With the colourized DVD of this story not yet released, here we are, watching scratchy black and white Doctor Who episodes online. I thought these days were behind us.
Sarah -
On the bright side, at least it's not a recon with blurry images and a crap soundtrack.
Harry -
True, "The Mind of Evil" presents an interesting story with a Pertwee era soundtrack - my favourite! There are many pieces to this story so it felt quite epic. A slew of scenes shot on location added to that.
Sarah -
It is an interesting story – but one that would have been more effective as a four-parter.
Harry -
We begin with a kind of mad laboratory scene, with the Doctor and Jo checking out a demonstration of the Keller Machine at the nicely realized Stangmoor prison. The machine itself was a bit daft - something that can remove evil impulses from the human brain, like so much lint in a dryer. Really? I was as skeptical as the Doctor.
Sarah -
The extraction scene was ludicrous. The Doctor’s snarky comments were the only thing that made watching it bearable.
My biggest problem with this story, though, is the Master’s cockamamie plan to take over/destroy/or whatever Earth. He’s created this machine and used it 113 times, just so he can steal an illegal missile that is conveniently being transported while the first-ever World Peace Conference is being held in London. You’ve got to credit the Master for planning ahead.
Harry -
There does seem to be a large time gap between the conclusion of "Terror of the Autons" and now, in order for the Master to have assembled the machine, assumed the identity of Doctor Keller, tested the machine, and had it approved for use and delivered to Stangmoor. What have the Doctor and friends been up to all this time?
Sarah -
It was 1971. We can probably guess what they were up to…
Harry -
There's probably a fan fiction for that.
Well, we know that UNIT is knee deep in overseeing the security arrangements for the World Peace Conference. So nice to see the Brigadier got himself a proper office.
Sarah -
Playing security guard doesn’t quite seem within UNIT’s brief, and they don’t really seem to be doing a very good job of it, do they?
Wow, I’m just a nattering nabob of negativism today, aren’t I? (Just trying to create some early 70s atmosphere for you, there.)
Harry -
It was not nice to see how the Doctor treated the Brigadier when they went to see the Chinese delegate in episode two. While the Doctor charmed Fu Peng by addressing him in his native language, the Brig was ignored, talked over, and made to look like a fool. Did not like.
Sarah -
I was half expecting the Doctor to say he picked up Chinese while traveling with Marco Polo!
Harry -
He is a name dropper...
Sarah -
The tension between the Doctor and the Brig continues. And the Doctor’s grumpy mood continues, as well.
Harry -
By the end of part two, the story has broken out into several interesting strands. The Keller Machine proves lethally dangerous, killing at least a couple of people and almost the Doctor. The Master and his accomplice are wreaking havoc at the Peace Conference, and a jailbreak-hostage drama erupts at the prison. Oh, and there's a nuclear warhead in play, just to make it interesting. Wow!
Sarah -
We never really find out the identity of the creature inside the Keller Machine, do we?
Harry -
No, it was just a generic blobby thing without a name. But so evil! Evil enough to attack the Doctor in three out of the first four cliffhangers.
Sarah -
It’s not much of cliffhanger if it keeps happening over and over, is it? Still, they gave Pertwee a chance to pull some panto faces… over and over and over again. (Uh oh, there I go again.)
Harry -
As for the Master's relationship with the Doctor, here it is on multifaceted display. He can be cordial with the Doctor in one scene, he can be raving about killing him in the next, and he can be pleading for his help in the next... and the Keller Machine reveals a giant mocking Doctor as the Master's greatest fear. As many an armchair psychiatrist has noted over the years, the Master has some serious Doctor issues.
Sarah -
I’ve read that the Master was a late addition to the story, which explains its disjointed feeling. Still, without Delgado, The Mind of Evil would be missing its greatest strength – the many scenes between the Doctor and Master. There are times, frankly, when the Master seems the preferable of the two. He’s at least trying to be charming, while the Doctor’s eternal bad mood marches on.
Harry -
I mentioned the location shooting earlier and it really is great. The missile hijacking and Stangmoor shootout are lively stuff, much more polished than the hijack scene from "The Ambassadors of Death" just one year previously.
Sarah -
During the shootout, I found myself wondering what Sydney Newman thought of the direction of the educational children’s show he had envisioned nearly ten years prior! We have yet another massive body count in this story.
Turns out the helicopter scenes, among others, put the story over budget, leading to director Timothy Combe never working on Doctor Who again. You don’t mess with Barry Letts’ budget!
Harry -
Combe also spent some cash on another new UNIT face, and I'm glad we got to meet the oh-so-earnest Major Cosworth. Perhaps the campiest UNIT member ever! Not sure if we'll see him in future stories, but he made an impression.
Maybe I'm just hearing things, but the Brigadier's cockney deliveryman was... odd. And did you find Jo's accent a bit posh?
Sarah -
Odd and very, very funny. As for Jo, she got her job through nepotism, so there’s likely a posh girl on the inside of all that grooviness.
Speaking of odd, the dragon that attacks the American senator has to be the most pathetic deepest fear one can imagine!
Harry -
It wasn't even a real dragon but a statue (or a poor prop anyway). Weird phobia, that.
You were right that this story would have been better as a four-parter. The last episode ends with a bang when the hangar is blown up, but by then we've seen maybe one too many insincere exchanges between the Doctor and the Master, and the Keller Machine's peek-a-boo routine got tedious. Then Barnham, who has been an innocent bystander through the entire story, meets a terrible end. Kind of a sad ending.
Sarah -
Barnham’s death was the final nail in the coffin for me. This story left me almost as grumpy as the Doctor in his Earthly exile.
Harry -
Lots left unresolved too. We don't know how the Peace Conference turns out. The Master has slipped away after taunting the Doctor. And yeah, the Keller Machine alien got blown up and that was that. The more I dwell on this, the less satisfying it is. Ah, let's move on. A four-parter is next (hooray!)
Sarah -
Before we go, I have something positive to say! Jo was quite smashing in this story – resourceful, loyal, and not afraid to play her part in a fight scene. Well done!
Harry -
Best line:
Benton - "I'd like to come on the assault, sir."
Brigadier - "Benton, you're supposed to be suffering from severe concussion."
Benton - "I know sir, but it's only a scratch, honest. And you said yourself I've got a thick skull."
Favourite moment: the Doctor and the Master act like the best of frenemies in the prison governor's office.
Lasting image: the Doctor pulling faces when the Keller Machine attacks him.
7/10
Sarah -
Best Line: "He’s got his TARDIS back. He’s free to come and go when he pleases and I’m stuck here on Earth -- with you, Brigadier!"
Favorite Moment: The Doctor’s and Master’s verbal sparring.
Lasting Image: The smile on the Brig’s face when the Doctor delivers his final line. (See above.)
6/10
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