19x3. Kinda
Writer: Christopher Bailey
Director: Peter Grimwade
Script Editor: Eric Saward
Producer: John Nathan-Turner
Synopsis: The TARDIS arrives on the planet Deva Loka, where a
group of human explorers have an uneasy relationship with the native
Kinda and some of their personnel have recently disappeared. The Doctor
and Adric are drawn into the conflict between Sanders, who commands the
mission, and Hindle, his increasingly unstable subordinate, while Tegan
is contacted and briefly controlled by the Mara, a malevolent entity
that manifests as a snake.
Review: The long era of John Nathan-Turner as Doctor Who's
executive producer has sparked considerable debate among fans, but one
positive development at this point was that the show was starting to
experiment a little more in both style and content. "Kinda" stands
alongside "Warrior's Gate" and perhaps "Logopolis" as one of the
clearest examples of this: while we've certainly seen critiques of
imperialism on the show before, I don't think we've seen one quite like
this.
In a serial like "The Power of Kroll," for example, we see
a conflict between an opportunistic human leader and some locals with
strange religious practices, but there isn't any big mystery as to
what's really happening and why. It's difficult to imagine any of the
earlier eras of Doctor Who
attempting something like Tegan's nightmare, in which she encounters a
sinister young man who seems to represent the Mara and finds herself
arguing with her own duplicate over which of them is real. Prior to
"Warrior's Gate," I'd have to go all the way back to "The Mind Robber"
for a serial that involves a similarly bizarre alternate reality
sequence. The Kinda themselves are suitably alien, with most of the
population communicating only through telepathy and actual speech as a
mark of advanced wisdom. And while the giant rubber snake at the end is
a little embarrassing, such things are perhaps inevitable on Doctor Who's
budget, and the concept of the Mara - an entity that takes control of
others by manipulating them through dreams - adds to the sense of Deva
Loka as a very strange place.
"Kinda" earns points for taking a
creative approach to what could have been a formulaic
imperialists-vs.-indigenous-people conflict. Unfortunately, the
characterizations are more of a mixed bag. Hindle is the most
interesting guest character, in that he's gone insane due neither to
egotistical hubris nor to the manipulations of the Mara, but because
he's simply cracked under pressure. Unlike the one-note villains we've
seen in weaker Doctor Who
entries, he's genuinely unpredictable, going from bellowing at the
Doctor and Adric to panicking at the notion that the trees and
vegetation pose a threat to even calling out for his mother. Sanders
and Todd, on the other hand, seem unfazed by the situation to a curious
degree. Todd acknowledges that the mission is in trouble, but the
tension and dread we'd expect from someone in her situation aren't
there - instead, she mostly acts as a sort of substitute-companion for
the Doctor when his actual companions are separated from him. Sanders,
meanwhile, is so blithely unconcerned that he might as well have
"imperialist doofus" written across his forehead, stating
matter-of-factly that they've taken two Kinda hostage out of "standard
procedure" and that he never thinks twice because it's a waste of time.
I realize that the character is supposed to be arrogant and out of
touch, but some of his behavior verges on a complete absence of
rational thought or common sense (even before his mind is affected by
the mysterious Box of Jhana).
Overall,
I'm relatively content
with this new incarnation of the Doctor. Peter Davison, at 29, was the
youngest actor to take the role at the time, and the Fifth Doctor does
display a sort of breezily personable and curious manner that I might
well call "youthful," while still displaying a mix of wisdom, whimsy,
and occasional irritability that reflect the character's vast
experience and unique intelligence. When Adric accidentally activates a
robotic survival suit that takes them both prisoner, for example, the
Doctor observes that "[t]here is a difference between serious
scientific investigation and meddling." However, there are a couple of
instances where it's unclear whether what we're seeing is a deliberate
quirk of characterization or the same sort of oddly laid-back attitude
that seems so inappropriate from Sanders and Todd. Specifically, he
seems to think both Tegan and Adric are okay on their own at one point,
and he is quite clearly wrong on both counts. Tegan falls asleep in the
woods and becomes prey to the Mara's psychic attacks, and Adric finds
himself in the midst of another crisis at the colonization team's
headquarters. Without any direct acknowledgment of this issue, we're
left to guess as to whether the Doctor is actually meant to be seen as
making a mistake.
"Kinda"
gets a positive recommendation for its creative approach and underlying
concepts. Still, it definitely could have been better when it comes to
telling a coherent story. The effort to stop the Mara only develops at the end and feels like it's
over rather quickly, and it's never explained what happened to the
three missing personnel. I'm all for weird flights of imagination when
it comes to Doctor Who
and science fiction in general, but after "Four to Doomsday" and
now this, I'm hoping to see a little more structure to the narrative
next time around.
Other Notes:
-
Nyssa's sudden fainting spell at the end of "Four to Doomsday" really
amounted to absolutely nothing. She's out of the action recuperating
for most of "Kinda," but it turns out to have nothing to do with
Monarch, the Mara, or anything else that the TARDIS crew have
encountered. (Reportedly, the script was developed before a firm
decision had been made to make Nyssa a companion.)
- I couldn't
help but snicker a little bit when the Doctor constructs a device to
help Nyssa recover around the sonic screwdriver and casually dismisses
Adric's concern that they might need it. Right, because none of the
seemingly benign situations the Doctor encounters ever turn out to be the least bit dangerous.
Rating: *** (out of four)
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