Kinda (TV story)

Synopsis

The TARDIS visits the planet Deva Loka, where Nyssa remains behind in the ship to recover from a mild mental disorientation while the Doctor, Tegan and Adric explore. Tegan falls asleep under some wind chimes and becomes possessed by an evil force, a Mara.

Also on Deva Loka is a survey team assessing the planet for colonisation, but three of their number have disappeared and the remainder - Sanders, his deputy Hindle and the scientist Todd - are encountering difficulties in their dealings with the outwardly primitive but telepathically gifted native people, the Kinda. Hindle becomes mentally unstable, but his mind is eventually cleared by a Kinda device called the Box of Jhana.

Aided by the Kinda, the Doctor ultimately succeeds in banishing the Mara - which manifests itself in the form of a giant snake - by trapping it in a circle of mirrors.

Plot

Episode One

A small human expedition has established a domed base on the tranquil jungle planet of Deva Loka to determine its suitability for colonization, but all is not well. Four members of the team have disappeared, leaving only the overbearing commander Sanders, his second Hindle, and the scientist Todd. Todd's warning to Sanders that he's pushing Hindle to the point of a nervous breakdown go unheeded. Hindle suspects that the native humanoid population, the apparently peaceful and primitive Kinda, are responsible for the disappearances, and is holding two males as hostages.

The TARDIS arrives on Deva Loka. Nyssa is still unsteady after earlier events (see Four To Doomsday), and the Doctor builds her a Delta Wave emitter to help her relax. He, Adric and Tegan explore the jungle and discover a clearing lined with crystalline wind chimes. The Doctor is quite surprised; the chimes are set up in harmonics, suggesting the presence of intelligent life. While Tegan rests under the wind chimes, Adric and the Doctor find an empty Total Survival Suit (TSS) nearby, a machine built for a standing human to travel. The door to the machine is open but its operator is nowhere to be found. When Adric impulsively closes the machine's door, it activates and marches the Doctor and Adric to the dome.

Tegan, meanwhile, falls into a deep sleep as the chimes appear to have a hypnotic effect. Her mind is transported to a black void, where she encounters an elderly couple playing chess, who refuse to acknowledge that she exists. She then encounters Dukkha, who appears to be the spokesman for a sinister entity. All three have the same mark of a snake on their forearms.

At the Dome, the Doctor and Adric are treated with suspicion. Todd brings the Doctor to see the two Kinda hostages. The males are mute, but while Sanders and Hindle see this as evidence of primitive minds, Todd sees evidence of deeper intelligence. She muses that the Kinda are telepathic, and the ornaments they wear around their necks resemble a DNA double-helix. Outside the window, a lone Kinda male Aris watches.

Aris returns to his village in anguish. The elderly female leader & shaman Panna instructs her young acolyte Karuna to read him (while Kinda males are mute, the females are not). She senses great pain and anger, as one of the captured Kinda is Aris' brother.

Hindle, left alone with the two Kinda, holds up a mirror. Seeing their own faces in the reflection, they appear to believe that he has captured their souls, and submit to his will.

Todd is appalled when Sanders announces his intention to explore the jungle in the TSS, leaving Hindle in command. Not only does she believe that Hindle is unstable, but all four of the missing expedition members disappeared the same way. Her fears about Hindle are immediately confirmed once Sanders leaves; flanked by his two armed Kinda servants, Hindle announces that he has the power of life and death over all of them.

Episode Two

The Doctor and Todd are locked in a cell, though Adric manages to persuade Hindle he's on his side. Hindle declares a state of war between the base and the Kinda, and prepares a campaign to wipe them out.

Tegan, still trapped in the void, is being taunted by Dukkha. He confronts her with paradoxes of existence. First he splits her into two beings and orders them to argue which one is real, then dozens. Finally her worst fear; being left completely alone. She submits to his will. Taking his hand, the mark of the snake moves from his forearm to hers. She wakes in the clearing with a malevolent grin, now possessed by the Mara.

Sanders, in his TSS, arrives at the Kinda village. Karuna approaches him with a small box in her hand. He takes the box and is overcome by a psychic force.

Tegan encounters Aris in the jungle. She senses his anguish and taunts him with promises of power. On taking her arm, he receives the mark of the snake and becomes the new host of the Mara.

Adric betrays Hindle's trust when he is caught attempting to smuggle a key to the Doctor in the cell. Hindle's plan to destroy the jungle is foiled when Sanders returns to the Dome in the TSS. His demeanor is entirely changed, playful and childlike. He offers the box to Hindle, who is terrified at what may lurk inside. Hindle imprisons them all in the cell, and orders them to open the box. The Doctor opens the box; Todd screams...

Episode Three

...and a jester's puppet pops out. The tension is broken with laughter; the Doctor observes that the Kinda have a sense of humor. Hindle is unamused. However, staring into the box, the Doctor and Todd have a shared psychic experience in which they receive a summons from Panna and Karuna. The dome's power flickers out and the door to the cell opens. Todd and the Doctor take their cue to exit.

The Mara's possession of Aris has endowed him with the power of speech. Returning to the village (with the mark of the snake hidden) he invokes a Kinda prophecy that when the tribe is confronted with outsiders (the "Not-We") a male "with voice" would become the tribe's leader. Despite Panna and Karuna's protests, the Kinda submit themselves to Aris' will, and agree to help him attack the Not-We in the Dome.

Adric attempts to play along with the unhinged Sanders and Hindle who are constructing an elaborate model city out of cardboard boxes, but he alienates Hindle when he accidentally steps on a small cardboard person. Hindle now intends to blow the Dome up along with the jungle, ensuring their perpetual safety through death.

The Doctor and Todd meet Panna and Karuna in their mountaintop cave. Together they have a shared psychic experience where they see that the presence of the Mara and the arrival of the Not-We are part of the great cycle of life, The Wheel, and that the time has come when chaos would return to their world. Emerging from the trance, they find that Panna is dead.

Episode Four

Karuna now embodies Panna's spirit, and is now shaman. They find the unconscious Tegan and realize that the Mara entered Tegan's mind from the Dark Places of the Inside, and is now present on Deva Loka in Aris.

Adric seeks shelter from Sanders and Hindle in the TSS, but it activates and he can't control it. At the same time, Aris and the Kinda launch a futile attack on the Dome. Adric in the TSS accidentally wounds Aris and the others flee. The Doctor arrives and liberates Adric from the machine. Todd persuades Hindle to open the Box.

The Doctor realizes that the Mara may be repelled by its own reflection. They trap Aris in a circle of reflective solar panels, and the Mara separates itself from him. The Mara enlarges itself into a giant snake, but its power is reflected back on itself by the mirrors and it dissipates. Aris is free, the Mara is expelled back to the Dark Places of the Inside, and Hindle and Sanders are restored to mental stability. The expedition members all agree that Deva Loka will be reported as unsuitable for colonization. Adric, Tegan and the Doctor return to the TARDIS, find Nyssa well-rested and recovered, and they depart.

Cast

Crew

References

The Doctor refers to K-9.

Supposed deities

Mara

Galactic empires

Deva Loka was once part of the Sumaran Empire.

Story Notes

Kinda is supposedly all about Buddhism, with Buddhist names and themes throughout the story.
The textbook REF: Doctor Who: The Unfolding Text features section on the making of Kinda.
Well known British film star Richard Todd plays Sanders.
Nerys Hughes, better known for her starring roles in the BBC's The Liver Birds and The District Nurse, plays Todd.
Adrian Mills plays Aris - he later became a television presenter, including on the BBC's consumer programme That's Life.
Both Simon Rouse and Jeff Stewart went on to star in "The Bill"

Ratings

Part 1 - 8.4 million viewers
Part 2 - 9.4 million viewers
Part 3 - 8.5 million viewers
Part 4 - 8.9 million viewers

Myths

Kate Bush wrote Kinda under a pseudonym. (She didn't)
Playwright Tom Stoppard wrote this story under a pseudonym. (He didn't)

Filming Locations

BBC Television Centre (TC8), Shepherd's Bush, London

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

to be added

Continuity

DW: Snakedance is the sequel to this story.
Wind chimes from Deva Loka appear in NA: Legacy.

DVD and Video Releases