Big Finish Doctor Who/Recap/102 The Minds Eye

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


The Mind's Eye: On a dangerous jungle planet, troopers discover an amnesiac man who can only remember that his name is the Doctor. Meanwhile, Peri, living in a lovely house on Earth with her boyfriend Mike, struggles to improve her troubled relationship with Mike's teenage son Kyle, and Queen Erimem deals with a rebellion in the colony of New Cairo.

As is probably obvious, all is not as it seems.

The Mind's Eye contains examples of:

  • Call a Rabbit a Smeerp: The Jekylls, primate-like creatures named for their split personalities-- they are friendly during the day and dangerously aggressive at night.
  • The Final Temptation: Peri dreams of a "normal" life with a loving boyfriend and a son who, although their relationship was rocky at first, she is developing a mutual respect and love for. As the Doctor tries to convince her to wake up, her subconscious attempts to make her stay by creating a situation where her "family" is in danger and begging her to help them.
  • Lotus Eater Machine: The kyropites, parasitic plants which create elaborate dreamworlds for their victims while feeding off their alpha brain waves.
  • Mistaken for Cheating: Peri walks in on her boyfriend Mike and her best friend Ally in what looks like a compromising situation. Ally is actually just trying on the wedding dress Mike bought for Peri as part of his surprise proposal/wedding plans. Not What It Looks Like ensues.
  • Parent with New Paramour: In Peri's dream, she is dating a man with a teenage son who initially dislikes and distrusts her.
  • Soap Opera: Within her dream, Peri is always watching one called Love M.D. The storyline of her dream also resembles one, with dramatic illnesses, near-death experiences and a romantic misunderstanding that leads to a proposal.
  • Space Egyptians: Erimem's dream involves her ruling the colony of New Cairo on the planet Kandoor, which is an amalgamation of her home in ancient Egypt and the futuristic worlds she has visited with the Doctor.
  • Talking in Your Dreams: Using a brain scanner and drugs synthesized from the kyropites, the Doctor is able to enter Erimem and Peri's dreams to try to wake them up.
  • Wicked Stepmother: Invoked by Peri, who believes that Kyle sees her this way.
  • Your Mind Makes It Real: If a victim of the kyropites dies in their dream, they die in real life as well.

Mission of the Viyrans: A night of fun on a party planet becomes a nightmare for Peri when bizarre transformations begin to afflict everyone who comes in contact with her-- including the Doctor.

Mission of the Viyrans contains examples of:

  • Anachronic Order: Although packaged with The Mind's Eye, this audio play actually takes place after the next Fifth Doctor/Peri/Erimem story, The Bride of Peladon. It preemptively reveals Erimem's departure from the TARDIS.
  • Body Horror: The virus Peri is carrying copies her DNA and attempts to mutate everyone around her into a clone of her. From the sounds alone, we can infer that the process is neither comfortable nor pleasant.
  • Busman's Holiday: As is typical with the Doctor and his companions, their relaxing stop on a recreation world leads to getting caught up in alien-related trouble.
  • Fake-Out Fade-Out: The full version of the theme music, which normally signifies the end of a Big Finish drama, plays after an epilogue that leaves the main mystery of the story unresolved. After the music, the real epilogue explains everything.
  • Memory-Wiping Crew: Part of the Viyrans' titular mission is to erase all knowledge of the contagions they accidentally released.
  • Pleasure Planet: Grallista Social. It's right there in the name.