Mindwarp (TV story)

Mindwarp
Doctor:	[[doctor::Sixth Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Peri (dies/leaves)
Main enemy:	The Valeyard (trial sequences) Sil (evidence sequences) Kiv (trial sequences)
Main setting:	Time Lord space station, Rassilon Era (trial sequences) Thoros Beta, 2378 (evidence sequences)
Key crew
Writer:	Philip Martin
Director:	Ron Jones
Producer:	John Nathan-Turner
Release details
Story number:	144b
Release number:	Season 23
Premiere broadcast:	4th October - 25th October 1986
Format:	4 25-minute episodes
Production code:	7B

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 Doctor is angered at the High Council when he learns Peri dies, and the Doctor has every intention of finding out what is going on

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

References

• The Time Lords use Yrcanos as an assassin (to kill Crozier, his assistants, Kiv, Sil and to destroy the equipment, but not actually to kill the, still unharmed, Peri) because Crozier's discovery would affect natural evolution throughout the universe. They do this by holding him in a time bubble (frozen until his targets are in the ideal place for him to shoot them without risk).
• Another example of an unjust trial was that of the so called Witches of Enderheid.

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 & 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? They might be, but the trial is clearly established as not taking place on Gallifrey, for reasons never explained. In addition, it's not known how many years - or centuries - it has been since Leela stayed behind on Gallifrey; she may be long dead. And, according to TV continuity, Romana is still travelling around E-Space at this time; if her subsequent return to N-Space and appointment as president of the High Council is canonical, it clearly hasn't happened yet.
• 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.

External Links

• BBC Episode Guide for Mindwarp
• Outpost Gallifrey Episode Guide: Mindwarp
• Doctor Who Reference Guide: Detailed Synopsis - Mindwarp
• A Brief History of Time (Travel): Mindwarp
• The Locations Guide to Doctor Who - Mindwarp

• The Tardis Library: Video release information for Mindwarp

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