The Mind Robber - Episode 4

We see the return of the strange borrowed robots from the first episode. I would have rather have the clockwork soldiers instead of these borrowed robots. They served a purpose in the first episode because the soldiers would have looked out of place in the white void but after that they should have been the principle guard.

On a negative note, the Karkus is a rather silly character. The whole situation is make even more silly when Zoe is fighting with him. It another test for the regulars after dealing with the Medusa and the very beginning of the episode. Speaking of the Medusa, I am still impressed with the way that they made it work and still think that even by 2013 standards, it is something that gets overlooked because we would all like to knock the show for the slightly dodgy effects but this should be praised.

We get to meet the Master and we discover how he ended up being the Master and we learn that his mind is running the machine and effectively the world that the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe find themselves in. I thought that Emrys Jones’ performance as the Master was very good. He starts off in the first meeting with the Doctor started off quite nicely and then got somewhat nasty when the Doctor refuses to help. I should take a moment to comment on the set used as the master’s… is office the wrong word? Or should it be study? Anyway its rather well done though its not immediately noticeable that

The Master is well realised as he knows that Jamie and Zoe have escaped without actually acknowledging them on screen. He’s probably the best thing about the episode as we finally get to meet this character who seems to rule this world. It’s hard to really dislike the Master’s plan but obviously we understand why the Doctor doesn’t seem so keen but I think that I find Jones’ performance to be very warming.

After the ropey start, it does pick up to be quite an interesting episode even though its relatively short it feels like a normal length episode. I do feel that this experimental story is working well. It’s not going to be one of my favourite stories but I certainly feel that as we approach the final episode I am liking this story far more than I have done in the past. I think that whilst it feels like a bit of a mish-mash in terms of characters that have been thrown in, I certainly think that compared to say ‘The Celestial Toymaker’ or ‘The Web Planet’ this certainly beats them.