‘KINDA’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Mara on Deva-Loka with the Fifth Doctor, Tegan and Adric whilst Nyssa is in the TARDIS

We now come to the third story of Season 19 in ‘Doctor Who’ called ‘Kinda’. The first time I watched ‘Kinda’ was when I had the ‘Doctor Who’ DVD box set called ‘Mara Tales’ for my birthday in May 2011. At that time, it was the final ‘Doctor Who’ DVD box set release to feature Nyssa in it. 😀

‘Mara Tales’ was a DVD box set that contained two TV stories from the Peter Davison era of ‘Doctor Who’. They were ‘Kinda’ and ‘Snakedance’, and they featured the evil snake-like creature called the Mara. The two tales focused on Janet Fielding as Tegan, as she easily gets possessed by the evil Mara.

When I saw Sarah Sutton at the ‘Regenerations 2010’ convention in Swansea in September 2010, I told her I was looking forward to purchasing the ‘Mara Tales’ DVD box set. Sarah acknowledged that it was the latest DVD box set at the time. How ironic that it’s been re-released on the Season 19 Blu-ray box set lately.

After I saw the ‘Mara Tales’ DVD box set for my birthday in May 2011, I found ‘Snakedance’ to be a better ‘Doctor Who’ story than ‘Kinda’. The two Mara stories are by Christopher Bailey, who was a Buddhist enthusiast at the time, and he put his extraordinary writing talent into ‘Doctor Who’ itself.

I later had the DVD cover of ‘Kinda’ signed by the lovely Sarah Sutton at the ‘Fantom Events at Memorabilia 2016’ convention at the NEC in Birmingham in March 2016, and by Peter Davison at the ‘Regenerations 2016’ convention in Swansea in September 2016. I told Sarah that I liked her as Nyssa in both of the TV ‘Mara Tales’.

I know that Sarah as Nyssa wasn’t in ‘Kinda’ very much and I was looking forward to ‘Snakedance’ more. But the scenes with Nyssa in ‘Kinda’ are my favourites and I told Sarah I meant that sincerely when I saw her at ‘Fantom Events at Memorabilia 2016’. Sarah was pleased and thanked me for saying that.

With that said, the ‘Mara Tales’ are peculiar bunch of ‘Doctor Who’ stories from the Peter Davison era. And that’s not just the two TV stories. There’s also the Big Finish audio story ‘The Cradle of the Snake’ afterwards. What is it about these Mara stories that makes them unique and unusual in storytelling?

Are you ready to face your nightmares and the dark places of the inside? Let’s take a look, as we begin this excursion with the Mara in the first story called ‘Kinda’, set during Peter Davison’s first season as the Fifth Doctor. It’s a very mind-boggling story and I’m not sure that I fully understand it altogether.

Like I said, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa doesn’t appear much in ‘Kinda’. The reason why Nyssa fainted at the end of ‘Four to Doomsday’ is given in the superb Big Finish audio story called ‘Primeval’. I know not many people have heard that story, but I’ve heard it and the explanation is there and needs to be checked out.

Nyssa gets stuck inside the TARDIS for most of her time in ‘Kinda’, as the Doctor gives her 48 hours of induced D-sleep with the delta-wave augmenter. I wish Nyssa was in this four-part story more, as I missed her from seeing this. I’ll get into more about how I feel regarding Nyssa not being in ‘Kinda’ later on.

As I indicated, I found ‘Kinda’ an unusual and strange four-part story by Christopher Bailey. It’s not terrible by any means, but it was unnerving and surreal. There are elements of the 2009 film ‘Avatar’ directed by James Cameron in ‘Kinda’. I saw that film beforehand and was blown away by it.

‘Kinda’ was a story that went through various changes in terms of script-editing. Chris Bailey had contact with three script editors, including Christopher H. Bidmead, Anthony Root and Eric Saward. Chris Bidmead and Anthony Root were more enthusiastic about Chris Bailey’s scripts than Eric Saward was.

Granted, there are some amazing ideas that Chris Bidmead and Anthony Root found impressive. But Eric Saward was concerned about the logic and the structure of the storytelling which Chris Bailey had to keep on addressing when it came to improving the scripts, which must have been hard-going.

I don’t think ‘Kinda’ makes a lot of sense in terms of the storytelling and you have to use your imagination in terms of understanding the overall plot of the story. But the vision of ‘Kinda’ is pretty bold, and fair do’s to the director Peter Grimwade who achieved a linear structure in the storytelling.

Anyway, the TARDIS arrives on the jungle planet Deva Loka, which is the home to the primitive but peaceful Kinda. Without Nyssa joining them, the Doctor, Tegan and Adric explore the Deva Loka jungles and discover a survey dome on the planet. The dome is under the command of a man called Sanders.

By accident, Tegan falls asleep at a clearing lined with crystalline wind chimes in the jungle. From there, she has terrible dark dreams and is soon infected and possessed by the Mara. The Mara causes havoc whilst inside Tegan’s mind as well as a Kinda male called Aris. Can the Mara be defeated?

I found Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor pretty good in this adventure. I know Chris Bailey originally wrote this ‘Doctor Who’ story for Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor. Some say that the scripts didn’t suit Peter Davison’s Doctor, but I believe Peter came out top trumps, despite saying lines meant for Tom Baker.

What I found impressive about Peter’s Doctor is how very intrigued he is by what’s going on in the story. He shares an interesting relationship with Todd, the scientist at the survey dome, and seems to know of the legends of the Mara when he recognises its tattoo mark on Aris’ arm and tries to stop it.

I enjoyed Janet Fielding as Tegan in this story. Unfortunately, Tegan falls asleep and has harrowing dreams when she faces incarnations of the Mara. These include Jeff Stewart as Dukkha, who taunts her, and Anna Wing as Anatta (representing Nyssa) and Roger Milner as Annica (representing Adric).

Very soon, Tegan allows the Mara to take possession of her and she doesn’t end up as the character we know and love. Janet Fielding delivers a pretty seductive, sexy and evil performance as the Mara-possessed Tegan. Mind you, that possession doesn’t last long when the Mara possesses Aris.

Matthew Waterhouse is good as Adric and he gets a fair share of the action in this adventure. I enjoyed how Adric interacts with Hindle, who goes mad in the story. He also shares an interesting bond with Sanders, who warms to Adric, following his looking inside the Box of Jhana and seeming rather child-like.

I’m not sure how much of the story is true about Matthew Waterhouse giving Richard Todd helpful guidance on how to act during the making of this story, but it sounds pretty amusing. Adric has a go at using the Total Survival Suit (TSS) when going outside, but he finds out that it’s difficult to control.

Richard Todd guest stars as Sanders, the commander of the survey dome in the story. Richard Todd is a renowned film actor, appearing in movies like ‘The Dam Busters’ from 1955. I enjoyed his performance in this TV story, as he starts off being the gruff military person who wears a pith helmet.

Eventually, once he looks into the Box of Jhana given to him by Karuna, he becomes completely different. He’s friendlier and has a child-like innocence about him. He soon starts to follow orders from the gone-mad Hindle. It was amusing when Sanders acted rather happy-faced in the adventure.

Simon Rouse guest stars as Hindle, who becomes mentally unstable in this story. He’s one of the survey dome team under Sanders’ command. He completely loses it when he’s given command in Sanders’ absence. Simon Rouse does very well in giving an extraordinary performance of a mad man.

Afterwards, Simon Rouse would go on to appear in ‘The Bill’ as well as appear in the Big Finish audio adventure ‘The Witch From The Well’ with Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor. One of my favourite moments with Hindle is when one of the cardboard figures gets torn up and he says the amazing immortal line:

Hindle: YOU CAN’T MEND PEOPLE, CAN YOU?!!! YOU CAN’T MEND PEOPLE!!!

Nerys Hughes guest stars as Todd, the scientist at the survey dome whom the Doctor befriends. Nery Hughes is quite well-known for her appearances in the comedy TV series called ‘The Liver Birds’. She has also played Rhys Williams’ mum, Brenda, in the ‘Torchwood’ TV episode called ‘Something Borrowed’.

I enjoyed Todd’s reactions to the things that she doesn’t understand, especially when she’s with the Doctor who’s often flippant regarding explanations, such as how Panna can be in Karuna. I also enjoyed that moment where the Doctor tosses for it and he calls “Heads!” whereas she calls “Tails!”.

There’s also Mary Morris as Panna, the wise woman who seems to know everything about what’s going on with the Kinda and the Mara. She’s also a blind old woman with a walking stick that Karuna to guide in the jungle. I found it amusing when Panna kept calling the Doctor an ‘idiot’ when he was with them.

There’s Sarah Prince as Karuna, the young girl who assists Panna in their methods to defeat the evil that is ‘among we’ or among the Kinda tribe. She can easily read the minds of the Kinda who don’t use voice to communicate. Karuna very soon has the mind of Panna inside her once Panna herself dies.

And there’s Adrian Mills as Aris, the male Kinda who gets possessed by the Mara. I’ve met Adrian Mills in real-life at the ‘celebrate 50 – The Peter Davison Years’ event in Chiswick, London in April 2013. He’s a nice chap and I’ve had a photo of Adrian Mills as Aris signed by him at that convention.

In the story, the Mara soon becomes a giant snake when trapped inside a circle of mirrors by the Doctor to defeat it. The original Mara snake was a puppet and… Yeah, it looks fake and pathetic. I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw that puppet snake for the first time and it should have been a lot better.

Thankfully, the makers of the ‘Kinda’ DVD recreated the Mara snake with a brand-new CGI version of it. The CGI Mara snakes looks pretty impressive and terrifying. I’m glad they kept that CGI version of the Mara snake when transferring the ‘Kinda’ story onto Blu-ray for the complete Season 19 Blu-ray box set.

At the end of the story, Nyssa is better and fully recovered. I’m glad Nyssa is better by the end of the story, but because of her absence, I didn’t enjoy ‘Kinda’ as much as I enjoyed ‘Snakedance’. I think Nyssa could have had a big part to play in the story in order for it to be very entertaining throughout.

If Nyssa was in ‘Kinda’ more, she could have helped Tegan through her Mara experience with her own latent telepathic abilities as established later in ‘Time-Flight’. Nyssa would have been there at Tegan’s side to help her best friend get out of the traumatic experience she went through with the Mara.

Nyssa could have also worked well in the scenes with Adric inside the survey dome with witnessing Hindle’s madness and paranoia as well as seeing Sanders’ strange behaviour. Nyssa could have tried to calm Hindle down, despite being afraid of him, and could have got through to Sanders in his mental block.

Those are my thoughts on how Nyssa could have been made of more use in ‘Kinda’ rather than just be locked up for most of the story in the TARDIS. I know that this is a Tegan-centric story, but with that said, Tegan spent a lot of the time sleeping in ‘Part Three’ and didn’t wake up until ‘Part Four’.

The original DVD special features were as follows. There was the making-of documentary ‘Dream Time’ with behind-the-scenes cast and crew interviews, the ‘Peter Grimwade – Directing With Attitude’ documentary, deleted and extended scenes from the story, the CGI effects option for the story and the CGI effects comparison of the Mara snake. There were BBC trailers and continuity announcements of the story, a photo gallery of the story, a dual mono sound audio mix option of the story and a DVD audio commentary with Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Matthew Waterhouse and Nerys Hughes. There was an isolated music option by Peter Howell to enjoy, an info-text commentary option to enjoy and PDF materials, including a ‘Radio Times Listings’ of the story. There was also a ‘coming soon’ DVD trailer for the ‘Revisitations 2’ DVD box set, including ‘The Seeds of Death’, starring Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury, ‘Carnival of Monsters’, starring Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning, and ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’, starring Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Mark Strickson.

On Disc 3 of the ‘Doctor Who – The Collection – Season 19’ Blu-ray, the ‘Dream Time’ making-of documentary, the ‘Peter Grimwade – Directing With Attitude’ documentary, the deleted and extended scenes, the CGI effects option of the story, the CGI effects comparison, the dual mono sound audio mix option, the DVD audio commentary and the isolated music option can be found on there. The info-text commentary option, the BBC trailers and continuity announcements and the photo gallery for ‘Kinda’ have been updated for 2018 on the Blu-ray.

The new special features on Blu-ray include the ‘Behind the Sofa’ feature on ‘Kinda’ with Peter Davison (the Fifth Doctor), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Janet Fielding (Tegan) and Matthew Waterhouse (Adric) as well as Mark Strickson (Turlough) and Sophie Aldred (Ace). There’s the ‘coming soon’ DVD trailer for ‘The Visitation’, starring Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and Matthew Waterhouse. There’s also a brand-new 5.1. surround sound audio mix option for the story to enjoy.

On the PDF front, as well as the ‘Radio Times Listings’ of the story, there are production documents and scripts for the story. You need a special Blu-ray computer drive for that.

‘Kinda’ is an extraordinary and very unusual ‘Doctor Who’ story. But it’s ‘kinda’ interesting. See what I did there? 😀 I don’t fully understand what goes on in the story, as some of the logic and structure is confusing. But the themes of dreams and possession are strong throughout in this story.

I know how much I’ve said I wish Nyssa was in ‘Kinda’ more, as I felt her absence throughout. But I’m glad she was back by the story’s end and was looking forward to finding out where she and the others would go next. I knew where they were going next of course, but I was excited to revisit it in the Season 19 Blu-ray box set.

‘Kinda’ rating – 7/10

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‘DOCTOR WHO – KINDA’ (BOOK)

Please feel free to comment on my review.

The Mara and the Kinda in Book

For Terrance Dicks

I’ve enjoyed checking out the ‘Kinda’ Target novelization/audiobook recently! 🙂

It’s fascinating to talk about the Target novelization/audiobook of the original TV story by Christopher Bailey, especially as it’s not him writing the novelization. The novelization is penned by Terrance Dicks, who has contributed significantly to the world of ‘Doctor Who’ on TV and in prose. 🙂

Terrance of course was the script editor of ‘Doctor Who’ from the end of Patrick Troughton’s era to the entirety of the Jon Pertwee era. He’s written subsequent stories since then, both on TV and in prose form, and he has contributed very significantly to the Target novelization range of ‘Doctor Who’.

When Chris Bailey was unavailable to novelize his original ‘Kinda’ TV scripts for the Target novelization range, Terrance happily obliged in his novelization duties on this remarkable and surreal story. I feel he has done a remarkable job in tackling such as unusual story from the Fifth Doctor era.

After viewing ‘Kinda’ in the ‘Mara Tales’ DVD box set for my birthday in May 2011, I was keen to check out more about this remarkable story. I didn’t understand a lot of it and it’s not a favourite of mine, but reading the book by Terrance Dicks has enabled me to get a clearer depiction of the story.

The original Target novelization was published in hardback in December 1983, which was like 22 months after the TV story was transmitted on BBC1 in February 1982. It was published in paperback in March 1984 and was reissued in 1992 as one of Virgin Publishing blue spine editions with a brand-new cover.

I received my 1984 paperback copy of the ‘Kinda’ novelization with an image of Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor on it along with an image of Sanders in the TSS. As I write this updated review, the book is still in very good condition after all these years, especially as I read it along with the new audiobook.

In 2024, BBC Audio published a complete and unabridged audiobook of the Target novelization, read by Janet Fielding who played Tegan in the TV story. This is a fitting choice to have Janet be the narrator of this story, especially as the ‘Mara Tales’ of ‘Doctor Who’ are her favourites in the TV series. 🙂

I did wonder whether there would be a new audiobook for the ‘Kinda’ novelization after I read it on its own. I wondered whether Peter Davison, Janet Fielding or Matthew Waterhouse would be the story’s reader. I’m glad I was correct about my second choice. It’s been nice to hear Janet read the story.

It’s a shame that Christopher Bailey didn’t end up writing a brand-new Target novelization of ‘Kinda’ for BBC Audio, like how David Fisher wrote novelizations for ‘The Stones of Blood’ and ‘The Androids of Tara’. But I’m pleased Terrance Dicks’ novelization was read for audio by Janet Fielding in 2024. 🙂

Janet Fielding is no stranger to audio, as she’s reprised her role of Tegan in the Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’ with Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Matthew Waterhouse and Mark Strickson. She’s also read the linking narration for the TV soundtrack audio release of the 1984 story ‘Warriors of the Deep’.

There’s also the ‘Destiny of the Doctor’ audio story ‘Smoke and Mirrors’, which Janet read for the 50th anniversary celebrations of ‘Doctor Who’ in 2013. I’ve found Janet’s audiobook reading of the ‘Kinda’ novelization thoroughly enjoyable and it’s very interesting how she voiced the characters in the tale.

I enjoyed how she voiced characters like Sanders with his gruff tones, Panna with her elderly wizened voice, and Hindle with his mad hysteria. I’m not sure about the voice she gave Aris, as I would have preferred a younger voice than the raspy voice she gave him when possessed by the Mara.

I’m also surprised that Janet didn’t use her posh, almost British-sounding voice for the Mara when it possessed Tegan before it transferred itself onto Aris. I mean, if she did it like that for ‘The Passenger’ Season 20 Blu-ray trailer recently, why come she didn’t do it for the ‘Kinda’ audiobook? 😐

The ‘Kinda’ novelization is divided into 12 chapters with 3 chapters making one of the four episodes. So, the first three chapters make for ‘Part One’, the second three chapters make for ‘Part Two’, the third three chapters make for ‘Part Three’, and the fourth and final three chapters make for ‘Part Four’.

This is very often a popular approach to novelize a four-part TV story in ‘Doctor Who’ by Terrance Dicks. I’ve noticed it being the case for the audiobook release when I purchased it on CD. The CD release of the ‘Kinda’ audiobook is a 4-disc CD set, with three chapters on each of the four discs themselves.

‘Part One’ is on Disc 1, ‘Part Two’ is on Disc 2, ‘Part Three’ is on Disc 3 and ‘Part Four’ is on Disc 4. This is a contrast to how the ‘Four to Doomsday’ audiobook was handled, as that was released as a 3-disc set on CD where the episodes overlapped each other, not matching the four-episode structure.

I do wonder how Terrance Dicks reacted to Christopher Bailey’s original TV scripts before he novelized ‘Kinda’. I wonder if he understood the plot and the characters when novelizing the story. From reading and hearing the story recently, he seems to know what’s going on, since his writing is very clear.

Terrance hasn’t really changed much of the original plot featured in ‘Kinda’. Despite minor changes to some of the dialogue, he has managed to novelize the story by matching exactly to how it appears on the TV screen. Perhaps he saw the TV story on a repeat before he novelized the scripts.

In my opinion, Terrance has done a wonderful job with describing the surreal imagery featured in the story, especially with the dream sequences that I found baffling when I first saw them on TV. This is with the benefit of hindsight and on repeated viewings in seeing the story on DVD and Blu-ray.

What Terrance doesn’t do with changing dialogue, he makes up for it with describing the scenes full of incredible detail throughout. I’m amazed by how Terrance is able to delve into the world of Deva Loka and describe the many places and environments featured e.g., the survey dome and the jungles.

Terrance also homes in on the characters that are featured in the story with likes of Sanders and Hindle. He delves into Hindle’s madness with gripping detail. He also transcends Sander’s character beautifully from a gruff, belligerent army officer to the gentle, child-like man he becomes by the end.

One thing I’ve noticed about Nyssa’s absence in the ‘Kinda’ story is that it’s never explained why Nyssa had to stay in the TARDIS. I mean, no reference is made about the fact that Nyssa fainted at the end of the previous story ‘Four to Doomsday’. Mind you, that could be a bit problematic on reflection. 😐

This is especially since Nyssa didn’t faint at the end of the ‘Four to Doomsday’ Target novelization/audiobook by Terrance Dicks to help explain the reason for her staying inside the TARDIS for the majority of ‘Kinda’. Perhaps the faint wasn’t included in the ‘Four to Doomsday’ TV scripts.

This would make sense, considering the ‘Four to Doomsday’ and ‘Kinda’ scripts had quick turnarounds in terms of their production. Perhaps it was decided to make ‘Kinda’ the next story after ‘Four to Doomsday’ instead of ‘The Visitation’, if you take into account the production order process.

Another thing that disappoints me about the ‘Kinda’ Target novelization is that the deleted and extended scenes, which are featured on the DVD and Blu-ray releases of the story, aren’t included. I find this very bizarre, as I assumed Terrance Dicks novelized the story based on the original TV scripts.

Wouldn’t those scenes have been included in the original ‘Kinda’ scripts for Terrance to novelize compared to them being absent in the final cut of the TV story. Perhaps Terrance was instructed not to include the deleted and extended scenes from the original TV story when he novelized ‘Kinda’. 😐

The Mara’s depiction in the novelization is just as frightening as it is in the TV story. The Mara’s delight in the pain and suffering of others shines throughout this story, as it’s something Terrance has stressed so clearly when delving more into the snake-like entity once it wants to cause havoc. 🙂

The dream sequences for Tegan are very effective in the Target novelization/audiobook. Reading and hearing those scenes again do make me feel for Tegan, especially when she’s being tormented by the Mara and resisting its temptations, through the ice cream moment and ‘ten Tegans’ moment.

I did wonder why there wasn’t a reference made to Adric as the old man and Nyssa as the old woman that played chess in Tegan’s dreams when she encountered them. Maybe Chris Bailey didn’t envisage them as Adric and Tegan when he wrote the original TV scripts of this ‘Doctor Who’ story. 😐

Therefore, Terrance didn’t pick up on that aspect when he novelized the scripts and he probably didn’t pick it up when the story was being repeated on TV either. Had Chris Bailey novelized ‘Kinda’ for BBC Audio, I’m certain Adric as the old man and Nyssa as the old woman would have been included.

I’m slightly disappointed by how the Box of Jhana is depicted in the Target novelization/audiobook. It’s not clearly illustrated that the Doctor, Todd and Sanders were overcome by a bright light once they opened the box. At least, that’s not how I interpreted it when I first checked out the novelization.

Instead, the Doctor, Todd and Sanders are hearing music once they ‘see the world through the Kinda’s eyes’, according to the novelization. Honestly, that would’ve been okay if a combination of a bright light and them hearing music was featured when reading and hearing the novelization/audiobook.

I like how Adric is portrayed in the ‘Kinda’ novelization/audiobook. Terrance Dicks has of course written for Adric before in the TV version of ‘State of Decay’ as well as in the Target novelizations for ‘State of Decay’, ‘The Keeper of Traken’ and ‘Four to Doomsday’. He should be familiar with Adric. 😀

Terrance touches upon Adric’s fear of Hindle when he goes through his madness, being unstable and about to set off the master detonator to destroy the survey dome. It’s those aspects of Terrance’s writing that I enjoy, as he manages to find ways of touching upon characters and their development.

This isn’t the first time that Terrance Dicks has written for the Fifth Doctor in the Target novelization range, as he previously wrote for him in the ‘Four to Doomsday’ novelization in July 1983. I’m not sure if Terrance penned ‘The Five Doctors’ simultaneously with the ‘Four to Doomsday’ Target novelization.

I like how Terrance has written the Fifth Doctor in the ‘Kinda’ novelization, since he superbly describes his youthfulness, energy, and impeccable curiosity. He also does well with portraying the scientific friendship that he has with Todd, which has also been presented well in the TV adventure itself.

An annoyance I’ve come across when revisiting the ‘Kinda’ Target novelization is that Todd is addressed as ‘Doctor Todd’ all the time. Not ‘Dr. Todd’ or simply ‘Todd’. Just ‘Doctor Todd’. Honestly, that would be pretty tiring whilst reading the novelization and I would have included that only once. 😐

I’ve enjoyed checking out the ‘Kinda’ Target novelization/audiobook by Terrance Dicks recently. It isn’t the best Target novelization in my opinion, but it’s a fine item in clarifying a unique and surreal story about dreams and the Mara. Terrance has novelized the story well and I like how he novelized it.

Reading and listening to it again has indeed made me feel like I’m watching the TV story again, and it’s also thanks to Janet Fielding’s reading of the novelization in the audiobook that’s made it possible. I’m so looking forward to how things are done in the ‘Snakedance’ Target novelization/audiobook next.

As of January 2025, I’ve had my CD cover of the ‘Doctor Who – Kinda’ Target novelization/audiobook signed by Janet Fielding at ‘Happy Who Year at the Playhouse’ in January 2025.

‘Doctor Who – Kinda’ (Book) rating – 7/10

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‘DOCTOR WHO – KINDA’ (AUDIO)

Please feel free to comment on my review.

The Mara and the Kinda Again in Audio

This is the 1997 abridged audiobook release of the ‘Kinda’ novelization by BBC Audio. 🙂

Before Janet Fielding read the complete and unabridged audiobook version of ‘Kinda’, which was released in June 2024, Peter Davison read the abridged audiobook version for August 1997, based on the Target novelization by Terrance Dicks. I’ve found this a pretty intriguing audiobook release. 🙂

I believe this might be the first ‘Doctor Who’ audio production that Peter Davison has been involved in before he did the Big Finish audios in 1999. If not the first, then certainly one of the earliest productions. It’s evident, particularly when his voice sounds younger compared to his voice today. 😀

I enjoyed Peter Davison’s reading of the abridged audiobook of the ‘Kinda’ novelization. I can’t say it’s better than Janet Fielding’s unbridged audiobook reading, but it was fascinating to check out how Peter read the story compared to Janet, since you notice certain differences between the two. 😐

Having seen ‘Kinda’ more times since I first saw it on DVD in May 2011, I’ve been able to pick up and know the dialogue off by heart. Therefore, I know where certain sections of the story are absent in the abridged reading. The story feels incomplete without certain sections featured in the audiobook.

Like ‘The Curse of Peladon’ abridged audiobook reading by Jon Pertwee, the ‘Kinda’ abridged audiobook reading by Peter Davison was released on a cassette tape and divided into two sides – Side A and Side B. I listened to the abridged audiobook reading ‘Tales From The TARDIS: Volume One’. 🙂

I knew when to have a break between the two sides, thanks to the ‘Doctor Who’ theme music being played. Although, the structure of the theme music is peculiar, as it’s similar to what’s in ‘The Curse of Peladon’ audiobook reading. The original Delia Derbyshire theme music is used to open the story.

It’s used again to indicate the break in-between Side A and Side B. And then it closes off with the Peter Howell theme music used for Peter Davison’s era of ‘Doctor Who’. Honestly, I would have used the Peter Howell theme music throughout the entire abridged audiobook to fit as a Fifth Doctor era story.

Unlike ‘The Curse of Peladon’ abridged audiobook reading, which contained incidental music from ‘Warriors of the Deep’, there’s no incidental music for the ‘Kinda’ abridged audiobook apart from exotic sounds and cues. Presumably, they’re from stock music and sounds in the BBC Audio archive.

Wouldn’t it have been good to have included Peter Howell’s incidental music for ‘Kinda’ in the abridged audiobook reading. I mean, it would fit more suitably compared to using ‘Warriors of the Deep’ incidental music for ‘The Curse of Peladon’ abridged audiobook reading. It’s very peculiar. 😐

I’m pleased that the scenes featuring Nyssa at the beginning and end of ‘Kinda’ are included in the abridged audiobook reading. I was afraid that they would have been edited out due to this being an abridged audiobook reading, but thankfully it was decided to have them in the 1997 audio release. 🙂

Usually, I would expect the division of a four-part story to be exactly halfway. By that, I mean ‘Parts One and Two’ would be on Side A and ‘Parts Three and Four’ would be on Side B. That is more or less the case for the ‘Kinda’ abridged audiobook, but the early bits of ‘Part Three’ are included on Side A.

Side A ends with Hindle in his dishevelled state announcing his plan to Sanders and Adric that explosive charges will be set up around the Dome and the ‘outside will never get in’. I expected Side A to conclude with the Doctor about to open the Box of Jhana, much like how ‘Part Two’ concluded.

A notable absence in the abridged audiobook is the section in ‘Part Two’ where Adric sides with Hindle for a bit whilst the Doctor and Todd are put in prison. That wouldn’t be a major problem concerning the storytelling in the abridged audiobook, except I have noticed a pretty evident hiccup.

It’s when it’s mentioned Adric and Hindle have become ‘allies again’. Without the section to establish Adric sided with Hindle for a bit in the ‘Part Two’ section, it doesn’t make much sense when Peter Davison reads that they’ve become ‘allies again’, since when were they allies in the first place?

I noticed that the Doctor doesn’t get to do the coin trick when he and Todd meet Trickster as well as the other Kinda in the jungle. We just cut from Trickster making an appearance to Aris making an appearance. I do wonder if it would have been better to have included the Doctor’s ‘coin trick’ then.

I’ve enjoyed the abridged audiobook reading of ‘Kinda’, based on Terrance Dicks’ novelization and read by Peter Davison. It’s not as good as the unabridged audiobook reading by Janet Fielding, but it’s fascinating how BBC Audio did an abridged audiobook reading of the Target novelization in 1997.

I found Peter Davison’s reading of the story enjoyable to listen to, although I’ve noticed that he doesn’t do that many voices when performing characters in the story. He clearly doesn’t put on an Australian accent for Tegan’s voice. Due to it being an abridged reading, it does feel it’s all in a rush. 😐

‘Doctor Who – Kinda’ (Audio) rating – 6/10

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The previous story For the Fifth Doctor was ‘Secrets of Telos’ (Audio) For Adric is ‘Secrets of Telos’ (Audio) For Nyssa is ‘Secrets of Telos’ (Audio) For Tegan is ‘Secrets of Telos’ (Audio)	The next story For the Fifth Doctor is ‘Sock Pig’ (ST/Audio) For Adric is ‘The Visitation’ (TV) For Nyssa is ‘The Visitation’ (TV) For Tegan is ‘The Visitation’ (TV)
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