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(More customer reviews)"The Mind Robber" was initially derided by Who critics as mere fantasy when, in fact, the story has a solid science fiction foundation: the brain of an unseen alien intelligence must be fed by the musings of a pulp-fiction writer imprisoned in its service. Turn on the commentary text and many of the production problems that contributed to the unique nature of this story are revealed.
First, the original four-episode story was stretched to five because the previous story, "The Dominators," didn't offer enough material to pad out its planned six episodes and was cut back to five. So the added first installment of "The Mind Robber" had to be improvised on a shoestring budget from existing props and sets. The "great white void" which so distinguishes this story was created specifically because "nothing" was cheap to depict.
Next, actor Frazer Hines contracted chicken pox before shooting on the second episode could begin and had to be temporarily written out of the story. A substitute actor was cast to play Jamie that week with a clever subplot written in to explain his changed appearance.
The story, which may seem an incomprehensible jumble at first, actually follows a very logical set of rules exploring the nature of fiction vs. reality. The storyteller, for example, dictates the action, so the Doctor can change the story by writing it himself, but if he refers to himself in the narrative he will become a fictional character and therefore cease to exist.
The use of literary figures such as Lemuel Gulliver and Cyrano de Bergerac harks back to one of the series' original objectives, to serve as an educational children's program. Gulliver, for instance, speaks in dialogue lifted mostly from Jonathan Swift's novel. So kiddies who think they're watching a low-budget sci-fi serial are actually getting an introductory course in English lit.
This story is a sterling example of the resourcefulness and solid acting that made Doctor Who, particularly the early episodes, such a charming TV series.
Finally, a tip to readers about Customer Reviews: When reading reviews of Doctor Who DVDs, take the time to click on the link "See all customer reviews," with the newest reviews listed first. That way, you get to read the most current reviews of the DVD first rather than the "most helpful," which very often were written years before based on a VHS copy or, God bless his heart, a fan's jaded memory of the story from a TV broadcast.
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A quick escape from the path of molten lava sends the Tardis to "nowhere" where anything that springs to mind may become reality.
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