Going into The Mind of Evil, I really wasn't at all sure what to expect. I was aware that it was one of the Pertwee stories that had its color digitally restored, and that there was a peace conference involved, but everything else (bar the Master obviously coming into play) was quite a surprise to me. This story certainly isn't short for ideas, and it visibly comes from the same mind that crafted Inferno in those ideas being quite strong ones. Unfortunately, while not a bad story in its own right, The Mind of Evil generally fails to take full advantage of those ideas.
I do really love the beginning, where the Doctor has the cheek to show up to the lecture on the Keller Machine just to get into arguments and grind his ax. This is really quite funny, but fortunate, given what he discovers. HM Prison Stangmoor is pursuing a policy of using the machine to sap all the "evil impulses" out of its prisoners, leaving them docile and "productive" members of society. This is, of course, heinous, as the Doctor correctly points out, both on a moral and a sociological level. After all, if the government could just wipe the mind of anyone they deemed problematic, wouldn't that prove ripe for abuse? And besides that fact, if nobody in the world had any sort of "evil" in them whatsoever, then "good" would lose all meaning as it would no longer be a choice. As strong as this moral problem is, the idea that people just have "evil impulses" that can be drained is rather essentialist and silly. People don't commit crimes just because they have bad vibes, but rather because of social and economic reasons, reasons which this serial shies far away from.
Flawed though this central premise may be, it is still disappointing when it is left mostly by the wayside as the story devolves into pure action/sci-fi fluff by the halfway point. The action is good, and the sci-fi is fun, but it just isn't anything particularly special. Probably the best parts of the latter episodes are the rampage of the Keller Machine and the Master's interactions with the Doctor. The Keller Machine is actually quite scary after it learns how to teleport. It becomes clear that the thing is a straight up killer when the Master doesn't have it on the leash, and it's telling that even he is scared of it. The scene where it confronts him with a spectre of the Doctor laughing is quite effective, as is the practical effect of the evil blob inside.
The story makes an attempt in good faith to include non-Western cultures, although some of the moments involving the Chinese delegation make the modern viewer wince. It's still cool to see the Doctor speak Hokkien and Cantonese, as it marks him as the cosmopolitan sort of character that he's meant to be. The Doctor remains just a little too rude to Jo and the Brigadier for my liking, but does get a good character building moment when it's revealed that he was traumatized by witnessing the world burn in Inferno.
At the end of the day, what we have here is a good serial which lost its potential to be great. Still fun, though; I can see why they picked this to represent Pertwee in the 50th festivities.
Next we will have another audio diversion, this time with The Mega.
(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 26 March 2021.)
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