Customer Reviews

Doctor Who - Kinda [VHS]

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Kinda", first broadcast in 1982 (not 1975 - how did Amazon come up with that?) as part of season 19, is easily one of the best Peter Davison adventures, if not the entire series. A race of telepathic people, the Kinda, are in turn using and being used by a Terran survey team, all the while trying to avoid the foretold 'second coming' of an ancient and terrible evil, the Mara. Although it seems simplistic, the telling of the story is quite original and, like other recent adventures, geared more in a classic science-fiction vein. Ultimately, however, the whole thing is based around the concepts of Buddhism.

Sound strange? It is. But it's some of the best script-writing "Doctor Who" ever saw, with crisp, memorable lines and a villain whose horror is based not in how it attacks people, but how it takes them over. In truth, the sequel - "Snakedance" - is perhaps easier to watch, but "Kinda" has the real brilliance.

With the companions mostly out of the way (Nyssa almost totally absent, Tegan seeming to be pivotal but later sidelined, and Adric swapping allegiances) the bulk of the heroism is left up to Peter Davison. But that's no problem - Davison delivers his first solid performance as the Doctor, backed by an unusually superb guest cast. Nerys Hughes' Dr. Todd makes a great surrogate companion, while Simon Rouses mentally disturbed Hindle completely steals every scene he's in. With all this greatness, how can the story possibly fail? It doesn't. Excluding a couple of embarrassing moments, most notably the famous 'rubber snake' at the end, "Kinda" is four of the most absorbing "Doctor Who" episodes, and - unlike many others - will leave you thinking after you've finished watching.

When I read a review for "Kinda," all I heard was that Janet Fielding was real great in it and such praise like that. So, when I watched it, I found (to my delight) that most of the companions really didn't do much in this story. Nyssa mainly sleeps though the adventure in the TARDIS, Tegan has weird dreams and gets possessed, and Adric is trapped in the dome with the psychos. Who, in my opinion, really shines in this story is Peter Davison. While he gave a great performance in "Castrovalva," he had not established what his Doctor was going to be like. In "Kinda," we get our first look at the Fifth Doctor's personae. Doctor Todd is another outstanding character in the story, and is the Doctor's stand-in companion during this adventure. There's of course little things like huge rubber snakes that strain your suspended disbelief, but that's part of Doctor Who. Any fan of the Fifth Doctor or Peter Davison should watch this.

AS we wind our way into the final two years or so of Doctor WHO DVD releases, There are still a few releases that fit the old adage of "Saving the Best for Last" or near last. While there are still two more Fifth Doctor episodes to go after Kinda and Snakedance, These are the last truly significant Peter Davison episodes to come to DVD (With all do respect to Frontios fans).
While Caves, Earthshock and Mawdryn get most of the praise for being the best of the 5Th Doctor's era, Kinda is equally worthy of the title of "Classic" and is one of Davison's best if not one of Doctor Who's best. This is by no means the run of the mill doctor who episodes. There are no cyberman or ice warriors hear nor are there the one hit wonder monster. No, here the Doctor, and perhaps even the viewer, face the worst enemy of all.... the Enemy within. The malevolent force known as the "Mara" hides in the dark corners of the universe and perhaps worse the dark corners of the mind looking for it's next victim or should I say conduit through which it can manifest itself into our realm...for reasons that are pure evil.
Christopher Bailey's brilliant script is dark and scary and gets under your skin and the more you watch the deeper it sinks. The whole cast shine here (even Mathew Waterhouse) but the star of the show is Janet Feilding as companion Tegan who is the unwilling host for the maniacal Mara's re-awakening. The music and sounds are keep to a minimum which only adds to the tension; Most likely the decision of the fantastic Dr. Who Director Peter Grimwade who really orchestrates this masterpiece.
Be warned this episode is not for everyone or the casual Dr. Who viewer and it is certainly not for children (That was the only knock against this episode when it first aired). I wish I could compare it to another Dr. Who episode but there are really none like it other than it's sequel Snakedance. I have met some Who fans that said they just didn't "get it" but I have known more who that say they will never forget it. I would listen to the later buy it. Even if you don't like it the first time wait a while and watch it again and then again. Each time it will leave you with something different... something in the dark recesses of your mind...something waiting for you..waiting to strike....

A sublime piece of Who! Highly original, thought provoking and totally unnerving! Rich with allusions from Christianity (the snake, the apple & the garden) and steeped in Buddhism, "Kinda" is a wonderful tale. On one level it is a critique of British colonialism. However it is also full of references to madness, dreams and the dark places of the mind; the story's "monster", the Mara, is a manifestation of all the above. It's good to see an almost purely supernatural enemy. The climax, when the Mara appears in its true form, is a bit of a letdown effects wise, but is still an engaging, tense moment. Peter Davison as the Doctor and Janet Fielding as Tegan both get the opportunity to shine and mature in their roles, which they do so admirably. Nerys Hughes (Todd) and Richard Todd (Sanders) are both famous British actors guest starring, but they are overshadowed by Simon Rouse, whose performance as the mentally disturbed Hindle is exceptional. The dream sequences and visions of the future are brilliant and frightening scenes; the comic touches, such as the Doctor being called an idiot by the wise woman because he can talk, are refreshing and don't take the story away from the serious nature of its content. It's not a mindless story - you are made to think - but in the end it's rewarding. A must have piece of Dr Who.

This is about as good as it gets - fantastic dialogue, brilliant acting (most of the cast are in The Bill now...how bizarre) and a clever premise. Ok - the snake effects are poor but if you're watching Doctor Who for good special effects, you're missing the point.

The cast is great, there are some great lines in this story! The cliffhangers have a lot to be desired,but that not the point.The snake of the Mara is a fake ,but who cares! If you watch this series for special effects you'll be disappointed! I watch the series to understand the Doctor and his companions better! Besides it's not TV anymore! Overall one of my favorites with Peter Davison and the companions! If you watch Nyssa ,you'll be disappointed ! Nyssa hardly appears in this episode of the series!

"Paradise, isn't it? The sun shines, the birds sing, food grows on trees?" On the lush forest world planet S14 (Deva Loka), the Doctor and Adric run into an Earth military expedition consisting of Colonel Saunders, Security Officer Hindle, and Dr. Todd, the surviving members of a former six-person mission on whether or not to colonize Kinda. The forest world concept is borrowed from Ursula LeGuin's 1970's story The World For World Is Forest, which was an indirect protest against the US presence in Vietnam.

Saunders is a typical imperialist type, dismissing the Kinda people as primitives and ignorant savages. He also quite the authoritarian. "Too many opinions! Meet a few difficulties and suddenly, everyone has an opinion. That's how things fall apart!" Todd, though, thinks the Kinda aren't primitive. She thinks they are telepathic. Hindle, though, is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and as soon as he's left in charge, he snaps, deciding that the trees and vegetation are the enemy and decides to enact the self-destruct sequence to their dome.

But Saunders returns after an encounter with the Kinda by opening the box of jhana, and far from being "the old red-faced one who shouts", is a diffident, nice old man who smiles more and is polite.

In a surreal sequence, Tegan falls asleep under a set of wind chimes, and has a very weird dream. She sees an elderly couple playing chess, the woman telling her "You my dear can't possibly exist." They debate upon whether she exists. "Besides, how do you I know that what you think you see is what [I] think [I] see?" Then, a tall ghoulish skeletal man appears and offers her out of the dream, if she'd loan him her body. She wakes up, and is quite changed in personality. And she boasts a new snake tattoo on her right arm.

The Kinda are a peaceful people, dressed in Pacific Islander type skirts. They are telepathic, but a select few have voice, such as the wise blind old woman Panna, and her disciple, the preteen Karuna. "No predators, no disease, no adverse environmental factors, the climate is constant within a 5 degree range, trees fruit in sequence all year around"...yes, they are the people in their Eden, where there's no sense of a chronological time. But in every Eden, there is a serpent.

The overall idea of the story is how people identify themselves and others by stereotypes and categories, creating the illusion of permanence. But dividing between "among-we" and "not-we" creates a duality (the scene with the two Tegans), which further becomes the source of illusion and suffering.

Tegan's dream experience is full of Buddhist subtexts. The old couple are (billed but not mentioned) as Anicca (the impermanence of things) and Anatta (egolessness), which details the futility of defining one's ego because there is no self, hence the discussion of perception (does Tegan exist?) and ego-identity. And the tall ghoulish man is Dukkha (suffering, insubstantiality).

Karuna's name means "active compassion" in Buddhism, and the Box of Jhana (meditation) is the way the sickness of the world is cured. And the great wheel of time symbolizes the rise and fall of civilizations, "gathering speed through the centuries, crushing everything in its path." And who turns the wheel? The Mara (the lord of death). "He dances to the music of our despair, our suffering is his delight, our madness his meat and drink." The wheel turns because Saunders' expedition wants to colonize Kinda. The timeless circularity of the Kinda lifestyle will end, and the colonialist linear, ordered lifestyle will begin.

The dialogue is top-notch, as is the studio jungle, and the dream sequences involving Tegan. Trivia: Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) only appears in the beginning of Episode 1 and the end of Episode 4 because appearing in all four went beyond the limit of episodes she could appear in per contract. Fortunately, her contract was renewed soonafter.

Nerys Hughes' (Todd) interraction with the Doctor is one of the best things here, but Simon Rouse is a bit OTT as Hindle. Sarah Prince shines out as Karuna, as does Adrian Mills (Aris) whose muted looks of confusion and sadness is well-expressed.

After taking my World Religions class, I finally understood the symbolism in this story. And here, I disagree with the Doctor. For me, paradise can never be too green.

The the Peter Davidson era epsidoes entitled "Kinda" the Doctor, Adric, Tegan and Nyssa have landed on the planet Deva Loka. There Nyssa is resting from a strange illness within the TARDIS and The Doctor, Adric and Tegan are left to wander around the lush tropical world. While searching they discover strange crystals hanging from trees creating strange music whenever touched. Adric has left the crystals only to discover a stange mechanical device that looks like it can have a rider in it. The Doctor notes that it looks like whoever was in it left the saefty of it. Adric shuts the hatch and it starts to move and forces the Doctor and Adric to march.
Tegan has fallen asleep beneath the crystals and she begins to dream dark dreams. Meanwhile a native of the planet a young man pleads with the village elder to help save his brother within a dome. A dome with a sicentifc exploer group who are trying to determine of the planet is capable of colonizing. The Doctor and Adric have been sent to the very dome by the machine. There they blame Adric and The Doctor for what happening to the others within the group. The Doctor and thier chief scientist begin to share notes of what they discovered and Adric is spending time with the Captain in charge of the expidtion. Meanwhile Tegan's dreams have unleashed a being called "Mara" and it wants her body to be free of the hanging crystals. The elder fears the return of the Kinda and ending her and her people's way of life. Only the strange outside with the strange blue box can help them. What is the Mara? What does it want with a body? What is happening to those within the dome? Will the Doctor be able to figure this out and save a planet and its people from an ancient force that wants nothing more then to destroy?

Here we see Peter Davidson trying & failing to turn a very uninteresting story line into something interesting. In an interview later he tells that this whole story was shot late at night & they largely ignored the script. Wonder if the script was better or worse?

Recently having watched this episode for the first time in almost nine years, I was blown away with how well it held up. (The rotten dream sequence towards the end doesn't count, considering the low budget for this show, and can be forgiven.) An Imperialist humanoid race (remarkably similar to the pre-WWI British) is ruthlessly assessing a paradisal world for colonization. The Doctor arrives just in time to prevent a malevolent, non-physical entity called the Mara from exploiting the sure-to-end-deadly conflict between the Kinda (natives) and colonial team, which has become taken over by an insane junior officer bent on total destruction. The Mara's need to feed on the misery of living beings cast an edgy, dangerous shadow on events. I darkly enjoyed the scene where Tegan's reality is denied by a vaguely demonic, chess-playing couple on the psychic plane. Interesting, Adric's increasing liability as a character is showcased by a.) his ability to cause trouble but not end it, and b.) his abusive arrogance directed at others. A must-have.