Story: Mind of Evil
Written By: Don Houghton
Length: 6 Episodes
Year: 1971
"Mind of Evil" is a fantastic story. It is about a machine which is used to extract the negative emotions in criminals, a more humane punishment than execution. But the machine can also be used to kill, by taking people's worst fears and using it against them. Its a very cerebral idea, and it works wonderfully.
Pertwee and Delgado are perfect when put against each other. The two really get to showcase their rapport as hero and nemesis in this story, more so than in Terror of the Autons. We also get to see that The Master's worst fear is the Doctor. The Keller Machine makes him see the Doctor hovering over him an laughing.
The story is filled with great imagery and ideas, all of which are executed quite well. For a 6-parter, it doesn't feel all that padded either. For many years, due to the junking policy, this story was only held by the BBC in Black and White. That has recently been rectified, and the Doctor Who Restoration Team has restored it to full color, using the chroma dots process on all but the first episode (which had not dots to speak of), and frame by frame recoloring the first episode. The hand colored episode has more stable colors, but that type of colorization always looks a little odd (though they did a great job). The chroma dots process looks more natural, but it does come with the less stable colors. Still wonderful to see this story restored as best as possible to it's original color.
NEXT TIME: A Friendly Invasion
Written By: Don Houghton
Length: 6 Episodes
Year: 1971
"Mind of Evil" is a fantastic story. It is about a machine which is used to extract the negative emotions in criminals, a more humane punishment than execution. But the machine can also be used to kill, by taking people's worst fears and using it against them. Its a very cerebral idea, and it works wonderfully.
The story is filled with great imagery and ideas, all of which are executed quite well. For a 6-parter, it doesn't feel all that padded either. For many years, due to the junking policy, this story was only held by the BBC in Black and White. That has recently been rectified, and the Doctor Who Restoration Team has restored it to full color, using the chroma dots process on all but the first episode (which had not dots to speak of), and frame by frame recoloring the first episode. The hand colored episode has more stable colors, but that type of colorization always looks a little odd (though they did a great job). The chroma dots process looks more natural, but it does come with the less stable colors. Still wonderful to see this story restored as best as possible to it's original color.
NEXT TIME: A Friendly Invasion
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