One of the reasons I love early "Doctor Who" is its scope. Despite the excellent and in some ways similar "Warriors Gate", no tale from "Spearhead from Space" onward would ever dream of venturing into the territory of this story. Now, this is a process which began right back in season four, as the series edged away from the bold experimentation of the Hartnell era, which produced many marvellous successes, but also the odd downright miss, and began to concentrate on playing to its strengths. Whilst this unquestionably raised the numbers of consistently good stories, it did from time to time leave the series a little repetitive, a touch trapped in the same territory. (Just how many bases are there to be beseiged). Additionally, when a 'classic' storyline misses, as "The Wheel in Space" does for some viewers, it leaves itself open to the claim of being a 'tired rehash of the formula'. Interesting that such an epithet is never applied to "The Ice Warriors", for example. Anyway, the mould of "Doctor Who" was being more and more firmly established all the time, and an adventure such as this, which breaks with almost all precedent, is a welcome change in itself. Critics might describe the use of characters from fiction as 'childish', to which two points can be raised. Firstly, "Doctor Who" at the time was a children's serial, so such an accusation is a touch ludicrous, and secondly, as a rider to the above, there is a world of difference between 'appealing to children', which it is, and 'childish', which it isn't.
I realise I'm mostly preaching to the converted here, but personally I find "The Mind Robber" quite possibly the single most interesting "Doctor Who" story of all time. Ideas are solidly and sensibly explored, the inner logic of the storyline is adhered to at all times, and the 'Land of Fiction' setting, together with the truly eery void for part one, evokes an incredible sense of wonder. Some have speculated that, if this is a 'dream' story, then the White Robots etc reflect certain "Doctor Who" villains, and "The Master" is a dark mirror of the Doctor himself- thereby neatly avoiding the oddly coincidental name (note, however, Troughton's intrigued and startled reaction: "The Master...?"- an unnerving foreshadow if ever there was one). Well, I suppose that makes the TARDIS the Master Brain, I suppose, which makes a sort of wierd sense, although I prefer to consider that the entity outside time and space (probably using the writer: he appears to be real) has fashioned its fictional reality and servants from the dreams. Perhaps the truly most wonderful thing is that we are never told. Many reviews end with the almost plaintive: "But who built the computer?" Well, the intelligence from outside time and space, presumably, although who or what that is is mere speculation. Steve Lyons thought the Gods of Ragnarok, others have speculated otherwise. The point is that, like the characters, we never know. The computer is destroyed, but its creator is never even touched- if, indeed, it had a creator. Like the Toymaker, who might equally well have had a hand in the works, you cannot destroy the menace, only escape.
Aside from the deeper philosophical questions, it must also be admitted that the story is tremendous fun. From 'Jamie's face', to the hilarious super hero, the Karkus, and the final marvellous swashbuckle sword fights there is hardly a dull moment. Couple this with beautiful imagery, wonderful acting, and dialogue that makes the heart swell with pride, and you have an undeniable triumph.