The Trial of a Time Lord II
Confession time: "Mind Warp" is brilliant. I never thought I'd say those words, but the DVD has made me a convert. Now, admittedly, loathing was slung at this story from my direction. However, the passage of time has made me view it in a whole new light. I'm not saying it's perfect by any means. Only I was truly amazed by how much I enjoyed it.
Let me get this out of the way first. The intrusive trial scenes made me want to swear under my breath. You get into the adventure, caught up in the drama, and then--dammit--you're taken right out of it and into those boring as hell courtroom scenes. There's aspects of the trial I do like, but interrupting the flow of a story was wrong on so many levels.
Other than that, the only thing I found marring the production was the Doctor's unexplained change of character. What a revelation the commentary turned out to be! Now it all makes sense. Eric Saward needed his hands smacked for not communicating this fact to Colin Baker and director Ron Jones. He can blame everyone around him, but he was the script editor for Pete's sake.
I always assumed the Doctor's actions were part of the Matrix's evidence having been tampered with. And it does work in that respect. But things should have been made more clearer.
Onto the good stuff of which there is plenty. I love the opening shot of the TARDIS arriving amongst the waves of the very alien Thoros Beta. The groundbreaking technology used to make this strange world come to life is still impressive to this day. Also of note are the atmospheric and well-realized sets, which, for once, aren't overlit and are nice and moody.
I'd never quite noticed before, but I think "Mind Warp" contains one of the finest incidental music scores from the 80s. I was struck how terribly good it was throughout.
Nicola Bryant is fantastic in her last story, and writer Philip Martin gives her a lot of good material. Although she was sometimes ill-served, Peri has always been one of my favorite companions. I can't even begin to express how devastated I was watching for the first time when she was killed off. It was one of those moments when I was digging my fingers into a chair, heart pounding, willing the Doctor to rescue her in time. No lie--I cried my eyes out.
Peri's death is one of THE most shocking and emotional moments of the Classic Series. Watching the story after so long, I felt myself tearing up all over again. What an absolute shame they had to go and retcon the whole thing at the end of the trial. It's almost as bad (if not worse) as all those false prophecies that Rose and Donna would die in their respective final stories.
Say what you like about his over the top performance, but Brian Blessed is great fun as King Yrcanos. I simply can't imagine anyone else playing the part. And how wonderful is Nabil Shaban as Sil? I can't wait for the "Mission to Magnus" audio adaptation to come out!
Let me get this out of the way first. The intrusive trial scenes made me want to swear under my breath. You get into the adventure, caught up in the drama, and then--dammit--you're taken right out of it and into those boring as hell courtroom scenes. There's aspects of the trial I do like, but interrupting the flow of a story was wrong on so many levels.
Other than that, the only thing I found marring the production was the Doctor's unexplained change of character. What a revelation the commentary turned out to be! Now it all makes sense. Eric Saward needed his hands smacked for not communicating this fact to Colin Baker and director Ron Jones. He can blame everyone around him, but he was the script editor for Pete's sake.
I always assumed the Doctor's actions were part of the Matrix's evidence having been tampered with. And it does work in that respect. But things should have been made more clearer.
Onto the good stuff of which there is plenty. I love the opening shot of the TARDIS arriving amongst the waves of the very alien Thoros Beta. The groundbreaking technology used to make this strange world come to life is still impressive to this day. Also of note are the atmospheric and well-realized sets, which, for once, aren't overlit and are nice and moody.
I'd never quite noticed before, but I think "Mind Warp" contains one of the finest incidental music scores from the 80s. I was struck how terribly good it was throughout.
Nicola Bryant is fantastic in her last story, and writer Philip Martin gives her a lot of good material. Although she was sometimes ill-served, Peri has always been one of my favorite companions. I can't even begin to express how devastated I was watching for the first time when she was killed off. It was one of those moments when I was digging my fingers into a chair, heart pounding, willing the Doctor to rescue her in time. No lie--I cried my eyes out.
Peri's death is one of THE most shocking and emotional moments of the Classic Series. Watching the story after so long, I felt myself tearing up all over again. What an absolute shame they had to go and retcon the whole thing at the end of the trial. It's almost as bad (if not worse) as all those false prophecies that Rose and Donna would die in their respective final stories.
Say what you like about his over the top performance, but Brian Blessed is great fun as King Yrcanos. I simply can't imagine anyone else playing the part. And how wonderful is Nabil Shaban as Sil? I can't wait for the "Mission to Magnus" audio adaptation to come out!