Alien Mind Games

"The two Time Lords were dead."

Writer: Unknown 

Format: Short Story

Released: September 1980

Printed in: Doctor Who Annual 1981

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Romana II, K9

Synopsis

When the TARDIS is quite literally attacked, the Doctor enters a world of anti-matter and has to answer to the enigmatic Pyramids...

Verdict

Alien Mind Games was a good little story to continue my way through the 1981 Doctor Who Annual! This was an intriguing tale and any story that tackles the world of anti-matter is a brave one, but this adventure certainly doesn’t shy away from any of the science and the fun of things being mirrored in its universe. It’s a shame that Omega doesn’t get an appearance as he would have been the perfect culprit for taking the Doctor from his TARDIS and into the anti-matter domain, but alas it wasn’t to be. A mention would have been good continuity with what was established in The Three Doctors though, but not even that was coming sadly. Now, one of the funky elements of these prose stories from the Classic era annuals is the dodgy illustrations that accompany the text. Once again here, I thought the focus was too much on the Doctor and we could have set the scene for some of the landscapes in the story and the alternate domain, but instead we just saw a lot of the back of the Fourth Doctor’s head. Whilst his hair is infamous, it probably wasn’t the best use of the artist which is a bit of a shame. In saying that, the one illustration we got of Romana was rather horrifyingly inaccurate. It didn’t even resemble Lalla Ward in any way other than gender which hurts the authenticity feel of the story. Honestly, it was almost like the reference image provided to the artist was of Elisabeth Sladen! The companion that was pictured at the TARDIS console certainly looked like it was Sarah Jane Smith. I could let it slide and not impact my enjoyment too much though as the focus was all on the Doctor. His being taken by the Pyramids was intriguing and I liked that image as the form taking by the all might ONE. They claimed to be the ruler and all powerful of the domain of anti-matter in this world of Anti-Space which was fun, but the Doctor would soon turn that around. I think this a perfect kind of story for the Fourth Doctor as he took no notice of the presumed power of the ONE. The idea of the Doctor being tested was fun but he knew from the questions being in regards to the likes of how the TARDIS was controlled and the secret of Time that he wasn’t where he was told. They asked because they needed to know! The Doctor deducing that was good stuff and the moment he just got up out of the chair and walked away was wonderful. I liked him challenging the ONE to stop him themselves if they were this domain’s power, but of course that didn’t happen. He was tackling his own imagination which is a really fun concept! For as long as be believed the threats against him, they were real. But as soon as there were doubts and he started questioning his surroundings, the power of the ONE dissipated and they became rather desperate. The booming nature of using caps in speech was gone and they just wanted to be talked to and taken home. I thought the Doctor waking up in the TARDIS was good but I must admit I wasn’t massively thrilled with the revelation that the Doctor had been attacked by a satellite a long way from home. That didn’t feel right, although K9 agreeing with him at the end about being allowed to fulfil its function was a nice touch. The Doctor felt duty bound. Overall, a good little story as a whole!

Rating: 7/10