The verdict: Mindwarp
| Episode of the Doctor Who series | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| title | The verdict: Mindwarp | ||
| Original title | The Trial of a Time Lord: Mindwarp | ||
| Country of production | United Kingdom | ||
| original language | English | ||
| length | 4 × 25 minutes | ||
| classification | Season 23, episodes 5–8 644th - 647th episode overall ( list ) |
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| First broadcast | October 4, 1986 to October 25, 1986 on BBC One |
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| German-language first broadcast |
February 13, 1995 to February 16, 1995 on VOX |
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| Rod | |||
| Director | Ron Jones | ||
| script | Philip Martin | ||
| production | John Nathan-Turner | ||
| music | Richard Hartley | ||
| occupation | |||
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| chronology | |||
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Mindwarp is the second part of the 143rd story arc entitled The Judgment (The Trial of a Time Lord) of the British science fiction - television series Doctor Who . It consists of 4 episodes that aired from October 4th to 25th, 1986.
action
As further evidence of the doctor's guilt, the prosecutor (in the original Valeyard) shows the doctor's experiences on the planet Thoros Beta, which he had shortly before the start of the trial.
The Doctor and Peri have landed on the planet Thoros Beta to find out who is responsible for building the cruel weapons that were used to overthrow the royal family on Thordon. In one of the planet's caves, Doctor Sil, an arms dealer for the mentors, observes how he, together with the scientist Crozier, saves the king of mentors, Kiv. He suffers from a rare disease that causes his brain to grow bigger and bigger and give him excruciating headaches. When the doctor and Peri are discovered, they can escape with the help of Crozier's test creature, Ycranos, king of the warrior people of the Krontep, and retreat further into the cave system.
When the three try to take Sil's guards by surprise, the doctor betrays the group and Ycranos and Peri are forced to flee. While on the run, Peri meets Matrona Kani, Kiv's personal servant, who saves her from the guards and disguises her as one of the mentors' maids.
At the same time, the doctor has gotten on well with the mentors and is invited by Sil and Kiv to a banquet at which Peri is also present. The doctor exposes Peri and is assigned by Kiv to interrogate her to find out where King Ycranos is. When the doctor and Peri are alone, Peri confesses that the betrayal was part of his plan to find out what the mentors were up to and that the weapons on Thordon came from them. But before the doctor can free Peri, the interrogation is interrupted by Crozier, who wants to examine the doctor more closely to find out whether there is room for Kiv's brain in his skull.
On the way to Crozier's laboratory, Ycranos saves Peri and tries to kill the doctor for his betrayal, which Peri is able to prevent. While Peri and Ycranos flee, the doctor returns to Crozier, where the scientist finds out that the doctor's skull is unsuitable for a brain transplant. The doctor still offers to help improve the machine that is used to transplant the brains so that it does not transfer the brain itself, but only the mind into a new body. Excited by the idea, Sil agrees and sends Crozier's people to the surface of the planet to get a suitable body for Kiv.
While trying to raid one of the Mentors' weapons dumps, Peri and King Ycranos are captured again, and Ycranos begins to develop feelings for Peri.
Although the first attempt to transfer Kiv's mind into a new body succeeds, the latter still suffers from increasing headaches, whereupon Crozier determines that the bodies of the mentors are unsuitable for Kiv's mind. After several tests, however, he finds out that Peri's body and brain are optimal and prepares the transmission. At the same time, the doctor succeeds in freeing King Ycranos, and he can convince him that he is on his side, but when the two, along with some other freed prisoners, make their way to Crozier's laboratory to rescue Peri , the doctor is caught in a beam of energy that pulls him back into his TARDIS . As it turns out, the energy beam is a tractor beam from the Time Lords, who removed him from the action on Thoros Beta to keep him from interfering.
When King Ycranos arrives at the laboratory, he is horrified to find that the transfer of Kiv's mind into Peri's body has been completed. Ycranos angrily begins to destroy the laboratory with the help of a beam weapon from the mentors.
In the courtroom, the doctor has to find out that the Time Lords are responsible for the fact that many innocents, including his companion Peri, died on Thoros Beta. However, the prosecutor dismisses the charge by making it clear to the doctor and the high court that removing the doctor from the events averted a far greater catastrophe. The doctor sees a conspiracy against himself behind the statements of the prosecutor and sets himself the goal of finding out what it is about in the further course of the trial.
production
The music for these episodes was originally supposed to be composed by Malcolm Clarke , but since he was not available, producer John Nathan Turner hired the film music composer Richard Hartley, who until then was the only composer who was working on the series and not from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop originated. As a result, the original recordings of the music were not kept and were disposed of after the audio track of the episodes had been mixed. The Mindwarp episodes are therefore some of the few Doctor Who episodes that do not have an isolated music track on home video releases.
Audience ratings
- The Trial of a Time Lord - Part 5: 4.8 million viewers
- The Trial of a Time Lord - Part 6: 4.6 million viewers
- The Trial of a Time Lord - Part 7: 5.1 million viewers
- The Trial of a Time Lord - Part 8: 5.0 million viewers
Cast and dubbing
The dubbing of the story was done by HW Film in Munich, directed by Hendrik Wiethase , who also wrote the dialogue book.
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| The (6th) doctor | Colin Baker | Michael Schwarzmaier |
| Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown | Nicola Bryant | Maria Boehme |
| Prosecutor (Valeyard) | Michael Jayston | Fred Maire |
| Chairperson (Inquisitor) | Lynda Bellingham | Marion Hartmann |
| King Yrcanos | Brian Blessed | Manfred Erdmann |
| Sil | Nabil Shaban | Michael Rüth |
| Kiv | Christopher Ryan | Bruno W. Pantel |
| Crozier | Patrick Ryecart | Randolf Kronberg |
| Matrona Kani | Alibe Parsons | Daniela Arden |
| Frax | Trevor Laird | Arnim André-Rohleder |
| Lukoser | Thomas Branch | Hendrik Wiethase |
| Tuza | Gordon Warnecke | Manou Lubowski |
| mentor | Richard Henry | Werner Abrolat |
publication
In England, a novel version of the story, written by Philip Martin , was published by Target Books in June 1989, with several new scenes being added, including a scene describing Peri and Ycranos surviving the events on Thoros Beta. The title Mindwarp was used for the 4 episodes . In 1993 it was released on VHS , along with the other 10 parts of the storyline, as The Trial of a Time Lord Box Set and on September 29, 2008 a DVD box of all 14 episodes followed under the same title.
In Germany, the 4 episodes were shown in German for the first time from February 7th to 10th, 1995. The episodes were released on DVD on July 29, 2016 as part of the Doctor Who DVD set - The Sixth Doctor: Volume 3 . They received the title Mindwarp .
Trivia
- Actor Deep Roy had an unrecorded guest appearance as an envoy from the planet Posicar in the fourth episode of Mindwarp. Most recently, he played another role in the series in 1977 in the serial The Talons of Weng-Chiang .
Web links
- Mindwarp on the official website of the BBC with photonovel with telesnaps to illustrate the episode
- Mindwarp - Detailed summary in the Doctor Who Reference Guide. (English)
Individual evidence
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