The Mindless Ones [AUDIO/2022.8.9]

★★★☆☆

  You can pretty much always tell when Paul Magrs is really feeling a script/novel he's writing, compared to when he's approaching the story at hand more as a job than a true passion. The Mindless Ones feels like the latter, so detached from the usual Magrs traits people get to know once they go through enough of his works, and without much that stands out from the regular Dr. Who mould. Granted, there's Patricia McBride, an immediately interesting character who presents a new sort of dynamic with both the Doctor and Hebe -- but it's still true that The Mindless Ones is a by-the-numbers, meat & potatoes story which would sound familiar to fans of any particular era, really... and that's not a bad thing, especially not when it's given such polish (both in writing and production). 

  I can't really complain about how it's the Magrs script in recent memory which breaks away from the norm the least when it's still a good bundle of fun. Colin Baker gives a hilariously good performance, hilarious, of course, because he has to act for the majority of the runtime as if he'd been mind wiped. Bonnie Langford being exasperated at the prospect of having to "care" for him is incredibly funny, and Ruth Madeley is a fully integrated companion at this point who shines with anyone she bounces off with. The Mindless Ones has shades of School Reunion, for Hebe's reconciliation with her past and the fact that her "reality (friends, loved ones, etc.)" will eventually move on without her, and for the school stuff. Lovely little house party here, too, and the Sixth Doctor has a lovely little presence here. I had a great ol' time with The Mindless Ones.