{"id":1036,"date":"2019-10-31T23:59:21","date_gmt":"2019-11-01T03:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidredd.com\/doctorwho\/?p=1036"},"modified":"2023-06-14T08:26:11","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T12:26:11","slug":"the-trial-of-a-timelord-mindwarp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidredd.com\/doctorwho\/sixth-doctor\/the-trial-of-a-timelord-mindwarp\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trial of a Time Lord: Mindwarp"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAnd so they took it upon themselves to act like second-rate gods.\u201d \u2013 The Doctor of the Time Lords<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Pushing on ahead to try new things, we get this section of the Trial storyline where it starts to become clear that the story telling will not be entirely linear. We skip entire sequences at the behest of the court and we\u2019re suddenly introduced to the notion that what we see in the Matrix may not be entirely true. Again, this plus the Doctor\u2019s foggy memory leads to some confusion (much of it purposeful) which made casual viewers not really interested in the story. I quite like all of these elements myself. I am less enamored of the storyline, however, with its characters overacted bravado and heavy make-up. I also get quickly tired of the whiny character of Sil no matter how well played he is.<\/p>\n

The visuals in this story were also intended to stand out and push the envelope. The use of paintbox to make the sea and sky odd colors was actually rather cutting edge at the time though perhaps a bit overdone. While I don\u2019t like the Mentors as characters, the costuming is admittedly well done. There\u2019s also a really nice shot of Yrcanos gloating in victory after destroying the computer as sparks and flashes swirl behind him. The appearance of poor Dorf changed into a half man, half wolf is especially striking. It\u2019s interesting that they decided to give him the aspect of a mangy rat-like face with a mouth full of teeth that he can barely close. It\u2019s much more frightening and hard to look at than a classic werewolf.<\/p>\n

While the story doesn\u2019t have a lot of complexity until the end when the Time Lords suddenly intervene and orchestrate events, there are some interesting or amusing little side moments like Sil so proud to wait at the bedside of his lord so he\u2019ll be the first face he sees\u2014only to have Kiv shrink back in revulsion at the sight of him. Or the little exchanges that highlight the Mentor culture of greed: \u201cThen where will you be, eh? Dead. No, worse than that. Poor!\u201d I also find it interesting that we think we see Peri gun down in episode three. She is soon revealed to be only stunned but I wonder if the writers did this on purpose to combat a rumor mill about her demise. It would be a good red herring if that were the case.<\/p>\n

Being her last appearance, much of this story does focus on Peri. She becomes very resourceful and intuitive in her handling of other people, acting as a mediator with Yrcanos and figuring her way out of a lot of situations. Her pity and care for poor Dorf is key to later success. She stands bravely at the end when she thinks she is going to die alone, even mocking her captors. It\u2019s such a shame to think that after her arc overcoming the abuse done by the newly regenerated Doctor and finally learning to trust him that it is all ripped away and she is suddenly and totally let down to the point that she says \u201cWhat’s happened to you, Doctor? Why do you hate me so?…I used to think that you were different, that you cared for justice and truth and good. I can’t bear to look at what you are now.\u201d Sadly, she seemingly dies never knowing that this wasn\u2019t the case.<\/p>\n

Best (or worst) unsettling moment:<\/h4>\n

Peri\u2019s betrayal is hard to watch given her history with the Doctor. It\u2019s especially cruel seeing her tortured on the rock and given a glimmer of hope by the suddenly sympathetic Doctor letting her know that he\u2019s playing for time just as she kept assuming he must be, only to quickly realize he\u2019s just trying to trick her.<\/p>\n

What is truly unsettling in the story, however, is to see Peri arise with a shaven head and fierce look speaking in a harsh tone and cadence as the new body of Kiv. It\u2019s wonderfully well-acted and creepy to see her that way and sad to know that the real Peri is gone.<\/p>\n

Regrets:<\/h4>\n

There are missteps in the story\u2014from the Raak\u2019s costume being so bad that they decided to not even show it in the shot to the silly make-up worn by most of the characters. One has to shake one\u2019s head at the gladiator clad slaves of Sil, especially when you realize that they are all black actors. I don\u2019t know what the producers were thinking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAnd so they took it upon themselves to act like second-rate gods.\u201d \u2013 The Doctor of the Time Lords Pushing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidredd.com\/doctorwho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidredd.com\/doctorwho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidredd.com\/doctorwho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidredd.com\/doctorwho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidredd.com\/doctorwho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1036"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidredd.com\/doctorwho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1248,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidredd.com\/doctorwho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036\/revisions\/1248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidredd.com\/doctorwho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidredd.com\/doctorwho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidredd.com\/doctorwho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}