Doctor Who - The Mind Robber
The Mind Robber is a practically unique story in Doctor Who. First because of its length of five episodes. This was caused by the fact that the previous story, The Dominators, didn’t have enough material to fill its planned six episodes, so instead of a six-parter and a four-parter, they became two five-parters. The next unique aspect is that its primary writer Peter Ling never wrote another story for the show. Finally, there’s the extraordinary story of Fraser Hines’ bout of chicken pox and how they worked his absence into the story through a two-episode stint with Hamish Wilson as a replacement Jamie is a highlight of the series as a whole. (As is the catsuit Wendy Padbury wears as Zoe throughout this story.)
I must say that while the image is clean and crisp it suffers from something I’ve noticed with all B&W Doctor Who DVD releases except Tomb Of The Cybermen. There is a quantity of discoloration that comes into the picture, causing a light tinting of purple (and to a lesser degree) green. I believe this has something to do with the VIDFire process that is meant to bring the image (usually from a film copy) closer to its original video image. This belief stems from the aforementioned Tomb DVD, which does not have this discoloration, though a small VIDfired segment included as an Easter Egg does.
The Mind Robber has a variety of extras, as is typical to the Doctor Who line. There are the obligatory commentaries, photo gallery and Information text tracks. There are also two features: “The Fact Of Fiction” on the making of the story and “Highlander”, a look at Frazer Hines’ Doctor Who career. The 
commentary is a strong one, with Hines providing his usual comedic interjections while the others (director David Maloney and Wendy Padbury) stay more on subject. Hamish Wilson also joins the proceedings during his sequences as Jamie. It shows great thoroughness and as a big fan of the Troughton era, I truly appreciated it. (Though why Hines apparently leaves while Wilson is there escapes me. You can take extending a concept too far.)
One additional extra is a comedy sketch from the Basil Brush TV show that featured some Doctor Who Yeti. It’s a strange little sketch that goes on a bit long. It certainly shows that not all 1960’s programming aimed at children has staying power and international appeal.
The Mind Robber is a solid entry from the Troughton era (it’s nice to get away from the “Base Under Siege” stories) and gets the usual star treatment on DVD. With a good selection of extras (if not as many as some other sets) and entertaining stories on screen and behind the scenes, there’s lots to be gotten out of this one.
