Unicorns, princesses and toy soldiers – we look at one of the strangest and most imaginative Doctor Who stories ever made!
I’ve mentioned before about the joys of watching Doctor Who of the twentieth century with someone only familiar with the New Series. Whether it’s watching earlier encounters against classic enemies, or getting major glimpses of famous companions such as Sarah Jane Smith, watching the Classic Series can lead to a real sense of discovery for new fans.
Of course, sometimes, older fans can also discover new things about their favorite stories, as well. In this case, how some stories of the original series are incredibly bizarre. And perhaps none are more bizarre than the classic Patrick Troughton story The Mind Robber. If you’ve never seen it, then the way I described the story to my friend should give you a good idea of just how weird this story is:
"Want to watch a Doctor Who story with unicorns, Minotaurs and Rapunzel?"
That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this story’s strangeness. In fact, the opening episode is a different kind of strangeness altogether: in the aftermath of a completely different adventure, the Doctor and his friends, Jamie and Zoe, are on an island with an extremely active volcano. To escape, the Doctor uses an “emergency unit”, which takes the TARDIS outside of reality altogether. To a place that the Doctor describes as “nowhere”.
With a primary focus on the TARDIS and “nowhere” – depicted with a blank white set – the opening episode of The Mind Robber is minimal, but definitely effective. Especially when you get to one of the best cliffhangers in Doctor Who history, as seen below:
The Land of Fiction
The rest of the story is very different, and shows us just how creative and quick those set designers were. The Doctor and his friends arrive in a world that has places as strange as forests made of words, creepy labyrinths and imposing citadels.
But even those places aren’t as strange as some of the people and creatures the Doctor meets: Rapunzel, the Minotaur, Medusa and even Lemuel Gulliver! The Doctor and his friends have arrived in a world of fiction, and they quickly find themselves in danger of becoming fiction themselves.
The bizzareness of this story is turned up to eleven in the final episode. The Doctor engages in a battle of wits against the person who controls this world: the Master!
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(No, not that Master, but a character who has since become described as “the Master of the Land of Fiction”. Despite airing during the show’s sixth season, The Mind Robber was still two years away from the introduction of one of the series’ most iconic villains!)
The battle basically consists of the Doctor and the Master coming up with any characters they can think of so that they can battle each other. So you have Cyrano de Bergerac fighting D’Artagnan, before Bergerac gets replaced by Blackbeard, before D’Artagnan gets replaced by Lancelot in full armor! And this whole scene happens within about half a minute!
It’s a shame that The Mind Robber was the only Doctor Who story written by Peter Ling, because it really is an absolute joy to watch. It’s incredibly imaginative and bizarre, and features a lot of hilarious moments. (Jamie asking “Who’s the Yahoos?!?” in a Scottish accent is genuinely one of my favorite moments from Doctor Who history.) Easily a story that’s worth watching on DVD or BritBox.
Have you watched The Mind Robber? Is it one of your favorites? Do you think there are stories more bizarre in Doctor Who‘s long history? If so, what are they? Let us know in the comments below.