Who Review: Kinda

A few days ago, my brothers and I watched the classic Doctor Who story “Kinda” (pronounced kin-da not kind-a) on DVD, and I thought I would share our thoughts on it for my blog readers. In this particular story, the Doctor and his companions find themselves on the paradise world of Deva Loka, where a team of people from Earth–a scientist and two soldiers–have set up a base while they determine the planet’s suitability for colonization. The natives, the Kinda, aren’t too thrilled about this, especially when the visitors capture a couple of them for observation. But there’s a greater danger afoot. While Nyssa remains in the TARDIS recovering from the previous story, Tegan comes under the spell of the chimes in the forest and is possessed by the evil Mara. The Doctor and Adric have been captured and taken to the colonists’ base. The team leader goes to look for a missing comrade leaving the other soldier, the mentally unstable Hindle, in charge. The Doctor and Adric must find a way to escape from the base and help the Kinda be rid of the evil influence of the Mara before Hindle puts the final phase of his security plan into effect: the destruction of the base and all life within a three-mile radius.

We were agreed on a number of points. First, the story has a lot of potential. The ideas are worthy of good Doctor Who storytelling, and there are sufficient twists to keep the audience engaged. The character of Hindle is probably the best realized in the whole thing. Simon Rouse’s portrayal of a man under a lot of emotional stress, whose mind is broken, is top-notch. Totally believable, both in terms of the script and the acting. The restoration work on the DVD is, as always, incredible. The picture is clean and crisp. And the new CGI representation of the snake at the end of episode four (presented as an option–you can always watch the episode with the original effects) is worth every penny of the budget. I’m not always a big fan of the optional CGI replacement (after watching the new series, we expect a much higher standard of CGI effects than is normally offered), but this one really works well.

On the negative side, the story is not well thought through. Whether this is because of the way it was written, the way it was edited, or the way John Nathan-Turner (the producer) tampered with it, I don’t know. But it left us with the feeling that this could have been really good. And some of these were simple issues. For example, when the Doctor and Adric are captured by an automated TSS, why didn’t they just run? They walk in front of the machine while it plods behind them, threatening the Doctor and Adric with an outstretched arm. The audience doesn’t really get a sense of the machine’s threat potential. Why not have Adric try to run so we can see how the machine responds? Or perhaps the Doctor complies for the sake of his curiosity, so the TSS doesn’t need to be a threat. Also, in episode four, when they find Tegan, the Doctor is informed that it’s dangerous to waken someone quickly from “the dreaming.” Yet the Doctor insists he must take that chance, though it puts Tegan’s life in danger. Why? Why must the Doctor wake Tegan at that point? She really has nothing to add to the story, and the information she gives the Doctor upon her awakening tells them nothing they didn’t already know. Instead he wastes time with her instead of dealing with the main problem: the Mara. Wouldn’t it have been better to put Tegan in the hands of the Kinda–let them bring her out safely, while he went to deal with the Mara?

I also had trouble with the condescending attitudes from both the Doctor, Todd (the scientific advisor), and the Kinda. On the one hand you have the Doctor and Todd giving patronizing anthropological pronouncements on the Kinda (which I thought to be very uncharacteristic of the Doctor), like they were animals in a zoo (“see how the dumb creatures act in sociologically predictable patterns” kind of thing). And on the other, we have the Kinda (primarily Panna) deliver eastern mysticism wrapped up in philosophical double-talk that I doubt half the audience completely understands, followed by “Don’t you see?” “Do you not understand?” I almost wanted to shout “No, because you’re not making any sense and that’s not ANYONE ELSE’S fault!”

This is one story that we think would benefit from being re-cast as a story for the Doctor and a single assistant, and being done in the modern format. Reducing it from four parts to a single 45-minute episode would force the writers to think the story through, give it better flow, tighten the dialog, and cut the dross. But like most Who, even with all its flaws, it’s still better than most television today. And the DVD is worth it, even if only for the CGI on episode four.