Doctor Who (TV Series) The Mind Robber: Episode 1 (1968) User Reviews

Classic Troughton adventure

[Lejink · 7/10 · 20 December 2012]

It seems like only yesterday I was watching this Dr Who adventure on a Saturday night as an 8 year-old, so it was wonderful to see it again over 40 years later. The vividness of scenes like the encounter with the Minotaur and the Dr (wrongly) putting together Jamie's face I distinctly remembered. Patrick Troughton was therefore my first "Dr" although I still consider Jon Pertwee as "my Dr" but Troughton gave the character such life, with that mixture of mischief, childishness and curiosity which you still see manifested in recent Drs like David Tennant and particularly current incumbent Matt Smith. I also was fond of his companions of the time, the pretty but resourceful and spirited Zoe, played by Wendy Padbury and of course as a Scot myself, I related to Fraser Hines as out-of-time Highlander Jamie McCrimmon.

This particular adventure saw the threesome transported to a world where fictional characters somehow become real leading to a showdown between the Doctor and a reluctant head-librarian who wants the Doc to take his place as the guardian of fiction. Whilst some of the story seems padded unnecessarily, never more than when Jamie is replaced by a near- lookalike actor for half an episode (although I've since learned this was due to actor Frazer Hines falling ill during the shoot) and the would-be threatening robots and toy-soldiers wouldn't scare my granny, it just about hangs together even if the literary "guest stars" like Gulliver and Rapunzel seem somewhat arbitrary and you feel much more could have been done with so many other historical characters from which to choose.

That it entertains as much as it does is almost entirely due to the force of Pat Troughton's personality, who has the enthusiasm and energy of an actor half his age and effervesces every time the camera's on him. It really is a sin and a shame that so many of his episodes have been wiped by cultural vandals at the BBC, but then I suppose I should be grateful some episodes exist at all, especially such a good set as this.

Totally Bonkers

[Theo Robertson · 7/10 · 20 August 2013]

Refers to all five episodes

Quickly escaping a volcano on the Planet Dulkis the Tardis makes and emergency exit and materialises inside a white void . Watching the Tardis scanner both Jamie and Zoe are lured outside where they are captured by white robots

Since the previous the story The Dominators was cut down from six episodes to five this meant the subsequent story The Mind Robber had to be extended from four episodes to five and the opening episode had to be a very rare bottle episode with no sets and speaking parts except for the show regulars . This had happened previously in the 1964 story Edge Of Destruction with David Whittaker having to literally write a two part story on the spot and Derek Sherwin had to do the same thing for an episode here . Where as Edge was enigmatic the opening episode is totally bonkers and surreal and the four episodes after this continue in the exact same vein as the Docor and his two companions find themselves in The Land of Fiction

There has never been a story like this in the classic series . While people mentioned both THE PRISONER and THE AVENGERS as 60s psychedelic cultural chic this story too could be given as an example . Half the time it's impossible to explain what is happening and half the time you're left with the impression things are being made up as they go along . It's amazing to think this wasn't actually the case apart from the opening episode and Fraser Hines being replaced as Jamie since he got struck down by chicken pox . As weird and as bonkers as this story gets it's entertaining and uncomplicated unlike the rubbish we get with Steven Moffat as his timey wimey nonsense . It's also interesting that no matter what is going around the Doctor still acts with a serious and paternalistic tone . You certainly wouldn't be getting that with Matt Smith . For a story with so much surrealism surrounding it contains some of the greatest cliffhangers from the 1960s such as the incomprehensible ending to episode one and the Medusa in episode three and director David Maloney was always good at developing episode endings . It's probably the only programme in history where the names of Medusa , Gulliver and Rapunzel appear in the same show . Nothing else like it has appeared in television so you have been warned

It may be hit and miss overall, but Part 1 is terrific.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 10/10 · 14 October 2019]

The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe need to escape a lava flow, so the TARDIS dematerializes outside of reality. Curiosity kills the cat, as Jamie and Zoe are tricked into seeing what they most want to see on the TARDIS scanner.

I like how the story picks up directly after the conclusion of The Dominators, not often we get a cliffhanger on a concluding episode.

It's a real hotch potch of a story, and one which is impossible to grade overall, as it literally does go from the sublime, to the ridiculous. This first part is absolutely brilliant, since being a fan of this show I was always blown away by the concept of The TARDIS flying outside of reality, it's a fascinating concept, one I would love to see the show do again.

Say what you will about the story overall, there is no denying this first part is fantastic. Who on Earth will forget Zoe's catsuit? Or that iconic scene of the TARDIS breaking up, with Padbury sprawled over the console?

Surreal, but wonderful. 10/10

Journey to...nowhere?

[ShadeGrenade · 10/10 · 20 December 2011]

While we all wait with less than bated breath for this year's 'Dr.Who' Christmas 'Special', it seems a good time to look back at a classic episode from 1968. 'The Mind Robber' was a four-part story by Peter Ling, in which the Tardis arrives in the Land of Fiction, a place where famous story-book characters - Lemuel Gulliver, Rapunzel, D'artganan etc. - are real. Script editor Derrick Sherwin had decided to trim the previous story - 'The Dominators' - by a single episode, feeling the plot would not stretch. This left a gap, which he filled by scripting a prologue, for which neither he nor Ling was credited. The only set was the Tardis interior, the only cast members the regular team of Patrick Troughton, Fraser Hines, and Wendy Padbury, and some old robot costumes left over from an 'Out Of The Unknown' episode called 'The Prophet'. Director David Maloney took these ingredients, and turned out an unalloyed 'Who' classic.

Taking up where 'The Dominators' left off, it opens with the Doctor and his friends Jamie and Zoe aboard the Tardis, which is in the path of lava from an erupting volcano. Using an emergency unit, the space/time machine is taken out of reality itself, and into a void where nothing exists. Ignoring the Doctor's warnings, his companions venture outside, where they are stalked by white robots. Though the Doctor rescues his friends, the Tardis breaks up, and they are left floating in mid-air.

The marvellous thing about this is how eerie it is, not many directors could make an empty room disturbing, yet Maloney manages it. You really feel that the Doctor and his friends are in danger, and that anything might be possible. The regulars get some nice scenes - Jamie's joy at seeing his native Scotland on the scanner is touching, while Zoe changes out of her Dulkis outfit into ( hooray! ) that famous spangly catsuit. Speaking of Zoe, she upstages everyone in the final scene, or rather, her backside does, swivelling deliciously towards the camera as the Tardis console drifts through the void. This episode is perfectly in tune with the surreal story that follows. I was lucky to see it when it went out in '68 and, believe me, the sight of the Tardis disintegrating was almost as shocking in its own way as the revelation that 'Professor Yana' ( Derek Jacobi ) was really 'The Master' in 'Utopia' in 2007!

'The Mind Robber' is one of the very best Troughton stories. Thank goodness it avoided being wiped as was sadly the fate of so many other wonderful 'Who' serials.

Robber of an excellent story. This tails off after a really strong start.

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 10/10 · 17 September 2014]

Review of all 5 episodes:

This story is very similar in type to the William Hartnell era story The Celestial Toymaker (although this is quite a lot better). It is, like that story, a whimsical trip into a weird make believe world controlled by a sinister power. This idea was returned to again later in the classic series to some extent with aspects of a couple of stories (e.g. Warrior's Gate) and again in recent Moffatt/Matt Smith era series with Amy's Choice and to some extent The Doctor's Wife being derived from the same template.

The excellent first episode has a surprise element with some dramatic and brilliantly unusual happenings such as an exploding TARDIS and an endless white void. It is very well done and provides an enticing, fascinating start to the story. Then there is a thoroughly enjoyable if not quite as brilliant second episode where ideas such as the land of fiction, characters like Gulliver (speaking only lines he spoke in original text, a great idea very well executed) and a maze-like forest of words provide a good amount of interest. After that there is a still very good third episode then a slightly disappointing and occasionally silly 4th episode and a decent but rather unremarkable and not wholly successful 5th episode.

This has a disappointing lack of development after such a promising start. It must go down as a missed opportunity which would have been better as a 3-parter. Great first episode though.

My Ratings: Episode 1 - 10/10, Episode 2 - 9/10, Episode 3 - 8.5/10, Episode 4 - 6.5/10, Episode 5 - 7.5/10

Alright but I didn't like it as much as it's reputation suggests that I should have...

[poolandrews · 6/10 · 18 January 2008]

Doctor Who: The Mind Robber: Episode 1 starts where the previous story The Dominators (1968) ended as the TARDIS on the planet Dulkis is about to be buried under a huge stream of volcanic lava, to in order to escape the Doctor (Patrick Troughton) is forced to use an emergency unit which takes the TARDIS out of normal time & space to literally nowhere. Once landed Zoe (Wendy Padbury) & Jamie (Frazer Hines) exit the TARDIS after seeing what they believe to be their homes, however it turns out that the images were a figment of their imagination & become stuck literally in the middle of nowhere surrounded by sinister robots as back aboard the TARDIS the Doctor is also having problems of his own...

Episode 6 from season 6 this Doctor Who adventure originally aired here in the UK during September 1968 & was the second story from Patrick Troughton's third & final season as the Doctor, The Mind Robber is also the third oldest surviving complete Troughton story after mass junking's & wiping's at the BBC. Also known during production as The Fact of Fiction & Manpower, directed by David Maloney The Mind Robber: Episode 1 is unique in Doctor Who as it is the only episode with no credited on screen writer after script editor Derrick Sherwin wrote it because the previous story The Dominators was supposed to have six episodes but was pared down to five & The Mind Robber was given the extra episode taking it from a planned four parter to a five parter. Got that? Good. After hearing a lot of good things about this somewhat experimental episode I had high hopes which unfortunately weren't fulfilled, sure it's OK & it's watchable but I don't think it's outstanding in any way on it's own. Most of the story takes place in either the TARDIS or a white void with Jamie & Zoe walking around it, the cool looking robots break the dullness up & I admit there's an interesting if somewhat surreal cliffhanger ending (although disappointingly this cliffhanger is never satisfactorily resolved) so it's not all bad news but in all honestly not a great deal happens here in my opinion to get excited about.

This opening episode was probably made the way it was due to budget constrictions, the only sets are the white void which is just a completely white studio (you can make out the floor & the edges of the walls) & the TARDIS interior which works well enough for the story that's being told. The only other thing of note here are some surreal editing techniques like superimposing images over other's, the appearance of some surprisingly cool looking robots, the impressive shot of the TARDIS breaking up at the end & Zoe's astonishing sparkling catsuit which I think looks awful but a lot of people seem to like it so there you go. I mean there's just no accounting for taste is there?

The Mind Robber: Episode 1 came out of necessity after it was given an extra episode at shot notice, it's a perfectly watchable & enjoyable Doctor Who episode but I don't see where all the claims of it being a 'classic' come from, I really don't. However if two people walking around a completely white room sounds exciting to you then your going to love this...

Asimov, Pirandello and Salvador Dali

[JamesHitchcock · 4 November 2014]

"The Mind Robber" starts with the TARDIS being menaced by lava from a volcanic eruption. (For the reason why the volcano is erupting, see the previous serial, "The Dominators"). The only way in which the Doctor and his companions, Jamie and Zoe, can escape is by activating the TARDIS's emergency unit. There is, however, just one problem with this procedure. Activating the emergency unit will take the TARDIS outside the space/time continuum, that is to say out of reality itself.

What can exist outside reality? The thorough-going rationalist would probably answer "nothing", but here the answer is that if you travel outside reality you arrive the in Land of Fiction, a realm where characters from works of fiction come to life and which is presided over by an individual known as The Master. (This is not the same character as the renegade Time Lord played by Roger Delgado, who was to become a regular enemy of Jon Pertwee's Third Doctor). The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe quickly realise that not all the inhabitants of the Land of Fiction are friendly, including The Master who seems to be setting a series of strange tests for them. They face the problem of how they can return to reality without being turned into fictional characters themselves.

Most "Doctor Who" serials can be categorised as science fiction, although some from the time of William Hartnell's First Doctor are really historical adventure stories in which the only sci-fi element is the ability of the TARDIS to travel back in time. "The Mind Robber", however, represents an excursion into the realms of surreal fantasy. What else can one say about a story whose characters include not only Doctor Who but also Lemuel Gulliver, d'Artagnan, Cyrano de Bergerac, Rapunzel, a twenty-first century cartoon superhero and a platoon of life-sized toy soldiers, and which in a world where unicorns, Minotaurs and the Gorgon Medusa all exist. Or perhaps I should say "seem to exist"; we learn that if one ever finds oneself in danger from one of these creatures the best way of dealing with it is to refuse to believe in it. (D'Artagnan and Cyrano were in fact real individuals, but doubtless qualify for citizenship in the Land of Fiction by virtue of the highly fictionalised accounts of their adventures published by Dumas and Rostand).

Indeed, a chance happening made the story even more surreal. Illness meant that Frazer Hines, who played Jamie, was unable to film episode 2. Rather than delay filming or write Jamie out of that episode, the producers drafted another actor and concocted an absurd plot twist, in which the Doctor rearranges Jamie's face, to explain away his sudden change in appearance.

This hurried rewriting was typical of the rather chaotic way in which the programme tended to be produced in its early years. Another example is the way in which "The Mind Robber", originally scheduled to be broadcast in four episodes, had to be extended to five when the decision was taken to shorten "The Dominators" from six parts to five. The story would certainly have worked better in four episodes; it is all too obvious that there was insufficient dramatic material to fill up five and the last three instalments are notably shorter than normal.

The serial does, however, also have its strong points. The whimsical nature of the story is well-suited to Patrick Troughton's quirky Second Doctor; Hartnell's rather grumpy First or Pertwee's urbane Third might not have been so much at home in the Land of Fiction. (I feel that it would, however, have been a natural habitat for Tom Baker's Fourth). Hines's Jamie and the gorgeous Wendy Padbury's Zoe- he male and from the past, she female and from the future- made a great team of companions by the way in which they complemented each other and they way in which they used their individual strengths to assist the Doctor. Most of the Doctor's companions have been female, but Jamie was one of the few memorable male ones, and it always struck me as a pity that neither he nor Zoe survived into the Pertwee era.

The serial's main strength, however, is its sheer barminess, part fantasy, part pure lunacy. It set standards of inventiveness rarely, if ever, equalled in the history of the series. The whole thing comes across as though it had been written by a team consisting of Asimov, Pirandello and Salvador Dali, probably after all three of them had partaken of mind-altering substances.

Great Start but story begins to weaken.

[wetmars · 6/10 · 27 December 2020]

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.

This domain is presided over by a man known only as the Master - a prolific English writer from 1926 - who in turn is controlled by a Master Brain computer. The Master is desperate to escape and wants the Doctor to take his place, while the Master Brain plans to take over the Earth.

The Doctor engages the Master in a battle of wills using fictional characters. Zoe and Jamie overload the Master Brain. In the confusion, the White Robots destroy the computer, freeing the Master.

Review of all five episodes -

I guess we're in an arc right now, right? Anyway, I have to say that Episode One had a good start as it started to become uninteresting each episode. Troughton always does his excellent performance. We get to see how Jamie bonds with Zoe. It was funny seeing Zoe slapping Jamie, lol. I guess Zoe is a little bit shining up more of her character as an innocent girl.

I do like the designs of white robots. Interesting concept of them but I wish they did more. About the opening, it was unsettling and well engaging. Seeing the Doctor does care for his companions, unpredictable moments which I like.

Karkus had no impact on the story, and the fiction parts were weird.

Nothing else to talk about as we get into the next story - The Invasion. Expect a long and positive review of it.

6/10.

Enthusiastic team, but shame about the story

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 13 May 2015]

Review of the Complete Story:

THE MIND ROBBER is a semi-successful serial for Second Doctor Patrick Troughton. The episodes are a little better budgeted than in the Hartnell years, and there's a general air of enthusiasm that emanates from the cast members which helps to lift the spirits of the viewer. A shame that the story, then, is complete nonsense, more whimsical fantasy than hard sci-fi, but there's little we can do about that.

The narrative sees the Doctor and his companions narrowly escaping an erupting volcano, only to land on a planet where fiction is commonplace. In essence, they're constantly attacked by creations from their imagination, a bit like in the Marshmallow Man sequence in GHOSTBUSTERS. Unfortunately many of the enemies in this serial, such as the giant-size toy soldiers, look completely ridiculous and take all credibility away from the production.

Thankfully Troughton is on good form, as are his companions. Wendy Padbury is particularly lively in that arresting figure-hugging outfit - racy for its time - while Frazer Hines camps it up a storm as the lovable Jamie. THE MIND ROBBER isn't perfect by any means, but it is mildly entertaining, more than can be said for a lot of the stodgy '60s era Who.