Kinda

Kinda
by Christopher Bailey
Originally Broadcasted: February 1st-9th, 1982

Nyssa has collapsed inside the TARDIS, and so while she recovers, The Doctor, Tegan, and Adric go off and explore the jungle world of Deva Loka. Tegan must fight against the demons inside her mind, while The Doctor and Adric have keep a raving lunatic at bay. And are those Kinda really as primitive as the humans think they are?

If I had to pick the weirdest episode of Doctor Who ever, Kinda would definitely be one of the top runners. On the surface, it appears to be a typical Who tale. The Doctor and his companions land on a mysterious alien planet and get caught up in the affairs of some aliens doing some not-so-nice things to the indigenous Kinda. But then Tegan falls asleep, and the story enters her mind. Peter Grimwade directed some truly haunting scenes here, where Tegan struggles against the Mara, who has materialized in her head as a clown of sorts. Unable to take the mental stress the experience is giving her, she gives in and allows the Mara to possess her body. And then the story goes to another length of oddness, as the Mara parades around in Tegan's body, in order to possess a Kinda. I always find body possession to be a clever and interesting idea in science fiction, and its done wonderfully here (and even better so in the next season's sequel to Kinda, Snakedance). While that's going on with Tegan, The Doctor has to deal with the mentally insane Hindle, the man in charge of the dome inhabited by the invading humans. Slowly over the course of the story, he becomes more insane and more childlike. Simon Rouse, the actor portraying Hindle, gives one of the best performances in 80s Doctor Who that really shows the depths of the character's insanity. Peter Grimwade's direction also helped Kinda greatly, with some truly innovative scenes, like the aforementioned scene in Tegan's mind, as well as the flashback to the time of the Mara at the end of Episode Three. The story is let down a little bit by the laughable giant snake that's supposed to be the evil Mara seen in Episode Four, but that's now avoidable thanks to the impressive CGI version included on the DVD release. Kinda was a story unlike none Doctor Who had ever seen before, and nothing quite like it has been produced since. Yet it still stands as an interesting and well done piece of drama.

Luke's Rating: 8/10