The Mind of Evil Episode Six

The one where a pure mind saves the day...

"Thank you, Brigadier. But do you think that for once in your life you could manage to arrive before the nick of time?" What an arse! The Doctor continues to be an ungrateful so-and-so, despite having his life saved by the Brigadier (who shoots Mailer dead). The Doctor was similarly ungrateful when Jo saved his life earlier in the story, and here he goes on to mock the Brigadier for losing the Master and the missile. If ever there was a Doctor I'd like to slap, this is the one.

The Master's plan is taking full form, as he threatens to blow up the world peace conference in London using the Thunderbolt missile, thus leading to a world war which will leave the planet in ruins. "Then I will take over," adds the Master. But why would he want to rule over a devastated planet, where most of the inhabitants have probably been destroyed? What fun is there in sitting on a throne and overseeing a globe of post-apocalyptic devastation? The Master really is a total psychopath.

What is the connection between the Keller machine and the Thunderbolt missile though? His basic plan is to cause World War Three by using the missile to blow up the peace conference, and he needed the escaped convicts from Stangmoor to help him capture the missile. I get that. But what role does the Keller machine have in all this? The machine doesn't form any part of his plan for world domination, and he shows no intentions of using it to subdue the population. In fact, the Master basically abandons the Keller machine in episode 6 as it's surplus to requirements. The Keller machine has been unnecessary all along.

The key to controlling the Keller machine has been staring everybody in the face since the very first episode - Barnham. Neil McCarthy gives a delightfully sweet performance as the childlike convict whose mind has been wiped pure by the Keller process. Here, we discover that Barnham's proximity to the machine subdues it, acting as a neutraliser, and so Barnham's "pure mind" can be used as a weapon again the mind of evil. It's a clever mechanism which has been latent in the plot all along, rather being whipped out of Don Houghton's mind at the last moment as a deux ex machina.

There's a beautiful scene where Barnham is left in the charge of the Brigadier, and he just sits quietly at the back, looking around him like a frightened child. Nicholas Courtney's famous comic timing comes into play here as he exchanges looks with McCarthy, a pause which seems to last an age but which is perfectly judged by Courtney. The Brigadier then looks away, beckons the Doctor conspiratorially, and demands: "Who is this man?" It's beautifully timed, both funny and truthful - it could well be my favourite moment of the entire story!

Barnham's demise is genuinely heartbreaking, thanks largely to McCarthy's sensitive portrayal. You really feel for this chap, and when he tries to help the Master, but ends up getting run over and killed by him, it's upsetting and unjust. Barnham didn't have to die, but Houghton pulls no punches in his scripts and his demise hammers home that for all the faceless, nameless UNIT soldiers and escaped convicts who perished in this story, it only really hurts when a proper character is killed off, rather than a cipher. "What's your other name?" Jo asks Barnham at one point, but the scene cuts before we get the answer. In prose, it's been established that his full name is George Patrick Barnham (not the "P.T" I was secretly hoping for...!).

There are lots more little character moments in this episode, following on from those in episode 5, such as Benton being appointed Acting Governor and thoroughly loving it, and Yates secreting a sandwich in his arm sling. Another of my favourite exchanges in this episode comes when the Master calls the prison. Benton answers: "Acting Governor Benton here", and the Master bristles: "Who?" It's just delightful.

The finale sees the Doctor pretending to exchange the Master's dematerialisation circuit for control of the missile ("My word, you have done well," humours the Doctor as he regards the Thunderbolt missile). However, the way it's all wrapped up feels a bit too pat. For instance, how convenient that the Master should bother to disconnect the missile's abort circuit, but then just leave it to one side for it to be found and reconnected again? And why does the missile explode at all in the end? I realise the Brigadier wanted to blow it up on the ground if there was any danger of it being launched at London, but once the Doctor aborts the take-off, surely there's no reason to explode a nuclear-powered missile with a warhead packed with nerve gas in a suburban area? OK, there's a 10-mile evacuation zone but I still can't understand why it's blown up, and not just dumped in the ocean, as per the original plan.

Nevertheless, the finale all looks very good, with the action filmed at RAF Swingate involving road vehicles, a helicopter (which sent the production over budget and earned director Timothy Combe a Doctor Who ban) and a magnificent missile. Even the model hangar which blows up at the end looks highly convincing, with the reaction shots of the Doctor and Jo in the fleeing chopper adding to the effect.

At the end the Doctor receives another call from the Master, who seems to have a trimphone in his TARDIS, warning him that he intends to exact his revenge on both the Doctor and the planet Earth. The dialogue suggests we may not see the Master for a while...

The Mind of Evil is a gritty, violent story with some great ideas which don't fully gel together (the Keller machine ends up being irrelevant to the Master's plan, only serving as a way to defeat him in the end). The cliffhangers are repetitive, sometimes pointless, and there are some little holes in the plot which irk me (what happens to the Keller machine in the end? Does it overload on the Master's evil?), but it's more than made up for by some seriously lovely character scenes, especially for the UNIT regulars, and some great guest performances (Michael Sheard, William Marlowe, Neil McCarthy). It's definitely a hangover from Season 7, and feels like something of a last hurrah for that style of Doctor Who, but all in all it's a quality production (even the dragon!).

First broadcast: March 6th, 1971

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The silent scene between Courtney and McCarthy is wonderful.
The Bad: So the Keller machine was only there to serve as a way of defeating the Master, rather than forming any integral part of his plan? Pah!
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ (story average: 6.3 out of 10)

"Now listen to me" tally: 12
Neck-rub tally: 1

NEXT TIME: The Claws of Axos...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode One; Episode Two; Episode Three; Episode Four; Episode Five

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-mind-of-evil.html

The Mind of Evil is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Mind-Evil-DVD/dp/B00BPCNNXS