The next instalment of this epic Trial of a Timelord season is written by Philip Martin who wrote the previous years Vengeance of Varos and this story is memorable for two reasons. One is that it marks the departure of Nicola Bryant as Peri and also we get the booming voice of Brian ‘Gordon’s Alive’ Blessed. The story is the second piece of evidence that is used against the Doctor and the story is very different in terms of tone compared to The Mysterious Planet. This story sees the return of Sil who had appeared in Martin’s previous story. I saw this before I saw Vengeance and so any references to that story were lost on me. That said I’m glad they bought Sil back because it’s a very good character that would be annoying if it were played by anyone else but Nabil Shaban is so good that he becomes a good part of the story.
The story is set on Thoros Beta where they soon stumble across Sil and Kiv and the wonderfully mad Crozier. What seems like a normal story is made even more fun with the Doctor going a bit mad. To the point where he has Peri tied up on the rocks and is willing to let her die. Now there is some debate as to what the Doctor’s mindset is at this point (a debate started by Colin Baker himself on the documentary on the disc) and I have to say that as far as I am concerned he is still under the influence of the process and its not the matrix lying or the Doctor faking it to Crozier. I am starting to find the inter-cutting court scenes to be very tiring. It was OK to begin with in the early episodes but now we have established the format isn’t it time to just dispense with these scenes and just one a big one at the beginning and one at the end.
The cave sets are wonderfully claustrophobic. I remember the first time I saw this I remember the unsettling feeling of being crammed in like sardines. Doctor Who stories work best when the lighting is turned down and the atmosphere is created and it worked in Earthshock and it worked in this. Thankfully these sets are then replaced with the more expansive lab where Crozier is working. Credit must go to the set designers because all off the sets (apart from the first studio one) are very good and there a very real sense of this story taking place over a vast amount of area.
I thought that Patrick Ryecart was wonderful as Crozier. He was bordering on camp at times and I thought that there was a wonderful sense of someone whose professional greed is matched by that of his desire to survive. Christopher Ryan is also good as Kiv. Ryan was well known for appearing in the BBC sitcom ‘The Young Ones’ and he would return to Doctor Who in the 2008 two-parter ‘The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky’ as well as a brief appearance in the 2010 story ‘The Pandorica Opens’. As Kiv, his contribution to the story was good but unfortunately drowned out by that of the booming Brian Blessed. Every single second that he is on screen he overshadows everyone. Even Colin Baker can’t compete against Blessed. He is perfectly cast and adds a lot of humour to what is otherwise a very dark and at times grim story. It’s amazing that he hadn’t been in Doctor Who before because there are plenty of roles he could have done. Another actor worth mentioning is Trevor Laird who plays the very stern Frax which is a character that I didn’t like at first but towards the end he was actually very good. Laird would return to Doctor Who in 2007 as Clive Jones, the father of Martha Jones.
As exits go, this is a superb one for Nicola Bryant. The character never really had much of a chance to become a strong companion but merley one that ran around in pink leotards and other forms of inappropriate clothing. The idea that a companion is killed by having her mind replaced with Kiv’s is quite a horrific idea and then to add to her woes she is killed by Brian Blessed. The worst thing about this story is that they chickened out saying that she survived and is living with Brian Blessed. What? Why didn’t they just leave it as it was because it would have been a far better ending for the character. As it stands the ending just doesn’t make sense.
As a story on its own, Mindswap is a story that has plenty of things going for it including some wonderful characters and superb actors chosen to play them. It could have lost all the courtroom scenes because what was going on over the four episodes is more exciting and dramatic that anything that was going on between the Doctor and the Valeyard. It’s a story that serves the departure of a companion well and when you think of Peri, don’t think about Episode 14.
The story is set on Thoros Beta where they soon stumble across Sil and Kiv and the wonderfully mad Crozier. What seems like a normal story is made even more fun with the Doctor going a bit mad. To the point where he has Peri tied up on the rocks and is willing to let her die. Now there is some debate as to what the Doctor’s mindset is at this point (a debate started by Colin Baker himself on the documentary on the disc) and I have to say that as far as I am concerned he is still under the influence of the process and its not the matrix lying or the Doctor faking it to Crozier. I am starting to find the inter-cutting court scenes to be very tiring. It was OK to begin with in the early episodes but now we have established the format isn’t it time to just dispense with these scenes and just one a big one at the beginning and one at the end.
The cave sets are wonderfully claustrophobic. I remember the first time I saw this I remember the unsettling feeling of being crammed in like sardines. Doctor Who stories work best when the lighting is turned down and the atmosphere is created and it worked in Earthshock and it worked in this. Thankfully these sets are then replaced with the more expansive lab where Crozier is working. Credit must go to the set designers because all off the sets (apart from the first studio one) are very good and there a very real sense of this story taking place over a vast amount of area.
I thought that Patrick Ryecart was wonderful as Crozier. He was bordering on camp at times and I thought that there was a wonderful sense of someone whose professional greed is matched by that of his desire to survive. Christopher Ryan is also good as Kiv. Ryan was well known for appearing in the BBC sitcom ‘The Young Ones’ and he would return to Doctor Who in the 2008 two-parter ‘The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky’ as well as a brief appearance in the 2010 story ‘The Pandorica Opens’. As Kiv, his contribution to the story was good but unfortunately drowned out by that of the booming Brian Blessed. Every single second that he is on screen he overshadows everyone. Even Colin Baker can’t compete against Blessed. He is perfectly cast and adds a lot of humour to what is otherwise a very dark and at times grim story. It’s amazing that he hadn’t been in Doctor Who before because there are plenty of roles he could have done. Another actor worth mentioning is Trevor Laird who plays the very stern Frax which is a character that I didn’t like at first but towards the end he was actually very good. Laird would return to Doctor Who in 2007 as Clive Jones, the father of Martha Jones.
As exits go, this is a superb one for Nicola Bryant. The character never really had much of a chance to become a strong companion but merley one that ran around in pink leotards and other forms of inappropriate clothing. The idea that a companion is killed by having her mind replaced with Kiv’s is quite a horrific idea and then to add to her woes she is killed by Brian Blessed. The worst thing about this story is that they chickened out saying that she survived and is living with Brian Blessed. What? Why didn’t they just leave it as it was because it would have been a far better ending for the character. As it stands the ending just doesn’t make sense.
As a story on its own, Mindswap is a story that has plenty of things going for it including some wonderful characters and superb actors chosen to play them. It could have lost all the courtroom scenes because what was going on over the four episodes is more exciting and dramatic that anything that was going on between the Doctor and the Valeyard. It’s a story that serves the departure of a companion well and when you think of Peri, don’t think about Episode 14.
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