Jamie & Zoe leap off the page. Terrance Dicks not required. 

When Gulliver proves useless (again)... 

...the Karkus arrives at the Doctor's behest to save them from the Soldier robots... 

...but the Master has the Karkus point his fearsome weapon at Jamie & Zoe, so the Doctor instigates a sort of 3D literary game of Top Trumps. 

This would have been more fun if it was the other Bergerac. The music would have been better for a kick-off. Not sure why Cyrano's come disguised as a duck, though. You can't see his big nose because of that duck beak in front of it. 

David MacGowan @SpaceyBox · This battle scene is just so WITTY and fun! 

 It reminds me a bit of Disney's Sword in the Stone where Merlin and Mim turn into different things to battle each other. 

David MacGowan @SpaceyBox ·where is Calamity Jane when you need her? Lol

In the confusion of the skirmish, Jamie and Zoe are able to get into the Master's HQ... 

...and free the Doctor... 

...who unplugs the scribe. 

The White Robots start shooting like stormtroopers... 

...and the TARDIS crew's efforts overload the Master Brain (is that what we're calling the real villain?), and start another ruddy fire! Definite pattern developing here. 

In Inferno he's hanging around suspiciously when the whole planet burns, he torches the priory in Pyramids of Mars, does old London town in The Visitation, and Rome in...er, the Romans. So that's the season 7 finale sussed: The Name of the Doctor is The Arsonist!

With the Master Brain destroyed, the fiction collapses, and everyone returns to their right place in reality meaning the writer goes back to his office at The Ensign... 

...while our trio of heroes return to a reformed TARDIS! 

David MacGowan @SpaceyBox ·Perfect ending. "Or if you prefer. .. FINIS." That was fun, clever. .. just brilliant!

50dw50 @50dw50 · well that was spiffing and such a contrast to the invasion next week

You know what they should have done for the 50th? An old school 4 camera studio-bound shot-in-a-day show. It would look terrible, but it'd be fun.

John Mark Frankland ‏@JMFrankland  Mind Robber was the first PT story I saw. It was screened @TheDukesTheatre in Lancaster in the 80s. I was 5 or 6.

Wow, that's interesting, why was that? Love @TheDukesTheatre; I (& later my sister & brother) went to uni in Lancaster.

John Mark Frankland ‏@JMFrankland I don't know. Maybe local fans had a print. I keep meaning to find out. I'll ask my Dad for more info...

James Smith‏@thejimsmith There was a bfi screening in the 80s, may be related to that? Their prints on tour?

John Mark Frankland ‏@JMFrankland That's probably it. Library Research time! Of course @TheDukesTheatre may have records. When Jamie was "shot" I was so terrified and upset I had to take my leave. I didn't see it in full till it was on video! Of course I should mention that The Mind Robber is one of my all time favourite stories now.

I have massive affection for it from seeing it first on the 1992 repeat on BBC2.

Lovely stuff! Thanks for sharing :-)

TTFN! K.
Coming Soon: Underworld