The Mind Robber: Episode 2 

With the TARDIS destroyed, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe find themselves in a strange forest patrolled by mysterious soldiers.

Director:

David Maloney

Writer:

Peter Ling (by)

Stars:

Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines, Hamish Wilson

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Patrick Troughton	...	Dr. Who
Frazer Hines	...	Jamie
Hamish Wilson	...	Jamie
Wendy Padbury	...	Zoe
Emrys Jones	...	The Master of the Land of Fiction
Bernard Horsfall	...	A Stranger
Barbara Loft	...	Child
Sylvestra Le Touzel	...	Child (as Sylvestra Le Tozel)
Timothy Horton	...	Child
David Reynolds	...	Child
Martin Langley	...	Child
Paul Alexander	...	Soldier
Ian Hines	...	Soldier
Richard Ireson	...	Soldier
Philip Ryan	...	Redcoat

Storyline

With the TARDIS destroyed, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe find themselves in a strange forest patrolled by mysterious soldiers.

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Plot Keywords:

forest | letter | child | book | doctor who | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Family | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 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

This story is the only time in the series where an actor is replaced and is acknowledged as part of the story, Being Frazer Hinnes replaced by Hammish Wilson.

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Goofs

Zoe's hair grows by several inches after episode one of "The Mind Robber" (due to the actress being fitted with the wrong hairpiece) but returns to it's original length in Episode 3.

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Connections

Featured in The Fact of Fiction (2005)

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