The Mind Robber [4.0]

With a volcano exploding around them, the Doctor pulls an emergency switch, pulling the TARDIS out of Reality and into “Nowhere”. This should mean that there is “Nothing” outside, but when Zoe's curiosity lures her out of the ship, “Nothing” seems surprisingly highly populated.

As the crew spend time in the void, it takes shape around them, turning from a blank white landscape into a storybook world populated by characters from the assembled literature of the Universe. Some appear friendly and others more threatening, and always there is the growing inevitability that the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe will themselves be transformed into mere characters of fiction.

The Majesty

Leaping outside the bounds of reality allows the story to be as wild as imagination allows. Zoe can be trapped in a jamjar, Jamie can get a new face, the Doctor can be lost in a forest of letters and all while fending off the Medusa, the Minotaur, Cyrano de Bergerac and the ever present Gulliver.

Despite the wild nature of this storytelling, it actually holds together well enough. There's enough internal logic to just about get you through, though you have to supply some of the missing details yourself. One retrospective theory is that the crew have created the whole universe themselves and it is their own fears they are fighting – Jamie flights Toy Soldiers that look like redcoats; Zoe fights white robots that look like Cybermen, and the Doctor fights his most feared enemy: the Master.

The Misery

There's something rather odd going on with the episode lengths, with a standard 100 minute story split over 5 episodes instead of 4. It's maybe not a big deal, but it does show a certain amount of chaos in the production and always leaves you feeling on the back foot. The threat to the planet Earth is a little underwhelming and it might have been better to leave the drama as a personal existential threat to the main crew.

Magical Moments

• At the end of episode one, there's a moment where the TARDIS explodes. It's a great moment, though will forever be overshadowed by the following close-up slow-motion shot of Zoe's posterior as she clings to the console. To call it a magical moment may perhaps be cynical, but it's certainly unforgettable!
• When Jamie is shot through the heart, he turns into a cardboard cut out. It's quite the shocking moment.
• “What can you make of a sword?” sing the creepy kids, holding a blade to the Doctor's throat. “Of a sword? Words!” The kids cheer and throw the sword up in the air. The Doctor stretches up his hands to catch it, but it is now a dictionary.
• There's something rather charming about the coded message “Jamie is safe and well”, involving an actual bank safe and a wishing well.
• It's also a neat trick to rearrange Jamie's face. It cleverly allows an unwell actor to get a week off work, while making the Doctor look vulnerable, increasing the threat level and keeping us – the audience – delightfully bewildered.
• Zoe's fight with the action hero “The Karkas” is hilarious. At one point she follows the example of Father Ted and kicks him up the arse.
• “I've yet to see a robot that can climb” shouts the Doctor in triumph, making for a ladder. Presumably he means in that particular world, as I myself have seen robots dance the fandango.
• Rapunzel makes the most obliging ladder. “Do you mind?” “No of course not. Everybody else uses it.”

In Summary

Dr Who had only once gone into such absurd territory in the past – in the Celestial Toymaker. This story, however, is much more confident and captivating. The characters, while deliberately two-dimensional, are all engaging; the literary puns and riddles are cleverly worked out; and the whole world seems both familiar and totally alien. The laws of physics and logic are dispensed with, and the laws of narrative and imagery come in instead. While the plot itself is not the strongest, the atmosphere and the world are bizarre enough to hold the attention in themselves. It's utterly barmy and still can surprise over 50 years later.

Overall: 4.0