The Mind of Evil (TV story)

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Synopsis

The Doctor and Jo visit Stangmoor Prison for a demonstration of the Keller Machine -a device claimed to be capable of extracting negative emotions from hardened criminals.

Plot

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Cast

Crew

References

  • When the Doctor is attacked by the Keller Machine he sees a War Machine, a Cyberman, a Dalek, Zarbi, a Sensorite, Koquillion, Slaar and a Silurian.
  • The Doctor can speak Mandarin and went on the Long March with Mao Tse-Tung and seems sympathetic towards him (though this could have been a story the Doctor made up to get in the Chinese Ambassador's good graces.)
  • He relives some of the fear that he felt when facing his many adversaries and his experience of seeing a world destroyed by flames.
  • The Master's innermost fear appears as a giant, malignant version of the Doctor, filled with mocking laughter.
  • The Doctor says he once shared a cell in the Tower of London with Sir Walter Raleigh ("a very strange chap... Kept going on about this new vegetable he'd discovered").

Story Notes

  • This story had the working titles of The Pandora Machine, Man Hours, The Pandora Box, The Pandora's Box.
  • This is the first occurrence of subtitles on screen in Doctor Who, the only other time is in DW: The Curse of Fenric.

Ratings

  • Episode 1 - 6.1 million viewers
  • Episode 2 - 8.8 million viewers
  • Episode 3 - 7.5 million viewers
  • Episode 4 - 7.4 million viewers
  • Episode 5 - 7.6 million viewers
  • Episode 6 - 7.3 million viewers

Myths

  • The Doctor makes a comment in episode one that suggests he supports capital punishment. His comment is ironic and suggests precisely the opposite.

Filming Locations

  • Location filming took place in Dover Castle, Dover, Kent.
  • Alland Grange, Manston, Kent
  • Pineham Road, Pineham, Kent
  • Cornwall Gardens Walk, London
  • Cornwall Gardens, London
  • Archer's Court Road, Whitfield, Kent
  • RAF Swingate, Dover, Kent
  • Commonwealth Institute, Kensington, London
  • BBC Television Centre (Studio 3 & 6), Shepherd's Bush, London

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

  • The Doctor fears Koquillion and War Machines yet in their featured episodes, he had no or little fear of them. There is a difference between not showing fear, ande not feeling it on some level.
  • The destruction of the 'deadly' Thunderbolt missile at the climax of this story seems to do surprisingly little damage to the surrounding area.
  • How does the water get into the drowned man's lungs if he's only killed by his fear of drowning. The fears are physically manifested as well, as explained in the story.
  • During a fight sequence in which water is spilled, the Master twice slips in the puddle. Water is slippery, even for Time Lords.
  • In the office scene in episode four a female sneeze from the studio is heard. Easily explainable as someone off-screen sneezing.
  • The hallway leading up to cell 7 (the cell where the Doctor and Jo are stashed at various points) has a different appearance when viewed from outside and inside the cell.
  • When the Master's thugs throw the Doctor into the cell, the wall shakes.

Continuity

  • The Doctor alludes to DW: Inferno, "I saw an entire world consumed by fire" (both stories were written by Don Houghton).
  • The Master's greatest fear (of the Doctor looming over him) becomes real in DW: Last of the Time Lords. However, the Doctor does not become large and laugh menacingly at him at that time. He is pointedly forgiving of him, in fact.
  • UNIT provides security for the second World Peace Conference in DW: Day of the Daleks.
  • DWU: Sympathy for the Devil features an alternate universe and an adventure that features the Keller Machine (in a different guise).

DVD, Video and Other Releases

Released as a double-cassette pack on VHS in black and white, the only format in which the story is currently known to exist. The only surviving colour footage from the story, approximately five minutes from the beginning of Episode Six, is included as a separate sequence at the end of the second tape. It is rumoured that this serial is currently being recolourised for DVD; while a colour snapshot has been released by Steve Roberts (which could just be for testing/demonstration purposes), no such release has yet been confirmed by 2|entertain.

Novelisation

Mind of Evil novel.jpg
Main article: The Mind of Evil (novelisation)

External Links

Template:Season 8

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