Kinda (1982) Review

Doctor Who fans often get a little... fanatical.

Kinda is a basic Doctor Who story, executed in a very experimental way.

WRITTEN BY

Christopher Bailey, a lecturer in the University of Brighton and occasional scriptwriter. This is his first of two scripts for Doctor Who. And you can tell he's not the most experienced.

PLOT

The TARDIS crew recuperate from their recent adventures on the paradise planet Deva Loka, only to get separated whilst wandering around. The Doctor and Adric are taken to three human astronauts who are studying the planet and its natives for future colonists and must survive when two of them suffer mental breakdowns, whilst Tegan is left behind to be possessed by a mysterious evil entity.

ANALYSIS

The uniqueness of the Davison episodes continues to surprise me. After all, we've had possession and insane base commanders in Doctor Who countless of times before, but here, they're both ramped up to disturbing levels. The Mara doesn't just take over Tegan, it tortures her mentally. And Hindle doesn't just stubbornly get in the Doctor's way, he becomes downright childish, to the point of crying for mommy. It's incredibly compelling.

That doesn't mean the story is without faults, however. As I already said, Bailey wasn't the most experienced writer and like with Chris Bidmead, he has a bit of a hard time getting his points across to the audience. There's a lot here that completely flew over my head, but was obviously meant to be thematically important, like the flash-forward and Karuna's connection with Panna. Or the box that cures people of their mental problems to the point of changing them fundamentally.
It's quite abstract at times and that can often get in the way of enjoying the story. 

It's also interesting to note that there are actually two completely separate storylines going on in Kinda: the threat of the Mara outside and Hindle's insanity in the base. They're both given equal importance and threat, so neither really feels like filler, but it's just strange to have two completely unconnected series of events going on at the same time.

CHARACTERS

Amongst an ensemble of quirky characters, Davison's Doctor functions as a grounding, pleasant figure with basic motivations(survival and reuniting the TARDIS team). He serves as the sensible counterpart to Hindle's increasingly deluded actions and he's also the only immediately logical character in Panna's foreboding visions. 

For once, an attempt is made at writing Adric like a proper character. Bailey takes advantage of his previous shadiness and turns it around to only have Adric pretend he's switched sides so he could save the Doctor's life. He even has some properly dramatic scenes later on... or he would, if he wasn't played by Matthew Waterhouse. Unfortunately, he does still get one very awful scene towards the end, where he randomly accuses Tegan for the whole mess. 

Speaking of Tegan, Janet Fielding finally impressed me... as the Mara, that is. As Tegan, she's still the same melodramatic nutcase. But Fielding plays one hell of a villain, seductive, feral and gleefully dark. I'm starting to think they really miscast her as a companion. 

And then there's Nyssa. Taking a nap. She's so vital to this show, isn't she?

Richard Todd is delightfully gruff as Sanders and even more delightfully silly once he's been "cured" by the Box of Jhana. He's slightly creepy once he's been turned kind and I'm a bit bothered by the fact that he's never really restored to who he used to be(being gruff is hardly a mental issue), but I liked him nonetheless.

Nerys Hughes was a great one-off companion-esque character, and easily better than all the other three put together. She proves once again, that sensible, well-educated women can make for great companions and still scream every once in a while(because who wouldn't?).

Mary Morris and Sarah Prince were great as the wise woman and apprentice, respectively. The child actress was chosen very well, and acted fine whilst Morris almost looked like an alien with her long neck and boggling eyes. She reminded me of E.T.

But nobody comes close to Simon Rouse's terrifyingly realistic portrayal of complete insanity. Hindle is a suppressed, obsessive rule-follower who was beaten as a child and on a planet filled with lush plantlife and nothing to do, he loses it and forces everyone to follow his whims or he'll kill them all. Hindle reacts to everything with instinct and goes with his first thought(ironically, his superior earlier on mentioned that "I never think twice about anything. Wastes too much time.") and you can imagine what his childhood must've been like when he's reduced to begging for his mother to save him. 

Lee Cornes(known for appearing multiple times on Blackadder and even being a writer for Mr Bean: The Animated Series) has a great role as the Trickster. He never says anything, nor is he really important, but there's just something about his presence that adds a lot of emotion to the episode. I think he represents the Kinda as a whole far better than the dead-eyed extras surrounding him.

NOTES

*"Give us the benefit of the doubt. It's common sense, really, wouldn't you agree?" Don't push it, mr. Passive-Aggressive.

*Why doesn't the Doctor eat the food he's offered at the base? Is this more of his vegetarian streak?

*"Did the Kinda take them?" "Impossible." "Are the Kinda dangerous?" "We don't know." Facepalm.

*Why would the Kinda wearing a double-helix mean that they know what DNA is? Couldn't they just make up the symbol on their own?

*The Doctor and Adric barely even explain their presence on the planet, yet Sanders lets them wander around the base?

*Once again, the guest cast are credited before the companions. I'm not gonna get over this.

*The scene where Adric teaches the Doctor how a magic trick should've been reversed... it very much sounds like the sort of thing the Doctor would teach Adric. I mean, why would the Doctor be so wowed by it?

*Would the Doctor really spend the whole day imprisoned without even bothering to escape? Isn't he concerned that something will harm Tegan while she's outside?

*I love the Doctor's exasperated "oh, not this crap again" expression when he thinks Adric has turned against him.

*Why does Tegan almost break down and start crying when she's stuck with a copy of herself? Just ignore it and focus on the obvious real threat.

*I hate hate hate how characters in Doctor Who constantly say "Don't you see?" when something weird is happening. No, no I don't see! 

*Why doesn't Tegan question the creepy clown more? She takes his presence very matter-of-factly.

*People love to bring up the giant Mara at the end as an example of bad effects on Doctor Who, but I'd like to mention the Mara's crossing from one person's arm to another. It looks like something anyone might spew on Youtube nowadays.

*Strange moment: the Doctor and Todd have to make a decision and toss a coin. When it comes up heads, Todd defiantly goes "Tails." Um... does it matter? 

*The best example of how bad the current companions are is the scene where Adric and Tegan talk about nothing except how useless they are in this situation.

*At one point, something weird happens to Davison's voice and he sounds like Orson Welles saying "when I what?"

*The Davison crew has this really annoying habit of chatting about the situation when it's still going on. Aris might be dying next to them, but no, let's first negotiate the benefits of saving him...

*As Karuna announces that Aris approaching, the Doctor feels the need to tell Adric and Tegan, even though they're like... right behind him and as far as I know, they're not deaf.

*It's a bit boring to have the Doctor detail exactly how he's going to defeat the Mara
before doing it.

*How does the Mara not know who the Doctor is if it was in Tegan's mind? Does he forget the memories once he leaves the host?

*Another use of "It's fantastic!!" as an OMG. I thought it died out in the 60s...

*Forgive me if this sounds silly, but once the Mara has grown to certain height, it's above the mirrors, isn't it? So it can't see its own reflection, so... it should be free, right?

*They CLEARLY didn't properly close the gaps between the mirrors as the Doctor instructed, and a few of the Kinda were staring right at the Mara. 

*Apparently, at one point Matthew Waterhouse instructed Richard Todd(an old veteran) on how to act on TV. Waterhouse swears that he was being sarcastic and was talking to himself. I believe him(if I've learned anything on the internet, it's that sarcasm is often hard to understand).

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

1) The Doctor's analysis of the planet: "Intentions: unknown. Hypothesis: unfriendly. As K-9 would say."
I think this is a pretty shoehorned reference. 

2) Not a callback, per se, but the Doctor technically defeated the Mara with recursive occlusion, didn't he(the mirrors)?

BEST QUOTE

TODD: "He's on the verge of a nervous breakdown." 
SANDERS: "Well, then being in charge should do him some good!"

CONCLUSION

I'm not sure I was all that into it, but it was a very interesting and cleverly done story.