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Mindwarp Format Reviewed: VHS Review Mindwarp is the second installment in the Trial of a Time Lord series. The linking scenes and common element of the investigation into the Doctors meddling in a court room by the Time Lords continues here, and more evidence is presented against the Doctor in the form of a story taking place on the planet Thoros-Beta. On Thoros Beta, the Doctor is reunited with Sil, a Thorosian, and he eventually gets subjected to a cell discriminator that appears to have corrupted the Doctor into being self interested against his nature. In the court, the Doctor is claiming he doesn't remember any of the events, and when some recall does occur, it isn't as he remembers the events. After escaping, Peri finds warrior king Yrcanos and they lead a revolt against the mentors (Sils kind). Sils boss though has undergone a mind expansion programme and needs a new body as there are side effects that have left him in great pain. He first gets the body of another of his kind, then he gets the body of Peri who Yrcanos has since fallen in love with. In a fit of rage, Yrcanos kills all present after the Doctor has been lifted from the story to stand trial. So, the linked series continues with evidence being presented in the time line immediately before the Time Lords lift the Doctor from time to stand trial. What is again in evidence is the use of characters or facets from past successes to make new stories. Sil is re-used here as he was hailed as one of the successes of the previous series, appearing as he did in Vengeance on Varos. As for the story presented as evidence by the Valeyard, Mindwarp leaves a lot to be desired. It is a straight forward romp on a foreign world with an upper class and a sub-class represented here by Sils kind and the Humans. It's just that, apart from some overacting, it's quite a dull story that doesn't really capture the imagination. The regular cast puts in very similar performances to the previous episodes in the series, with Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant putting in more accomplished and comfortable performances, with Bryant leaving the series at the end, and Lynda Bellingham and Micheal Jayston as the Inquisitor and Valeyard repectively doing well. Nabil Shaban returns as Sil, but gives a much different and not as high quality performance. In his previous appearance, he was slimier and much more sinister. Here, he is mainly a simpering subservient and doesn't do himself justice really. Also, the most dominant character was King Yrcanos played by Brian Blessed. He is such a dominant character, and an infamous overacter, that not many others really get too much of a look in! After the relatively promising start of the previous section of this linked series, Mindwarp had the opportunity to either start to make or break the series. Unfortunately with the court scenes all being alike, and the stroy being presented as evidence being largely forgettable, Mindwarp doesn't really hit the mark for me. Another point to note is that the theme tune changed for this series to another, even more synthesised version that I really do not like. I grew up with the early 80's theme that was replaced here, and loved it so it's no surprise really that I dislike the replacement. Overall, Mindwarp could have really made this eeries into a very memorable one, but a reliance on just shoving popular characters from the past into stories has again come back to haunt the production here. Casting Brian Blessed also means that the show is going to have a certain panto quality about it due to his character and overacting. It's not the worst story in the classic series though, and has some redeeming features such as the departure of Peri at the end! Rating:  |