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{{Infobox Spinoffs
{{title dab away}}
|spinoff name= Mindgame
{{real world}}
|image=[[file:Mindgame.jpg|250px]]
{{Infobox Story SMW
|main character= <ul><li>[[Human (Mindgame)|Human]]<li>[[Draconian (Mindgame)|Draconian]]<li>[[Sontaran]] [[Sarg|Commander Sarg]]
|image          = Mindgame Alien.jpg
|featuring=
|novelisation  = Mindgame (novelisation)
|enemy= [[Alien (Mindgame)|Alien]]
|main character = [[Human (Mindgame)|Human]], [[Draconian (Mindgame)|Draconian]], [[Sarg (Mindgame)|Sarg]]
|setting= [[Alien asteroid]]
|enemy         = [[Alien (Mindgame)|Alien]]
|writer= [[Terrance Dicks]]
|setting       = An [[asteroid]], the [[26th century]]
|director= [[Keith Barnfather]]
|writer         = Terrance Dicks
|producer= [[Keith Barnfather]]
|director       = [[Keith Barnfather]]
|publisher= [[Reeltime Pictures]]
|producer       = [[Keith Barnfather]]
|release date= [[1998]]
|publisher     = Reeltime Pictures
|format=30 minute, VHS
|release date   = 1998
|previous release= [[Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans]]
|format         = 30 minute, VHS
|next release=[[Mindgame Trilogy]]
|series        = [[Reeltime Pictures]] releases
}}
|prev          = Downtime (home video)
==Synopsis==
|next           = Mindgame Trilogy
A [[Sontaran]], a [[Draconian]] and a [[Human]] are trapped in a cell together by a mysterious alien and must fight each other in order to survive.
|series2        = ''[[Mindgame Saga (series)|Mindgame Saga]]''
|next2          = Battlefield (home video)
}}{{you may|Mindgame Trilogy}}
'''''Mindgame''''' was a home video published by [[Reeltime Pictures]]. It was part of the ''[[Mindgame Saga (series)|Mindgame Saga]]''.


==Plot==
== Synopsis ==
On an [[asteroid]] in [[space]], [[Sontaran]] Commander [[Sarg]] is [[transmat]]ted from a battlefield to a prison cell with three beds and a [[mirror]] that serves as a door. He is monitored by an unseen lupine [[Alien (Mindgame)|alien]] who watches the cell and removes Sarg's gun through some unknown [[teleport]]. When he attempts to leave through the mirror he is knocked out by a device similar to a [[sonic disruptor]].
A [[Sontaran]], a [[Draconian]] and a [[human]] are trapped in a cell together by a mysterious alien and must fight each other to survive.


A [[Draconian (Mindgame)|Draconian]] attending a military assembly arrives then and his knife is removed as well. The Sontaran and he discuss where they could be, Sarg thinking he is the enemy. A [[Human (Mindgame)|Human]] female arrives from serving as a mercenary on a reconaissance run. She holds them at gunpoint but her gun fades away. As they discuss their whereabouts the alien observes that Sarg is quick to react whereas the Draconian and Human are thinkers.
== Plot ==
On an [[asteroid]] in [[space]], [[Sontaran]] [[Field Major]] [[Sarg (Mindgame)|Sarg]] is [[transmat]]ted from a battlefield to a prison cell with three beds and a [[mirror]] that serves as a door. He is monitored by an unseen lupine [[Alien (Mindgame)|alien]] who watches the cell and removes Sarg's gun through some unknown [[teleport]]. When he attempts to leave through the mirror, he is knocked out by a device similar to a [[sonic disruptor]].


It becomes revealed that the three beings represent their races and that the asteroid serves as an interdimensional place, from which there is no escape. They must fight each other so that the alien knows which species his people can join forces with to conquer the [[galaxy]], though they would be in control. The Draconian and Human refuses to fight and gain up on the Sontaran when he tries to kill the Human, seeing that he would be set free if he did so. They convince him that the fight would not be honorable and the alien offers pain over death. They are attacked by a sonic device and are knocked out.
A [[Draconian (Mindgame)|Draconian]] attending a military assembly arrives. His knife disappears as well. He and the Sontaran discuss where they could be. Sarg thinks he is the enemy. A [[human (Mindgame)|human female]] arrives from serving as a mercenary on a reconnaissance run. She holds them at gunpoint, but her gun vanishes. As they discuss their whereabouts the alien observes that Sarg is quick to react whereas the Draconian and human are thinkers.


When they revive they agree to fight. The prison cell is cleared of the beds and three Draconian knives materialise. The Human blinds Sarg with her jacket as the Draconian stabs him. Then he stabs the Human. The alien enters through the mirror with a gun and meets the Draconian as the Human rises and grabs the gun while Sarg holds the alien. They co-operated in order to escape and so the alien deems the experiment on them a failure. The self-destruct countdown begins. When the alien begins to transmat to his own dimension the Human gives him a message to carry back to his people: she shoots and kills him as he beams away.
It turns out the three beings represent their races and that the asteroid serves as an interdimensional prison from which there is no escape. They must fight each other so the alien can judge which species his people should join forces with to conquer the [[galaxy]], though they would be in control. The Draconian and human refuses to fight and gang up on the Sontaran when he tries to kill the human, seeing that he would be set free if he did so. They convince him the fight would not be honourable and the alien offers pain over death. They are attacked by a sonic device and are knocked out.


Reaching the alien's control station, the Human sees that the transmat is similar to Human-make and, asking herself what [[Seventh Doctor|the Professor]] would do, reverses the [[polarity]] of the [[neutron flow]]. Since Sarg was the first to arrive, he must go first and there is no certainty that he will be returned to the [[Sontaran Empire]]. He returns to the cell and is transmatted away, followed by the Draconian. The Human sets the transmat on a delay and races to the cell. She is beamed away a few seconds before the asteroid fades into nothing, uttering the word ''"wicked"''.
When they revive, they agree to fight. The beds disappear from the prison cell and three Draconian knives materialise. The human blinds Sarg with her jacket as the Draconian stabs him. Then he stabs the human. The alien enters through the mirror with a gun and meets the Draconian. The human rises and grabs the gun while Sarg holds the alien. They co-operated to escape and so the alien deems the experiment on them a failure. The self-destruct countdown begins. When the alien begins to transmat to his own dimension, the human gives him a message to carry back to his people; she shoots and kills him as he beams away.


==Cast==
Reaching the alien's control station, the human sees that the transmat is similar to human transmats and, asking herself what [[Seventh Doctor|the Professor]] would do, reverses the [[polarity]] of the [[neutron flow]]. Since Sarg was the first to arrive, he must go first and there is no certainty that he will be returned to the [[Sontaran Empire]]. He returns to the cell and is transmatted away, followed by the Draconian. The human sets the transmat on a time delay and races to the cell. She is beamed away a few seconds before the asteroid fades into nothing, uttering the word "wicked".
*Alien - [[Bryan Robson]]
*Human - [[Sophie Aldred]]
*Cmdr. [[Sarg]] - [[Toby Aspen]]
*Draconian - [[Miles Richardson]]


==Production crew==
== Cast ==
* [[Human (Mindgame)|Human]] - [[Sophie Aldred]]
* [[Sarg (Mindgame)|Sontaran]] - [[Toby Aspin]]
* [[Draconian (Mindgame)|Draconian]] - [[Miles Richardson]]
* [[Alien (Mindgame)|Alien]] - [[Bryan Robson (actor)|Bryan Robson]]
 
== Crew ==
''to be added''
''to be added''


==References==
== Worldbuilding ==
*[[Draconian]] females have no place in the military, and the Draconians in general are aware of a warring race(most likely the [[Sontaran]]s) fighting in the outer fringes of the [[universe]].
''to be added''
*The Draconian states that what the Human has done for them, no alien has been so beneficial and honorable since the days of the one known as the...
*The Sontarans consider all non-Sontarans to be enemies. They reproduce by cloning and do not need food as they recharge by feeding on energy from their ships.
*At this time all three races, Humans and Draconians and Sontarans, know of each other.


==Story notes==
== Story notes ==
This is the only story in this particular spin-off to include coarse words such as the Human's usage of the word 'b*stard'.  
* Terrence Dicks offered to write the story after hearing Keith Barnfather mention the basic idea of three people in a cell during a train ride together.<ref>''Downtime: The Lost Years of Doctor Who'' (Dylan Rees) - chapter 18</ref>
* The production was done with multiple cameras as practice for an abandoned plan to do a soap opera set on a space station. Barnfather told an interview he'd wanted to do "six titles a year, do two at a time... with some monster element from ''Doctor Who''." This also allowed the production to use a cheaper studio and film quicker, saving them money.<ref>''Downtime'' chapter 18</ref>
* Reeltime planned to film ''Mindgame'' in one day and booked the location on that basis. When they started to overrun, Terrence Dicks rewrote the script to remove and simplify scenes, but the production still had to finish incompletely.<ref>''Downtime'' chapter 18</ref>
* A middle act was removed to save time, where the captives would have pretended to agree to fight in exchange for rest and food, and then "sit down and chat... [a] quieter, more reflective sort of thing" as Dicks put it. <ref>''Making of Mindgame''</ref> It was reinstated for [[Mindgame (novelisation)|the novelisation]].


Myths
=== Filming locations ===
''to be added''
* The film was made at the University of Westminster in North London.


===Filming Locations===
=== Production errors ===
''to be added''
* In one of the scenes with the Alien in the control room, a boom microphone appears on the bottom left-hand corner of the screen.


===Production Errors===
== Continuity ==
''to be added''
* Sarg makes the same observations on the difference between female humans in comparison to male humans as [[Linx]] ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time Warrior (TV story)|The Time Warrior]]'') and [[Steg]]. ([[HOMEVID]]: ''[[Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans]]'')
* The Draconian alludes to a time [[The Doctor|another alien]] came to the aid of the [[Draconian Empire]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Frontier in Space (TV story)|Frontier in Space]]'')


==Continuity==
== DVD, video, and vod releases ==
*It is strongly implyed that the Human character, with the mention of a "Professor" and the phrase "wicked", is in fact an older [[Ace]].
* The film was released on VHS tape in [[1998 (releases)|1998]] and on DVD in [[2003 (releases)|2003]].
* It was re-released on DVD and digitally through Vimeo's video on demand service on [[1 April (releases)|1 April]] [[2015 (releases)|2015]], alongside the making of.


==DVD, video, and Other releases==
== External links ==
''to be added''
* [http://timetraveltv.com/programme/291 Official product page on Time Travel TV]
* {{whoniverse|rt04|Mindgame}}


==External links==
== Footnotes ==
*{{whoniverse|MIND.php|Mindgame}}
{{reflist}}
{{Reeltime Pictures}}
{{Sontaran stories}}
{{Draconian stories}}
{{TitleSort}}
{{TitleSort}}
[[Category:1998 home videos]]
[[Category:Reeltime Pictures video dramas]]
[[Category:Reeltime Pictures video dramas]]
[[Category:Sontaran stories]]
[[Category:Draconian home videos]]
[[Category:Draconian stories]]
[[Category:Sontaran Reeltime Productions]]
[[Category:Stories set in the 26th century]]

Latest revision as of 22:03, 7 March 2024

RealWorld.png

You may be looking for Mindgame Trilogy.

Mindgame was a home video published by Reeltime Pictures. It was part of the Mindgame Saga.

Synopsis[[edit] | [edit source]]

A Sontaran, a Draconian and a human are trapped in a cell together by a mysterious alien and must fight each other to survive.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

On an asteroid in space, Sontaran Field Major Sarg is transmatted from a battlefield to a prison cell with three beds and a mirror that serves as a door. He is monitored by an unseen lupine alien who watches the cell and removes Sarg's gun through some unknown teleport. When he attempts to leave through the mirror, he is knocked out by a device similar to a sonic disruptor.

A Draconian attending a military assembly arrives. His knife disappears as well. He and the Sontaran discuss where they could be. Sarg thinks he is the enemy. A human female arrives from serving as a mercenary on a reconnaissance run. She holds them at gunpoint, but her gun vanishes. As they discuss their whereabouts the alien observes that Sarg is quick to react whereas the Draconian and human are thinkers.

It turns out the three beings represent their races and that the asteroid serves as an interdimensional prison from which there is no escape. They must fight each other so the alien can judge which species his people should join forces with to conquer the galaxy, though they would be in control. The Draconian and human refuses to fight and gang up on the Sontaran when he tries to kill the human, seeing that he would be set free if he did so. They convince him the fight would not be honourable and the alien offers pain over death. They are attacked by a sonic device and are knocked out.

When they revive, they agree to fight. The beds disappear from the prison cell and three Draconian knives materialise. The human blinds Sarg with her jacket as the Draconian stabs him. Then he stabs the human. The alien enters through the mirror with a gun and meets the Draconian. The human rises and grabs the gun while Sarg holds the alien. They co-operated to escape and so the alien deems the experiment on them a failure. The self-destruct countdown begins. When the alien begins to transmat to his own dimension, the human gives him a message to carry back to his people; she shoots and kills him as he beams away.

Reaching the alien's control station, the human sees that the transmat is similar to human transmats and, asking herself what the Professor would do, reverses the polarity of the neutron flow. Since Sarg was the first to arrive, he must go first and there is no certainty that he will be returned to the Sontaran Empire. He returns to the cell and is transmatted away, followed by the Draconian. The human sets the transmat on a time delay and races to the cell. She is beamed away a few seconds before the asteroid fades into nothing, uttering the word "wicked".

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Story notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Terrence Dicks offered to write the story after hearing Keith Barnfather mention the basic idea of three people in a cell during a train ride together.[1]
  • The production was done with multiple cameras as practice for an abandoned plan to do a soap opera set on a space station. Barnfather told an interview he'd wanted to do "six titles a year, do two at a time... with some monster element from Doctor Who." This also allowed the production to use a cheaper studio and film quicker, saving them money.[2]
  • Reeltime planned to film Mindgame in one day and booked the location on that basis. When they started to overrun, Terrence Dicks rewrote the script to remove and simplify scenes, but the production still had to finish incompletely.[3]
  • A middle act was removed to save time, where the captives would have pretended to agree to fight in exchange for rest and food, and then "sit down and chat... [a] quieter, more reflective sort of thing" as Dicks put it. [4] It was reinstated for the novelisation.

Filming locations[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The film was made at the University of Westminster in North London.

Production errors[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • In one of the scenes with the Alien in the control room, a boom microphone appears on the bottom left-hand corner of the screen.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

DVD, video, and vod releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The film was released on VHS tape in 1998 and on DVD in 2003.
  • It was re-released on DVD and digitally through Vimeo's video on demand service on 1 April 2015, alongside the making of.

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ Downtime: The Lost Years of Doctor Who (Dylan Rees) - chapter 18
  2. ↑ Downtime chapter 18
  3. ↑ Downtime chapter 18
  4. ↑ Making of Mindgame
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For the purposes of this list, a "Sontaran story" is one in which one living, authentic Sontaran plays a part within the confines of the story, outside of flashbacks to previous stories and cliffhangers that lead into the following story. For this reason, stories such as The Halloween Apocalypse and Survivors of the Flux are not counted due to the Sontarans' appearance being defined by their importance to following stories. Stories like The End of Time and The Time of the Doctor are also not included due to the Sontarans' appearance being no consequence to the plot of the story. Stories featuring Strax of the Paternoster Gang are only included on the Paternoster Gang story template.
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Draconian stories
For the purposes of this list, a "Draconian story" is one in which one living, authentic Draconian plays a part within the confines of the story, outside of flashbacks to previous stories and cliffhangers that lead into the following story.
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