Customer Reviews

'doctor Who': the Mind Robber (BBC Audio)

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Great story, but did not like the narration at all. Derek Jacobi is fine doing In The Night Garden, but on this audio, his voice sounds annoying with a most irritating way of speaking words with a 'ka' sound, like 'quality' or 'queue'. Whenever he articulated a word beginning with a hard c or a k or a q, I cringed at the sound. It sounded like he was overproducing saliva and was spitting when he talked or that he was hacking up phlegm whenever he pronounced certain words. I've noticed how some older people sound like this when they talk and it isn't pleasant to listen to. The Mind Robber really needed someone younger or who sounds young, to read it, and Derek Jacobi just sounds too old. It was particularly noticeable on disc two and three. The first one was ok, the fourth bearable and the fifth disc was all right and I was able to just concentrate on the story and try and ignore the irritations his voice caused to my listening experience.

I've heard some excellently narrated audiobooks in the range of Doctor Who Target books novelisations, namely from the likes of Peter Davison (Castrovalva), David Troughton (Abominable Snowmen) Katy Manning (The Three Doctors) Rula Lenska (The Happiness Patrol), Tom Baker (Pyramids of Mars), Nerys Hughes (Awakening) but this was a major letdown. I loved the tv episodes of The Mind Robber and was looking forwards to this audiobook version, but was very disappointed with it and usually I find these audios most satisfying. I wish they could have got Frazer Hines or Wendy Padbury to read this, or even David Troughton as he is excellent at doing the 2nd Doctor's voice, but please, not Derek Jacobi for any more or it would put me off buying.

One of the most unusual of the stories of the second Doctor (played by Patrick Troughton), this is Peter Ling's adaptation of his own TV serial.

This book varies slightly from the original version: on TV, it followed on directly from 'The Dominators' with a volcanic eruption on the planet Dulkis. In the novel, the TARDIS crew are present at the eruption of Mount Vesuvius (an era far better explored in the audio play 'Fires of Vulcan'). Using an emergency unit that pushes the TARDIS out of reality, the travellers find themselves in a white void where something tries to lure them out...

They find themselves in a strange land, populated by characters from myth and literature. And the ruler of this land has plans for the Doctor.

While the story is OK in this novelised form, the original story is so striking that this effort pales in comparison. Watch the video, and perhaps read this book as a second choice.