Mindwarp [TV/1986.10.4 ~ 10.25]

★★★★☆

  I cannot being to think of Mindwarp as boring in any respect when it has the talents of both Nabil Shaban and Brian Blessed. The former gives a career-defining performance as the slimy and ultra-capitalist greedball Sil (always such a delight -- when is he coming back?), and the latter... well, the latter is Brian Blessed. His King Yrcanos really has to be seen to be believed; he not so much chews the scenery as gobbles it up wholesale before spitting it out in delightfully over-the-top morsels. He dominates the sreial without a doubt, and with the formidable talents of Colin Baker and Michael Jayston, that's quite the statement. Before I even begin to talk about the narrative, Mindwarp is hardwired to be incredibly fun. Looking at the cast would tell you that immediately.

  As mentioned before, Baker and Jayston never let the side down with their banter as the Doctor and the Valeyard. A big complaint I hear a lot about Season 23 is that the trial scenes interfere with the proceedings of the individual serial story, but I think it enhances the enjoyment factor tenfold. Both characters and actors, and with the assistance of Lynda Bellingham as Darkel playing mediator, bring the script to life with so much finesse. Even though this is hardly the Sixth Doctor's finest hour (the Matrix projection, which we cannot fully trust, shows him being an absolute two-faced bastard to both Peri and to his own morals, before getting shunted off by a bright white light), one cannot deny that Colin Baker gets to show his acting chops. He's such an entertaining presence, quipping with Sil and having great rapport with Nicola Bryant's Peri (even when, as mentioned before, the projection of them shows him being terrible to her). Speaking of, Bryant also gets to show different sides of her character with her interactions with Yrcanos, and when she has her mind taken over by Kiv's. Her "death" is just as powerful as Adric's in terms of suddenness and intensity, if not more thematically poignant... after all, the Trial of a Time Lord season goes to great lengths to show just how depraved Time Lord moral codes and society can be. Peri dies because the Time Lords deemed it convenient and necessary to "clean up the Doctor's mess", and the Doctor's mortified expression works wonders to set this serial apart from many others.

  Mindwarp is eccentric, hilarious, edgy and most of all... engrossing. If The Mysterious Planet is a light-hearted introduction intended to lull in unsuspecting audience members. Mindwarp is the true mission statement that stabs everyone from behind. It's brash, unrelenting, and juvenile, and so I understand if it's not everyone's cup of tea. For me, though? This tale of deception and altered minds is right up my alley... and the set design is top-notch as well.