Mindwarp

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For other uses, see Mindwarp (disambiguation)}}}.

Mindwarp is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from October 4 to October 25, 1986. It is part of the larger narrative known as The Trial of a Time Lord, comprising the whole of the 23rd season. This story marks the final appearance of Nicola Bryant as Peri Brown.

Synopsis

Presenting more evidence of the Doctor's crimes, the Valeyard now shows the events of Thoros Beta, where the Mentors are performing experiments that could affect the future life of all living things in the universe...

Plot

In the court room the Valeyard and the Doctor argue with the Inquisitor interceding and warning them both to pay due respect to the judicial process. The Valeyard proceeds to present the Doctor's arrival on the planet Thoros Beta.

The TARDIS arrives on a planet with pink seas and a green sky. In the sky Peri sees a ringed planet — the Doctor informs her it is the twin planet Thoros Alpha. He shows her a weapon given to him by the "Warlord of Thordon", made on Thoros Beta. The Doctor has come here to investigate how the primitive warlords had obtained technologically advanced weaponry. As they see the tide go out, they find a cave containing machinery controlling the tides. Entering the cave, Peri is grabbed by a large monstrous creature, which in the struggle the Doctor shoots with the gun.

The Valeyard halts the video to accuse the Doctor of deliberately shooting the monster, but he replies that the weapon went off accidentally.

As a klaxon goes off, the Doctor ignores it and examines the machinery — its purpose to obtain energy from the sea. A figure in a red tabard arrives and accuses the Doctor and Peri of murdering the Raak, despite their protestations that it attacked them first. When the figure asks if they are part of Crozier's group the Doctor bluffs and says that he is. Before they can be revealed as impostors, they flee from the guards but are quickly faced by another monster — the Lukoser, a wolf-man. It is chained up and reacts less ferociously when the Doctor shows kindness towards it. A gun shot forces them to flee onwards, and as they hide in the shadows they see three reptilian figures being carried along by guards, The third of the figures is very familiar to the Doctor and Peri — it is their old enemy Sil whom they last encountered on the planet Varos. The Doctor realises that Sil is probably behind the arms sales of advanced weaponry to the Warlords. The Doctor informs Peri that Thoros Beta is the home world of Sil's race, the Mentors.

The Valeyard accuses the Doctor of placing his companions in great danger in his adventures.

In Crozier's laboratory, King Yrcanos of the Krontep is being experimented on. After he guards bring in the corpse of the Raak and Crozier departs, the Doctor and Peri sneak in. In the Commerce Room, Sil and the Mentors' leader Lord Kiv discuss business matters. Kiv complains of a terrible headache. Crozier goes before Kiv to inform him that the reversion to savagery of the Raak has implications for Kiv's "transference". As the Doctor sabotages some of Kiv's equipment, Sil arrives in the laboratory. Questioning them about the death of the Raak, Sil warns them that the Mentors have technology to alter the way brains think. The Doctor is strapped to a table, and Crozier applies a metal helmet to his head. When Crozier admits he has never used the equipment to extract the truth from a suspect and that technique could prove fatal, Sil tells the Doctor that he will not mind donating his sanity to the advancement of science…

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Crozier starts to probe the Doctor's mind, but at that moment Yrcanos awakes and rampages around the laboratory destroying equipment. Overpowering the guards he departs the laboratory. The Doctor is still stunned but he and Peri follow Yrcanos. As Yrcanos outlines his plans to attack the Mentors, the Doctor says he would enjoy that, before collapsing.

In the courtroom, the Doctor tells the Inquisitor that he cannot remember anything that happened after being attached to the machine. The Valeyard tells him he is in for a very nasty surprise if he really cannot remember what has happened.

Kiv will die unless Crozier can transplant his swelling brain into a larger cranium, but if the Raak did revert to savagery the basis of the operation may be totally flawed.

Yrcanos, the Doctor and Peri go to where new slaves are brought into the base. Yrcanos plans to attack the guards and steal their weapons, but as he sneaks into the room, the Doctor calls out to the guards "look out behind you". Robbed of the element of surprise, Yrcanos cannot overcome the guards and flees. Peri picks up a weapon and points it at Sil who is overseeing the consignment of slaves. She calls to the Doctor for help but he ignores her. Peri shoots at Sil's chair, drops the weapon and flees after Yrcanos. Sil asks him why he helped the Mentors, to which he replies the odds were on their side. The Doctor tells Sil he is just like him now, no longer a hero.

The Doctor insists that the footage is not of him, but the Valeyard tells him that the Matrix of Time cannot lie…

Brought before Crozier, the Doctor still insists that the Raak attacked them first. The Doctor starts to assist Crozier repair some of the damage done by Yrcanos, despite Sil's suspicions.

Yrcanos comes across the wolf-man. He recognises him as one of his own men — Dorf. Yrcanos releases him from his chains. Meanwhile, Peri runs around the corridors and avoiding guards, She comes across Matrona, who allows her to join the Mentors' servants rather than turn her over to the guards. Covered with a veil, she enters the Commerce Room with Kiv's medication. The Doctor is there and when he calls to her to get him a drink, she disguises her voice so that he does not recognise her. When she brings him a new drink, the Doctor uncovers her and denounces her as an enemy to the Mentors.

The Doctor begins to remember some of what happened, and tells the Courtroom that what they are seeing is all part of his ploy. He says he planned to gain the Mentors' trust so that he might interrogate her alone so that they might escape. The Inquisitor asks to see the interrogation scene…

Peri is lashed to rocks on the shoreline and the Doctor stands over her. He accuses her of being a spy for the Alphans. When she asks why he is behaving the way he is, the Doctor tells her that Crozier will be implanting Kiv's brain into his body the next day unless he can help them. She is more disposable than him…

The Doctor protests that what is being shown is not what happened, and when the Valeyard replies that the Matrix never lies, he questions if that is indeed the case.

The interrogation ends when Crozier says they have more effective methods of extracting the truth from Peri. As she and the Doctor re-enter the complex, Yrcanos suddenly appears, and overcoming the guard points his gun at the Doctor telling him it is turn to die…

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Despite all that has happened to her, Peri smashes the gun from Yrcanos's hands allowing the Doctor to flee. In Crozier's laboratory, the scientist prepares to transplant Kiv's brain into a recently deceased Mentor corpse. The Doctor arrives and assists with the operation. Despite some hitches, the operation succeeds.

Meanwhile, Yrcanos, Peri and Dorf team up with members of the Alphan resistance. They allow Yrcanos to lead them in an attack of the Mentors. When they go to the resistance arms dump, but they are ambushed by Mentor guards and shot down…

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Yrcanos, Peri, Dorf and the resistance members awake, they had merely been stunned. They are taken to cells.

Meanwhile in Crozier's laboratory, Lord Kiv is rambling due to the body of the fisherman influencing his brain. Crozier makes plans to transfer the brain into another more suitable body. He asks the Doctor whether Peri would be a suitable host, but the Doctor says he would prefer that she is not experimented on. While the Doctor is sent to find another suitable candidate, Peri is brought to the laboratory anyway. Peri is strapped to the operating table and Crozier begins to prepare her for the surgery.

The Doctor goes to Yrcanos's cell and tricks the guard allowing Yrcanos and Dorf to escape. Together they free the remaining resistance members. As they try to access the control room from where all the slaves are mentally controlled, Dorf is killed by a passing guard. They destroy the machines freeing the slaves from mental control. Chaos ensues throughout the whole complex.

Lord Kiv is taken to the laboratory and the operation is about to commence. As the Doctor heads towards the lab, he summoned from Time and Space by the Time Lords.

The Inquisitor tells the Doctor that he was snatched out of time on direct order of the High Council as the direct result of Crozier's experiment would affect all future life in the Universe. She orders him to watch and observe carefully.

Kiv's brain is successfully implanted into Peri's body, and Crozier says that her own mind is gone. As Yrcanos prepares his attack on the laboratory, the Time Lords capture him in a time bubble, so that is attack is perfectly timed… Kiv awakes in Peri's bald body … The time bubble dissipates and Yrcanos bursts into the laboratory. On seeing the Peri/Kiv creature he is consumed with fury and begins firing his gun wildly…

The Doctor shocked by what he has seen. The Inquisitor and the Valeyard tell him that it was necssary to end Peri's life to prevent the distastrous consequences of Crozier's experiment on all life in the Universe. The Doctor insists that he was fetched out of time for some other reason … he will now do everything he can to find out what.

Cast

• The Doctor — Colin Baker
• Peri Brown — Nicola Bryant
• The Inquisitor — Lynda Bellingham
• The Valeyard — Michael Jayston
• King Yrcanos — Brian Blessed
• Sil — Nabil Shaban
• Kiv — Christopher Ryan
• Crozier — Patrick Ryecart
• The Lukoser/Dorff — Thomas Branch
• Tuza — Gordon Warnecke
• Matrona Kani — Alibe Parsons
• Frax — Trevor Laird
• Mentor — Richard Henry

Notes

1. It's often debated amongst fandom as to what exactly happens during this story. It is stated on screen that the Valeyard has somehow distorted events, and that the actual scenes are by and large presented correctly but merely that the Doctor's performance has been distorted to show him in the worst possible light to the court. Many such scenes are prevalent throughout the story, leading fandom to great confusion as it isn't entirely clear which bits are "real" and which were concocted by the Valeyard. There are several theories:
2. *That the events seen are the true events, but distorted to show the Doctor in the worst possible light. For example, his line 'Look out behind you' is shown on screen as the Doctor giving King Yrcanos away to some guards, whereas the "true" events might very well have been the Doctor warning him of an attacker sneaking up ('Look out, behind you!'). It's all in how the line is pronounced rather than what the line is.
3. * That the Doctor was fried by the "Mindwarp" machine, which is why he exhibits 'out of character' behaviour throughout the story. The event is shown on screen, but as to whether it really occurred or not is still an event of great contention.
4. * That the Doctor is pretending to have been twisted by the "Mindwarp" machine, whilst really seeking to find a way to put things right. In the courtroom the Doctor claims this is the case, though he is at this stage unable to recall events.
5. The Doctor meets Peri again in the Virgin New Adventures novel Bad Therapy by Matt Jones. A post-Mindwarp hallucination of Peri appears in the Big Finish Productions play Her Final Flight.
6. A novelisation of this serial, written by Philip Martin, was published by Target Books in June 1989 and was the final segment of the Trial arc to be adapted. Martin's novelisation adds a joke ending that gives away the revelation regarding Peri's fate in The Ultimate Foe, suggesting an entirely different outcome for the character (and for Yrcanos) than is suggested in the serial.
7. Music for this story was provided by Richard Hartley. It would be his only work on the series.

External links

• [Mindwarp episode guide on the BBC website]
• [Mindwarp] at [Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)]
• [Mindwarp] at the [The Doctor Who Ratings Guide]

Reviews

• [ }] reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
• [Mindwarp] reviews at [The Doctor Who Ratings Guide]

Target novelisation

• [On Target — Mindwarp]

 

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