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This transcript was created on 2026-06-07 at 13:45:01

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Hello, dear listeners, and welcome back to Flight Through Entirety.

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The only Doctor Who podcast who quite enjoys brain alteration.

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I'm Brendan.

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I'm Nathan.

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I'm Todd.

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And after our spending 4 seasons accusing Doctor Who of playing a bit safe.

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It's bloody Mind Wharf.

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Before we get into some of the more traditional aspects discussed of this story, I just have to say, it's really well directed.

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The art direction is lovely.

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We've turned the lights down.

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Ron Jones has learned from vengeance on Barros, where sort of everything was various shades of brown.

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So instead we have dark blues and purples and bright pinks.

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We have curved sets like Crozier's laboratory.

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So he's really trying to get away from this notion of square walls and dank brown colours.

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The performances are fascinating to watch and mostly very good.

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The costume designs, great.

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The casting's excellent.

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Um, you know, Ron Jones is really back on form for this his last story.

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The music is extremely good as well.

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Richard Hartley, most famous for the Rocky Horror picture show, is the composer of this story.

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It's his only Doctor Who story.

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And he does a really great job of it.

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He gives the mentors a really sort of majestic theme, but at the same time, you know you're not meant to be rooting for them.

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Um, something I find fascinating that each time I watch this story is none of the villains come across as, you know, we're evil because that's the thing. really evil people don't believe that they're evil.

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In fact, I mean, is anyone really horrifically evil?

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I guess the mentors are, but they're more kind of, you know, money obsessed and kind of thoughtless and and, you know, lacking in empathy.

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They're amoral.

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Yeah, crozier.

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He's really amoral as well.

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Like, he is kind of a terrible person.

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But it's such a great performance.

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He's so good.

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Like when like when Kiv goes into cardiac arrest.

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And he finishes his tea before he does anything.

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Fish faced thing.

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I mean, whatever he says.

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He's got that way of delivering things, which is completely affectless.

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Like he shows no emotion at all and he's got a really growly voice and everything is played just super, super straight. and serious.

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I think he's really, really good.

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Yeah, yeah.

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He uses those eyebrows to crack effects too, in the latter episode.

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Like, you know, I think he gives Capaldi a run for his money when it comes to highbrow acting.

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Yeah, no, I think he's really tremendous.

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And, you know, Trevor Laird, who is in it much more than I remembered.

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And I was Frax, the guard captain.

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Yeah, who'll go on to be Martha's father, Clive, in the new series.

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I actually hadn't liked his performance as a child, but watching it now, I think he is extremely good.

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I think he's very good.

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And Tuza, who you said you liked during the live tweet, Brendan and I kind of slammed.

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I think he's actually not bad either.

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Which ones that?

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So he's the leader of the rebels.

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He's a bit he's a bit wet, but he's not as terrible as I remember.

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Okay, I just have to just say, I loathed him as a child.

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I thought he was a terrible terrible actor.

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He's come from the Jason Connery school of I'm a leader of the rebels acting, right?

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And we had a discussion about Martha's father and ages ago and I said, oh, he was terrible in mind warp, but I really liked him in the episode that we saw him in her time.

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So when I started watching this, I'm going, oh, I'm waiting for Martha's father, and I'm waiting for Martha's father, and, well, no, I thought my, episode 3 is when, is it 2 turns up in episode three?

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And I went, hmm.

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I've been wrong all these years because that's not Martha's father.

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Who the hell is Martha's father?

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And I went, oh, it's actually...

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And I actually, well, I really liked him.

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So I was under this mistaken impression that Martha's father was the one I didn't like.

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There you go.

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He's super handsome too, I think.

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He's very pretty.

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Yeah, yeah.

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And he's really good in this.

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I think he's great.

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And he has a sort of strange, like he does get angry in things, but he's also a little bit sort of unflappable and stuff.

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No one's chewing the scenery apart from Sill and Kyv and they're self-consciously designed, I think, to be comedy roles, both of them.

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And they both play it extremely well.

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I mean, and the other old mentor as well, I found in episode four, extremely funny too.

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I mean, it still has just some, you know, he's sucking up to Kiv and, you know, his dislike of Perry and, you know, there's so many, you know, the great Morgo, how wonderfully wise.

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Like little lines like that, you know, he actually gets, I think, well, is one of the most striking lines in the story, which is, and we'll obviously get to this again at the end.

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But that horrific final scene, which is, again, I think, extremely well done.

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And really like a huge gut punch.

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And he gets that comedy line about...

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I only wish you could have found a more attractive body.

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Yeah, more attractive body and he's kind of a bit embarrassed when he delivers it and it's a funny line and it really works in the context of this really, really horrendous, horrendous scene.

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It's so well done.

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The tone is sort of managed really well.

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There's a massive kind of feeling of impending doom hanging over all of episode four.

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Yeah, yeah.

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I think what I said about this in the live Tweed along is the premise seems to be what happens in a Doctor Who story where everything goes wrong?

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Well, do you know what I think it is?

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I don't think it is quite that.

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I think that what happens is that the trial comes in and smashes this story to pieces and it does it both inadvertently and deliberately, but most obviously it comes in at the point where the doctor is about to mount a heroic rescue of his companion and he's pulled out of the story at that point.

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And so the story goes pear shaped.

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And the people at the trial claim that it was already too late, but that's not how Doctor Who works.

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We're supposed to think it's too late before the doctor comes in, that's how, you know, the climax happens.

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So they deform this story.

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But I think the trial deforms the story on a much more fundamental level as well.

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Yeah, because we have these scenes where we're meant to wonder if what we're seeing is real or we're meant to wonder if the doctor's brain has been affected, but we never really get a chance to think about it for ourselves because we immediately cut back to the trial room with the doctor saying, no, that's not how it happened and the value of saying, yes, that is how it's happened and nothing is really brought to any conclusion.

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Of course, famously.

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Colin Baker sought answers for, okay, so in this scene where I'm interrogating Perry on the beach, is this really happening, is the doctor really mad?

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Is it a ploy?

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Has the content been manipulated?

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And Eric Saywood said, I don't know, go and ask the writer.

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And the writer Philip Martin said, I don't know, go ask Eric.

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See, I think that story is problematic because I think the script, and again, I've really only noticed it this time, I think the script is quite clear what's happening.

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And I think what's definitely happening is that it is a ploy that the doctor is pretending to be in with the mentors in order to get close enough to them, to shut the thing down.

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And that also, as the doctor says, pretty much everything the doctor says in, I think it's episode 3 about what's going on is actually what's going on.

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So the matrix evidence is altered.

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And I think the most obvious place where it's clearly being altered is when Perry's tied up and being menaced by the doctor and the doctor bends in and sort of conspiratorially speaks to Perry.

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And we all expect, and I think this is a very well written scene as well.

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We all expect him to say, no, no, it's a ploy just playing along, but he doesn't.

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And I think that we're meant to understand that that's been altered.

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Yes.

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And it's a real gut punch.

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It really works terribly well, except I think that scene is awful.

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Yeah, I agree with you.

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Not technically awful.

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But I didn't really want to see it.

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You know, we've seen back in the twin dilemma, the doctor being horrible to Perry, and I don't think we need to see it ever again.

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No, and particularly Perry being tied up and physically menaced again.

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Again.

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As a younger fan.

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I struggled with this story because when the doctor gets brains out.

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Yeah.

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Like, I'm very linear when it comes to things.

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And so when I originally watched this and for many years, it was sort of like, well, from this point to this point is when the Matrix is lying.

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And it's only really this time through that I've actually worked out and gone, well, no, the Matrix, sometimes is actually telling you the complete truth, and you can see it in Colin's performance, like it's actually very doctor-ish, like in certain scenes. and you go, yeah, yeah, doctor.

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Then there's other scenes where he's quite blank and you kind of think, well, maybe there's some sort of bit of, you know, manipulation there, but not too much, just a slight sort of, you know, something's happened.

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And then there's the full on, it's been completely changed.

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And it used to do my head in to try and work out when that was happening.

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And it is also, you know, the Doctor Who tradition is that up until a new series, everything was sort of presented to you as if you were there.

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You know, everything was deliberately representational.

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You never got any German expressionism in the sense that what we were meant to be seeing was reality and it wasn't really being distorted by the points of view of the characters.

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And this breaks that rule.

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Because much of what we see doesn't happen.

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But I actually think that there is a problem that Colin highlights in that anecdote that you told Brendan, in that I don't think Colin knows what's going on in the script.

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And so consequently, the whole thing is muddied by a performance that isn't really telling the story that the script is telling.

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So Colin plays it in a bunch of different ways.

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There's his really, really funny comedy way that he plays it immediately after the episode one mind jolt thing where he, you know, um, your carnos goes on about getting weapons and he goes, weapons, you know, we'll...

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No you wouldn't.

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And he's really funny and silly.

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And, you know, that Colin Baker comic timing is perfect.

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And that works, you know, we've just had his brain altered, and I think probably that's intended to happen.

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Then when he meets still in the induction centre, and he's like super over the top pantomime.

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I'm evil and I only look out for myself, which is not, it's not a subtle or convincing performance.

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And it's hard to know what's going on.

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And then after that, he switches back to just being completely doctor-ish.

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Yes.

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And quite likeable.

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And like, I don't know what that middle performance is.

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And then it's muddied by the fact that when the doctor shoots the rock in episode one, he's clearly seen to point the gun at the rock and deliberately press the button, and then he denies that on the trial and says it was an accident.

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And when he originally says it was a ploy, he's playing it like he's lying or he's trying to convince himself.

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Yeah, like he can't really remember.

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He's come up with his story.

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But that is, I think, what we're meant to understand is happening.

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But because Colin doesn't play it with any conviction, it kind of muddies the waters.

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And, you know, it is the director's job, I think, to have an opinion and to direct Colin and say what's going on.

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And that's why I can't agree with Brendan that this is well directed by Ron Jones in every respect because it's his job to work this out as the director.

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And in my opinion, inform the lead actor what is actually going on.

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And the direction of that scene with Colin with the thing.

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That would have been, you know, he is the director, should have found a way to make that work.

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Yeah, well, I mean, the way to make it work with the phaser being accidentally discharged is to show the doctor holding the phaser, but then when the phaser goes off to have it off screen.

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Well, I think the problem is that the phaser is a physical prop where a button needs to be pressed in order for it to light up.

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If like the doctor's fighting the rock, right?

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And the phaser is above his head and then slowly he brings his arm down to offscreen and then you hear the gun go off.

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So you can't see whether it's deliberate.

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You can't see whether it's deliberate or not.

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I would like to think from an in universe point of view that that is the 1st indication that stuff's been tampered with, but unfortunately, I do have to agree with you there, Todd, that I think it's just Ron Jones has screwed up a bit there, because something we've discussed with Ron Jones is he's just, he's not as stylistic as, say, Graham Harper or Fiona coming, you know, he points the cameras and he shoots.

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He's done a great job on the design here and for most of the cast.

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He's done a great job on characterisation.

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I totally accept that column and he's dropped the ball there and yeah, also with the phaser sequence.

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Yeah.

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But I mean, I'm going to go back.

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To your point about Colin, I think there's a lot of lightness in here.

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I love his, like, the skedaddle test and the old young Crozier and he gets the direction wrong where he's going and that's happened in the previous story and will happen in the next story.

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And I think it even happens in the 4 story.

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Like this is this little...

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Yeah, well, I think that that's one of his strengths is when he's less competent, you know, he's super blustering and stuff, but he's actually rather silly and a bit incompetent sometimes.

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And I think he plays that so well and it is so terrifically likeable.

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And the other thing that he does, which I think you pointed out in the live tweet, Brendan, is where the companion says, let's leave or something like that.

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And he just goes, hmm, and doesn't listen and sort of carries on regardless.

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And he doesn't seem obnoxious or arrogant there.

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He just seems rather sweet and preoccupied.

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He's in his own little world.

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Yeah, yeah.

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And I think all of those things are really good.

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There's really a lot to say for this.

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You brought up something about his, the face that he gives Sill in episode 2 when the turncoat doctor.

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And it's sort of, is it coquettish sort of face this turns and looks at him, does this sort of look?

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And I, every time I watch this, it always jumps out at me is why are you giving that face?

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Yeah.

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Well, that whole pantomime thing where he says, oh, I look out for myself now and all of that.

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Like, still's not stupid.

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I don't know what Colin is doing there.

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And I don't find that to be necessary, Colin's fault.

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The director needed to say, well, look, we're not going to use that take.

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We're gonna do something different.

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And also too, when SIL offers the doctor later on his marshmallows and the doctor takes that and there's his expression of absolute disgust that comes over the doctor's face.

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To me, that's always the point in the story where I kind of think the doctor's brain suddenly, what the effect of that thing has suddenly kicked it in like suddenly he's himself again, you know, it's just, it's just, in that moment, I just kind of go, you've suddenly recovered.

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Yeah, because that's the 1st indication to us that Colin is faking it in order to impress Sill.

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But I think the script is clear that all the way through Colin is pretending to be cooperative in order to get close enough to the mentors to bring them down.

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And, you know, by the end, by episode 4 where he breaks your carnos out of the cell and does the typical doctor-ish thing.

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He's going to bring the mentors down, and of course, that's what he was going to do all along because he's the doctor.

201
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And unlike Philip Martin's previous script, it's going to give the doctor a heroic moment in which he overthrows the government by doing something positive, except that the trial, you know, blunders in and wrecks the whole thing.

202
00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:05.519
I have problems with the trial in this quite a bit because at times, like in the 1st episode, the sagacity.

203
00:17:05.579 --> 00:17:06.539
We get this word sagacity.

204
00:17:06.599 --> 00:17:07.259
What does that actually mean?

205
00:17:07.319 --> 00:17:09.180
It just means sort of wisdom.

206
00:17:09.240 --> 00:17:11.160
Yeah, she's wise, sagacious.

207
00:17:11.220 --> 00:17:15.539
You know, and the doctor complains about the actual trial again.

208
00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:18.480
And so it sort of undermines it.

209
00:17:18.539 --> 00:17:37.140
And then in episode 4 when everything goes wrong and sagacity steps in to say what actually happened, I kind of think, is it actually her dialogue, shouldn't it be the valid saying this is because he's representing the high council, but she's saying it and she's known it all along since the last 7 episodes, but said, you know, nothing to the doctor.

210
00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:41.519
And so at times I kind of think she's actually working against the doctor in these episodes.

211
00:17:41.579 --> 00:17:47.700
I think it's just them dividing up the dialogue so that Michael Jason doesn't have to do a big info dump at the end.

212
00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:48.240
But you're right.

213
00:17:48.299 --> 00:17:51.960
It's wrong to give her that dialogue. because she's the judge.

214
00:17:52.019 --> 00:18:14.640
Not necessarily this should be the 1st time she knows about it, but in order to be impartial, She needs to consider the evidence as it happens, as it were, rather than having this preconceived thing that she's going to pull out and say to the doctor, ah, but this improper legal circles, the prosecution and defence share evidence before they go into the courtroom.

215
00:18:14.700 --> 00:18:19.980
Well, we've already established, I think, a. not properly... to hear how trials were.

216
00:18:20.039 --> 00:18:27.779
There's... years ago on Outpost Galafrail Gallifray Base, and I apologise for bringing this up without remembering who you are.

217
00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:31.740
So dear listener, if you're the person who came up with this idea, please let us know.

218
00:18:31.799 --> 00:18:41.339
Someone said the way they would improve trial is that Mysterious Planet and Mind Warp would just be ordinary Doctor Who stories, no trial scenes whatsoever.

219
00:18:41.400 --> 00:18:53.220
Then at the end of Mind Warp, the doctor gets abducted, and the end of Mind Warp is, as we see what happens to Perry, but it's also the doctor stumbling into the courtroom for the 1st time, and them saying we had to intervene.

220
00:18:53.279 --> 00:18:54.059
This has gone too far.

221
00:18:54.119 --> 00:18:55.559
You are now on trial for your life.

222
00:18:55.559 --> 00:19:04.980
At the beginning of the next episode, we have a recap of clips from the 1st to 8 episodes and the trial of a time lord is only 6 episodes long as a season ender.

223
00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:13.019
Someone on YouTube has actually re-edited the End of Mind Warp as a cold open.

224
00:19:13.079 --> 00:19:19.980
So with the doctor stumbling about and then being dragged into the Tartars, and then into the space station, and then the titles kick in.

225
00:19:20.039 --> 00:19:35.099
Although I have to say that that scene, like the music, I think, in that scene really, really sells it. and Colin just walking backwards into the TARDIS and the music's really terrifying and funereal.

226
00:19:35.160 --> 00:19:53.099
And I actually think that it's very clear to us that something's going to go wrong much, much earlier in the episode than the doctor's abduction because the whole thing is set up as a race, isn't it?

227
00:19:53.160 --> 00:20:01.259
Um, we know that Crozier wants to implant Kiv's brain in Perry's body, but the doctor doesn't know that.

228
00:20:01.559 --> 00:20:07.680
Crozier suggests it to the doctor and the doctor really unconvincingly tries to tell him, and no, that's a terrible idea.

229
00:20:07.740 --> 00:20:09.359
She's a woman, such a flippity.

230
00:20:09.420 --> 00:20:18.720
Yes, yeah, but what he doesn't know is that he knows that Perry's been taken from the cell, but he doesn't know that Crozier has decided that she's a perfect donor and that he's going to go ahead with it.

231
00:20:18.779 --> 00:20:27.660
And so he lets your Karnos, gives your Karnos his head a bit and, you know, goes and frees the slaves and trades jokes with the mentor and stuff like that.

232
00:20:27.720 --> 00:20:31.380
And he's not moving urgently enough.

233
00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:36.359
And so we're worried that he's going to come too late to save Perry.

234
00:20:36.420 --> 00:20:44.160
And the moment that they say shave her head, and then we can't back to her and we see that her head's been shaved and she's in that helmet.

235
00:20:44.279 --> 00:20:46.619
It's kind of, what are they going to do?

236
00:20:46.680 --> 00:20:48.180
Like, that's really it.

237
00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:55.859
And so for about half the episode, if not more, we know that this story is going horrifically wrong.

238
00:20:55.920 --> 00:21:04.920
And I think we'll talk about whether we think this is a good idea or not later, but it's so good and so terrifying for such a long time.

239
00:21:04.980 --> 00:21:14.339
You know, it's the 1st time that um, you know, that this show has made me feel so, so incredibly anxious, um, just watching it.

240
00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:17.220
And my 1st experience watching it.

241
00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:23.220
Do you remember when it 1st came out, Todd, it was shown on Saturday night and they edited 2 episodes?

242
00:21:23.279 --> 00:21:24.240
double episodes, wasn't it?

243
00:21:24.299 --> 00:21:33.660
Yeah, so there are cliffhangers, all of the odd-numbered stories, episode cliffhangers I actually don't know as well because I watched this over and over again.

244
00:21:33.720 --> 00:21:44.579
But I recorded it and I'd had terrible experiences trying to record Doctor Who. still really angry about snake dance episode one, which I thought I would never, ever get to see again when the video failed.

245
00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:47.759
So I had to walk the dog while it was on.

246
00:21:47.819 --> 00:21:49.079
And so I walked the dog.

247
00:21:49.140 --> 00:21:49.859
I got back home.

248
00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:58.440
I saw that the tape had recorded, so I just rewound it a few minutes to see whether it had recorded okay.

249
00:21:58.500 --> 00:22:02.039
And Colin said, you killed Perry.

250
00:22:02.819 --> 00:22:07.859
So I've never watched this kind of unspoiled, unfortunately.

251
00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:14.339
It's so funny because when I was watching this as a kid, we had to go out to somebody else's house for a dinner party.

252
00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:16.380
So I had to record it.

253
00:22:16.440 --> 00:22:17.700
And I didn't set it correctly.

254
00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:20.460
I didn't, you know, VCR things were very new.

255
00:22:20.519 --> 00:22:21.839
Do you know what they are, listeners?

256
00:22:21.900 --> 00:22:22.619
Do you know what they are?

257
00:22:22.680 --> 00:22:27.900
But luckily when we were over there, one of they had one kid similar age.

258
00:22:27.960 --> 00:22:31.500
And so I managed to wrangle, we need to watch Doctor Who.

259
00:22:31.559 --> 00:22:32.700
So I actually managed to watch it.

260
00:22:32.759 --> 00:22:35.759
I mean, if I hadn't have watched it, then I wouldn't have got to watch it.

261
00:22:35.819 --> 00:22:47.880
That was how I watched episode some 13 and 14 and we had to go to someone's place and they heard that I'd been watching this for 6 weeks and it was the final episode and they kind of had pity on me and let me watch it.

262
00:22:47.940 --> 00:23:02.279
This is when I had great difficulty watching as a child, not because I didn't have it, but just because the visuals of the opening episode and those dark colours and the rock and sort of you can't quite see what's happening in the fight thing.

263
00:23:02.339 --> 00:23:03.420
That all scared me so much.

264
00:23:03.480 --> 00:23:15.119
I have a memory of the 1st time I tried to rewatch it because I think I mentioned with Frontier, so it was a handful of Doctor Who stories, which I didn't watch for about 5 or 6 years because they had scared me so much.

265
00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:16.380
And this was one of them.

266
00:23:16.380 --> 00:23:28.740
And when I was on this particular rewatch, there was a massive storm brewing outside and I was sitting on the sofa under a Duna, my parents were out somewhere.

267
00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:30.119
I think it must have been school holidays.

268
00:23:30.180 --> 00:23:34.859
And yeah, so watching Mind Walk with a massive storm raging outside.

269
00:23:34.920 --> 00:23:35.880
It was brilliant.

270
00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:38.220
Brendan, you're not allowed to watch that one.

271
00:23:39.059 --> 00:23:42.359
It does begin very brightly, however, on the beach.

272
00:23:42.420 --> 00:23:48.900
I think that's kind of unsuccessful, but I'm grateful that they attempted it.

273
00:23:48.900 --> 00:23:53.099
And I think the planet in the distance behind the TARDIS looks terrific.

274
00:23:53.160 --> 00:23:58.799
You know, they were trying new technology again, which, of course, they used also the beginning of episode one.

275
00:23:58.859 --> 00:24:00.599
They're trying to push the envelope on those things.

276
00:24:00.660 --> 00:24:05.400
They do that more successfully in greater show in the galaxy a couple of years later with the planet in the background.

277
00:24:05.460 --> 00:24:10.559
But here all the blues and the pinks all blend in, so you can't tell half the time what's going on.

278
00:24:10.619 --> 00:24:13.559
But it's nice to have some outside location work.

279
00:24:13.619 --> 00:24:14.220
Yeah I agree.

280
00:24:14.279 --> 00:24:16.740
Can we talk about some of the other characters?

281
00:24:16.799 --> 00:24:17.400
Sure.

282
00:24:17.460 --> 00:24:17.880
Go for it.

283
00:24:17.940 --> 00:24:20.099
So I like the leucosa.

284
00:24:20.160 --> 00:24:21.839
I think he looks fantastic.

285
00:24:21.900 --> 00:24:23.519
I think the makeup is really strong.

286
00:24:23.579 --> 00:24:24.420
He's a werewolf.

287
00:24:24.420 --> 00:24:26.160
Hey, it's a great performance.

288
00:24:26.220 --> 00:24:26.700
Yeah.

289
00:24:26.700 --> 00:24:29.640
And makeup is also, I think, pretty, it stands up today.

290
00:24:29.700 --> 00:24:30.240
I think so too.

291
00:24:30.299 --> 00:24:37.200
And the fact that he always has his mouth open, like that's the actor doing it, he's always baring those teeth so you can see them all the time.

292
00:24:37.259 --> 00:24:51.900
And that little bit where, you know, Carnos and he fights over Perry, like where Perry's patting the dog and and Jochanus kind of turns on him for paving like a dog and he just goes jealous, you know.

293
00:24:51.960 --> 00:24:53.700
Like all of that's very sweet.

294
00:24:53.759 --> 00:24:59.579
I think he's a really, really good character and a great performance and I'm really kind of sad when he dies. yeah, yeah.

295
00:24:59.640 --> 00:25:02.880
And Brian's reaction as he a carnos to that.

296
00:25:02.940 --> 00:25:08.759
Like, he's clearly grieving, but at the same time, he's kind of happy that his friend has died a warrior's death.

297
00:25:08.819 --> 00:25:09.539
Like he deserves.

298
00:25:09.599 --> 00:25:13.319
That's a wonderful scene, actually, because he's really he's really shaken.

299
00:25:13.380 --> 00:25:14.339
Yeah, yeah.

300
00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:21.420
I often think that critics of this particular story just go, oh, Yukanos is like so over the top and just dominates everything.

301
00:25:21.480 --> 00:25:29.039
But when you actually watch this show, Yes, there's the big moments, but then he pulls it back and there's a warmth and there's a real character going on there and I really like what he does.

302
00:25:29.099 --> 00:25:30.660
I think he's extremely good.

303
00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:33.000
And it's something that Brian Blessed always does very well.

304
00:25:33.059 --> 00:25:42.480
I mean, not when he's the king in Blackadder, but when he's Augustus in I Claudius, sometimes he's hugely big and bombastic and terrifying and loud.

305
00:25:42.539 --> 00:25:52.019
But he's got that very soft voice that he does where he pictures it a little bit higher, and he does this as Jocanos, and I think he's extremely good.

306
00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:56.220
And I think pairing him with Nicola Bryant is genius.

307
00:25:56.279 --> 00:25:57.839
It's extraordinary.

308
00:25:57.900 --> 00:26:00.779
Like her performance in this entire story is phenomenal.

309
00:26:00.839 --> 00:26:07.980
Perry, the way which Perry is written and combining her with him and just the whole interaction.

310
00:26:08.039 --> 00:26:19.380
And, you know, you look at the interviews on the disc and how he's, you know, Brian just talks about, you kind of been in love with Perry, but of course Nicola's going, I don't buy it.

311
00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:26.880
But in the performance, I actually buy it, that there is a connection there and he loves her and maybe she can learn to love him.

312
00:26:26.940 --> 00:26:33.299
Like, I can see why later on, decisions are then made to try and make a lovey dovey.

313
00:26:33.420 --> 00:26:37.920
I can see why they, you know, we're going to try and wrap it up in a bow, but it's a great dynamic.

314
00:26:37.980 --> 00:26:39.000
Yeah, I agree.

315
00:26:39.059 --> 00:26:42.180
And giving her in her last story, someone like him to play off.

316
00:26:42.299 --> 00:26:54.119
Like, if you think about it as, as, you know, Perry's story, the last time she really sees the doctor, the doctor's betraying her, and that's kind of awful, and that he doesn't come through and save her.

317
00:26:54.180 --> 00:26:58.440
But Jocanos and her are really funny, like she bosses him around.

318
00:26:58.500 --> 00:27:00.660
She gives as good as she gets.

319
00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:02.339
She's still kind of scared of him.

320
00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:09.539
But that scene, you know, the way that she tells him off, the way that she uh, she sort of patronises him.

321
00:27:09.539 --> 00:27:21.960
And then that scene, and it's super cheesy and corny, you know, what is this earth thing you call love, that final scene, and the music is kind of treakly and stuff, but it is so good.

322
00:27:22.019 --> 00:27:24.240
And she's so terrific in it.

323
00:27:24.299 --> 00:27:37.079
It's the best example I've seen of that kind of, what is this other thing you call love scene because they don't come to the same understanding of what love is, but they just accept what the other person's saying.

324
00:27:37.140 --> 00:27:46.619
Like that wonderful bit where, yeah, he passionately believes in why fighting is a good thing and he makes a good case for it.

325
00:27:46.680 --> 00:27:50.579
And then he says, and then when we die, we fight some more, and she just laughs her head off.

326
00:27:50.640 --> 00:27:51.960
Yeah, of course you do.

327
00:27:52.019 --> 00:28:08.039
And it is also, because it's so dark and doom laden at that point, she kind of exposes his whole belief system as just sort of fundamentally futile and sort of crazy, but the response to that is just to laugh at how absurd it is.

328
00:28:08.099 --> 00:28:10.859
And he laughs and there's a real warmth between them.

329
00:28:10.920 --> 00:28:17.640
It's a really, really great scene, which could, like on paper look, you know, horrifically cheesy.

330
00:28:17.700 --> 00:28:21.359
And then the other thing, when she's taken out of that cell.

331
00:28:21.420 --> 00:28:25.500
And I think they spoil this for me like completely in episode 12.

332
00:28:25.799 --> 00:28:29.039
But that scene where he says die well, my lady.

333
00:28:29.099 --> 00:28:34.859
And she's leaving, and being very brave, and they touch one another's hands.

334
00:28:34.920 --> 00:28:37.140
I think he's so good.

335
00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:46.079
And for such a big cartoon character is your Canos, to dial it back so much and to have a little bit of sort of realism and warmth there.

336
00:28:46.140 --> 00:28:46.980
I think is really good.

337
00:28:47.039 --> 00:28:52.440
You know, if you've got the opportunity to cast Brian blessed to do something like that, then you do it.

338
00:28:52.500 --> 00:28:53.640
You know, he's really good.

339
00:28:53.700 --> 00:28:57.720
It's astounding that he'd never been in Doctor Who before, and he's really good in this.

340
00:28:57.839 --> 00:29:01.799
There's a real strength to pair in this, which harks back to Planet of Fire.

341
00:29:01.859 --> 00:29:03.960
Like, you know, the spunk that she had back then.

342
00:29:04.019 --> 00:29:08.640
And you can see the maturity in the character now, especially in laughing with Yakana.

343
00:29:08.700 --> 00:29:11.279
So, you know, once you probably would have not reacted that way.

344
00:29:11.339 --> 00:29:16.079
Yeah, and I just think Nicola just, you know, this is this is her moment.

345
00:29:16.140 --> 00:29:16.619
Yeah.

346
00:29:16.619 --> 00:29:24.539
And it, of course, leads up to the horrific death and her being actually Nicola playing Kiv.

347
00:29:24.660 --> 00:29:26.819
Yeah, so this is horrible.

348
00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:46.559
She's like mentally annihilated and then has her body taken over by a creepy old man, and this is just the culmination of the many creepy old men that had wanted to get their hands on her body, and it is, you know, exactly where the character's been going right since her 1st episode.

349
00:29:46.619 --> 00:29:51.480
She exists to be manhandled by men and it's awful.

350
00:29:51.539 --> 00:30:00.900
And, you know, we complained that Liz Sladen's character had a terrible time travelling with the doctor, but no one has had a worse time than Perry.

351
00:30:01.079 --> 00:30:05.460
And no one's bodily autonomy has been threatened in the way that Perry's has.

352
00:30:05.519 --> 00:30:08.279
And this is the culmination of all of that.

353
00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:16.740
But her performances Kyiv is actually nothing like Christopher Ryan, who's really funny and silly and a great comedy role.

354
00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:21.299
So there's a sense in which it doesn't work in the story.

355
00:30:21.359 --> 00:30:28.440
But it's a grotesque and terrifying performance which she pulls off in the most amazing way.

356
00:30:28.500 --> 00:30:38.460
And her final line when your carnos breaks in, which again is heartbreaking given the tender way that they parted and what he's forced to do.

357
00:30:38.519 --> 00:30:48.779
Like, it's such a good choice, and it is, again, giving the chance for Nicola to do some really, really fabulous, terrifying acting and to drop the accent as well.

358
00:30:48.960 --> 00:30:52.440
Protect me or I'm your lord and master.

359
00:30:52.500 --> 00:30:53.220
Yeah, yeah.

360
00:30:53.220 --> 00:31:04.440
And really well played by Brian Blessed as well, who has to have a big reaction to it, but he doesn't just scream no, like he's Ewan McGregor shouting at a green screen.

361
00:31:04.500 --> 00:31:08.160
His face crumples and he shuts his eyes.

362
00:31:08.279 --> 00:31:17.819
He doesn't want to see it and then he jumps into action and just destroys everything because there's no point anymore.

363
00:31:17.940 --> 00:31:30.900
Um, the conclusion I came to with this one is just, it's actually a really, really, really well-made Doctor Who story. which should never have been made.

364
00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:32.579
Yeah, it's a horrific mistake.

365
00:31:32.640 --> 00:31:34.200
And I think it's bizarre.

366
00:31:34.259 --> 00:31:37.140
Look, I think killing the companions is always, always a bad idea.

367
00:31:37.200 --> 00:31:43.920
And they kind of get away with it with Adric because he's part of an ensemble and because no one really liked him very much.

368
00:31:43.980 --> 00:31:48.960
But with Perry, she's been a character that we've known for a long time.

369
00:31:49.019 --> 00:31:51.539
She's been someone that we like and is plucky.

370
00:31:51.599 --> 00:31:55.140
We've got a backstory, you know, she's a student, she was travelling.

371
00:31:55.200 --> 00:32:03.960
And like I believe that what you need to do with the companions is to show that travelling with a doctor makes their lives better.

372
00:32:04.019 --> 00:32:11.940
And they don't always successfully do that in the new series, but that seems to be kind of the idea.

373
00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:16.019
I don't think the companion should look back on their time with the doctor and regret it.

374
00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:22.200
Because, you know, like I want to travel with the doctor and you want to travel with the doctor.

375
00:32:22.200 --> 00:32:22.500
Yes, yes.

376
00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:28.380
And like if they don't appreciate it, it was like what we said about having a reluctant Tegan, you know, we want to travel with a doctor.

377
00:32:28.440 --> 00:32:33.779
If Tegan doesn't want to travel with a doctor, we don't like her, but we can't sympathise with her.

378
00:32:33.839 --> 00:32:39.480
And so that's a problem and they eventually solve it with Tegan because they drop all that nonsense quite soon.

379
00:32:39.539 --> 00:32:50.460
But having this likeable companion, the only companion who's travelling with the doctor at the moment, the only person who saw him regenerate from Pete into Colin, you know, the doctor's only friend.

380
00:32:50.519 --> 00:32:54.420
This is not a time where there are secondary tertiary characters that the doctor knows.

381
00:32:54.900 --> 00:33:03.119
And to do that to her in the most horrifying way possible, I just think is a really, really bad mistake.

382
00:33:03.180 --> 00:33:07.380
And it's something that the show hasn't done since.

383
00:33:07.440 --> 00:33:14.759
Like the show has had upsetting companion departures and sort of slap dash crappy companion departures as we see next year.

384
00:33:14.819 --> 00:33:19.619
But this is a big nasty, cynical mistake.

385
00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:30.539
Do you think because of the nature of the trial and what they're trying to go for, like all roads led to this point because of the way in which he set it up and wanted it to happen?

386
00:33:30.599 --> 00:33:39.900
Well, I think they choose, like they choose to do a story where the trial breaks into the show and ruins it.

387
00:33:39.960 --> 00:33:44.940
And, you know, so they fridge her in order to make the doctor upset in the next story.

388
00:33:45.059 --> 00:33:51.720
And they throw it away much worse than they do in, um, oh, what's the plasmaton story, Brendan?

389
00:33:51.839 --> 00:33:52.380
Time fly.

390
00:33:52.380 --> 00:33:53.160
Time fly.

391
00:33:53.220 --> 00:33:57.900
You know, where we're all off to the Great Exhibition and we've completely forgotten Adrik 5 minutes in.

392
00:33:57.960 --> 00:34:06.839
And they even lampshade that, you know, at the beginning of terror of the vervoids where the Valiard complains that we've just, you know, he's a new companion.

393
00:34:07.559 --> 00:34:08.159
Yeah, that's right.

394
00:34:08.219 --> 00:34:11.579
And we're supposed to assume that some time has passed.

395
00:34:11.639 --> 00:34:14.519
The doctor's been off preparing his defence.

396
00:34:14.579 --> 00:34:15.599
The court's been in recess.

397
00:34:15.659 --> 00:34:18.300
We haven't, you know, there's been weeks or whatever.

398
00:34:18.360 --> 00:34:19.860
And that's cheating.

399
00:34:19.920 --> 00:34:20.699
That's not good enough.

400
00:34:20.760 --> 00:34:28.619
And it is kind of an admission that really we're not interested in the companion as a person or as a character.

401
00:34:28.679 --> 00:34:34.079
And the introduction of Mel, and we'll talk about this next week, really kind of cements that.

402
00:34:34.139 --> 00:34:43.380
You know, we don't really care what her relationship with the doctor is provided there's a woman to be kind of captured and menaced and scream and ask the doctor questions.

403
00:34:43.440 --> 00:34:44.820
We're fine.

404
00:34:44.880 --> 00:35:05.880
Yeah, the problem is, if you look at, say, Star Trek Next Generation, which at this stage is just around the corner, in the 1st year of that, we have skin of evil, where Tashi Yar is killed, midway through an episode, and even though the plot has to be resolved, the nature of the show then allows them to discuss Tasha's death and have a funeral scene at the end.

405
00:35:05.940 --> 00:35:08.219
And it's also not forgotten.

406
00:35:08.280 --> 00:35:11.639
There are several episodes after that that bring up Tasha.

407
00:35:11.699 --> 00:35:16.139
Like her sister is in an episode when data is asked about his humanity.

408
00:35:16.199 --> 00:35:23.579
He relates the fact that he and Tasha were briefly involved and he's also reluctant to, so, you know, she's a real person.

409
00:35:23.579 --> 00:35:31.260
After the best of both worlds, where Picard is kind of killed and resurrected as a Borg and then brought back.

410
00:35:31.320 --> 00:35:35.159
We have a whole episode dealing with the emotional fallout of that.

411
00:35:35.219 --> 00:35:37.320
Doctor Who doesn't do that.

412
00:35:37.380 --> 00:35:43.139
Doctor Who can't do that by its nature of being this series where we go off and have rollicking adventures.

413
00:35:43.199 --> 00:35:44.639
Even in the new series.

414
00:35:44.820 --> 00:35:55.139
Okay, so Rose's dad dies, Pete Tyler, we kind of have some stuff dealing with that, but even then it's just 5 minutes in an episode and it's to move the plot along.

415
00:35:55.320 --> 00:35:58.139
Donna's death of personality.

416
00:35:58.199 --> 00:36:03.000
You know, again, we don't have a cliffhanger leading into the next doctor.

417
00:36:03.059 --> 00:36:06.119
By the time in the next doctor, we're meant to believe some time has passed.

418
00:36:06.119 --> 00:36:10.679
With Amy and Rory dying, if you like.

419
00:36:10.739 --> 00:36:13.920
Again, some time passes before the next episode.

420
00:36:13.920 --> 00:36:18.719
When Clara dies, the doctor gets his memory wipe.

421
00:36:18.780 --> 00:36:28.860
So the show, the show sets up these whole things of companions dying or being in some way inaccessible and not being able to continue their relationship with the doctor.

422
00:36:28.920 --> 00:36:34.320
But because of the nature of the show that all has to be swept under the carpet.

423
00:36:34.380 --> 00:36:38.099
It's actually a problem with the very premise of the show, isn't it?

424
00:36:38.159 --> 00:36:48.659
So when the show starts and the doctor can't control the TARDIS, then he can't go back and see how Barbara and Ian are going on earth and he can't drop them off.

425
00:36:48.719 --> 00:36:58.019
And then once he can control the Tartars, he kind of becomes a horrible person for never going back for Sarah Jane Smith.

426
00:36:58.019 --> 00:36:59.880
He has to drop her off.

427
00:36:59.940 --> 00:37:04.380
He's got no choice, but he could go back and visit it, but he chooses not to.

428
00:37:04.440 --> 00:37:13.980
And the new show tries to interrogate that, but not really very successfully, certainly not in a way that makes the doctor not appear callous.

429
00:37:14.039 --> 00:37:21.599
And you have this series of companions in the new series who declare openly that they'll never stop travelling with the doctor.

430
00:37:21.659 --> 00:37:30.300
And so they have to be prevented from travelling with him in these sort of increasingly complicated and baroque ways.

431
00:37:30.360 --> 00:37:36.000
I think that maybe Martha's departure is handled the best.

432
00:37:36.059 --> 00:37:37.739
I agree with you with that.

433
00:37:37.800 --> 00:37:39.000
She makes a choice.

434
00:37:39.059 --> 00:37:53.639
Yeah, and it's not that she doesn't like the doctor or she regrets her time with the doctor, but something inherent in her character, which is looking after people, the 1st time we see Martha, she's managing her family on the phone and that's what she leaves to do.

435
00:37:53.699 --> 00:38:01.019
And it's a choice that's presented as a positive choice, something that she should do, is leave the doctor to look after her family.

436
00:38:01.079 --> 00:38:14.280
Andrew Hodson, friend of the podcast, has a theory which he calls contract roulette, which is the companion will just leave on whatever planet the story happens to be set when their contract runs out.

437
00:38:14.280 --> 00:38:16.679
And that explains Stephen.

438
00:38:16.739 --> 00:38:19.739
It is the only explanation for what happens to Mel.

439
00:38:20.219 --> 00:38:24.000
Yep, it's literally the explanation for what happens to Vicky.

440
00:38:24.059 --> 00:38:24.719
Yeah, yeah.

441
00:38:24.780 --> 00:38:25.380
And Dodo.

442
00:38:26.280 --> 00:38:27.300
Ben and Polly?

443
00:38:27.360 --> 00:38:28.139
Ben and Polly.

444
00:38:28.199 --> 00:38:30.599
Yeah, you know, they just leave wherever they happen to be.

445
00:38:30.659 --> 00:38:32.820
And it works out for Ben and Polly.

446
00:38:32.880 --> 00:38:35.579
It kind of works out for Doto because that story is on earth.

447
00:38:35.639 --> 00:38:48.360
It's weird that even at this stage of the program, they would never think to shoot something on a city street that just goes for 5 minutes where the doctor drops someone off at the end of a story like he does to Rory and Amy in the god complex.

448
00:38:48.420 --> 00:38:50.639
And I guess he does that to Sarah.

449
00:38:50.699 --> 00:38:58.860
Yeah, I mean, it was after Mind was produced, but not that long after because the ultimate foe was actually shot next.

450
00:38:58.920 --> 00:39:00.900
Episodes 13 and 14 was shot after this.

451
00:39:00.960 --> 00:39:10.139
And it was during the production of that, that JNT said, oh, maybe we've gone a bit far and let's add in that stupid little love heart vignette.

452
00:39:10.199 --> 00:39:13.019
And that's that scene which I talked about before.

453
00:39:13.079 --> 00:39:14.940
That's the die well, my lady, see.

454
00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:18.960
And I think that's ruined by that marriage thing.

455
00:39:19.019 --> 00:39:29.460
And I think the marriage compounds the problem that Perry has, for all of her run, been someone that men lust over, and that's what happens to her.

456
00:39:29.519 --> 00:39:30.300
She gets married off.

457
00:39:30.360 --> 00:39:37.619
I have a problem with it because she's essentially disappears from a holiday and she's never seen her again.

458
00:39:37.679 --> 00:39:38.579
You know?

459
00:39:38.639 --> 00:39:41.760
Like her family get no closure, you know?

460
00:39:41.820 --> 00:39:42.780
And there's no thought about that.

461
00:39:42.840 --> 00:39:51.659
You know, if they're going to do it, maybe they could have just said something along the lines, like you actually defeated the mentors and saved Perry, but she wanted to leave.

462
00:39:51.719 --> 00:39:52.559
She'd had enough.

463
00:39:52.619 --> 00:39:53.519
You returned it to earth.

464
00:39:53.639 --> 00:39:56.639
And, you know, and not they couldn't have shot that.

465
00:39:56.699 --> 00:39:57.480
Do you know what I mean?

466
00:39:57.539 --> 00:39:59.099
Like, it's not like they couldn't have shot that.

467
00:39:59.579 --> 00:40:10.139
But I guess the problem with that is that there were so many problems with Eric Saywood leaving and having to get Pip and Jane to write an episode in 4 days and, you know, all that sort of thing.

468
00:40:10.199 --> 00:40:17.880
So, you know, but again, it comes down to the fact that this whole season should have been completely written before a single frame was shocked.

469
00:40:17.940 --> 00:40:18.539
Yeah, exactly.

470
00:40:18.539 --> 00:40:19.260
They had the time.

471
00:40:19.320 --> 00:40:39.780
You know, if they'd thought 3 weeks before, when they did eventually think of, oh, you know, let's marry Perry off to Brian Blessed, if they'd thought of it while they were still shooting Mind Warp, they could have said, you know what, let's shoot a scene where the doctor bursts into the lab and grabs Perry and runs out again and tag that on the end of part 14.

472
00:40:39.900 --> 00:40:40.500
Yeah.

473
00:40:40.500 --> 00:40:42.179
You know, the doctor says to Male, right?

474
00:40:42.239 --> 00:40:44.820
I'm dropping you off in your proper timeline and then there's something I have to do.

475
00:40:44.880 --> 00:40:50.280
But the show isn't interested in the stories of the characters at this point.

476
00:40:50.340 --> 00:40:53.340
They really just perform a plot function.

477
00:40:53.400 --> 00:41:07.800
And I think even at the time, that was kind of unsatisfactory, particularly, I think, because JNT had done such a good job at the beginning of the 80s, making us care about the characters.

478
00:41:07.860 --> 00:41:12.239
Again, you know, like Nissa leaves in terminus because of contract roulette.

479
00:41:12.599 --> 00:41:19.079
But they do kind of sort of attempt to set up her departure.

480
00:41:19.199 --> 00:41:29.099
And I think we talked in the actual episode about how they could have done that better, how they could have given her a bit more agency rather than just, I'm staying here because they're not going to pay me next week.

481
00:41:29.219 --> 00:41:32.639
But, you know, Turlow's departure is sort of well set.

482
00:41:32.699 --> 00:41:38.099
Tegan has given a great leaving scene, which critiques the program, you know, and works really well.

483
00:41:38.159 --> 00:41:40.800
Niss is a rival as well handled.

484
00:41:40.860 --> 00:41:54.239
Tegan's arrival as well handled, all of that stuff about the companions, which is kind of, I think, a reaction against the sort of rather slapdash approach that Graham Williams had taken. you know, I'll wait, we forgot to book Mary for next year.

485
00:41:54.300 --> 00:41:58.500
You know, we, oh, we forgot to book John Leason for next year.

486
00:41:58.559 --> 00:42:07.679
You know, like that was all sort of very slapdash and there's, of course, the, you know, horrifically insulting departure of Leila, which is just appalling.

487
00:42:07.860 --> 00:42:15.539
So John Nathan Turner does a good job of that at the beginning, but now it's just all gone to hell, I think, in the trial.

488
00:42:15.599 --> 00:42:23.940
And the trial is also the 1st time, too, that Doctor Who hasn't been a series of adventures presented chronologically.

489
00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:39.179
The 1st time explicitly that we now have a whole bunch of Doctor Who stuff that we haven't seen and things that we haven't seen properly and things that we have to conjecture happened because the show's been careless or presented out of order.

490
00:42:39.239 --> 00:42:43.380
So like Mel's arrival is never seen, for instance, and that's a mess.

491
00:42:43.440 --> 00:42:50.579
And we never see them getting to know one another. you know, we don't know what happens after he leaves the trial.

492
00:42:50.639 --> 00:42:56.880
Like there's a big kind of hole in the kind of story that's told by Doctor Who as a result of the trial.

493
00:42:57.000 --> 00:42:57.780
Yes.

494
00:42:57.780 --> 00:42:58.739
It's a mess.

495
00:42:58.800 --> 00:43:00.599
We've said that last week.

496
00:43:00.719 --> 00:43:01.920
The trial part of this is a mess.

497
00:43:01.980 --> 00:43:02.699
Yeah, yeah.

498
00:43:02.760 --> 00:43:06.719
Only you talked about the incidental music and how wonderful do you think it is?

499
00:43:06.960 --> 00:43:10.980
I'm not as enamoured with it in this story.

500
00:43:11.039 --> 00:43:17.400
I like the stuff at the end, but the actual transition from the trial back into the evidence.

501
00:43:17.460 --> 00:43:20.639
There's this sting that he uses in this story.

502
00:43:20.699 --> 00:43:24.300
Actually, they do it in all three, but in this one, there's this diddle-lun, or something like that.

503
00:43:27.480 --> 00:43:36.119
I don't know what it is, but every time I watch this story, I actually get a headache, halfway through episode three, it's just...

504
00:43:36.119 --> 00:43:39.000
I think it's because you're channelling the mentor from episode four.

505
00:43:39.059 --> 00:43:44.280
I have no idea, but that piece of music just drives me insane for the rest of the story.

506
00:43:48.119 --> 00:43:54.599
Something I actually quite like about the some, a couple of the trial room scenes in this one.

507
00:43:54.659 --> 00:44:08.820
There's one particular one where we come back to the trial room and we're focussing on the screen and Colin jumps up into shot and the camera moves over to him and the composited shot of what's happening on the trial screen moves in the correct way as well.

508
00:44:08.880 --> 00:44:11.460
And Colin says, I don't remember that.

509
00:44:11.519 --> 00:44:17.340
It's one of the very few dynamic shots in this courtroom set and it works well.

510
00:44:17.400 --> 00:44:28.320
I think too, the scene where Perry is picking her way through the sea and then we come back to the trial room and the vision continues on the screen while some kind of action and dialogue is going on in the trial.

511
00:44:28.440 --> 00:44:30.119
That's the 1st time we've seen that.

512
00:44:30.239 --> 00:44:31.980
That doesn't happen in the mysterious planet.

513
00:44:32.039 --> 00:44:38.519
But in spite of that, I think that the trial scenes are more ineptly directed than they were in Mysterious Planet.

514
00:44:38.579 --> 00:44:45.239
I agree with you because you get to see the black floor and the joins with the wall. and it's just like, really?

515
00:44:45.300 --> 00:44:50.760
Like, you know, I think Nicholas Mellon was trying not to show that, but Ron just plonks the camera and there it is.

516
00:44:50.880 --> 00:44:57.360
I think we said last week, didn't we, that it would have been better to have the trial scenes directed consistently by one director.

517
00:44:57.420 --> 00:44:57.960
That's right.

518
00:44:58.019 --> 00:45:01.320
And you know, bring in a really good director to do that.

519
00:45:01.380 --> 00:45:06.420
Bring him Graham Harper or Fiona coming, even though you're giving them a pretty rubbish job to do.

520
00:45:06.480 --> 00:45:20.460
Give it to someone who will, if you like overdirect those scenes and not just go, right, it's a room with 3 walls, they'll go, right, well, what if I, you know, what if I shoot from down here and hold the camera up at a 45 degree angle and that sort of thing?

521
00:45:20.519 --> 00:45:26.760
Because all you've got is 3 people standing or sitting in boxes talking and you've got to do something with that.

522
00:45:27.239 --> 00:45:28.860
Ratings.

523
00:45:30.179 --> 00:45:31.860
They did go up.

524
00:45:31.920 --> 00:45:36.539
So after last week's disaster of 3.7, it jumps up to 4.8.

525
00:45:36.719 --> 00:45:40.199
Then it drops back to 4.6, 5.one and 5 million.

526
00:45:40.260 --> 00:45:48.840
So it takes 7 episodes to break the 5000000 barrier and it sort of places, the 1st episode 76, the rest are all in the 80s.

527
00:45:48.900 --> 00:45:53.400
Is the publicity at the time, you know, that a new story is starting?

528
00:45:53.460 --> 00:45:55.440
A new piece of evidence?

529
00:45:55.440 --> 00:45:58.500
Because it is a sort of a part one sort of spike, isn't it?

530
00:45:58.559 --> 00:46:06.179
So they try and sell it like, it's a new story, but you've still got that whole trial. five, part six, part seven, part eight.

531
00:46:06.239 --> 00:46:10.019
Yeah, no, I mentioned last week, the thing before Doctor Who wasn't even on the chart.

532
00:46:10.079 --> 00:46:12.900
So Doctor Who's doing this heavy lifting to try and get the audience to watch.

533
00:46:12.960 --> 00:46:17.400
But anyway, you know, it takes, as I said, 7 episodes to break that 5000000 barrier.

534
00:46:17.460 --> 00:46:19.679
But at least it's gone up from the threes.

535
00:46:20.159 --> 00:46:27.239
So overall, like, if you were giving a mark of this story out of 10, what is a place for you, like, as a story?

536
00:46:27.300 --> 00:46:29.519
For me, it places at a six.

537
00:46:29.699 --> 00:46:35.039
And that's mainly because of the ending.

538
00:46:35.519 --> 00:46:43.320
If the ending had later been modified with the doctor actually rescuing Perry, I'd rate this story much higher.

539
00:46:43.380 --> 00:46:54.900
It's a bit like in the new series, Sleep No More, when they were talking about doing a sequel for Sleep No More, to actually explain what was going on in it, I reserved judgement on it, but Mark Gaterson said, no, we're not doing a sequel.

540
00:46:54.960 --> 00:46:58.320
So Sleep No More is in my bottom 5 Doctor Who stories of all time.

541
00:46:58.380 --> 00:47:00.119
Mind Warp isn't.

542
00:47:00.179 --> 00:47:07.920
You know, mind warp, it's, for me, a 6 out of 10 because there are so many things it actually does well and so many good elements of it.

543
00:47:07.980 --> 00:47:15.780
It just falls apart in the last 5 minutes because it's going against the traditions of Doctor Who.

544
00:47:15.840 --> 00:47:19.260
But it's not critiquing the traditions of Doctor Who.

545
00:47:19.320 --> 00:47:28.679
It's just saying, how about we do a story where we kill the companion because um, an external force acts on the doctor?

546
00:47:28.739 --> 00:47:29.519
Okay, lunch.

547
00:47:29.579 --> 00:47:34.559
If you're gonna break the conventions of Doctor, in the way Earthshock did.

548
00:47:34.860 --> 00:47:40.320
You have to think about why you're doing it because Earth Shock gives Adric a journey.

549
00:47:40.380 --> 00:47:43.260
It gives a foreshadowing to what's going to happen.

550
00:47:43.320 --> 00:47:52.500
Mindwarp gives a foreshadowing to what's going to happen to Perry, but also everything in the plot implies that, no, no, that's not going to happen.

551
00:47:52.559 --> 00:47:53.219
That's not going to happen.

552
00:47:53.280 --> 00:47:54.960
And then it pulls out the rug from under you.

553
00:47:55.019 --> 00:47:58.500
And it feels unfair to the viewer.

554
00:47:58.920 --> 00:48:04.320
The 1st 95 minutes of this story are presenting a different idea to the last 5 minutes.

555
00:48:04.619 --> 00:48:10.739
And there's not enough critique of the convention, the doctor, to justify the bait and switch.

556
00:48:11.159 --> 00:48:13.739
I can't give it a mark out of 10.

557
00:48:14.159 --> 00:48:15.059
No, no, no, no.

558
00:48:15.119 --> 00:48:23.280
I never do, but I think it's mostly well directed by Ron Jones, certainly better than his previous story.

559
00:48:23.340 --> 00:48:25.440
It's better than Philip Martin's previous story.

560
00:48:25.500 --> 00:48:27.300
I think the sets look great.

561
00:48:27.360 --> 00:48:32.820
I think Colin is good despite the flaws in his performance, which weren't his fault.

562
00:48:32.880 --> 00:48:34.860
I think the music's good.

563
00:48:34.920 --> 00:48:39.960
I think pairing up Perry and Brian Blessed is a stroke of genius.

564
00:48:40.019 --> 00:48:41.460
Seal is great.

565
00:48:41.519 --> 00:48:43.079
Christopher Ryan as Kiv is great.

566
00:48:43.139 --> 00:48:45.360
I think it's got an enormous amount going for it.

567
00:48:45.420 --> 00:48:52.260
And I would put it up there in Colin Baker stories with 2 doctors or Revelation of the Daleks.

568
00:48:52.320 --> 00:49:03.059
I think it's an extremely good story, but I think it's massively horrible and cynical and it really, really exemplifies everything that I hate about this particular era.

569
00:49:03.179 --> 00:49:05.460
So like I enjoy watching it.

570
00:49:05.519 --> 00:49:08.219
I enjoy experiencing that feeling of impending doom.

571
00:49:08.280 --> 00:49:10.980
I think it's amazing, but it's such a bad idea.

572
00:49:11.519 --> 00:49:14.760
I agree with like 90% of what you're saying.

573
00:49:14.820 --> 00:49:22.079
I'd probably, by the end of it, my head, as I said, I get a headache and I'm always, I feel it's a bit all over the place.

574
00:49:22.139 --> 00:49:27.780
I love so many elements of it and there's other things where I'm, well, basically the trial stuff where I'm going, yeah, really.

575
00:49:27.840 --> 00:49:29.820
So I'm getting this one a 6.8.

576
00:49:30.239 --> 00:49:33.300
Which is down from my 7.5 from last week.

577
00:49:33.360 --> 00:49:35.219
So very finely calibrated.

578
00:49:35.820 --> 00:49:37.679
I am very finally calibrated on these ones.

579
00:49:37.800 --> 00:49:40.559
For me, this is the weakest segment of the trial.

580
00:49:41.099 --> 00:49:43.739
And I thought that's something I'd never say.

581
00:50:13.860 --> 00:50:16.320
Well, there is now we're taking off from Forrest.

582
00:50:16.320 --> 00:50:17.340
Beta, I think.

583
00:50:17.579 --> 00:50:18.300
I'm not sure.

584
00:50:18.360 --> 00:50:19.260
I can't quite remember.

585
00:50:19.380 --> 00:50:25.980
But please come back next week, as I think we all deserve a bit of a cruise, so I booked us all some cabins on the Hyperion 3.

586
00:50:26.099 --> 00:50:29.460
Don't worry about your room numbers, because we'll just be able to get into any room we like.

587
00:50:29.519 --> 00:50:29.940
Anyway.

588
00:50:30.780 --> 00:50:32.760
Do come back for that.

589
00:50:32.820 --> 00:50:40.199
You can find us at flight through entirety.sexy, flight through entirety on Facebook and iTunes and at FTE podcast on Twitter.

590
00:50:40.260 --> 00:50:47.159
This week, we also announce our upcoming Tom Baker commentary, and the 4 options are...

591
00:50:47.159 --> 00:50:49.320
The hand of fear.

592
00:50:49.800 --> 00:50:54.599
The Sunmakers, The Stones of Blood.

593
00:50:55.139 --> 00:50:57.659
And the horns of Nimon.

594
00:50:57.719 --> 00:51:03.059
You can find a link to the poll in the show notes and also at flightthroughentirety.sexy.

595
00:51:03.059 --> 00:51:13.739
Over on Bondfinger, we are in the midst of the Timothy Dalton era, so that's Bondfinger.com, Bondfinger on Facebook and iTunes and Bondfinger cast on Twitter.

596
00:51:13.800 --> 00:51:17.400
Until then, may none of your borrowed bodies be obsessed with fish.

597
00:51:17.460 --> 00:51:18.900
Thank you very much for listening and good night.

598
00:51:19.019 --> 00:51:19.800
Good night.

599
00:51:19.860 --> 00:51:20.280
See you soon.

600
00:51:22.019 --> 00:51:29.400
That was Flight 3 Entirety, starring Todd Bealby, Nathan Bottomley, and Brendan Jones, theme arrangement by Cameron Lamb.

601
00:51:29.460 --> 00:51:33.420
This episode, Dark Colours, was recorded on the 1st of April 2017.

602
00:51:33.719 --> 00:51:36.659
The next episode will be released on the 14th of May.

603
00:51:39.780 --> 00:51:46.860
This episode is dedicated to the memory of Moray Watson, who passed away this week, and who was so lovely and charming in Black Orchid.

604
00:51:46.920 --> 00:51:47.940
Thanks, Sir Robert.

605
00:51:48.000 --> 00:51:48.780
You were a hoot.

606
00:51:51.900 --> 00:51:55.920
Mind Warp, 1st of April, 2017.

607
00:51:59.280 --> 00:52:04.320
Maybe we should have a 1st of April kind of joke, another thing.

608
00:52:04.800 --> 00:52:07.739
The new doctor's going to be played by.

609
00:52:07.739 --> 00:52:12.179
This is the best show in the history of Doctor Who.

610
00:52:12.239 --> 00:52:14.639
Sorry, April Fool.

611
00:52:14.699 --> 00:52:25.199
No, Bob just said, I preferred to Trial of Time Order is the best story of the 1980s and I just had to refrain from saying, really, you know, the competition isn't all that.

612
00:52:25.260 --> 00:52:29.340
But the competition does include enlightenment, for God's sake.

613
00:52:29.460 --> 00:52:31.619
Oh, let's see.

614
00:52:31.619 --> 00:52:32.940
Snake dance.

615
00:52:33.000 --> 00:52:35.340
Like through entirety, April, April fool's gag.

616
00:52:35.400 --> 00:52:37.500
We're finally having a homosexual of the show.

617
00:52:39.239 --> 00:52:40.860
Imagine that.

618
00:52:40.920 --> 00:52:44.219
Applied to Entirety has its 1st straight companion.

619
00:52:44.280 --> 00:52:47.280
Today is heterosexual day here at Flight.

620
00:52:47.340 --> 00:52:50.340
That's it. scratching my balls as we speak.

621
00:52:50.760 --> 00:52:53.099
Oh, great. you recording this?

622
00:52:53.820 --> 00:52:56.940
And it's up to him whether it goes in or not.

623
00:52:57.000 --> 00:52:58.800
We're in trouble.

624
00:52:59.039 --> 00:53:00.480
Okay.