Review of Parts 5 to 8 of The Trial of a Timelord.
The season long overarching story The Trial of a Timelord continues with this second segment spanning parts 5 to 8 which is known as Mindwarp.
While the previous story The Mysterious Planet had the huge plus of finally portraying the 6th Doctor in a warm, heroic and likable way the main negative aspect of this story is that it sadly deviates back to an unpleasant characterisation of The Doctor. It is unclear within the story whether the Doctor's behaviour is deliberate or the effects of undergoing a 'mindwarp' after an experiment. Either way the outcome is Colin Baker is back to portraying The Doctor as an unlikable, uncaring, selfish narcissist who acts in quite a villainous way in the middle part of the story. It is really disappointing. Thank goodness the trial scenes, the first episode and the final episode of this story has a far more positively portrayed Doctor continuing some of the work done in the earlier story. It seems though that writer Phillip Martin and others behind the scenes such as Eric Saward and John Nathan-Turner had an obsession with trying to make the Doctor 'dark' and unstable which they impose in the middle 2 episodes. It is a very bad idea in my opinion and nearly ruins the story. Flashing back and fore to the trial scenes is a big plus in this story as it shows The Doctor is horrified and disowns his bad behaviour.
The story we are shown as trial evidence depicts The Doctor and Peri on Thoros-Beta where they encounter scientific experiments for mind transfer as well as slimy villain Sil who they have met before in Vengeance on Varos. They also meet King Yrcanos and a number of other characters who are all engaged in fighting one another. It is a mess of a story with too many ideas, too many characters and too many silly events. Writer Martin fails to imbue the script with enough subtlety or intelligence to make this a really good serial but there is plenty of fun and lots of little things which make this not a bad adventure at all overall.
The plus points are: The first episode which is interesting and entertaining. The fun effect that makes the alien world look different. The wise re-use of the fantastic model shot to show the vessel where the trial is taking place. The make-up and performance of the 'dog-man'. The return of the repulsive Sil, his make-up/costume and his fine performance (by Nabil Shaban). The initial scenes with Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant before they take 6 in a strange, unpleasant direction for the middle episodes. The dark idea of experimenting on beings and transferring minds. The ehuberant Brian Blessed as Yrcanos. Lynda Bellingham and Michael Jayston as The Inquisitor and The Valyard.
The direction and writing leaves a lot to be desired but the beginning especially and end as well as the trial parts are decent so it ends up a below par but not bad 4 part adventure.
My ratings: Part 1 - 7.5/10, Parts 2 & 3 - 6.5/10, Part 4 - 7/10. Overall - 6.88/10.
The season long overarching story The Trial of a Timelord continues with this second segment spanning parts 5 to 8 which is known as Mindwarp.
While the previous story The Mysterious Planet had the huge plus of finally portraying the 6th Doctor in a warm, heroic and likable way the main negative aspect of this story is that it sadly deviates back to an unpleasant characterisation of The Doctor. It is unclear within the story whether the Doctor's behaviour is deliberate or the effects of undergoing a 'mindwarp' after an experiment. Either way the outcome is Colin Baker is back to portraying The Doctor as an unlikable, uncaring, selfish narcissist who acts in quite a villainous way in the middle part of the story. It is really disappointing. Thank goodness the trial scenes, the first episode and the final episode of this story has a far more positively portrayed Doctor continuing some of the work done in the earlier story. It seems though that writer Phillip Martin and others behind the scenes such as Eric Saward and John Nathan-Turner had an obsession with trying to make the Doctor 'dark' and unstable which they impose in the middle 2 episodes. It is a very bad idea in my opinion and nearly ruins the story. Flashing back and fore to the trial scenes is a big plus in this story as it shows The Doctor is horrified and disowns his bad behaviour.
The story we are shown as trial evidence depicts The Doctor and Peri on Thoros-Beta where they encounter scientific experiments for mind transfer as well as slimy villain Sil who they have met before in Vengeance on Varos. They also meet King Yrcanos and a number of other characters who are all engaged in fighting one another. It is a mess of a story with too many ideas, too many characters and too many silly events. Writer Martin fails to imbue the script with enough subtlety or intelligence to make this a really good serial but there is plenty of fun and lots of little things which make this not a bad adventure at all overall.
The plus points are: The first episode which is interesting and entertaining. The fun effect that makes the alien world look different. The wise re-use of the fantastic model shot to show the vessel where the trial is taking place. The make-up and performance of the 'dog-man'. The return of the repulsive Sil, his make-up/costume and his fine performance (by Nabil Shaban). The initial scenes with Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant before they take 6 in a strange, unpleasant direction for the middle episodes. The dark idea of experimenting on beings and transferring minds. The ehuberant Brian Blessed as Yrcanos. Lynda Bellingham and Michael Jayston as The Inquisitor and The Valyard.
The direction and writing leaves a lot to be desired but the beginning especially and end as well as the trial parts are decent so it ends up a below par but not bad 4 part adventure.
My ratings: Part 1 - 7.5/10, Parts 2 & 3 - 6.5/10, Part 4 - 7/10. Overall - 6.88/10.