The Mind Robber (TV story)

Synopsis
The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe are trapped in a world of fiction. WIll they be turned into fictional characters?

Plot
To escape from the volcanic eruption on Dulkis, the Doctor uses an emergency unit which moves the TARDIS out of normal time and space. The travellers find themselves in an endless void, where they are menaced by White Robots.

Having regained the safety of the TARDIS, they believe they have escaped - until the ship suddenly explodes apart. They then find themselves in a land of fiction, where they are hunted by life-size clockwork soldiers and encounter characters like Rapunzel and Swift's Lemuel Gulliver.

This domain is presided over by a man known only as the Master - a prolific English writer from 1926 - who in turn is controlled by a Master Brain computer. Now the Master is desperate to escape and wants the Doctor to take his place, while the Master Brain plans to take over the Earth.

The Doctor engages the Master in a battle of wills using a variety of fictional characters. Zoe and Jamie meanwhile succeed in overloading the Master Brain and, in the confusion, the White Robots destroy the computer, finally freeing the Master.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
 * Jamie McCrimmon - Frazer Hines
 * Jamie McCrimmon - Hamish Wilson (Episode 3)


 * Zoe Heriot - Wendy Padbury
 * The Master of the Land - Emrys Jones
 * A Stranger / Lemuel Gulliver - Bernard Horsfall
 * Karkus - Christopher Robbie
 * The Medusa - Sue Pulford
 * Redcoat - Philip Ryan
 * Princess Rapunzel - Christine Pirie
 * D'Artagnan and Sir Lancelot - John Greenwood
 * Cyrano - David Cannon
 * Blackbeard - Gerry Wain
 * Soldiers - Paul Alexander, Ian Hines, Richard Ireson
 * Children - Barbara Loft, Sylvestra Le Tozel, Timothy Horton, Christopher Reynolds, David Reynolds, Martin Langley
 * Robots - John Atterbury, Ralph Carrigan, Bill Wiesener, Terry Wright

Crew

 * Assistant Floor Manager - Edwina Verner
 * Costumes - Martin Baugh, Susan Wheal
 * Designer - Evan Hercules
 * Fight Arranger - B H Barry, John Greenwood
 * Film Cameraman - Jimmy Court
 * Film Editor - Martyn Day
 * Make-Up - Sylvia James
 * Producer - Peter Bryant
 * Production Assistant - John Lopes
 * Script Editor - Derrick Sherwin
 * Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
 * Studio Lighting - Howard King
 * Studio Sound - John Holmes
 * Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer
 * Visual Effects - Jack Kine, Bernard Wilkie

Story Notes

 * Working titles; Man Power, The Fact of Fiction.
 * Hamish Wilson played Jamie in episode 3 due to Frazer Hines' ilness.
 * This story was planned as a four part serial, but was increased to five after The Dominators, was reduced from six to five episodes.
 * As a result, the first four episodes were only between 19 and 22 minutes in length, and Episode 5 was the shortest Doctor Who episode ever at just over 18 minutes.

Ratings

 * Episode 1 - 6.6 million viewers
 * Episode 2 - 6.5 million viewers
 * Episode 3 - 7.2 million viewers
 * Episode 4 - 7.3 million viewers
 * Episode 5 - 6.7 million viewers

Myths
(not true, but Ian Hines, who played one of the Clockwork Soldiers in this story, is his brother.)
 * Hamish Wilson, who played Jamie in Episodes 2 and 3, is Frazer Hines's cousin.

Location Filming
to be added

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors
to be added

Continuity

 * The Land of Fiction reappears in Conundrum and Head Games.

DVD, Video and Other Releases
released March 7, 2005 in the United Kingdom, and September 6, 2005 in North America.
 * Released on DVD -


 * Released on video as "The Mind Robber" in Episodic format in May 1990.

Target Novelisations
A novelisation of this serial, written by Peter Ling, was published by Target Books in November 1986.