Doctor Who Rewind - The Mind Of Evil

The Doctor and Jo are witnessing a new kind of treatment for Serious Organised Criminals at Stangmoor Prison when things turn a might nasty.

This ere new fangled device is powered by some kind of alien parasite and transforms it's subject into a quivering gibbering mass of innocence that wouldn't hurt a fly. To do this it reads the mind of the unfortunate in the chair and finds the one thing he or she fears the most, then relentlessly recreates that thing in their mind.

Of course some weeks before, this device had been installed by a man looking suspiciously like The Master, who had hatched a cunning plan to help the prisoners escape and form an army to help him capture a deadly missile called The Thunderbolt, which is being transported to a base nearby. He then plans to point this missile at the first world peace conference. What a nasty man.

There are some great set pieces in this six part story. For instance, the attack on the overtaken prison by UNIT as they seek to overthrow the unruly criminals led by Harry Mailer, who seems to have it in for the doctor. In the DVD extras we here about the time constraints placed on the crew as they shot the scenes at Dover Castle. With no time to shoot close ups the team had to go back weeks later and re-shoot specific sequences so that it could be completed.

Another highlight of the story are a number of occasions that the Keller Machine, containing the evil parasite, is turned on the Doctor. Who or what is the Doctors greatest fear? Firstly we see fire, obviously a reference to the recent Inferno story when the Doctor saw the whole world consumed by fire. Then the Doctor see's past monsters the Zarbi (First Doctor) and the Cybermen, and we hear the evil voices of the Daleks shouting exterminate over the top, gee, I wouldn't like to be inside the Doctors head at bed time.

But in an interesting examination of the relationship between the Master and The Doctor, who does the the former see when he has the machine inflicted on him? Well, a giant towering version of the Doctor that's who.

Another star of this story is the Thunderbolt missile which is in fact very real and was borrowed from the army complete with its operators. It really brings a sense of foreboding and realism to the final scenes.

The Mind Of Evil went massively over budget and for a six parter it's extremely ambitious in its scope. Despite all the difficulties in its production and shooting I found it extremely watchable. Again some nice ideas about how civilisation might one day deal with over population in prisons. But beware, most solutions that involve a heightened psychological response will probably end in tears.

Next time on Doctor Who Rewind we all take a psychoactive trip to an alien post sixties technicolor happening.