The Trial of a Timelord: Mindwarp

 

“And Doctor, the prosecuting council’s title is ‘The Valeyard’, not the ‘Brick yard’, ‘Backyard’, ‘Knackers yard’ or any other sort of yard.” – The Inquisitor

 

I have to admit that I’ve been putting this one off for a while, and the reason is a bit of a puzzle. Whilst the episode itself is a fairly good one, I struggle to find anything to say about it.

As the trial continues the Valeyard presents the Doctor’s next adventure to Thoros Beta. Following a lead from a dying Warlord the Doctor has taken it upon himself to try and deal with whatever injustice has befallen the planet, handily used by the Valeyard as another point of prosecution. The serial in it’s opening moments shows both it’s attempt to defend the previous season, with comments from the Doctor urging the Valeyard to rerun his evidence and see the weapon he shot fired accidentally. This would appear to be a direct reply to the criticisms some serials attracted such as ‘Timelash’. The serial also makes a rare reference to the subject of the depletion of fossil fuels, whilst their environmental impacts were still largely ignored, it does still make reference to the wasted potential of alternative sources of energy.

This serial sees the choice casting of Brian Blessed as King Yrcanos, a pretty obnoxious character that spends all his time shouting about war and glory like a hyperactive Klingon. To add to irritating characters the space turds are back, in the form of Sil and Kiv. These aliens are characterised as equally two dimensional in all they want is money, constantly on about profits and taxes, it really is quite dull viewing.

In this serial the Doctor is the biggest bastard he’s ever been. The reason for his change of heart is only half explained when he is subdued in the first episode, he spends the rest of the serial being brash, betraying and in one case torturing Peri which makes quite unsettling viewing and is a very dark if somewhat over the top approach.

This serial is the final appearance of Peri. As such you’d think Nicola Bryant had gotten a good send off, instead she’s harassed, snarled at, captured, lifted, wooed, tortured, shaved and killed. Not the best day at work. When Peri is chosen as the new subject for Kiv it creates a very dramatic scene where Peri has all her hair cut off, creating an allegory for assault that really has a finality to Peri’s situation, and just as it seems all is lost, it gets worse, as Yrcanos kills her.

Well I got something out of this, though not much, it is very worthwhile watching providing you can get around the annoying characterisations that are planted through this episode.