The Mind of Evil Episode Two

The one where we discover the Master is trying to disrupt the world peace conference...

The fluctuating quality of the colour in episode 2 demonstrates just how good the pain-staking hand colourisation of episode 1 by Stuart "Babelcolour" Humphryes was. At times the colour recovery process used here is almost as pointless as The Ambassadors of Death's, in which colour sometimes became an option between two shades of beige. As with Ambassadors, I tend to think they should have just left it in black and white rather than wishy-washy semi-colour.

Anyway, so the reprise of the cliffhanger sees Jo burst in and break the Keller machine's grip on the Doctor's mind, proving that he is imagining the flames, rather than them actually being there and burning him. The Doctor asserts that "we believe what our minds tell us to", so it seems everything the Keller machine's victims are "seeing" is imaginary, which means the physical effects of their deaths (scratches and bites, lungs full of water) are nonsensical. Colour me confused.

Jo asks why the Doctor "saw" fire, which leads to a nice little reference back to Don Houghton's earlier story, Inferno, which has obviously stayed with him, at least subconsciously. The Doctor's actually a bit of an arse to Jo here. I mean, she literally saved his life by disrupting the machine's hold on him, and all he can do is have a go at her for being there at all. He doesn't even say thank you! The Doctor's mood noticeably improves once he gets back to UNIT, joking with Captain Yates and teasing the Brigadier - who, perhaps understandably, is in a foul mood, carpeting Benton and snapping at "Cheshire cat" Yates.

The reason for the Doctor dropping everything at Stangmoor and rushing back to UNIT is wholly unconvincing though. As soon as Yates mentions that one of the peace conference delegates has been killed, he appears to think that's more his bag than an evil conscience-sucking machine. Why? He's Doctor Who, not Hercule Poirot!

I love the scenes on location at Cornwall Gardens (setting for the First Doctor's entrapment of the War Machine five years previously), with Sergeant Benton undercover, just as he was in The Invasion. He's keeping an eye on Chin Lee (who gets to use a real, actual red phone box, not a CSO one - take note Barry Letts!), but soon falls victim to the Keller machine's influence channelled through her. But why does Benton not die? He just gets a bit groggy. The moment where a member of the public races over to help the slumped Benton is a sure sign that we're in the 1970s here, because if it was 2019, Benton would be left there all day!

It's soon revealed that the Master is behind the attempts to upset the world peace conference, and we see him disguised as a telephone engineer as he taps into UNIT's communications. It would have been a lovely nod to continuity for director Timothy Combe to use the same actor who played the disguised Master in Terror of the Autons (Norman Stanley) here, but the rubber mask remains effective, and when peeled off and left on the table, takes on an eerily Michael Myers-esque presence.

There's an exchange between the Doctor and the Brigadier which is a little ambiguous to me. The Doctor refers to "another mysterious death" with "unexplained marks on the face and body", and the Brigadier adds that the Keller machine is "miles away". The Doctor believes that the two incidents are linked, suggesting that they were referring to the Chinese delegate's death. This is the first we learn that Cheng Teik died in an unusual way, directly connecting the events at Stangmoor to the peace conference, but it's all a bit vague.

The Doctor makes quite a leap when he links Keller's assistant with Captain Chin Lee simply because they're both Chinese. Yes, they are, but as the Brigadier points out, it's likely to be pure coincidence, as there were 96,000 Chinese living in the UK in 1971 ("Coincidence, my foot!" grumps the Doctor, who is, after all, correct!).

The Doctor's visit to Fu Peng (the new Chinese delegate) is utterly pointless, as he doesn't seem to secure any new information or gain any new ground, apart from a dinner invitation involving dried squid and stewed jellyfish. Hmmm, well look out for the possible traces of arsenic in the squid, Doctor, and be prepared to drink the juice from a boiled black feathered chicken to accompany the rubber band-like texture of the jellyfish!

There's also a brief mention of the missile convoy operation to be led by Captain Yates. It seems the British Government deems it a great idea to transport and dispose of a nuclear-powered warhead filled with nerve gas at the same time that the first ever World Peace Conference is taking place. As the Doctor rightly points out, it's not the wisest of planning decisions... It's bound to go wrong.

I have absolutely no sympathy with the wardens at HMP Stangmoor, where a riot breaks out led by tough nut Harry Mailer. It's their own stupid fault, first of all for allowing Vosper to somehow get his hands on a pistol, and then for sitting down to play a game of draughts with their backs to the prisoner. They deserve all that's coming to them! It's not clear yet how the prison riot will affect the rest of the story, but seeing as the deadly Keller machine is currently sitting abandoned in the process room, it'll only be a matter of time until the inmates get hold of it, methinks.

After being influenced by the Master (who this week smokes a big fat cigar), Chin Lee sets out to murder the American delegate, Senator Alcott. Interrupting him during dinner, she invites him over to the Chinese delegate's rooms for an urgent, top secret chat, and the baffling thing is that he goes! Alcott drops his napkin and goes alone to the Chinese delegate's rooms, where very recently the Chinese delegate was murdered mysteriously. No alarm bells ringing yet, Mr Alcott? The cliffhanger has the Senator imagining Chin Lee as a terrifying dragon, bringing out his latent dracophobia. But will this lead to a fear-induced fatal heart attack, or will he be torn to shreds by the imaginary dragon's claws? Who knows, it depends what Don Houghton's whim was this week...

First broadcast: February 6th, 1971

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: I really like Ray London's design for the Chinese delegate's rooms. In fact, the set design for the whole story is excellent (the Stangmoor process room's white tiling looks totally convincing).
The Bad: The Doctor is such a git to Jo in this episode.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

"Now listen to me" tally: 11
Neck-rub tally: 1

NEXT TIME: Episode Three...

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

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