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''Kinda'' is the third serial of the 19th season of the British
science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...
series ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
'', which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts on
BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
from 1 to 9 February 1982. In the serial, an alien being from another plane uses the dreams of the time-travelling
air hostess A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are primar ...
Tegan Jovanka Tegan Jovanka is a fictional character played by Janet Fielding in the long-running British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. An Australian airline stewardess and a native of Brisbane who was a companion of the Fourth and Fift ...
(
Janet Fielding Janet Fielding (born Janet Claire Mahoney; 9 September 1953) is an Australian actress who starred in the BBC science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'' as companion Tegan Jovanka. Early life and career Fielding was born in Brisbane. Aft ...
) to reach the planet Deva Loka and takes over the body of the Kinda Aris ( Adrian Mills) to attack colonists on the planet.


Plot

An Earth colonisation survey expedition to the beautiful jungle planet Deva Loka is being depleted as members of the survey team disappear one by one. The three survivors are met by The
Fifth Doctor The Fifth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Peter Davison. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from ...
and
Adric Adric is a fictional character played by Matthew Waterhouse in the long-running British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He was a young native of the planet Alzarius, which exists in the parallel universe of E-Space. A compan ...
. The team members have also imprisoned two members of the planet's native tribe, the Kinda. Sanders, the leader of the survey team, ventures into the jungle, leaving his deputy Hindle in charge. Hindle's will is enforced by means of the two Kinda hostages, who have forged a telepathic link with him. Hindle, who plans to burn down the jungle, places The Doctor, Adric, and the third team member, Todd, under arrest. Sanders returns carrying a strange wooden box called the "Box of Jhana" which, when opened, cleared his mind and left him a more contented and enlightened person. Using the box leads The Doctor to a group of Kinda led by the power hungry Aris. Panna, an elder Kinda, informs The Doctor that the chaos on Deva Loka is the work of the Mara, an evil being of the subconscious that longs for corporeal reality. The Doctor and Todd find an emotionally wrecked and sleeping Tegan and conclude that she was the path of the Mara back into this world. They find Adric and the party heads back to the Dome, where Hindle has now completed the laying of explosives, which will incinerate the jungle and the Dome. Hindle is tricked into opening the Box of Jhana and the visions therein restore his mental balance. The two enslaved Kinda are freed when the mirror entrapping them is shattered. The Doctor then banishes the Mara from the corporeal world back to the Dark Places of the Inside. With the threat of the Mara dissipated and the personnel of the Dome back to more balanced selves, the Doctor, Adric, and an exhausted Tegan decide to leave.


Production

The working title for this story was ''The Kinda''. This was the first story Eric Saward oversaw as script editor, though '' Castrovalva'' was broadcast earlier. Nyssa makes only brief appearances at the start of episode 1, and at the end of 4, because the script had largely been developed at a time when only two companions for the Doctor were envisioned. When it was known a third companion would also be present, rather than write Nyssa into the entire storyline it was decided she would remain in the TARDIS throughout and be absent through most of the narrative. To account for this absence, Nyssa was scripted to collapse at the end of the previous story, ''
Four to Doomsday ''Four to Doomsday'' is the second serial of the 19th season of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts on BBC1 from 18 to 26 January 1982. The serial is set almost enti ...
''. In this story, she remains in the TARDIS, resting.


Themes and analysis

This serial was examined closely in the 1983
media studies Media studies is a discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media; in particular, the mass media. Media Studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly ...
volume ''Doctor Who: The Unfolding Text'' by John Tulloch and
Manuel Alvarado Manuel Bernardo Alvarado Green (15 March 1948 – 30 April 2010) was a Guatemalan-born British academic, who specialized in media studies. During his career he was secretary of the Society for Education in Film and Television and the editor of '' ...
. This was the first major scholarly work dedicated to ''Doctor Who''. Tulloch and Alvarado compare Kinda with
Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the '' Earthsea'' fantasy series. She was ...
's 1976 novel '' The Word for World Is Forest'', which shares several themes with ''Kinda'' and may have been a template for its story. ''The Unfolding Text'' also examines the way "Kinda" incorporates Buddhist and Christian symbols and themes, as well as elements from the writings of
Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...
.


Broadcast and reception

The story was repeated on BBC1 across four consecutive evenings from 22–25 August 1983, achieving viewing figures of 4.2, 4.3, 3.9 and 5.0 million viewers respectively.
Paul Cornell Paul Douglas Cornell (born 18 July 1967) is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as ''Doctor Who'' fiction, and as the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield. As well as ''Docto ...
, Martin Day, and
Keith Topping Keith Andrew Topping (born 26 October 1963 in Walker, Tyneside) is an author, journalist and broadcaster. He is most well known for his work relating to the BBC Television series ''Doctor Who'' and for writing numerous official and unofficial g ...
gave the serial a positive review in ''The Discontinuity Guide'' (1995), writing, "One of the best ''Doctor Who'' stories ever, astonishingly directed and written as a theatrical piece brimming with allusions and parallels. It's also got a direct and unsilly performance from Simon Rouse, and a thoughtful one from Nerys Hughes." In ''The Television Companion'' (1998), David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker praised the dream sequences, the "intelligence and sophistication" of the script and direction, as well as the main cast. They felt that these outweighed the more negative aspects, such as a plot that could be hard to follow and the unconvincing alien environment and snake. In 2012, Patrick Mulkern of ''
Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...
'' called ''Kinda'' "an imperfect gem", with some production shortcomings in an otherwise worthwhile story. He praised the guest cast and the "unusually adult psychodrama". ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' reviewer Christopher Bahn said that the strength of the serial was "the way it behaves like an experimental stage-theater piece", with the highlight being Tegan's dream sequences. However, he felt that a problem was that the TARDIS crew was "kind of sidelined ... and rather passive", with the Doctor merely reacting to events.
DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...
's Justin Felix gave ''Kinda'' three and a half out of five stars, describing it as fun and interesting, though with its fair share of poor special effects. Ian Berriman of '' SFX'' gave the serial a positive review, highlighting its adult tone and the strong female roles.


Commercial releases


In print

A novelisation of this serial, written by
Terrance Dicks Terrance William Dicks (14 April 1935 – 29 August 2019) was an English people, English author and television screenwriter, script editor and Television producer, producer. In television, he had a long association with the BBC science-fictio ...
, was published by
Target Books Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became wel ...
in December 1983. In 1997, the novel was also issued by BBC Audio as an
audio book An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...
, read by Peter Davison.


Home media

''Kinda'' was released on VHS in October 1994 with a cover illustration by Colin Howard. This story was released on
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
on 7 March 2011, along with the sequel ''
Snakedance ''Snakedance'' is the second serial of the 20th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts on BBC1 from 18 to 26 January 1983. The serial is set on the planet Ma ...
'' in a special-edition box-set entitled ''Mara Tales''. For this DVD release there is an option for the effect of the Mara at the end of part 4 to be replaced with a CGI version. This serial was also released as part of the
Doctor Who DVD Files This is a list of ''Doctor Who'' serials and episodes that have been released on DVD and Blu-ray. DVD Release Most ''Doctor Who'' DVDs have been released first in the United Kingdom with Region 2, and released later in Australia and Ne ...
in Issue 93 on 25 July 2012 (minus any special features). The serial was released on blu-ray in December 2018 as part of "The Collection - Season 19" box set.


References


External links

*


Target novelisation

* {{Fifth Doctor stories, selected=Television Fifth Doctor serials Doctor Who serials novelised by Terrance Dicks 1982 British television episodes