Mind of Awesome

Er...Evil. The Mind of Evil. The Awesome of Evil? The Awesome Mind of Evil.

I'll try to be organized about this review, rather than rambling on until I pick a topic. There's three parts to the review: gushing, Doctor/Master, and Worst Fears. Let's get started, shall we?

Gushing

As can probably be gathered from the title, I love this episode more than I dislike the one just before it. I desperately want the color DVD of it, because...well... because it would just be that much more awesome in color. This is my favorite Jon Pertwee story, officially. 10/10.

Let's go with a list. What was awesome about Mind of Evil:

• The idea of the Keller Machine. It stores all the evil urges of criminals and eventually becomes evil and starts killing people using their worst fears. At first, I thought that it had become evil because it had absorbed too much evil; then it was revealed that there was actually a parasite inside that feeds off of fear and evil. It's just a little box, but it's such a malicious and scary little box that it actually works as a villain who's a credible threat to the Doctor and the Master.
• The Master. Seriously, can he get anymore James Bond Villain? It's glorious. Down to the fact that he sits down and outright tells the Doctor all of his plans. 
• Jo Grant. I had my doubts. I admit, I wasn't too sure about her in the last episode (something I entirely failed to mention because I was too busy complaining about boringness and generally not talking about the episode). Jo Grant, when she was introduced in Terror of the Autons seemed like a mostly incompetent replacement for the fabulous Liz, who I was very disappointed was gone. She grew on me throughout the episodes, but I still wasn't sure. Now I am. Jo Grant is awesome. She's one of those companions who you believe can get herself out of trouble without the Doctor's help. I mean, she hold her own in the middle of a prison riot. Many kudos to her.
• Doctor/Master. I don't really ship it, but I appreciate it. But I'll get to that below. 
• Worst fears. I literally sat up and went "That is brilliant!" after waiting for a week (I was busy with homework) to find out why the Doctor's worst fear was fire. But more on that below.

Worst Fears

This is one of those little characterization devices that I find fascinating in sci-fi and fantasy. You put a character up against something the presents them with their worst fear. What is that worst fear? And how do they react to it?

We get to see two important characters' worst fears in this serial: the Doctor's and the Master's. I'm pretty sure we didn't see Jo's, if I remember correctly. 

The Doctor's worst fear is fire. We first see that when the machine attacks him at the end of Episode 1. In Episode 2, he explains to Jo that this is because he saw the earth burn a little while ago (in Inferno).

The Doctor's worst fear is seeing the world burn. And by extension, he fears failing to save the world. There are several things to be said about this. First of all, this is harsher in hindsight, given what happens to Gallifrey: not only does he fail to save the Time Lords, he actually burns them [Insert comment about how he actually didn't do it here]. He has to cause his own worst fear. No wonder Nine, Ten, and Eleven were so messed up by the Time War.  

Now, (as per The God Complex and The Time of the Doctor) the Doctor's worst fear is a crack in time. Eleven's worst fear at least, was those cracks. But it's far more interesting to think about the fact that it's not actually the cracks specifically that he fears, but the fact that he left the universe in a worse state than he found it. The fact that the cracks are still there, damaging the fabric of the universe, and he feels responsible for this, is much bigger than simply a crack in time. The Doctor fears that he isn't helping the universe.

Are you tired of this pic, yet?

So really, nothing changes between the Three and Eleven. Sure, their experiences are different, but the same basic fact remains: he fears that he is unable to help people and is doing more harm than good. Because that's what the Doctor wants to be: the man who makes people better, the good man, the healer. That's the reason he chose the name Doctor. Yes, it's a retcon, I know.

The  Doctor also fears, as an honorable mention, the Daleks, Cybermen, and various other assorted villains who appear in that montage of fears. Quite a nice continuity nod.

Now the Master's worst fear is the Doctor standing over him and laughing. Why? 

Obviously the Doctor and the Master know each other quite well from their days on Gallifrey. For some reason or another, the Master is obsessed with the Doctor. This is completely obvious from the first episode, where the Master is putting all of his attention on the Doctor. He tries to kill him, but you feel that his attempts are halfhearted, and he would really be disappointed if the Doctor dies.

The Master doesn't want the Doctor dead. He wants the Doctor defeated. He wants the Doctor to have to look up at him and admire all the things he does, while being powerless to do anything himself (ring a bell? That's right, it happens exactly that way in The Sound of Drums when the Master gets to keep the Doctor as his pet Dobby creature in a cage). He wants the Doctor's approval, or at least his undivided attention. So it makes sense that the Master's worst fear is exactly the opposite: the Doctor standing victorious over him, and laughing at all the things that he tries to do. 

Look familiar?

Oh, remember that scene from The Last of the Time Lords? The one where the Doctor is literally floating above the Master in exactly the same way that the image of the Doctor in the Master's worst fear was? There's no way that wasn't intentional. Of course, in reality the Doctor doesn't laugh at the Master, he gives him a hug and says he forgives him (which is even worse, apparently).

Doctor/Master

Like I've said, the Master is completely obsessed with the Doctor in this serial.  He wants the Doctor to be horrified at all his evil schemes, and to give him attention by trying to stop him. He doesn't want the Doctor dead.

How do I know that he doesn't want the Doctor dead, despite the number of times he tries to kill him? Yes, he threatens to shoot the Doctor through both hearts and says that he'll eventually kill the Doctor after the Doctor helps him with the Keller Machine. But just look at that scene where the Master tests how well the Doctor can resists the Keller Machine. When it looks like the Doctor is going to die, he freaks out and desperately springs into action to try to save him. The worry in his voice when he says, "You were within an inch of dying," just says it all.

The Doctor, on the other hand, seems to mildly enjoy the Master's company, but isn't particularly obsessed with him. This changes quite a bit when it  comes to Last of the Time Lords, where it's the Doctor who is obsessed with the Master because he's the only other Time Lord left. The Master manipulates the Doctor by using this devotion and ultimately defeats him by dying and leaving the Doctor alone (with a plan to resurrect). 

Yeah, there's a reason the Doctor/Master ship exists, and it's not confined to NuWho, or even to the TV Movie. While I don't actually ship Doctor/Master (in any of it's forms), I do appreciate it as a ship. It's one of those ships that rides on the edge of canon, like Whouffle or Gwen/Jack.

And next up is Claws of Axos, in which Jo Grant becomes less than useless and we question the Doctor's loyalty to the earth. Also, BAFTA-faced aliens.