Talk:The Mind of Evil (TV story)

Uncredited crew

Removing uncredited crew members without citations. -- Tybort (talk page) 20:16, June 18, 2017 (UTC)

• Assistant Floor Manager - Sue Hedden
• Production Assistant - John Griffiths
• Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire

It is absurd to challenge the contribution of so well known a person as Delia Derbyshire -- if any written reference or first-hand source is needed then I would point to the book The Making of Doctor Who by Malcolm Hulke and Terrance Dicks, published by Piccolo in 1972 (Pan Books, 1972, ISBN 0330232037 9780330232036). Stephen Poppitt ☎ 08:28, January 10, 2018 (UTC)

The most missing?

"Following the destruction of its colour telerecordings, Evil became the "most missing" serial of the Jon Pertwee era, in that not even a frame of it survived in colour on any broadcast-quality medium."

This is a bit of a clumsy read. There never were any colour telerecordings. The B&W telerecordings were always retained. The PAL colour tapes were erased and reused, not destroyed. The NTSC colour tapes were still in existence when the PAL colour tapes were wiped. No frame of Silurians survived in colour on any broadcast-quality medium either. Perhaps Evil became the "most missing" serial of the Jon Pertwee era when the telerecording of Invasion part one was discovered, who knows? Is being the "most missing" at one point in time even notable? This comment doesn't appear on the page for Invasion of the Dinosaurs, and that had a whole episode entirely missing at one point.165.225.80.225^{talk to me} 16:54, January 4, 2018 (UTC)

Mind Your Language

"The Doctor speaks Cantonese very well."

I'm sure he does, not that you can tell from his brief chat with Chin Lee. However, in the story, it's made very clear that he speaks Hokkien very well, which is probably more notable.165.225.80.225^{talk to me} 16:35, January 5, 2018 (UTC)

This is in fact a reference to Tom Baker! It's The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977) in which the Doctor - confronted by the need to interrogate a Chinese assassin - says (to the police) I speak Mandarin, Cantonese... all the dialects. Stephen Poppitt ☎ 09:38, January 10, 2018 (UTC)

Continuity

"The Master plants a telepathic amplifier behind Captain Chin Lee's ear to control her mind. The Daleks would later utilise a human controlled remotely by a transmitter/receiver planted behind the victim's ear."

Also, the Marshal is controlled by the Shadow in a similar fashion. Neither example really seems to have continuity with Mind of Evil, though, they are just similar ideas.165.225.80.225^{talk to me} 16:44, January 5, 2018 (UTC)

Thinking about this further, the telepathic amplifier is not to control Chin Lee's mind at all. The Master is controlling her through hypnosis. It's made quite clear that the device is to amplify the effects of the Keller Machine. When the Master stuffs the device into the Doctor's ear, it doesn't control the Doctor, but amplifies the effect on him.165.225.80.225^{talk to me} 18:06, January 5, 2018 (UTC)

Serial Title

This is a comment concerning the cover of the Target novelisation of this serial (W.H. Allen & Co, 1985, ISBN 978-0426201663), a book which was written by the serial's script editor, Terrance Dicks. The common assumption usually made is that the story's title is a reference to the alien Mind Parasite concealed in the Keller machine. Interestingly, the novelisation's cover features a large portrait of The Master, in a thoughtful but suggestively sinister pose which dominates the front cover and is surmounted by the title: The Mind of Evil. Neither the Mind Parasite nor the Keller Machine are included. Presumably, as the unofficial editor of the Target series, and as the author of this particular book, Terrance was consulted about the choice of cover illustration. It's interesting that the result implies that the book's title is a reference to The Master: that his is the mind being referred to. Stephen Poppitt ☎ 08:49, January 10, 2018 (UTC)