Doctor Who: The Mind’s Eye / Mission Of The Viryans
The Mind’s Eye: The Doctor finds himself alone in the jungle of a distant world, discovered by security officers from a human expedition which has arrived to examine the planet’s plant life. One particular specimen is of great interest to the expedition’s leaders: a plant which can infiltrate the dreams of animal victims before it consumes them. One side effect of even the most fleeting exposure is memory loss, and only now does the Doctor remember that Peri and Erimem were with him. Erimem is discovered in the jungle, and the Doctor has to use an experimental technique to enter her dreams and lead her back to reality. When Peri is found, however, she is in a more advanced state of the process - the plant has enveloped her body and begun to feed. The Doctor is ready to go into Peri’s dreams to save her, but he discovers that some members of the expedition have a vested interest in studying Peri as she dies.
Mission Of The Viryans: In an attempt to bring Peri to a destination free of strife and tragedy for once, the Doctor takes her to a planet renowned for its relaxed social gatherings. But even there she can’t escape trouble - and if she can’t figure out what the Viryans are up to, she may not escape at all.
written by Colin Brake
directed by Barnaby Edwards
music by Steve FoxonThe Mind’s Eye Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Caroline Morris (Erimem), Owen Teale (Hayton), Rebecca Front (Major Takol), Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Kyle), Richard Laing (Ukarme), Nicola Weeks (Andree)
Mission Of The Viryans Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Peter Sowerbutts (Lawrence), Philip Childs (Chris)
Timeline: between Son Of The Dragon and The Bride Of Peladon
Review: It’s easy to argue that there really isn’t much that’s original about The Mind’s Eye; there’s a laundry list of SF “been there, done thats” to get through, from the artificially-induced dream that will kill the dreamer if they imagine their own death, to the planet where nighttime brings out the worst in the local fauna, to a second character inserting themselves into another character’s lucid dream. Even the treachery of some of the guest characters isn’t a huge surprise; that much seems, at least, like textbook ’80s Doctor Who, which is after all what The Mind’s Eye is, to some degree, emulating. (more…)
Torchwood leaves Cardiff behind for a flight to Switzerland after a call from Martha Jones. Serving as part of the UNIT contingent at the soon-to-be-activated Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, Martha says that strange occurrences and even unexplained disappearances among personnel are taking place - followed by a cover-up which UNIT doesn’t seem to be able to penetrate. Torchwood gains access to the collider by passing Ianto off as the Welsh ambassador, and Martha gives them a first-hand look at what’s been happening to some of the people who enter the colliider tunnel. But when Gwen and Ianto enter the tunnel for themselves, Ianto’s certain he can hear the voices of the dead - even voices claiming to be Owen, Toshiko and Lisa - while Gwen tries to fight off the same sensation. Unknown to them, however, someone else on site has already been hearing those same “voices of the dead” - and is doing their bidding, regardless of the consequences to the collider experiment or its personnel.
The TARDIS brings the Doctor, Peri and Erimem to 15th century Wallachia - a future part of Romania, but known for now as Transylvania. Immediately the time travelers find evidence of a brutal war in progress, and they’re caught up in events before they have a chance to leave. Radu the Handsome, a contender for the Wallachian throne who now sides with the Turks, is leading an army to remove his brother, Prince Vlad III - also known as Vlad Dracula and Vlad the Impaler - from that throne. Peri immediately balks at even the possibility of meeting Dracula himself, despite the Doctor’s assurances that the fictional character bears little resemblance to the man who inspired him. The Doctor warns his friends not to become involved, but when they find themselves surrounded by a pitched battle, Erimem is left with little choice but to take up arms, and finds herself at the mercy of Prince Vlad, whose life she has saved without knowing who he is. He spirits her away to his palace, while Peri tags along as a refugee from the war. The Doctor, still in the company of Radu, tries to convince him that further bloodshed may not be necessary - but according to the history books, the Doctor may have no influence on events and may not even be able to save both of his companions.