As a TV show Doctor Who is filled to the brim with some really out there ideas that could only work in Doctor Who. With the episode that i'm going to be talking about today being one such an episode as it's episode that really does have an incredibly strange and bizarre idea that it could really only work in Doctor Who as this show is used to making the strange and weird ideas that the show has work really well for the show and so then join me as I review the episode that features a villain with a very familiar name with the episode in question being called simply just "The Mind Robber" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is The Doctor , Jamie and Zoe find themselves trapped in a land that's filled with fictional characters and have to escape before it's far to late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad as the episode does have a really weird idea to work with and yet even with that roadblock really firmly in place the plot of the episode is still something that is not only fresh and different but it's also something that captures the imagination and makes you think of really just how good of an idea like this one really could've been as well with the plot of the episode being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Patrick Troughton as The Doctor , Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon and Wendy Padbury as Zoe Heriot. Also starring in this episode is Hamish Wilson as Jamie McCrimmon , Emrys Jones as The Master , Bernard Horsfall as Gulliver , Christopher Robbie as Karkus , Sue Pulford as The Medusa , Philip Ryan as Redcoat , Christine Pirie as Princess Rapunzel , John Greenwood as D'Artagnan / Sir Lancelot , David Cannon as Cyrano and Gerry Wain as Blackbeard.
Now then inters of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / resented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With all of the episodes cast members turning in some really slid performances but at the same time tho there are some performances in this episodes that aren't that good like Christine Pirie who is just wooden at best as Princess Rapunzel with the same thing also being true for the kid actors as well as alot of them just give these really rather wooden performances but apart from that alot of the episodes cast members do turn in some really rather good performances which is to be expected from this show as usually this show really does have some good really rather good performances in it with the the acting in this episode really being helped by the fact that the script for this episode is just so good that all the episodes cast have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally.
This show is known for having alot of really creepy moments in it's episodes with the same thing also being true for this episode. As the scene where Jamie gets turned into cardboard is a pretty scary scene and even the actual cardboard cutout itself is a fairly scary image and yet at the same time it's also something that works for this episode as there are works of fiction that are scary and have those scary moments and given that this episode is based of off the idea of characters in fiction basically coming to life it does make sense that this episode would be a bit more forward with what it is that's trying to be scary and while the more modern eras of the show will stay away from trying to scare people for whatever reason the classic era of Doctor Who was all in on trying to scare as alot of the time the episodes demanded that something scary happen to the characters with the same thing also being true for this episode as this is a Land Of Fiction where anything could and really does happen in this episode and as a result of that it makes sense that someone could get turned into a cardboard cut out of them selves.
The idea of having fictional characters basically come to life is a good idea as it does allow for alot of fun interactions with the main cast. As we do get to see alot of really good interactions with characters that wouldn't get the chance to meet to each other but on the flip side of that is that while the interactions are indeed fun the fictional characters and that whole aspect of the episodes don't really add anything to the actual plot of the episode as that whole aspect of the episode could have been removed entirely or toned down and nothing about the plot would have been effected all that much which is a shame as the idea alone is strong enough to maker for a really good and fun plot and yet because of the fact that the episode doesn't really push that whole aspect of it's plot to as far as it really could have done then all we are left with are a bunch of ideas that while good on paper do seem to come across as being really half baked as there ideas that could have been alot better if they were alot more fully developed then what they where in the final cut of the episode.
As was mentioned near the start of this review this episodes main villain is also called The Master and just to be clear he's not the first incarnation of the more famous Master he's his own villain who is just so happened to be called The Master. With this character not being all that interesting of a character as he's someone who was stolen out of time by an unknown entity to create stories and yet while he's under this entities control he tries to trap The Doctor even tho The Doctor had done literally nothing to him at that point apart from refusing his offer to replace him as ruler of that world with this not really being helped by the fact that we don;t really get to find out why this character is evil in the first place with him just being for the sake of being evil which is a shame as the character had all of the potential to be a good and memorable villain with his plan of trapping people in this land of fiction to play out it's stories being a good idea and yet because of the fact that the character is underdeveloped he can't be as memorable nor as good as a character as he really could have been.
The classic era of the show was known for having cliffhangers at the end of the episodes with this episode having a really good one at the end of the first episode. As the TARDIS explodes leaving just the central control panel Jamie , Zoe and The Doctor all floating in space which is just such a cool idea as it does make you wonder how it was that they filmed that scene as this era of the show was known for mostly being filmed in a studio with them very rarely if ever going to Ealing Film Studios which it does look like that they did here as the shot does go from a studio shot to a film one which is something that they would do whenever the show went on location with even the episodes practical effects looking really good as the TARDIS explosion looks really good as the effect holds up almost fifty years later and it makes you wonder they really didn't do alot more of this stuff in this classic era of the show as it really would have made the show look more expensive then it actually was to make but on the flip side of that is the fact that if they did do this more often then it would become alot more boring and it wouldn't be as shocking when it does happen in the show.
Now then while I cannot for the absolutely life of me remember what this episodes grand total running time was but I do know that this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of roughly two hours. With this episode being five episodes long which does make the whole story feel a bit rushed as you could have gotten a good six episodes out of this one story alone just by fleshing out the characters and by fleshing out the plot of the episodes alot more then what's actually does in the final cut of the episode all of which would have made the episode even better then what it already is as it would mean that us the audience would have more of a chance to really from a connection with some of this episodes guest characters and it's main villain and it really would go along way to help making the plot of the episode alot more memorable then what it already is but I will admit that the episode really does have some some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action show that means that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual actin that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. As the classic era of Doctor Who wasn't really all that known for having good or even having action sequences at all whereas compared to the more modern era of Doctor Who where there's an action scene every five minuets and as a result of that is what little action that they do have both in this era and in this episode has to have some sort of impact on the plot of the episode which is true for this episode as the action in this episode does play a part on the plot of the episode even if it is in just a very minimal way with the action in this episode being as good as it could have been for sixties Doctor Who in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall this wasn't a bad episode as it does have alot of really good ideas and as historic as this episode is as the first episode is the only one in the shows history not to have a credited writer it is still an episode that could have been so much better then what it ultimately ended up being in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good ad as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review ad as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk , the official Doctor Who fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great and really legendary Google Images simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this episode and are really of course on Google Images are all really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.