Episode 216: The Mind Robber (2)

Synopsis:

The TARDIS has broken apart, with Zoe and Jamie left clinging to the console. She screams as they see the Doctor drifting away into the darkness, before they descend into a strange mist...

Jamie finds himself alone in a dark forest. As he searches for the others he hears Zoe calling his name, but is suddenly confronted by a Redcoat soldier. The man fires his rifle at him - and he is transformed into a cardboard cut-out.

Zoe comes across a bare stone wall and, when she turns, there is another one trapping her. She sees a door and passes through it into a pitch-black room - only to find herself falling...

These events are being relayed to a monitor in a futuristic control room. A man seated there gives instructions for the Doctor to be found.

He is elsewhere in the forest, being taunted by the calls of his companions coming from different directions. As Jamie sounds the nearest, he orders him to start counting aloud to guide him.

Complaining out loud of how dark it is here, the forest is suddenly illuminated and the Doctor realises that someone must be spying on him.

He hears a strange mechanical sound and the march of heavy boots approach, so takes cover in the fold of a tree. A patrol of life-size clockwork soldiers passes by.

He emerges from hiding - only to be confronted by a man in 18th Century costume, aiming a flintlock pistol at him. His language is strange at first, but he begins speaking English once he hears the Doctor speaks this. The man claims to have sailed from Bristol in the Spring of 1699. He also claims that he knows nothing of this place, save that the Master is in charge and that the Doctor is a wanted man. The figure then vanishes when the Doctor glances away.

He hears a female voice and thinks it may be Zoe - but it proves to be a girl in late Victorian dress. Other children then appear, six in all, of various ages. They begin challenging him with a series of riddles.

The last of these is "What can you make of a sword?", and the eldest boy places one at his throat.

He realises it is an anagram of "words". The children cheer and the boy throws the sword into the air. The Doctor instead catches a large book - a dictionary - as the children run off.

He hears Jamie's voice, close by, and soon finds him - only to see that he is just a cardboard cut-out. Nearby are a safe - locked - and a wishing well. He throws the book into the well, and hears a sinister laugh. An image then appears before him of a mist, with the letters "M" and "T" crossed out. Another image then materialises, of a palmist's hand with the letter "H" crossed out.

Realising that this is a picture puzzle, he works it out as "Jamie. Is. Safe. And. Well". As he says it, however, the cut-out's face disappears.

On a stand are photographs of different facial features, and he must recreate those of his companion from these like a photo-fit. Unfortunately he gets this wrong - and Jamie is reconstituted with a new face. The Doctor produces a hand mirror to show him.

At first he is not sure if this is the real Jamie, until he tells him of what happened in the TARDIS. He is alarmed to learn that the ship broke up.

They then hear Zoe calling for help and are lead to the door in the stone wall. It turns out not to be a real opening, which prompts the Doctor to recall the old riddle of "When is a door not a door? - When it's ajar...".

The wall vanishes and they find Zoe trapped inside a huge glass jar. They release her, and she is shocked to see Jamie's new features.

They determine to get out of this forest, but it seems to go on for miles. Jamie suggests climbing one of the trees to get a better view and see if there is a way out.

On climbing up, he reports that the trees are actually shaped like letters of the alphabet, spelling out well known phrases and sayings.

He has seen the edge of the forest, however, and starts to guide them towards it when the stranger reappears. As they talk, the Doctor hears the clockwork soldiers approach once more. 

They take refuge in the hollows of the tree letters, urging the man not to give them away.

However he does not seem to register the soldiers' presence, and so unwittingly allows them to be found - to the delight of the observer in the control room.

The soldiers shepherd the Doctor and his companions into a black void at the edge of the forest then withdraw. They hear the whinnying of a horse, and Jamie has a flashback to his recent nightmare in the TARDIS. 

They see a unicorn, which thunders towards them...

Data:

Written by Peter Ling 

Recorded: Friday 28th June 1968 - Television Centre Studio TC3

First broadcast: 5.20pm, Saturday 21st September 1968.

Ratings: 6.5 million / AI 49

VFX: Jack Kine and Bernard Wilkie 

Designer: Evan Hercules 

Director: David Maloney

Guest cast: Emrys Jones (The Master), Hamish Wilson (Jamie), Bernard Horsfall (Stranger), Barbara Loft, Sylvestra Le Touzel, Timothy Horton, Christopher Reynalds, David Reynalds, Martin Langley (Children), Philip Ryan (Redcoat), Paul Alexander, Ian Hines, Richard Ireson (Clockwork Soldiers) 

Critique:

As we pointed out last time, other than the magnetic storm business, this episode pretty much follows the outline of Peter Ling's original draft for his opening instalment. There's the forest of words where the Doctor first finds himself, the meeting with the stranger, a set of riddles to solve, a cardboard cut-out Jamie, the rescue of Zoe from a jar, and the cliffhanger with the unicorn. 

Sherwin suggested replacing the riddle-setters with children, and Ling based these roughly on the Bastable children from Edith Nesbit's 1899 novel The History of the Treasure Seekers - Dora, Oswald, Dicky, Alice, Noel and Horace Octavius. He also suggested that it should be a soldier who held the sword to the Doctor's throat.

This particular puzzle was only added during rewrites in May 1968.

Ling had followed Sherwin's advice about making the faceless creatures in the forest soldiers instead, deciding on wind-up clockwork ones. 

It was specified that only their legs and feet, or their shako hats, with built-in lamp, should be seen until late in the episode, when their true nature would be revealed.

In his original draft, the stranger in 18th Century costume was to have said he was born in 1726. This was the date of publication of Gulliver's Travels. Despite using made up language which many might recognise from the book, the stranger's identity would not be revealed until the following episode.

You'll note that Jamie was always going to end up a cardboard cut-out in this episode - and it was a stroke of luck that this incident was included in the script, and that the Doctor and his companions were in a fantasy realm where anything could happen...

The main filming for this episode took place on the evening of Sunday 9th June, at Kenley Aerodrome in Surrey, not far from Croydon. This was for the sequence involving the unicorn.

A white pony had been requested, and the director was dismayed to find that he had been sent a light brown one instead. Perhaps the name 'Goldy' was a bit of a giveaway... Too late to get a replacement or to defer the filming, the only recourse was to make up the pony to appear white. All the make-up they had failed to complete the job, so they had to resort to a visit to a nearby RAF base to borrow some "Blanco", which was used to whiten parts of the dress uniform such as the belt.

A fake horn was attached to Goldy's forehead using a harness hidden by its mane. Due to the lengthy set-up, the actual filming didn't get underway until 2am.

Further filming took place at Ealing on Thursday 13th June, for the sequence with Zoe trapped in the glass jar.

After providing voice work only for the opening instalment, Emrys Jones joined the cast this week - even though we wouldn't see the Master clearly until the third episode. He used two tones of voice - a version of his own for when the Master is himself, and a staccato version when under mental control.

At first he took his assignment very seriously - until he saw how much fun Troughton and Hines had in rehearsals.

Also joining rehearsals were a group of children from various stage schools. Originally Barbara Loft was to have worn an older style of Victorian dress, but this was replaced with an outfit which Jenny Agutter had worn earlier in the year for a TV adaptation of The Railway Children. Just two weeks before getting the role, her mother had written to the BBC to complain about how unsuitable Doctor Who was for children...

Frazer Hines was taken ill early in the week, and sent home by the BBC doctor. By the Wednesday, it was confirmed that he had contracted chicken pox from his young nephews who had been staying with him. He would therefore be unavailable for Friday's recording session. That same day, actor Hamish Wilson was contacted at the office where he was working, asked to join rehearsals the following day. He had worked extensively in Scotland and was a fan of the programme, especially enjoying The Highlanders due to its setting.

Sherwin was forced to adapt the script to accommodate the change of actor - helped enormously by the cardboard cut-out idea. He simply had to add the business of the photo-fit facial reconstruction to what was already there. The alternative would have been to have to omit Jamie all together and try to reassign his role in proceedings, which would have meant a major overhaul. It was agreed with Hines that he could film a new opening to the episode during the recording of the fifth episode.

During the afternoon of the recording day, a photocall was staged for the Clockwork Soldiers and for Emrys Jones, in only partial costume and make-up, on the forest set.

Wilson and Wendy Padbury also recorded voice tracks, to be played in later as they called out to the Doctor.

The opening episode caption rolled over a reprise of the filmed ending to the previous instalment, to which a new insert of Troughton was added. Voices were echoed on the forest set, and reuse was made of the "Thal wind" sound effect, first heard in The Dead Planet.

Bernard Horsfall staged his disappearance entirely in studio, without the need for any recording break, by swiftly (no pun intended) moving out of shot as the camera looked the other way.

The throwing up of the sword and the catching of the dictionary were also achieved live in studio, without recourse to a break.

Padbury simply dropped down out of camera view when falling inside the darkened building.

For the sequence where she is first seen in the jar, an image of the wall was faded out, to be replaced by the footage from Ealing of her within the vessel. The filmed jar does not match with the studio prop, as it is too short.

One recording break allowed for Richard Hallifax to be seen to climb up the inside of one of the trees. He had been hired as Frazer Hines' double, a role he had previously undertaken on location for The Enemy of the World. This allowed for Wilson to get ready standing on top of one of the letters - viewing a model of the forest of words. Unfortunately the model fails to match with the set, as the letters are far too wide and shallow.

The Master's control room featured three television monitors which were fed shots from other sets.

Emrys Jones was only seen sitting with his back to the camera as he watched these.

An earlier recording break had allowed Wilson to take the place of the cardboard cut-out.

Only three of the faces which make up the photo-fit board are known - Hines, Wilson and David Maloney. The fourth may be another member of the production team, or one of the actors playing the soldiers.

The picture puzzles were achieved through the superimposition of captions, of the letters "M" and "T" crossed out over looped footage of fog, and the palmistry hand with the "H" crossed through.

The final recording break allowed the cast to move from the forest set to a black void area, to be confronted by the unicorn. To save on having to reuse this set, the first three scenes of Episode 3 were also recorded, using a cardboard cut-out of Goldy.

There was also time to record the opening titles to all the remaining episodes.

Episode 1 was always going to be a hard act to follow, and here we get to see Peter Ling's story as it was originally intended to start.

We are now properly in the Land of Fiction, which is populated by living versions of characters from literature as well as figures from the nursery, like toy soldiers.

The Doctor quickly realises that this is a world of words. The forest is made of them and he has to use them to work out the puzzles he is set, both by the Master and by the children. A sword is literally transformed into a book of them.

Life-size living dolls have always been a creepy image, and the forest setting is a suitably sinister one - a simple set which is used effectively.

Zoe barely features, so it's left very much to Troughton to carry the episode until rejoined by Jamie.

This is chiefly what this episode is remembered for - the replacement of Hines with Wilson.

As mentioned, the fantastical nature of this story meant that the idea of Jamie being saddled with a different face for a week or so could easily be accommodated by the narrative, saving the script editor any major headaches. That he came up with this solution in probably less than a day - judging from when Hines' illness was confirmed to Wilson being brought in - is to be applauded.

Considering that he only had one rehearsal day before having to go into studio, and essay a part which already existed, Wilson does a splendid job. It is obviously noticeable that it isn't only Jamie's face that has changed. Hines was Yorkshire born and his Scots accent came from listening to relatives, whilst Wilson was Glaswegian.

We haven't said much about him but, as the arguments over The Dominators show, Sherwin was quite a controversial character in the history of the series. He will work wonders patching up problems with the sixth season - but often they were problems of his own making. He had exacting standards, and caused several stories to be abandoned, sometimes late in the day. This was combined with an almost combative nature. He was very blunt-speaking and seems to have had little time for tact and diplomacy. Watching him interviewed for some of the Troughton DVD extras, he can come across as arrogant - though he does tend to give credit where it's due. He was basically a no-nonsense, honest and up-front sort of man.

Around this time, the line between producer and script editor was becoming blurred as Peter Bryant took more of a back seat and Sherwin took on more of his responsibilities. Bryant was looking for an exit, as was Sherwin - who had only taken on his role as a temporary measure, hence his employing Terrance Dicks as an assistant who could be groomed to replace him. Bryant and Sherwin were nicknamed "Bryant and May", after the popular brand of safety matches, due to Sherwin becoming co-producer on the series to all intents and purposes.

Several writers and directors have claimed that if you wanted any work out of the pair, it was best to get it done before lunchtime as - like most of the BBC at the time - lunches tended to be liquid, and prolonged.

Sherwin will, of course, go on to become the producer of Doctor Who - though the one with the shortest tenure, with only two stories / 14 episodes to his credit.

Peter Ling novelised his story for Target, and elected to add more literary fantasy. He had already separated the story from the ongoing narrative of the season by having the TARDIS escape an unspecified eruption of Vesuvius, rather than use the televised version. In this episode, Zoe was to have initially found herself dressed like Alice in Wonderland, and it was down the rabbit hole she fell. Later, the clockwork soldiers were to have formed a firing squad on the Master's orders, before leaving the Doctor and his companions to face the unicorn.

Trivia:

• The ratings remain stable this week, but the appreciation figure drops below the 50 mark.
• At only 21' 39", this is still the longest episode of this story.
• This is the first of four roles in the series for Bernard Horsfall, all directed by David Maloney. He will be back later this season as a Time Lord jurist in The War Games. Later, he will play the Thal leader Taron in Planet of the Daleks, before portraying another Time Lord - Chancellor Goth - in The Deadly Assassin. Or is it the same Time Lord...?
• An early TV role for Hamish Wilson was an episode of The Vital Spark, a comedy about the crew of an old Clyde Puffer. Remade twice, his is the only episode to survive from the original B&W series.
• Sylvestra Le Touzel had her name misspelt as "Le Tozel" on the credits, whilst the Reynald brothers had theirs spelt as "Reynolds".
• Le Touzel will go on to enjoy a successful acting career in TV, film and stage, her first really big role being in the BBC's 1983 adaptation of Mansfield Park. She is married to Owen Teale, who appeared in Vengeance on Varos and the Torchwood episode Countrycide.
• Richard Ireson will be back in a couple of months, playing Axus in The Krotons.
• Ian Hines is the brother of Frazer Hines. For many years fandom got very confused about him - claiming him to be his cousin - or that Wilson was his cousin.
• Confronted by the Redcoat, Jamie is heard once again to give his battle cry of "Craig an Tuirc" - which translates as "The Boar's Rock", a rallying point for the Clan MacLaren, situated above Loch Voil.
• As all the characters are fictional, the Redcoat is presumably from Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped - a copy of which we will see later in the Master's book room.
• One of the puzzles is "Where was Moses when the lights went out?". This owes its origins to a music hall joke, with the answer being simply "In the dark!" - though one version ran "Down in the cellar eating sauerkraut!". Mark Twain used the "In the dark" version in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
• The "Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me..." riddle is an old playground joke, deriving from a nursery rhyme - intended to trap someone who hasn't heard it before into being pinched. It was used as the title of a 1921 novel, and later by thriller writer Ruth Rendell.