The Mind Robber (TV story)

The Mind Robber
Doctor:	[[doctor::Second Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Jamie McCrimmon Zoe Heriot
Main enemy:	Master of the Land of Fiction White Robots Clockwork Soldiers
Main setting:	White Void Land of Fiction
Key crew
Writer:	Peter Ling
Director:	David Maloney
Producer:	Peter Bryant
Release details
Release number:	45
Premiere broadcast:	14th September - 12th October 1968
Format:	5 25-minute Episodes
Production code:	UU

Synopsis

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.

Plot

to be added

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

References

to be added

Story Notes

• Working titles; Man Power, The Fact of Fiction.
• Hamish Wilson played Jamie in episode 3 due to Frazer Hines' ilness.

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

to be added

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

to be added

Target Novelisations

to be added

See Also

to be added

External Links

• Outpost Gallifrey The Mind Robber page
• The Doctor Who Reference Guide detailed synopsis of The Mind Robber
• BBC The Mind Robber page
• A Brief History of Time (Travel) Guide to The Mind Robber

Television

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All Media

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