The Mind of Evil [TV/1971.1.30 ~ 3.6]

★★★★☆

  It must have been quite a shock for viewers to face this six-part political thriller/serious drama after the suffocating plastic sofas of Terror of the Autons. Tensions between China and the USA, "prison reforms" and a newly-devised system ripped straight from A Clockwork Orange, and a device of death that haunts the minds of those who cross its path... oh yes, this is fantastic stuff.

  I've always maintained the opinion that Jon Pertwee was one of two actors to play the Doctor who got the character immediately (the other being Jo Martin for Fugitive of the Judoon). If you watch Spearhead from Space, you never get the impression that Pertwee is struggling to find his feet — he's the Third Doctor from the word go and he brings an energy completely his own, a dandy scientist who doesn't suffer fools gladly. Season 7 was a triumph with this Doctor, and I've always found Don Houghton to be the writer of that season to get Three the most, in Inferno. The same is applied in his second script; the Doctor is lightning-sharp, abrasive and yet warm when he needs to be, and Pertwee seems to get along with his material like a house on fire. 

  It also helps that The Mind of Evil gives practically every supporting character something fun to do. Jo gets to be an action lead by quelling a prison riot single-handedly, the Brigadier dresses up and puts on a fake accent to save the Doctor, Sergeant Benton has his own mini-arc from disgraced soldier to acting governer, and Captain Yates endures a lot of physical harm to save the day. Out of all these characters, however, it is Roger Delgado's Master that shines the most; as well as being the cigar-puffing moustached villain who delights in his own brilliance, he is portrayed as someone who jumps to make sure the Doctor's safe all too enthusiastically in select tender moments. Without Delgado's thoughtful performance, we might never have had the Master as they are today: a complex figure in the Doctor's life.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ  

  If The Enemy of the World is the Doctor Who equivalent of The Spy Who Loved Me, then The Mind of Evil is The Living Daylights (a fitting stand-in for License to Kill escapes my mind at the moment): more polished, more grounded in the real world, topped off with a much more serious protagonist. Timothy Combe's direction brings out so much more in this already-packed six-parter; even without color, this looks and feels like it had the backing of a motion picture budget (it did not, and Combe was never asked to direct Who again). Intelligent, action-packed and serious with its themes — that's how I would describe this wonderful serial.