The Mind Robber part 4

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This topic contains 7 replies, has 7 voices, and was last updated by  sierea 9 years, 7 months ago.

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  • #27175
    Craig @craig
    Emperor

    The Doctor and Zoe escape the dangers of the labyrinth and make their way to The Citadel. Zoe proves she has greater skills than a WWF wrestler. Hulk Hogan wouldn’t stand a chance.

    Meanwhile, Jamie is under threat of discovery at any moment. But our heroes are soon reunited and finally confront ‘The Master’.

    The year 2000 is the far future, and yet ‘The Master’ uses the telegraph and ticker-tape. Still, if it ain’t broke…

    Part 1: http://www.thedoctorwhoforum.com/forums/topic/the-mind-robber-part-1/
    Part 2: http://www.thedoctorwhoforum.com/forums/topic/the-mind-robber-part-2/
    Part 3: http://www.thedoctorwhoforum.com/forums/topic/the-mind-robber-part-3/

    #27208
    wolfweed @wolfweed

    The fight between the Karkus and Zoe is ever so slightly camp, but he is a ‘strip cartoon’ character.

    ”You will be mince-meats!”

    The Doctor’s Karkus impression is uncannily similar to Salamander’s accent!

    The Master has Jamie and Zoe’s dossiers. Is he going to interview them? Jamie: Hobbies – Bagpiping; daydreaming about Scotland; pretty, young ladies. Zoe: Hobbies – Maths, being right, fight lessons. I hope that Zoe hasn’t  got any embarrassing stuff on her Facebook page…

    It transpires it’s the Doctor who’s up for a job and it’s already in the bag. It seems that the Master is in some sort of Atlas/Omega type situation.

    Captain Jack Harkwho? http://www.victorianweb.org/genre/childlit/harkaway.html

    The Crushing Cliffhanger – One of my favourite moments in all Who!

     

     

    #27211
    ConfusedPolarity @confusedpolarity

    @wolfweed – I’m never sure what I find funnier about the fight – its overall camp silly quality or the Doctor’s hand-wringing interjections – suggesting to Ze Karkus that they talk things over and urging him not to do anything rash…. I do love the Second Doctor!

    His casual dismissal of the technobabble weapon caused most of the trouble in the first place, and how clever is it that the one person to understand exactly what’s going on is the one who in the end can’t bring himself to say one of the characters doesn’t exist because he’s never actually heard of him? What a pity he never had time to study those strip cartoons when visiting the year 2000!

    I don’t think I’ve praised Bernard Horsfall yet, and I should’ve done: he’s completely charming as Gulliver, and I love his exchanges with Jamie here, completely oblivious to how frustrating he’s being.  You can almost see the steam coming out of Frazer Hines’ ears! And of course we finally get to see the Master for ourselves.

    Now it makes sense why his voice has been changing. The Master and a great intelligence in one place, we’re being spoiled and as for Captain Jack Harkaway – how come I’d never noticed that on before? He’s unexpectedly sweet – ever so charming and eager until there’s a threat and something else kicks in.

    There’s been no “padding” or problem with pacing at any point for me but now everything’s really kicking off; Jamie and Zoe’s escape attempt going wrong, the Doctor squaring up to the Master and apparently stuck for options…. there’s not a single weak cliffhanger in The Mind Robber.

    Oh, and how good is that moment when the Doctor finishes off the Master’s invitation for him? “Said the spider to the fly” has never sounded so scary!

    #27218
    Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip

    Doctor Who – educating small children in Classical History since the 1960’s. 🙂

    I’m still not certain about Gulliver. He seems to be wandering about in search of a plot – not part of a test, or anything, just generally wandering. Bit like the Doctor, really…

    Year 2000, Hourly Telepress? I suspect most youngsters watching this nowadays would assume Zoe was talking about some web-comic. The fight, however, is in the very finest tradition of the WWF, complete with fluffed lines. And Troughton’s hand-wringing is absolutely perfect. Jon Pertwee would have socked the Karkus with Venusian Akido, but not his earlier self. 😉

    Does every single door in this place creak menacingly? Is there, as @phaseshift suggested a couple of weeks back, an Igor on the staff?

    I agree with @confusedpolarity – Bernard Horsfall is utterly charming as Gulliver. When you compare Gulliver with Chancellor Goth in The Deadly Assassin, you can see how good an actor he was.

    So, finally we get to see the Master. Who’s absolutely delighted to see them; hurray, retirement! Very odd make-up – it looks like an ‘old man’ make-up illustration in an old textbook. I wonder if they were trying to make him look like a book illustration?

    Okay, trapped in the library. I really do get the impression Steven Moffat has watched this story. I’m not surprised if he did, it’s a great story. I’m genuinely enjoying it – not a duff episode to date and remarkably pad-free considering that they had to add an extra episode at the last moment.

    How terrible – not only are Jamie and Zoe about to be squashed in a big novel, it’s a French novel! Le moment de suspense!

    #27223
    ScaryB @scaryb

    Go Zoe!
    The de riguer piercing scream, plus she could do maths faster than the Doctor – and now she reveals Emma Peel style fighting skills. Not to mention her ability to rock a sparkly lurex jumpsuit! No wonder she was my fav companion.

    It’s interesting that the Karkus continues to exist. The Doctor can’t wish him away as he doesn’t know that he doesn’t exist. Zoe does tho – perhaps like the Doctor with Gulliver she chooses to keep him around.

    I love all the meta refs about the Doctor and his companions being threatened with being turned into works of fiction. The Doctor rejects the choice of a violent solution to the medusa problem, using his own mirror* instead of the sword which is temptingly provided.

    LOL @bluesqueakpip – Jamie and Zoe trapped in a French novel – oh la la! Diving into/getting lost in a good book takes on a new level of meaning!
    Bernard Horsfall – always great to watch. I presume he’s still talking mainly in dialogue from Gulliver’s Travels?

    *And the mirror the Doctor was ostentatiously flashing about in previous episodes (to show Jamie his rearranged face) comes into its owm.

    #27298
    PhaseShift @phaseshift
    Time Lord

    I was determined to catch up before we launch into the last episode. I can’t really do much but echo others here though.

    The Karkus is really camp as@wolfweed suggests, but I’m also sure that wolfweed would agree that does reflect a certain campness in US comics in the 60s that was in vogue (the superheroes were “swinging” along with bits of London at the time). It’s actually quite rare for Doctor Who to make the Doctor (or companion) reference “Pop Culture” of the future in an invented way, and I always thought that was an omission in the latest series, given the writers. I always thought that a slight running gag with an invented catchphrase from some notional “holo-vid” from the 51st century which the Doctor found hilarious, and no-one else understood, would be a great little boon to show how alien or out-of-time he was. Perhaps we could launch a competition?

    @scaryb, I actually wrote in my notes that Zoe must have taken fighting lessons from Mrs Gilllyfl…. , sorry – Emma Peel. In a slight aside, can I compliment Troughton on his ability to make his clothes look delightfully dishevelled? This is a sign of a great man, I tell myself, with my ability to reduce a £600 suit to tramp status in 15 minutes flat. 😉

    @confusedpolarity @bluesqueakpip

    Bernard Horsfall is really enjoyable. I love the way he starts answers by looking into the distance and almost reciting from his story. Then gradually tailing off, and looking almost disturbed, or confused by what he’s saying.

    #27386
    ScaryB @scaryb

    @phaseshift – love your idea of the Doctor doing that eccentric uncle thing of quoting from TV programmes/comics/holo-vids we’ve never heard of. Who would be a comic book superhero to a Timelord? Something like the Shakri perhaps… or maybe he’s more of a Viz man… which would probably end up with the Slitheen, so let’s not go there 😉

    And Troughton was great at being the “raggedy man”. I remember a post you wrote a while back, mainly about Matt, but it works for a lot of the Doctors, about how he could outwardly seem to be the gawkiest guy in the room, while in fact he’s actually the coolest. Works for me!

    #29593
    sierea @sierea

    Just want to point out that Zoe just wanted to sound smart. With an average of 52 weeks in a year and 5000 words a week for 25 years that amounts to YES over half a million words, but actually being 6.5 million words exactly. Which would account for the look the Dr. then gave her, “Oh God, shes doing math again.”

    So I’m faster than The Dr, faster than the BBC and faster than nearly fifty years of television viewers.

    They called the Aztecs, Mexicans. #Mental Evolution.

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