The Mind Robber: Episode 1 

The TARDIS arrives in a white void, when the TARDIS makes a emergency take-off to escape the volcanic eruption on Dulkis. Where the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe find themselves in the Land of ... See full summary »

Director:

David Maloney

Stars:

Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines, Wendy Padbury

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Patrick Troughton	...	Dr. Who
Frazer Hines	...	Jamie
Wendy Padbury	...	Zoe
Emrys Jones	...	The Master of the Land of Fiction
John Atterbury	...	Robot
Ralph Carrigan	...	Robot
Bill Wiesener	...	Robot
Terry Wright	...	Robot

Storyline

The TARDIS arrives in a white void, when the TARDIS makes a emergency take-off to escape the volcanic eruption on Dulkis. Where the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe find themselves in the Land of Fiction, where fictional characters from the imagination come to life and The Master, the mysterious ruler of The Land of Fiction chooses the Doctor to take his place.

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Plot Keywords:

void | doctor who | second doctor | marching feet | hiding | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Family | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 September 1968 (UK)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

22 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

As with most things in the land of fiction the white robots are actually rooted in fiction outside of Doctor Who, they originally appeared in another BBC show called Out of the Unknown although they were repainted for this story.

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Goofs

When Jamie gets up from the armchair he stands into the shadow of a boom microphone.

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Quotes

Jamie: Come on, back to the TARDIS.
Zoe Heriot: Is that the right way?
Jamie: Of course it's the right way... Oh... Err... No, it could be... erm... oh.
Zoe Heriot: We're lost, aren't we?
Jamie: No, I wouldn't say that. We're just err... well, the... um... We're just a...
[beat]
Jamie: You want to know something?
Zoe Heriot: What?
Jamie: I think we're lost.
Zoe Heriot: Oh, this isn't a joke, Jamie!
[...]

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Connections

Featured in Doctor Who Live: The Afterparty (2013)

User Reviews

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

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