Mindwarp (TV story)

Synopsis
The Valeyard's second segment of evidence relates to the planet Thoros-Beta. Here the Doctor and Peri meet their old adversary Sil and others of his Mentor race, whose leader Kiv is awaiting an operation from a scientist named Crozier to transplant his brain into another body. They also form an uneasy alliance with a kidnapped Krontep warrior, King Yrcanos, and encounter a group of resistance fighters. Peri is eventually chosen as the recipient of Kiv's consciousness and is apparently killed in an ensuing mêlée sanctioned by the Time Lords to prevent Crozier's work from disturbing the balance of nature.

Plot
The Doctor's trial continues.

The Valeyard, in his next presentation of evidence against the Doctor, shows his most recent activity before being removed from Time and Space by the Time Lords. The TARDIS lands on Thoros Beta. The Doctor and Peri soon encounter the ghastly results of various experiments to meld animal and humans. Mad scientist Crozier is experimenting on brain tissue, particularly that of the captive warrior King Yrcanos. Crozier is in the employ of the Mentors from twin planet Thoros Alpha, including their old enemy Sil and his boss Kiv. Kiv is suffering from a rare malady in which his brain is swelling in his cranium, and Crozier is preparing a new host body for the brain.

When Yrcanos escapes (taking Peri with him), Crozier elects the Doctor for his next round of experiments. As a result, the Doctor's mind appears to have been altered to make him sadistic and evil... watching himself on the Matrix screen at the trial, the Doctor insists this cannot be right, though his memory of the actual events is foggy, much to the Valeyard's delight.

Peri assists Yrcanos and his aide-de-camp Dorf in fermenting rebellion on Thoros Beta, while Crozier provides an intermediate body of a larger Mentor for Kiv's brain. Peri is captured, and Crozier then makes her the subject of his ultimate experiment: transferring the contents of Kiv's mind, as opposed to the physical brain itself, into a new host. Peri's mind would thus destroyed to make room for Kiv.

The Doctor, restored to sanity, attempts to rescue her, but it is at this moment that he is pulled from time and space. He can only watch in horror from the courtroom as Yrcanos bursts into the lab and, under direct influence from the Time Lords, destroys Crozier, the lab, and Peri herself.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Colin Baker
 * Peri - Nicola Bryant
 * The Valeyard - Michael Jayston
 * The Inquisitor - Lynda Bellingham
 * King Yrcanos - Brian Blessed
 * Sil - Nabil Shaban
 * Kiv - Christopher Ryan
 * Crozier - Patrick Ryecart
 * Matrona Kani - Alibe Parsons
 * Frax - Trevor Laird
 * The Lukoser - Thomas Branch
 * Tuza - Gordon Warnecke
 * Mentor - Richard Harvey
 * Posicar Delegate - Deep Roy (uncredited)

Crew

 * Assistant Floor Manager - Anna Price
 * Costumes - John Hearne
 * Designer - Andrew Howe-Davies
 * Incidental Music - Richard Hartley
 * Make-Up - Dorka Nieradzik
 * Producer - John Nathan-Turner
 * Production Assistant - Karen Jones
 * Production Associate - Angela Smith, June Collins
 * Script Editor - Eric Saward
 * Special Sounds - Dick Mills
 * Studio Lighting - Don Babbage
 * Studio Sound - Brian Clark
 * Theme Arrangement - Dominic Glynn
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer
 * Visual Effects - Peter Wragg

Foods and Beverages

 * Yrcanos eats Flayfish.

Individuals

 * Yrcanos is King of the Krontep, Lord of the Vingten, Conqueror of the Tonkonp Empire, whom he defeated on Thordon 2. Their warrior queens fight beside their kings.
 * Kiv, leader of the Mentors, is addressed as Magnificence, and the centre of power is the Great Commerce Room.
 * The Mentors' god is Morgo, and they have the same concept of hell, the "Plague Hall of Mogdana", as do the Krontep.
 * Sil is one of the Mentors.

Locations

 * The Krontep gods live on Verduna.
 * Thoros Betan seas include the Sea of Turmoil, the Sea of Despair and Longing, and the Sea of Sorrows. There is an island called Brak.

Planets

 * There is a Sondlex crop on Wilson 1.
 * Skulnesh has very nasty sewers.
 * There are seven-legged chargers on Corojaan.
 * Thoros Alpha, home to a humanoid race called Alphans, enslaved by the Mentors, is in the same system as Thoros Beta.
 * The Mentors are dealing with a (short reptillian) representative from Posikar.

Races and Species

 * Some, less developed, Mentors have a sting in their tail.
 * The Raak is a genetically engineered amphibious creature.

Technology

 * All of the universe's commodity markets can be accessed by a communications device called the warpfold relay.
 * Crozier's equipment includes a lexifier and an endrodiotone.

Story Notes

 * Trevor Laird would later play Clive Jones, the father of Martha Jones. Laird is to date the only actor to play a recurring character in the BBC Wales version of the show, who also appeared in the original series.

Ratings

 * Brackets refer to this story's individual parts


 * Part Five (1) - 4.8 million viewers
 * Part Six (2) - 4.6 million viewers
 * Part Seven (3) - 5.1 million viewers
 * Part Eight (4) - 5.0 million viewers

Myths
to be added

Filming Locations

 * Telscombe Cliffs, Peacehaven, East Sussex
 * BBC Television Centre (TC6 &amp; TC1), Shepherd's Bush, London

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * How does the Inquisitor know the events at the stories end - she's supposed to be impartial, and is supposed to be watching this for the first time?
 * Why hasn't Leela or Romana testified for the Doctor as they are on Gallifrey? The trial is clearly established as not taking place on Gallifrey, .
 * What actually happens? After Part 1 of Mindwarp, is the rest a lie? Are parts of the story lies? Is the Doctor behaving erratically? Is this actually an alternate Doctor created by the Valeyard? Did the beach interrogation actually take place at all?
 * Despite a specific reference to the sting on Kiv's new body, it never becomes a factor in the story - that is, no-one is stung by Kiv and no-one mentions the sting again. So why include it at all, or, if an instance of someone being stung was edited out, why not edit out this reference as well?

Continuity

 * Sil previously appeared in DW: Vengeance on Varos and TME: Mission to Magnus.
 * Peri's re-meets the Doctor in NA: Bad Therapy.

DVD and Video Releases
DVD release
 * Released in The Trial of a Time Lord boxset on the 29th September 2008.
 * Editing for DVD release completed by Doctor Who Restoration Team.

Video Releases

Released as Doctor Who: Mindwarp

Released:


 * UK October 1993 (Released with the other Trial of the Timelord stories in a Tardis-shaped tin with a random picture of one of the (then) seven Doctors on the base)
 * US October 1993 (Same as the UK release except packed in a cardboard box in honor of Doctor Who's 30th anniversary)
 * Australia October 1993

Novelisation

 * Main article: Mindwarp (novelisation)


 * Novelised by Philip Martin in 1989. Martin's adaptation is notorious for its epilogue which contradicts the concluding chapter of Trial of a Time-Lord by suggesting a comedic fate for Peri.