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Big Finish: Monthly Range #102
Doctor Who: The Mind's Eye
The Mind's Eye (A Three-Part Story)
This is a warning to all space farers. You must keep away from this planet. It’s hostile, repeat, hostile.
On a planet with no name, the Doctor finds himself confronted by a faulty memory and some killer plants.
In a distant galaxy, Erimem leads a troubled empire.
Back on Earth, Peri tells her son about the good old days when she used to travel with a man called The Doctor.
AND
Mission of the Viyrans (A One-Part Story)
The Doctor and Peri take a holiday on the planet Gralista Social, but soon discover they aren't the only time-travelling aliens in town.
This is a warning to all space farers. You must keep away from this planet. It’s hostile, repeat, hostile.
On a planet with no name, the Doctor finds himself confronted by a faulty memory and some killer plants.
In a distant galaxy, Erimem leads a troubled empire.
Back on Earth, Peri tells her son about the good old days when she used to travel with a man called The Doctor.
AND
Mission of the Viyrans (A One-Part Story)
The Doctor and Peri take a holiday on the planet Gralista Social, but soon discover they aren't the only time-travelling aliens in town.
Audio CD
First published November 30, 2007
74 people want to read
About the author
Colin Brake
50 books33 followersColin Brake is an English television writer and script editor best known for his work for the BBC on programs such as Bugs and EastEnders. He has also written spin-offs from the BBC series Doctor Who. He currently lives and works in Leicester.
Brake began working on EastEnders in 1985 as a writer and script editor, being partly responsible for the introduction of the soap's first Asian characters Saeed and Naima Jeffery. From there, he went on to work as "script executive" on the popular Saturday night action adventure program Bugs, before moving to Channel 5 in 1997 to be "script associate" on their evening soap Family Affairs.
In the early 2000s, Brake wrote episodes of the daytime soaps Doctors and the revival of Crossroads.
Away from television, Brake had his first Doctor Who related writing published as part of Virgin Publishing's Decalog short story collection in 1996. He then had his first novel Escape Velocity published by BBC Books in February 2001 as part of their Eighth Doctor Adventures range based on the television series Doctor Who. At the time, Brake was quoted as saying how appropriate it was that he was now writing for Doctor Who, as he was briefly considered as Eric Saward's replacement as script editor on the show - a job that eventually went to Andrew Cartmel instead.
Brake followed Escape Velocity with the Past Doctor Adventure The Colony of Lies in July 2003, and then with the audio adventure Three's a Crowd from Big Finish Productions in 2005. His Tenth Doctor Adventure The Price of Paradise was released in September 2006. He has also written an audio for their Bernice Summerfield range, and a short story for their Short Trips range.
Brake began working on EastEnders in 1985 as a writer and script editor, being partly responsible for the introduction of the soap's first Asian characters Saeed and Naima Jeffery. From there, he went on to work as "script executive" on the popular Saturday night action adventure program Bugs, before moving to Channel 5 in 1997 to be "script associate" on their evening soap Family Affairs.
In the early 2000s, Brake wrote episodes of the daytime soaps Doctors and the revival of Crossroads.
Away from television, Brake had his first Doctor Who related writing published as part of Virgin Publishing's Decalog short story collection in 1996. He then had his first novel Escape Velocity published by BBC Books in February 2001 as part of their Eighth Doctor Adventures range based on the television series Doctor Who. At the time, Brake was quoted as saying how appropriate it was that he was now writing for Doctor Who, as he was briefly considered as Eric Saward's replacement as script editor on the show - a job that eventually went to Andrew Cartmel instead.
Brake followed Escape Velocity with the Past Doctor Adventure The Colony of Lies in July 2003, and then with the audio adventure Three's a Crowd from Big Finish Productions in 2005. His Tenth Doctor Adventure The Price of Paradise was released in September 2006. He has also written an audio for their Bernice Summerfield range, and a short story for their Short Trips range.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 7, 2022
The first 3-part story (The Mind's Eye) was a bit silly and the second 1-part story (Mission of the Viyrans) was very silly.
The Mind's Eye - Even though I'm not going to tell you what actually happens, it's a pretty common type of story and you can probably guess enough that I suppose this will be a bit spoilery. So anyway, this is one of those stories where someone is dreaming or linked to a virtual reality or they're unknowingly in a holodeck simulation or in some way they are hallucinating/imagining a reality AND then one of the good guys must go into said make-believe realm and coax them out of it. It was actually quite a bit of a fun listen, I thought but with very many silly tropes throughout.
Mission of the Viyrans - I only listened to this one last night before bed, about 20 hours ago roughly and I can't really remember it. Which is a bit funny because I think the story was about lost memories. Oh, yes. It's coming back to me now, but wait.... perhaps it shouldn't. Still fun to listen to. Another very common trope in this one, especially for Trekkies. Very silly overall.
The Mind's Eye - Even though I'm not going to tell you what actually happens, it's a pretty common type of story and you can probably guess enough that I suppose this will be a bit spoilery. So anyway, this is one of those stories where someone is dreaming or linked to a virtual reality or they're unknowingly in a holodeck simulation or in some way they are hallucinating/imagining a reality AND then one of the good guys must go into said make-believe realm and coax them out of it. It was actually quite a bit of a fun listen, I thought but with very many silly tropes throughout.
Mission of the Viyrans - I only listened to this one last night before bed, about 20 hours ago roughly and I can't really remember it. Which is a bit funny because I think the story was about lost memories. Oh, yes. It's coming back to me now, but wait.... perhaps it shouldn't. Still fun to listen to. Another very common trope in this one, especially for Trekkies. Very silly overall.
June 27, 2022
"The Mind's Eye" is one of those "what is real?" shows. The TARDIS crew are seemingly split up on different worlds in different realities, but is that what is really going on? There is a secret military research installation, a scientist with questionable morality, and animals that go berserk only at night. Colin Brake has decided mostly just to throw these things together to create "problems." We also get some improbable noble sacrifices at the end. The story plays along pretty well, and the acting is all very good. This is a short 3-parter, with each part being rather short, so filling the 4th part is an extra story, "Mission of the Viyrans," by Nicholas Briggs, as a kind of introduction to his new bunch of aliens. This is another "what is real?" story focusing mainly on Peri and taking place after Erimem has already left the TARDIS, so preparing listeners for "The Bride of Peladon." It functions well as a set-up piece, though not quite as well as an independent story.
May 29, 2018
So the Doctor and Peri and Erimim all experience a wild reality we know not to be real, only to find (GASP!) they've been trapped by hallucinogenic plants! Yawn. For a more detailed review, visit www.travelingthevortex.com (episode #376)
The 1 part story does plant the idea of this Virus Arc we've heard so much about in the previous four releases but does it so lightly... I'm not sure I can be bothered to care much.
The 1 part story does plant the idea of this Virus Arc we've heard so much about in the previous four releases but does it so lightly... I'm not sure I can be bothered to care much.
December 17, 2023
The Mind's Eye **
Mission of the Viryans ****
Mission of the Viryans ****
May 17, 2024
Yeah, these stories felt all over the place.
October 30, 2024
Good concept, but nothing special
June 26, 2017
The basic premise of this audio play is not an unusual one in science fiction, and, in fact, the new TV series has done variants of it more than once since this was released. The Doctor's companions are trapped in imaginary worlds conjured from their own desires, and will die if the Doctor doesn't manage to persuade them that it's all in their heads.
And yet, this is quite well done. Erimem, in particular, has a story that feels like it could be a regular DW episode, and the insight into Peri's mind works quite well, too. In between this, we have the Doctor, unaffected by the maguffin, interacting with the occupants of a base on a remote jungle planet, and not quite sure which, if any, of them might be the good guys.
Of course, being a base, it has to come under siege at some point, though this is really rather irrelevant to the story. And, it's also worth noting that the ending telegraphs events in the next 5th Doctor play, The Bride of Peladon.
Before that, though, there is a one-part play tagged on the end here, and set, somewhat oddly, just after tBoP. It has a somewhat similar theme to the main feature, being about mind control and so on (not an unusual theme in the 5th Doctor's TV run, either, to be fair), and it works well enough, with a particularly strong performance from Nicola Bryant, given far better material here than she was in the great majority of her time on the show proper.
And yet, this is quite well done. Erimem, in particular, has a story that feels like it could be a regular DW episode, and the insight into Peri's mind works quite well, too. In between this, we have the Doctor, unaffected by the maguffin, interacting with the occupants of a base on a remote jungle planet, and not quite sure which, if any, of them might be the good guys.
Of course, being a base, it has to come under siege at some point, though this is really rather irrelevant to the story. And, it's also worth noting that the ending telegraphs events in the next 5th Doctor play, The Bride of Peladon.
Before that, though, there is a one-part play tagged on the end here, and set, somewhat oddly, just after tBoP. It has a somewhat similar theme to the main feature, being about mind control and so on (not an unusual theme in the 5th Doctor's TV run, either, to be fair), and it works well enough, with a particularly strong performance from Nicola Bryant, given far better material here than she was in the great majority of her time on the show proper.
Read
April 8, 2009The Mind's Eye is a rather good drama about Peri and Erimem becoming literally entagled in mindwarping plants, whie the Doctor tries to sort out the politics of the mission investigating the planet. Owen Teale and Rebecca Front are great guest stars, and Thomas Sangster appears as Peri's stepson - both Morris and Bryant get a good chance to show their talents in a different context. [return][return]Mission of the Viyrans is out of sequence, in that it's a single-episode piece on the same CD set as The Mind's Eye but set after Erimem's departure. Again we have Peri's reality being bent, this time by a virus and by the time-travellers fighting it, and some exceptionally good material for Nicola Bryant, but the punchline somewhat weakens the story.
December 3, 2011
I enjoyed this quite a bit. It was an interesting look into Peri and Erimem's psyches. I only wish that they could have come up with something a little more original than the old 'an alien life form alters Our Heroes' behavior in some way' trope.
I continue to enjoy Peri as a character. Big Finish shows us that she /can/ be an interesting, relatable character, despite her less than stellar on screen appearances. It just goes to prove that it's all in the writing.
I'm surprised that they are telegraphing Erimem's exit so soon--in fact, they've been doing so it little ways throughout her series. I'll be sorry when I hear her last audio--the character really did add something to the dynamic in the TARDIS. Five, Peri and Erimem have become favorites of mine, quite by my own surprise.
I continue to enjoy Peri as a character. Big Finish shows us that she /can/ be an interesting, relatable character, despite her less than stellar on screen appearances. It just goes to prove that it's all in the writing.
I'm surprised that they are telegraphing Erimem's exit so soon--in fact, they've been doing so it little ways throughout her series. I'll be sorry when I hear her last audio--the character really did add something to the dynamic in the TARDIS. Five, Peri and Erimem have become favorites of mine, quite by my own surprise.
December 12, 2014
This is actually a duology featuring the Fifth Doctor, Peri, Erimem and fuzzy reality.
In the first, Erimem and Peri are leading fantastic lives after leaving the Fifth Doctor. Or are they under the control of hallucinogenic plants out to slowly kill them? Someone apparently learned of the CIA's secret LSD tests back in the 1960's and believes they have the plant that will perfect them.
The Fifth Doctor and Peri (no mention of Erimem this time) land on a planet dedicated to the beach party lifestyle. Did they get abducted by aliens? Did they drink to much punch? Is this just another alternate reality? Perhaps the answer is yes. Or perhaps no. Or maybe.
In the first, Erimem and Peri are leading fantastic lives after leaving the Fifth Doctor. Or are they under the control of hallucinogenic plants out to slowly kill them? Someone apparently learned of the CIA's secret LSD tests back in the 1960's and believes they have the plant that will perfect them.
The Fifth Doctor and Peri (no mention of Erimem this time) land on a planet dedicated to the beach party lifestyle. Did they get abducted by aliens? Did they drink to much punch? Is this just another alternate reality? Perhaps the answer is yes. Or perhaps no. Or maybe.
September 22, 2015
The guest stars (including Owen Teale!) and a better than average script elevate this one a bit above the commonly used "something puts the characters in a convincing fantasy world and the hero has to snap them out of it" trope -- though basically this fridged Peri and Erimem and trapped the former in a horrible soap opera version of What Ladies Want. Ugh to that. Everything else was all right though.
January 21, 2016
The Doctor, Erimen, and Peri land on a planet where the vegetation puts them in a dream and then eats them in the night. Can they escape. Then Peri wakes up having a hard time remembering what happened to her and the Doctor.
July 21, 2015
The Doctor fights robots on a nameless planet, Erimem leads an empire, and Peri raises a son on Earth.
May 24, 2015
Five, Peri and Erimem find themselves seemingly leading different lives but all is not as it seems.
August 11, 2014
leaped ahead in the series, finally found a good story after a long while.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews