The Mind Robber

"The Mind Robber" is one of those interesting little stories for which the very reason for its happening is left open-ended. The most imaginative, mysterious tale possibly in the series history still leaves a few bothered fans wondering if it even ever happened at all.

The theory goes that the bulk of the adventure is a dream of the Doctors, which is interestingly supported by the odd (and unfortunately missing) first sequence of "The Invasion", which sees the TARDIS reform and no mention made by the travellers of the strange Master or where he's gone. There are plenty of fun theories about what the Doctors dream represents (because, naturally, it must be symbolic of something) from White Robots=Cybermen to the Master representing his eponymous namesake. But that's been done elsewhere.

The thing that most people seem to overlook is that it actually makes as much sense to take what happens on screen literally. The Doctor is, after all, a fictional character! We tend to watch the story from the point of view of the threat that is presented - that the Doctor could become fictional if he writes himself into the Master's story, as he almost does on several occasions. Ironic, really, given that the adventure sits on most of our bookshelves within the covers of a Target novelisation. Could "The Mind Robber" be the most self-aware adventure of them all in showing the Doctor's hidden fear that he is really just a children's hero, as lifeless and predetermined as Gulliver, Rapunzel and the others?

If the Doctor is "real" as his escape at the end of "The Mind Robber" indicates, it brings to the fore the question of which Universe he exists in. It can't be ours, because obviously Doctor Who is a fictional character in our world, a TV show, a book and a comic strip. "Remembrance of the Daleks" dares to suggest that his world is actually our own, so perhaps the TV programme that first aired in November 1963 chronicles his adventures? But then, the Doctor's Universe has always been distinctly different to ours anyway. The Cybermen didn't invade London here, we never had a Prime Minister called Jeremy and our Atlantis only sunk once. Doctor Who has always been quite blasé about setting stories in our future, despite the odd assertion that all these alien invasions are "hushed up". Interestingly, it's "Remembrance" again that tries to explain away these inconsistencies, as Ace wonders why she never heard about the Dalek invasion or the "Zygon gambit".

In hindsight it's a wonder "The Mind Robber" didn't go the whole hog and have the Doctor meet himself in The Land of Fiction. After all, in our world he's a fairytale and/or hero alongside Blackbeard the Pirate and Sir Lancelot. If the Doctor really does roam our Universe then he should exist already in the Land of Fiction, star of a hundred Target books and kids comics. So in that sense, the fact that he is fighting NOT to be a part of that world is an acknowledgement that he doesn't actually exist in ours at all.

Or maybe the Doctor had it the wrong way round all along. He is the only one to coin the phrase "Land of Fiction", which might better be suited to the Universe where he has all his usual adventures. Maybe during the adventure beyond the white void he is experiencing the REAL world, and the Master is a frustrated BBC Books editor. With hindsight it's probably just as well he stayed on his side of the void - a world of Krotons, Ice Warriors and a hero who always saves the day. A Land of Fiction we all know and love.