Doctor Who Mind of Evil Review Doctor Oho
Just when you idea we were done with the Black & White era of Doc Who, i last story turns upwards.
No, The Mind of Evilwasn't originally broadcast in Black & White, only any and all colour copies of the story are missing and and then this is what nosotros're left with. But to be honest I think Black & White suits this story very well. It would seem
The Dr. meets The Keller Automobile at the cease of Episode 1.
incorrect to take it available in color.
Every bit for the story itself, my brother seems to have a passionate dislike for information technology, and I'1000 non sure why. To quote him, when he saw I was watching it he said "Oh, the Heed of Evil…wank, wank, wank". If that's not Scottish Disdain then I don't know what is.
Doctor Who – The Mind of Evil Review: What'southward This Ane Almost?
The Master – posing as the Swiss Scientist Emile Keller – has donated a automobile to a British Prison that removes the evil impulses of the prisoners' minds. Well…I say removes, simply the truth is it feeds on them. And information technology's quite a handy machine, capable of tuning in on a person'southward greatest fears and using that to impale them. So for example, someone who is agape of water would drown in a dry room cheers to the machine, or someone with a fright of rats would die from existence attacked past imaginary rats that actually leave claw marks on the person's body.
The Doctor meets the Kellar Machine at the end of Episode three.
No, that doesn't make the slightest bit of sense.
Besides, the car is capable of teleportation.
Anyway, apart from that, in a seemingly unrelated and yet convenient plough of events, the Master helps the prisoners take over the prison and uses them to hijack a nuclear missile which is being transported to its destruction past UNIT while there merely so happens to be a World Peace Briefing going on at the same fourth dimension.
Thoughts – What'due south The Point of The Keller Machine?
As you can see from what I've but written, there are a few different strands going on here, and they don't really link up all that well. The machine is at the prison and the prison is where the Master plans on operating his Missile Grab from, just the machine and missile story-lines are unrelated. If anything, the Kellar Machine is a hindrance to the Master more a help.
What he plans on doing with the car is never really explained and even if he did accept a programme information technology was pretty rapidly ruined by the fact that the car was out of control from
The Doctor & Joe run across the Kellar Machine at the Cease of Episode 4
about midway through Episode 2.
So that whole thing was a chip weird.
Really, this story was about the Primary helping organise a Prison house takeover. The Keller Auto only comes into play whenever there is a cliffhanger, and I would consider that to be a problem. Every bit the story develops the Keller Motorcar is only the proverbial elephant in the (other) room that doesn't in any mode contribute to the development of the plot, and yet because Medico Who has to take a cliffhanger every 23 minutes, the Doctor would incongruously just waltz dorsum into the room where it is to most be killed again.
In fact, the breakup of cliffhangers is
- The Doctor gets confronted by the Keller Machine
- A Chinese Guy gets confronted by the Keller Automobile – remotely
- The Doctor gets confronted past the Keller Auto over again
- The Doctor and Jo get confronted past the Keller Machine
- The Doctor gets a gun pulled on him (yay!)
And don't retrieve that's all. In the absence of a Keller Machine bewilderment in Episode 5, they have scenes with information technology either side of the conclusion.
That's pretty lazy writing. Still, the Kellar Machine music is iconic, so that'south something.
A Very British Prison Break
The Medico tries to finish the Kellar Machine in Episode 5 (have yous spotted the recurring theme withal?)
As for the Prison house Break storyline…well it's all very British. If y'all're a reader of my other blog posts you'll know I'm currently watching Prison house Break, and to say there's a difference in the mode the Prisoners human activity is an understatement. Non that that'south a bad thing. I actually think William Marlowe is superb as Mailer.
You can tell he's a villain – a ruthless rogue – but he plays it with that wonderful Britishness that y'all could only get from a pre-80s BBC evidence. I recall he'due south supposed to be a fleck mutual, but he's still meliorate spoken than most of the people on Tv these days. He plays his office very well against both Delago and Pertwee and best of all, he plays his sense of underlying fear against the Keller process and Barnham superbly.
But but for a moment, I want you to imagine his part replaced by Robert Knepper's Theodore 'T-Bag' Bagwell. Wouldn't that just be amazing?
The Regular Bandage and the Way They Play Off Each Other
So far I've written mainly negative stuff about the Mind of Evil as a story, but despite those flaws I similar it very much. The reason for that is downwardly to the fashion the regular cast play off each other.
Everything works. The Doctor has varied and deep relationships with Jo, The Brigadier and the Master, The Brigadier works brilliantly alongside Yates & Benton and the Chief
And no, this isn't the same as the pic from the end of Episode iv; this is Jo & the Doc coming together the Keller Car in Episode 6.
seems to work well with anybody.
My favourite of those relationships is definitely the Doctor & The Principal. They play off each other as mortal enemies and yet they are simply as hands able to work together, like when they join forces to try to harness the Keller Machine.
Only like in Terror of the Autons, they seem to not mind too much when the other is winning their proverbial game of chess and you lot can believe that in that location's a long backstory betwixt them. Certainly you tin can capeesh that they probably used to be expert friends.
The writers have to accept credit for it too, but mostly it'due south downwards to the chemistry between Pertwee and Delgado. Already yous can tell that it would have been a far better conclusion to the Chief had he been killed off saving the Doctor at the end of Pertwee's reign, as was the plan before Delgado's unfortunate and untimely death. At the very least nosotros'd take been saved from a load of crap JNT Era stories as well every bit John Sim's 'Wackyness'. But and then we wouldn't take got that xc seconds worth of Derek Jacobi…
Random Observations
- The kickoff thing to ask is how much fourth dimension has passed betwixt the Terror of the Autons and this story? Based on the fact the Main hasn't been able to travel in his TARDIS, it has to exist at to the lowest degree a couple of years to let time for him to have ready everything up with the Keller procedure. If that is the case I like that, because sometimes you lot get the feeling the passing of time in Doctor Who is as well rapid. As I've said before, if yous actually time information technology, the Fifth Doctor only lasted about two-and-a-half weeks in existent-time before regenerating.
- You lot knew I was going to say this…why is the Md afraid of Koquillian? And a Sensorite? And a Zarbi too? But most of all Koquillian and a Sensorite!
- And why was his initial 'greatest fear' Fire earlier changing to a multifariousness of inoffensive monsters?
- I actually wish the story did exist in Colour now to see if they used color photos of those old monsters (Writers Note in 2014: They didn't. I was gutted)
- And I see at this indicate they haven't completely forgotten how to do a Dalek phonation.
- Barnham is a wonderfully unnerving simpleton. I've already mentioned the way Mailer reacts to him, but Benton too reacts amusingly. All-time of all though is the Brigadier'southward reaction. He only stares at him with a mixture of confusion and contempt before turning back to the Doctor and asking who the hell he is. That flake cracks me up every time.
- Speaking of Barnham, I didn't like the style they killed him off. For one affair it seemed like it was for the sake of it and for another affair, that he died from the Master lightly bumping him while starting up his van made no sense.
And just for a alter, here's Nicholas Courtney providing the definite facial expression for a combination of confusion and contempt.
- Also, there's a great line in Episode Half-dozen where – before the cut away from Jo looking after Barnham – she asks him "What'due south your other name". Totally random.
- I also dearest the Brigadier's 'Mutual Homo' act.
- One other matter – and information technology's another one of these issues that bugs me in all of Tv set. In that location's a scene where Barnham has to stay with the Keller Machine to nullify its threat, and Doc Summers comes in to get accept him away. Rather than calmly and concisely explain why Barnham has to be in that location, Jo just starts shouting 'No, y'all can't' at him. If she had done the old, at that place would be no problem. But that sort of thing happens an awful lot in TV generally.
Doctor Who: The Mind of Evil Review: Final Thoughts
And so my brother doesn't like this story, but I do. I can see the bug with it and I tin capeesh them, just I think the quality of the performances from the ensemble bandage more brand upward for information technology.
But from a plot bespeak of view, it does leave a bit to be desired.
Still…information technology's worth a couple of hours of your time.
Source: https://stuartreviewsstuff.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/doctor-who-review-the-mind-of-evil-or-a-very-british-prison-break/
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