Mindwarp (TV story)

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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

 Part Five:

Following on from The Mysterious Planet, the Valeyard and the Doctor argue about the Doctor’s involvement in those events.  The Inquisitor warns them both to pay due respect to the judicial process. The Valeyard proceeds to present his second block of evidence - the Doctor's arrival on the planet Thoros Beta.

The TARDIS arrives on the planet, where the Doctor shows Peri a weapon given to him by the "Warlord of Thordon", made on Thoros Beta.  He states that has come to find out how the warlords obtained such technology.  They enter a cave, where Peri is grabbed by a large monstrous creature, which during a struggle the Doctor shoots with the gun.

The Valeyard accuses the Doctor of deliberately shooting the monster, but he replies that the weapon went off accidentally.

A figure arrives and accuses the Doctor and Peri of murdering the Raak, despite their protestations that it attacked them first.  The figure asks if they are part of Crozier's group, and the Doctor says that he is.  They flee before they can be identified as imposters, but are quickly faced by another monster, but it reacts kindly when the Doctor is nice to it.  They are forced to flee further, and as they hide they see three reptilian figures being carried along by guards, the third of the figures is shown to be their old enemy Sil.  The Doctor realises that Sil is probably behind the arms sales, and informs Peri that Thoros Beta is the home world of Sil's race, the Mentors.

In Crozier's laboratory, King Yrcanos is being experimented on, and the Doctor and Peri sneak inside.  As the Doctor sabotages some of Kiv's equipment, Sil arrives in the laboratory. The Doctor is strapped to a table, and Crozier applies a metal helmet to his head. Crozier states that the equipment to extract the truth from a suspect, and that technique could prove fatal. He starts to probe the Doctor's mind...

Part Six:

Luckly, King Yrcanos awakes and destroys the equipment. Overpowering the guards he departs the laboratory, followed by a stunned Doctor and Peri. Yrcanos outlines his plans to attack the Mentors. The Doctor says he would enjoy that, and then collapses.

The Doctor tells the Inquisitor that he cannot remember these events. The Valeyard tells him he is in for a surprise if this is true. Yrcanos, the Doctor and Peri go to where new slaves are brought into the base. Yrcanos plans to attack the guards and steal their weapons, but as he sneaks into the room, the Doctor calls out to the guards, giving him away. Yrcanos, unable to fight the guards, flees. Peri points a weapon at Sil, and asks the Doctor for help, but he ignores her. Peri drops the weapon and flees after Yrcanos. Sil asks the Doctor why he helped the Mentors, and he replies that the odds were on their side.

The Doctor insists that the footage is not of him, but the Valeyard tells him that the Matrix cannot lie.

Peri comes across Matrona, who allows her to join the Mentors' servants rather than turn her over to the guards. Covered with a veil, she enters the Commerce Room with Kiv's medication. The Doctor calls to her to get him a drink, so she disguises her voice to avoid being recognised. When she brings him a new drink, the Doctor uncovers her and denounces her as an enemy to the Mentors.

The Doctor tells the Courtroom that what they are seeing is all part of his ploy. He says he planned to gain the Mentors' trust so that he would be allowed to interrogate her alone, giving them a chance to escape.

Peri is lashed to rocks on the shoreline and the Doctor stands over her, accusing of being a spy. She asks why he is behaving the way he is, and the Doctor tells her that Crozier is planning to put Kiv's brain into his body unless he can help them. Crozier stops the interegation, saying that they have more effective methods of extracting the truth from Peri. As they re-enter the complex, Yrcanos attacks the guard, and threatens to kill the Doctor...

Part Seven:

However, Peri smashes the gun from Yrcanos's hands allowing the Doctor to flee. In Crozier's laboratory, the scientist prepares to transplant Kiv's brain into a recently deceased Mentor corpse with the help of the Doctor. The operation proves successful.

Meanwhile, Yrcanos, Peri and Dorf team up with members of the Alphan resistance. Agreeing to allow Yrcanos to lead them in an attack on the Mentors, they go to the resistance arms dump, but they are ambushed by Mentor guards and shot down. However, it is revealed they have merely been stunned, and they are taken to cells.

In Crozier's laboratory, Lord Kiv is rambling due to the body of the fisherman influencing his brain. Crozier makes plans to transfer the brain into another more suitable body, and suggests using Peri. The Doctor says he would prefer that she is not experimented on, but while he is trying to find another candidate, Peri is brought to the laboratory, and strapped to the operating table. Crozier begins to prepare her for the surgery. Watching these events on the Matrix screen in the Time Lord courtroom, the Doctor protests that he was not responsible. The Valeyard, however, replies: 'In your mind, perhaps not. But in reality it is somewhat different, Doctor.' The Doctor looks perturbed...

Part Eight:

The Doctor goes to Yrcanos's cell and tricks the guard allowing Yrcanos and Dorf to escape. Together they free the remaining resistance members. They head towards the control room from where all the slaves are mentally controlled and succeed in freeing the slaves from mental control, but Dorf is killed by a passing guard. Lord Kiv is taken to the laboratory to prepare for the operation. As the Doctor heads towards the lab, he is summoned by the Time Lords and promptly vanishes.

The Inquisitor tells the Doctor this was the result of an order from the High Council, because the result of Crozier's experiment would affect all life in the Universe.

As Yrcanos prepares his attack on the laboratory, the Time Lords capture him in a time bubble so that his attack is perfectly timed. When Kiv awakes in Peri's bald body, the time bubble dissipates and Yrcanos bursts into the laboratory. He is consumed with fury and begins firing his gun wildly, killing Peri in the process.

The Doctor is shocked by what he has seen. The Inquisitor and the Valeyard tell him that it was necessary to end Peri's life to prevent the disastrous consequences of Crozier's experiment. The Doctor insists that he was fetched out of time for some other reason, and he is going to find out what...

Cast

Crew

References

  • In keeping with the Christmas Carol Past, Present and Future theme of the trial evidence, The Doctor and Peri's adventures here are said to have been taking place when the Doctor was taken out of time at the start of Episode 1.Some time has passed for the Doctor and Peri since leaving Ravallox in the previous segment of evidence, possibly many months. They have travelled to Thoros Beta directly from an encounter with a dying Warlord of Thorden who had been supplied with advanced beam weapons from there. The Doctor has travelled there accordingly to investigate the arms sales. The exchange with the Warlord would seem to have been part of an extended encounter, as Peri notes his lusting after her prior to his death.
  • The Doctor largely confirms the authenticity of events presented (albeit with clever use of editing and camera angles on the Valeyard's part to make him look culpable for the death of the Raak, for example) up to the end of the first episode. He does however suffer total amnesia after that point (due to the effect of Crozier's machine, rather than being taken out of time).
  • Shortly after disrupting the Alphan's control centre and after becoming separated from Yrcanos en route to save Peri, the Doctor is forcibly taken out of time by the Time Lords and brought to the trial room, as seen in Episode 1 of the previous trial segment. After this point in the evidence, events are narrated by The Inquisitor, rather than by The Valeyard acting as prosecuting counsel and are implied to be taking place "now" or in real time as the court watches on. (With the trial taking place "outside of time", the length of time elapsed for the Doctor and his accusers during the presentation of these events and the Ravalox evidence over the previous 8 episodes of course would be immaterial.)
  • 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). Again, these actions are described by the Inquisitor as they happen, suggesting either that she is directing these events on behalf of the court as remedial action for the Doctor's negligence or complicity with Croziers' transplant (the act of probable cause that prompted his "arrest" at the start of the story) or that she is interpreting/explaining those subsequent events for the benefit of the court and it is the High Council back on Gallifrey or agents acting on their behalf that are performing them. If the latter is the case, then events in episodes 6-8 and in particular the events subsequent to the Doctor's removal could have occurred very differently to what was presented to the court. If it is the former, it suggests that most of what was seen was a fair representation of what actually happened and that The Inquisitor was directly responsible for the actions that "cleaned up" after The Doctor's actions. Indeed, if the events of this story were the proximal cause of The Doctor being taken out of time at that specific point (The Inquisitor herself notes that he left them with no choice but to act), it seems highly likely that the court (or at least The Inquisitor) was observing his actions directly at the time, rather than reviewing it via the Matrix and most of what was seem was therefore accurate. Indeed, it seems that the Time Lords in that instance would have been easily able to view the course of events that would have resulted had The Doctor accompanied Yrcanos and Tuza on their rescue attempt and intervened accordingly.
  • Another example of an unjust trial was that of the so called Witches of Enderheid.

Foods and Beverages

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

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 the twin planet of Thoros Beta. It appears as a large, white body, clearly visible during the Betan day and has a large, white ring belt.
  • The Mentors are dealing with a (short reptillian) representative from Posikar.

Races and species

  • It is stated that many, possibly all of the Mentors are mutants but no cause is cited. Crozier notes that Kiv's donor body is of the same branch of mutation, so it seems to be a society-wide pheonmenon. Some mutants retain a primordial sting with a highly potent toxic venom in their tails. It is not clear whether the Mentor's planetary state is one and the same as the Amorb Corporation Sil represented in Vengance on Varos but since Kiv's donor body was said to be a fisherman, some form of agarian or working class would seem to exist in their society, presumably separate from the corporate structure. Kiv's organisation also keeps slaves (The Alphans). Given this, it might be more accurate to surmise that the The Mentors are in fact the rulers of Kiv and Sil's organisation, whilst the race is more properly known as Betans.
  • The Alphans are residents of Thoros Alphan, twin planet of Thoros Beta. Ethnically and culturally, they outwardly resemble Native Americans but little of their actual culture is seen. They serve on Thoros Beta either as slaves or indentured labourers and more recently have been controlled more directly via centrally controlled behavioural manipulator implants related to Crozier's field of research. Not all Alphans can be successfully controlled in this way. An underground resistance exists on Thoros Beta, led by Tuza, both facts which are known by King Yrcanos, and comprised at least in part from rejects from the Mentors implantation centres. It is not clear if the humanoid bearers of the Mentors in this story and Vengence on Varos (dark skinned and with Greek style dress) and the Matrona's hareem girls are Alphans (albeit a different ethnic group or caste), Humans or another alien race entirely.
  • The Raak is a genetically engineered amphibious creature. It is implied to be a genetically augmented native of the seas of Thoros Beta created as a by product of Crozier's experimentation and resembles a bipedal version of terrestial deep-sea Angler Fish with very large, sharp teeth. It is not know whether "Raak" is the name of the species from which this individual originated or the given name applied to the augmented specimin. It is said that before his reversion, he was responsible for operating a mechanism designed to artificially control the planet's tide and was proud of his genetic enhancements, implying a high degree of reasoning and ability to communicate.
  • The Warlords of Thorden are one of many technologically inferior culture's to which the Mentors of Thoros Beta supply weapons and advanced technology. Kiv implies that his business interests do in fact have some rules limiting the level of technology they sell to these races but that may merely have more do with their ability to pay or with Kiv's desire to prolong the conflict and therefore income stream. It is not stated whether or not the Mentors are in fact supplying both sides in these struggles, but given the relative sophistication of the weapons the small arms they are supplying to the Thorden, it seems likely. However, Crozier's attempts at behaviour modification with King Yrcanos suggest a high degree of coersion on their part.
  • Whilst investigating Crozier's lab, the Doctor picks up and inspects a specimin jar that seemingly contains an embryo Xenomorph, aka a chestburster [[1]] from the Alien films.

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

  • The expansion of Kiv's brain is a direct result of Crozier's experimentation. (It isn't; dialogue establishes that Kiv's brain is actually growing because he is a mutant, and that Crozier wasn't hired until the brain expansion had already become a serious problem)

Filming locations

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

to be added

Continuity

Timeline

Home video and audio releases

DVD release

VHS 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 and its audiobook

Mindwarp TOATL novel.jpg
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

Template:Season 23

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