Doctor Who (TV Series) The Mind of Evil: Episode Three (1971) User Reviews

A little padded and repetitive, but still very good.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 11 January 2019]

Part 3 does suffer from the inevitable 6 part midway lull, but despite that, and being a little padded, it's still a very enjoyable episode. There's some tooing and froing for control of the prison, and The Master reveals his plan.

Some great scenes between Pertwee and Delgado, I always bought into Delgado's malevolence, you always thought he would like The Doctor for his own ends. Delgado played him so sincerely.

For the third time in a row, they use the same cliffhanger, but this time The Keller machine is turned on The Doctor, we get a glimpse into what the machine specifically targets.

Awful special effects with the rocket, the dreaded CSO at its very worst.

Watchable Doctor Who story.

[poolandrews · 6/10 · 5 September 2007]

Doctor Who: The Mind of Evil: Episode Three (not 'Part 3') starts as the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) & the Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney) manage to save the American delegate Senator Alcott (Tommy Duggan) from being killed by Capatin Chin Lee (Pik Sen Lim) & her hallucinated dragon who is being controlled by the Master (Roger Delgado). The Doctor makes the link between the Keller machine & the events at the World Peace Conference & also hears about the riot at Stangmoor Prison in which Jo (Katy Manning) was being held hostage before the guards regained control as does the Master who decides to go there & help cause some real trouble, he arms Mailer (William Marlowe) & some inmates with guns who kill the prison guards & again take Jo hostage at gunpoint. The Doctor arrives & confronts the Master who confirms he is behind the Keller machine & intends to steal a banned Thunderbolt missile full of nerve gas which is being transported across the country to be dumped at the bottom of the Ocean which he intends to start World War III with...

Episode 7 from season 8 this Doctor Who adventure originally aired here in the UK during February 1971, directed by Timothy Combe this is an unusual Doctor Who story & doesn't show any signs of reverting back to type. The script by Don Houghton is continuing in it's espionage thriller vein as there are still delicate issues to be solved over the Peace Conference, there's betrayal & a sequence where a group of prisoners take control of a prison for a second time although this time they are armed & they shoot & kill several prison guards which seems out of place in a children's show like Doctor Who even if it doesn't bother me in the slightest & I'm all for a bit of violence, however some may not like images of the Doctor having a shotgun pointed at his face & being threatened. The Mind of Evil has a pretty convoluted plot & seems overly complicated presumably to accommodate it's mammoth six parts & is very adult orientated, I could easily see younger children becoming lost or losing interest in this & the lack of monsters, time travel or any blatant sci-fi elements might not impress some. I'm half way through The Mind of Evil now & I definitely like it but more as a spy thriller with one or two sci-fi overtones rather than a traditional straight Doctor Who sci-fi adventure, it's certainly worth a watch but don't expect a typical Doctor Who story.

The special effects count in The Mind of Evil have been virtually zero although this episode sees our first glimpse of horrible CSO (colour separation overlay) during this story & the dragon still looks terrible but it's only on screen few a few seconds. The cigar chomping Master is a great villain & he's becoming more prominent although one can't help but feel his plan relies on a lot of co-incidences & why did he kill the Chinese delegate when all it would do is raise suspicions? The sets are well furnished & have good detail complete with a full set of medieval armour in the Prison Governor's office! The Doctor also gets to speak Chinese during this one & Pertwee does a decent job, Pik Sen Lim who played Captain Chin Lee was actually married to writer Don Houghton when this was made while William Marlowe who played Mailer was married to Fernanda Marlowe who played Corporal Bell & he later married Roger Delgado's widow Kismet! Amazing eh?

The Mind of Evil: Episode Three is a decent way to spend 25 minutes, the stories becoming a little drawn out & it doesn't feel like traditional Doctor Who but I still liked it & thought it was more than watchable.

The Mind Bending Plot of Evil

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 8/10 · 25 September 2014]

Review of all 6 episodes:

This story starts really well with an intriguing and gritty opening episode and although it fades a little bit by the end it is still overall very good.

The story involves The Master having a mind controlling machine which extracts evil from criminals. It also features a prison take-over, a world peace conference and an attempt to steal a powerful missile. Some of these elements are slightly muddled padding to fill out the 6 parts. Following on from a tight four-parter it is probable that if this one was similarly pared down it would be nearer to top Doctor Who standards rather than just a good medium quality one. Instead, in order to pad things out there is a rather complex and not fully credible plot. The plan hatched by The Master is a bit too convoluted and too reliant on everything going exactly to plan and schedule. As a result it is seen by some as too unlikely as a plot. However, the good qualities of acting, characterisation, action, scary 'monster' (the Keller Machine) and political intrigue all go towards glossing over the relatively small concerns over the plot.

The Master (Roger Delgado) makes for a superb adversary again despite his occasional indecisive ways and Mailer (William Marlowe) is a well acted and convincing henchman. Jo Grant (Katy Manning) is a stronger character in this than in Terror of the Autons (her first story) and this establishes her much better. The Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney) and UNIT are good additional support as ever and there is a gritty prison setting plus exciting military and political elements. I am not a fan of the music and sounds created by Dudley Sutton but accept that at the time they were fresh and innovative and while the incessant noise of the prison riot is very annoying it is more realistic than a quiet riot!

This is a very enjoyable serial; action packed, interesting and well produced. It could have been better but is still a solid adventure.

Episode ratings: Episode 1 - 9, Episodes 2 & 4 - 8.5/10, Episodes 3, 5 & 6 - 8/10 = 50/60

Overall: 8.33/10