Kinda: Part One (1 Feb. 1982)

On Deva Loka, a sylvan paradise planet with no predators, diseases or civilized roadways, Nyssa (due to Monarch's two attempts to turn her into an android) stays in the TARDIS to fully ... See full summary »

Director:

Peter Grimwade

Writer:

Christopher Bailey (by)

Stars:

Peter Davison, Richard Todd, Nerys Hughes

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Peter Davison	...	The Doctor
Richard Todd	...	Sanders
Nerys Hughes	...	Todd
Simon Rouse	...	Hindle
Janet Fielding	...	Tegan
Matthew Waterhouse	...	Adric
Sarah Sutton	...	Nyssa
Anna Wing	...	Anatta
Roger Milner	...	Annica
Jeff Stewart	...	Dukkha (as Jeffrey Stewart)
Adrian Mills	...	Aris

Storyline

On Deva Loka, a sylvan paradise planet with no predators, diseases or civilized roadways, Nyssa (due to Monarch's two attempts to turn her into an android) stays in the TARDIS to fully recover from mild mental disorientation, under the Doctor's Delta Wave Augmenter while the others go exploring. The Doctor and Adric find a survey team assessing the planet for colonization, and cracking under the stress of three fellow members (half the crew) disappearing without a trace. There's also a primitive and almost entirely speechless native culture on hand who curiously have about them a few items of technically advanced skill and knowledge. Meanwhile Tegan succumbs to a dreaming tree where an evil entity awaits a catalyst for entering the real world.

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Plot Keywords:

australian

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 February 1982 (UK)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

25 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This serial was released by the BBC on video cassette in the UK in October 1994.

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Quotes

The Doctor: Are the Kinda dangerous?
Sanders: Eh, we don't know. You see, with the Kinda, they seem innocent enough. And they smile a lot. Or used to.
The Doctor: Used to?
Sanders: Until we took the hostages.
The Doctor: The hostages?
Sanders: Only a couple. Standard procedure. It's in the manual.

User Reviews

Tegan in the Garden Of Eden

KINDA opens on a paradise-like world named Deva Loka where an Earth expedition has suffered several missing members, the officer in charge is a bully, and his security man is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Meanwhile, as Nyssa sleeps off what is (apparently) a side-effect of being in Monarch's mind-scan chamber, Tegan falls asleep under some bizarre hanging wind chimes, and finds herself in a bizarre dream-world with characters who look like they stepped out of ALICE IN WONDERLAND. And it just keeps getting stranger as it goes!

As I get older and my sensibilities get sharper, I've noted more and more how bad films get worse, but good ones keep getting better. KINDA really surprises me, as watching it again today I found myself enjoying it more than I ever had. I now consider it the first really GOOD Peter Davison story (in fact, the first really GOOD story on this show since THE KEEPER OF TRAKEN).

Saunders (Richard Todd) starts out a meanie, but even then he has one line that's stuck with me, when he says, "It'll be GOOD for 'im-- make a MAN out of 'im!" Of course, he lightens up considerably as the story goes on. Hindle (Simon Rouse), who starts out lodging official protests against everything, goes completely insane once he's left in charge of the dome. I'm not sure whether he's genuinely frightening or just annoying as hell, but a good right hook to the jaw could have solved a lot of problems if someone, almost anyone, had delivered it somewhere early in the story.

Tegan is a lot less annoying this time out, and her frantic behavior in the dream-place for once seems quite natural. When she emerges possessed by The Mara, we see an entirely different performance, and it's quite surprising, as it shows Janet Fielding had a LOT of potential that was never utilized in her entire run on the show. Adric is far less annoying than in the 3 previous stories... at least, until he decides to play up to Hindle (you just feel like the Doctor must be thinking, "Oh, NOT AGAIN!"). He then gets worse near the end when he bluntly tells Tegan it's all her fault, then childishly tries defending his own failings. Mature, he AIN'T.

At last, Peter Davison's Doctor gets a chance to shine, as he really feels at home in this story. I did keep wishing he'd have found a way to clobber Hindle (I'm sure Jon Pertwee or Tom Baker would have managed it), as his continual inaction allowed the level of danger to keep increasing.

I was genuinely fascinated this time around by a lot of story elements that in earlier viewings I just found baffling. It seems to me KINDA may well have been a sci-fi allegorical retelling of the Biblical story of "The Garden Of Eden", what with such things as people living in a garden-like paradise, evil taking the form of a snake trying to tempt or possess people, and local fruit-- an apple-- being considered "forbidden" by the manual. I love the line when The Doctor says, "An apple a day keeps the... never mind."

The whole concept of the wheel of time and history repeating itself was rather mind-blowing. As usual, Mary Morris (as Panna) was mesmerizing (I get a kick out of her every time I watch THE PRISONER episode "Dance Of The Dead"), though it seems The Doctor put his foot right in it when he said he "must be" an idiot, and she started calling him that repeatedly. At least Karuna (Sarah Prince) only did it once, and showed him more respect once she (probably) figured out he was trying to help, and, smarter than he looked.

Of all the characters who turned up on the show during this period, it's Todd (Nerys Hughes) who felt to me like someone who SHOULD have become a Companion. She was smart, pretty, level-headed, and although she argued a bit with The Doctor (they were, frankly, both baffled by what was going on around them), they seemed to get along quite well. When they shake hands farewell at the end, it seemed a shame to think we'd never see her again. Especially when The Doctor was stuck with Adric and Tegan (well, for awhile, anyway).