Product Details

• Actors: William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison
• Writers: Sydney Newman
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: August 24, 1994
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302993628
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #298,321 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The 1968 Doctor Who serial The Mind Robber is a two-fold blessing, because it's not only one of the more engaging story arcs from the program's second season, but also because it's one of the few shows featuring Patrick Troughton as the Doctor that has remained intact since its original BBC broadcast. The five-part story strands the Doctor and companions Jamie (Frazier Hines) and Zoe (Wendy Padbury) in a strange world populated by characters from fiction, including Rapunzel, Blackbeard the Pirate, and Lemuel Gulliver. Controlling this riot of literary personages is a being called The Master (though not the evil Time Lord from subsequent Who seasons), with whom the Doctor must match wits in order to rescue his friends and save the Earth from a sinister plan. A longtime fan favorite brimming with imagination, visual style (despite its limited budget), and an energetic performance by Troughton, The Mind Robber is a welcome inclusion to the growing collection of Doctor Who on DVD. --Paul Gaita

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An underrated story that illustrates the resourcefulness of the Doctor Who series, November 2, 2005

By 

buckbooks (Hillsboro, Oregon USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Doctor Who: The Mind Robber (Story 45) (DVD)

"The Mind Robber" was initially derided by Who critics as mere fantasy when, in fact, the story has a solid science fiction foundation: the brain of an unseen alien intelligence must be fed by the musings of a pulp-fiction writer imprisoned in its service. Turn on the commentary text and many of the production problems that contributed to the unique nature of this story are revealed.

First, the original four-episode story was stretched to five because the previous story, "The Dominators," didn't offer enough material to pad out its planned six episodes and was cut back to five. So the added first installment of "The Mind Robber" had to be improvised on a shoestring budget from existing props and sets. The "great white void" which so distinguishes this story was created specifically because "nothing" was cheap to depict.

Next, actor Frazer Hines contracted chicken pox before shooting on the second episode could begin and had to be temporarily written out of the story. A substitute actor was cast to play Jamie that week with a clever subplot written in to explain his changed appearance.

The story, which may seem an incomprehensible jumble at first, actually follows a very logical set of rules exploring the nature of fiction vs. reality. The storyteller, for example, dictates the action, so the Doctor can change the story by writing it himself, but if he refers to himself in the narrative he will become a fictional character and therefore cease to exist.

The use of literary figures such as Lemuel Gulliver and Cyrano de Bergerac harks back to one of the series' original objectives, to serve as an educational children's program. Gulliver, for instance, speaks in dialogue lifted mostly from Jonathan Swift's novel. So kiddies who think they're watching a low-budget sci-fi serial are actually getting an introductory course in English lit.

This story is a sterling example of the resourcefulness and solid acting that made Doctor Who, particularly the early episodes, such a charming TV series.

Finally, a tip to readers about Customer Reviews: When reading reviews of Doctor Who DVDs, take the time to click on the link "See all customer reviews," with the newest reviews listed first. That way, you get to read the most current reviews of the DVD first rather than the "most helpful," which very often were written years before based on a VHS copy or, God bless his heart, a fan's jaded memory of the story from a TV broadcast.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good And Nostalgic Doctor Who Adventure!!!!!, February 6, 2001

By 

David S. Burt (Memphis, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Doctor Who - The Mind Robber [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is the best Dr. Who episode I've seen with the 2nd Doctor. It's also was the first black & white Dr. Who episode I've seen. I rented this video a few months ago and I really enjoyed it. The episode was somewhat in the realm of the Twilight Zone and Outer Limits in a way, but of course it's Dr. Who, in my opinion is the most creative (and intelligent) science fiction series in television history. I liked both Jamie and Zoe in this one when they get lost in this strange dimension where time and space doesn't exist and fantasies and storybook characters come to life. Doctor #2 was an interesting character, but not as much wit and charm as the Doctors I'm used to seeing like Tom Baker (#4). In all, Mind Robber is so fun to watch, very nostalgic. I recommend this video to fans of both Dr. Who and classic science fiction fans.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars We're nowhere, it's as simple as that, February 24, 2002

By 

Daniel J. Hamlow (Narita, Japan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Doctor Who - The Mind Robber [VHS] (VHS Tape)

One of the most imaginative stories in Doctor Who took place during the notoriously unpreserved Patrick Troughton era. Fortunately, The Mind Robber survived the BBC purges for us to enjoy, and it's bizarrely surreal with a capital biz!

The TARDIS leaves the space-time dimension into a place where anything is possible. "We're nowhere, it's as simple as that." Jamie and Zoe enter nowhere, represented by a blank opaquely white background. The TARDIS breaks up, and they find themselves in a strange land full of life-size toy soldiers, a forest of words, unicorns, a Minotaur, Medusa, Rapunzel, and other characters.

They constantly encounter a British sailor who speaks in a well spoken but extraordinary manner, and the Doctor deduces his identity later.

Riddles and intuition are helpful in this land. And the Third Doctor's explanation to Jo in The Mind Of Evil, "we believe what our minds tell us to," is also apropos here. When Jamie and the Doctor try to rescue Zoe, they hear her voice behind a door without a handle. "When is a door not a door? When it's ajar." The door vanishes, and guess what they find Zoe trapped inside?

Wendy Padbury stands out as Zoe. She is cute as a button, in a glittering black catsuit, hanging for dear life on the disembodied TARDIS console like an exotic ornament. Another time, she has her turn as Emma Peel, using martial arts to overcome the Karkus, a Teutonic comic book superhero. Christopher Robbie (the Karkus), would return in Revenge Of The Cybermen as the Cyberleader. Zoe's inquisitive as the Doctor, while Jamie, protective of her as he was with Victoria, is more cautious. Keirsey would see it as a classic example of a Rational paired with a Guardian. Her analytical mind and memory comes in useful, as she detects an arithmetic progression in the labryinth.

Bernard Horsfall (the British sailor) would appear in two other Who stories (Planet Of The Daleks, The Deadly Assassin).

Debits: the Medusa could have been more convincing, i.e. more frightening (q.v. Clash Of The Titans) and the villain isn't exactly effective. Still, one of the series' greatest moments.