Doctor Who’s Creepiest Dream Sequence Came in 1982

Kinda might be remembered more for its Buddhism-inspired themes, but it has some of the most frightening psychological horror in Classic Who.

Plot summary

A malevolent creature from the “dark places of the inside” uses Tegan to cross over into reality, causing chaos on a seemingly primitive planet.

Notable for:

• Introduces the Mara, a psychic entity from the “dark places of the inside” that returns in the later story Snakedance.

• Gives Tegan one of her most substantial early stories, with much of the plot hinging on her dream sequences and eventual possession.

• Set on the jungle planet Deva Loka, contrasting the supposedly “primitive” Kinda tribe with a small, unstable human survey team.

• Features Hindle’s mental breakdown and authoritarian turn, often cited as one of classic Who’s most unsettling depictions of psychological collapse.

• Includes the Box of Jhana, a device whose visions restore Hindle’s sanity and resolve the crisis at the human base.

• Uses dream imagery extensively, with Tegan’s black-void nightmare sequences as the key pathway for the Mara to enter the physical world.

• Noted for its strong religious and mythological themes, drawing on Buddhist and other spiritual ideas in the depiction of the Kinda and the Mara.

• Widely reassessed over time from a “weird” early Davison story to a critical favorite, often ranked among the most ambitious serials of the era.

• The Mara returned in Snakedance, the audio adventure The Cradle of the Snake, and the Season 20 preview for Doctor Who: The Collection

Pete commentary:

• I’d argue Kinda begins with almost the opposite of a cold open. The first scene with the TARDIS crew explicitly sidelines Nyssa. Whatever you think about the character, you’re leading with both a handicap and exposition/explanation. Not a great start.

• Luckily, things get going sooner than later. The tension in the dome between Hindle and Sanders is established quickly, alluding to the darkness we’ll see later on.

• That scene also fools you into thinking this is going to be a simple anti-colonial tale like The Mutants or The Power of Kroll. Taking some of the natives prisoner definitely seems like a very strange and risky standard procedure. Todd even calls them “hostages,” and Sanders doesn’t correct her. It wouldn’t be out of place for her to say, “Are we the bad guys?”

• Of course, Kinda ends up being arguably Doctor Who’s clearest exploration of the metaphysical, with loads of allusions to Buddhism throughout. Almost every character goes through some kind of major change or transformation, with the exception of the Doctor, Todd, and Adric. There are deep reflections on what makes a person content, where evil comes from, the cyclical nature of existence, and how wisdom and spirituality are better tools than technology. Kinda is rich in meaning.

• Story-wise, the elements are all there, with dual antagonists in Hindle and Aris/the Mara. It doesn’t all come together that well, however, with the Doctor et al. ticking off the box of stopping Hindle before moving on to the Mara. It’s paced well, but it would have been better if they could intertwine the two stories more clearly.

• Hindle flies off the handle for almost no reason. He’s clearly—and explicitly—unbalanced, and no reason is ever given apart from stress. I actually do think Sanders should probably make a log entry somewhere about what happened—clearly this guy can’t handle his job. And I feel they missed a trick in not connecting what’s happening with Hindle to the Mara. Perhaps the Mara is trying to enter Hindle’s dreams but can’t fully because he’s too far away from the “place of great dreaming” and that’s what’s pushing him further into madness.

• Janet Fielding gets to do a lot here, at least for a couple of episodes, and she’s very good as both the tormented Tegan in the dreamworld, and as the Mara-possessed Tegan in episode 2. This is such a good part for her, and so well executed, that you really want to see more of it, and have it given more emphasis.

• For starters, I’d love to see a longer dream sequence, with the Mara’s games expanded upon and multiplied. I’d really love to feel Tegan’s psychological torture more, with more room to explore things like the couple playing chess. The spartan nature of the environment, the lighting, Jeff Stewart’s look and performance—more, please! Ultimately, you want to feel like Tegan has wandered into the worst possible Black Mirror episode, and by the end we’re begging for her to get out of it. When she finally gives in to the Mara, you want to feel more empathetic and a sense of relief

• Likewise, I would rather have had Tegan waking up, possessed by the Mara, to be the cliffhanger of episode 2. Then, let’s see Janet as “possessed Tegan” for a whole episode, or nearly a whole episode, before moving the snake to Aris. Let’s also have Tegan to meaner things—we really want to hate this Mara creature, and amp up the stakes. Apparently there were some more sexualized parts of Fielding’s performance that were dialed back, but that sounds perfectly appropriate, given what this thing is supposed to be.

• High praise, though, for the fun way the Mara possesses people—the snake tattoo coming alive. Sure, that could be done much cooler today, but they did really well with it in 1982. I still love that “screech” as the snake comes alive.

• I liked Simon Rouse as Hindle—truly an OTT performance of a man driven insane. You’re tempted to laugh at some of it, but the other cast keep you from tapping out, since they’re taking it so seriously. You really feel the tension of needing to walk on eggshells because he might fly off the handle and kill you at any moment.

• I don’t understand the Mara’s plan once he’s in Aris. The Mara likes chaos and destruction, I get that, but building a Kinda version of the TSS out of branches? That’s, uh, a strange choice. Does the Mara actually want to take the dome, or is it all just theater to get everyone panicked and killing each other? Probably the latter, but Hindle’s plan to blow up the whole jungle would seem to be a problem for the Mara, so shouldn’t it REALLY want to take control of the dome?

• You could also argue that the Mara+Aris is kind of a hybrid of the two, and the wooden TSS makes sense to Aris, though it requires demoting the Kinda to having a very primitive understanding of technology, which the script seems to want to get away from.

• And what’s up with Sanders? His mind is seemingly balanced by the box, not once, but three times. But he only becomes himself again after the last time. I don’t understand why he’s a childlike simpleton for most of the story.

• I know Panna says, “No male can open the Box of Jhana without being driven out of his mind.” Fair enough, but that’s later given texture by the Doctor: “The box is a powerful Kinda healing device. I suspect it generates sound at a frequency beyond our ears…. Helps bring the mind back into phase…. with everything. With life out there.”

• Finally, and I might be the only person in the world who cares about this, but what DID happen to the other crew from the dome?

• OK, more praise: Regardless of the motivation of his character, Richard Todd as Sanders is outstanding. Even better is Mary Morris as Panna—you really believe she’s blind and supremely wise. They couldn’t have cast or realized a better Mother Teresa character.

• The final confrontation with Mara is a high point, regardless of the special effect. And it’s handled well by having the Doctor and Aris/the Mara verbally joust right before. The “evil cannot face itself” might be superstitious, but—arguably—so is evil itself. And this is the show reminding us of its core belief: You defeat evil not with force, but with intellect and a little bit (in this case, a lot) of faith.

What did Pete’s family think?

• Grace enjoyed it, and she had high praise for the snake effects at the end. When I told her those were new for the Blu-ray, she really wanted to see the original one, to which she reacted, “Oh.”

Four Questions to Doomsday - Pete

1. Why did the Randomizer take us here? Well, we’re recording this on Pentecost, so it makes sense the Randomizer would direct us to the story perhaps most immersed in faith and religiosity. Also, Sanders and Hindle sure could have used Chloe Weber’s help in building their cardboard city.

2. What if the evil plot had succeeded? If the Mara’s plan works, they Kinda break into the dome and kill everybody. It then gets the Kinda to kill each other until the civilization becomes scattered and much less enlightened than it was before. Over time, perhaps it inspires them to embrace technology to take their newfound warlike outward, to the stars, where it can further spread its ways of anger, revenge, and chaos. It’d be an interesting Ark-like twist if the Doctor fast-fowards 700 years and Deva Loka is the center of a dystopian Kinda empire.

   
   If Hindle’s plan succeeds, everybody’s fucked. The whole place blows up, the Kinda and the Mara are destroyed, and we’re done here. Roll credits.

3. Where’s the Clara splinter? She’s on the homeworld, ensuring all colonial teams have ample supplies of cardboard so that they can build a large amount of crafts, so the crew can have fun for hours and hours before they’re able to get back to their duties or blow up the jungle.

4. Dalek, Ogron, Professor Hayter, Viscount Banger, Fixed Point in Time, Lady Cassandra, or Zarbi? Kinda is a really rich canvas, but there’s almost too much to work with here. The picture it decided to paint is flawed, but holy cow is the brushwork unique and super interesting. It’s a very special Dalek—one of the cult of Skaro, perhaps. It’s a Dalek Jast.

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Chris commentary:

• What’s the deal with the directors chairs with their names on in the base

• I love how S goes from maximum exertion and heart attack waiting to happen to opposite

• Tegan gets lei’d! And then, um, mind-raped. :(

• Dharka, Tegan and Aris could be in an after school special about the dangers of heroin

• The Ten Tegans! Ten mouths on twenty legs! I’d kinda want to see that more than the Five Doctors