“Kinda”, is an adventure of the nineteenth season of “Doctor Who” classic series which aired in 1982. It follows “Four to Doomsday” and it’s a four parts adventure written by Christopher Bailey and directed by Peter Grimwade.
The story
After Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) fainted due to exhaustion, the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) lands the Tardis in a jungle on the planet Deva Loka. While Nyssa is ricovering, Tegan (Janet Fielding) tries to relax in the vicinity while the Doctor takes Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) to see the surroundings but the two of them stumble upon a strange automated vehicle that takes them to a base.
While Tegan enters a kind of trance in which she has strange visions, the Doctor and Adric meet the survivors of a survey expedition that is checking the possibility of colonizing the planet. The Kinda, native inhabitants, are considered savages and yet have advanced scientific knowledge and are suspected of having killed several members of the expedition.
Extras
This DVD contains a good amount of extras. There are typical contents such as production subtitles, Radio Times Listings, a trailer about the next “Doctor Who” DVDs to be released and a gallery of pictures from this adventure.
There are comments in the adventure alternative audio track by protagonists Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Matthew Waterhouse and actress Nerys Hughes.
Isolated Music. The option to watch the adventure with its soundtrack in an isolated audio track.
Dream Time – The Making of Kinda. A documentary on the production of this adventure.
Peter Grimwade – Directing with Attitude. A look at the career of Peter Grimwade in the various roles he had in the classic “Doctor Who” series as a director but also as a writer.
Deleted and Extended Scenes. Some scenes partly or completely deleted during the editing phase.
Optional CGI Effects Sequence. The option to see this adventure with a new special effect that shows the Mara in CGI. This creation helps to make the ending of this adventure look better.
CGI Effects Comparison. A comparison between the scene with the Mara in the original version and the CGI one.
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Christopher Bailey had a personal interest in Buddhism and decided to put several of its elements in the script that became “Kinda”. It was his first story for “Doctor Who” and by his own admission the author didn’t know enough of the show so it a considerable adaptation work was necessary.
A change that had very practical reasons is Nyssa’s very reduced appearance, due to the fact that her presence wasn’t scheduled when the script was written. Changing it again to give Nyssa a significant part after Sarah Sutton’s contract was renewed would’ve been too much therefore it was decided to use the trick of having the character rest for most of the time due to her exhaustion, which manifested at the end of the previous adventure.
Even after all the changes, “Kinda” was still a story full of mystical and philosophical elements while director Peter Grimwade intended to create a more conventional product, also because of the limited budget that effectively limited particularly visionary artistic choices.
Despite the different ideas of author, script editor and director, “Kinda” remains a deep story, rich in elements mainly related to Buddhism but also to the Judeo-Christian tradition, especially in the Mara, which appears in the form of a snake. It’s a story more adult than the average “Doctor Who” adventures, so much that some changes were made up to the editing stage to tone it down.
In particular, some moments of the subplot concerning Tegan were cut because in this case adult meant erotic, therefore definitely unsuitable in “Doctor Who”. Anyway, the version transmitted takes away very little to the inner journey Tegan starts after being attacked by the Mara. In many ways she’s the protagonist of “Kinda” with her “dream” in which she finds strange characters that mirror the Doctor, his companions and even the Tardis.
“Kinda” is also the story of the clash between an expedition that aims to evaluate the planet Deva Loka for a possible colonization and the Kinda, the native inhabitants of the planet. The members of the expedition rely on technology and want to understand everything that happens on the planet to take complete control of it. The Kinda instead live in harmony with the natural cycles and think that it’s useless to try to understand everything.
The theme of colonialism is explicit with the expedition members who dress in the nineteenth century colonial style. They generally consider the Kinda just as savages except Dr. Todd, the science officer, who tries to understand their telepathic powers and realized that they have scientific knowledge far too advanced for a savage people.
The story of Tegan and the one of Doctor with Adric are almost two separate stories which however are connected in a more or less explicit way until they meet. Through it all, the Doctor is little more than a spectator and this is another of the elements that make “Kinda” an almost unique adventure.
Explaining all of the elements in “Kinda” would be long and probably boring but above all it would be a bit like looking at the finger instead of the Moon. This is not the kind of story that needs to be fully understood to be appreciated, instead, just like the Kinda do, it’s better to watch it trying to find harmony with what’s happening.
The high quality of the performances of almost all the cast helped to build a high-level reputation for “Kinda”, which has become a classic. Personally, I would’ve liked it more if the dream aspect had had more space but I understand that it would’ve been really difficult to achieve it. I consider it a high-quality adventure anyway and the DVD has interesting extras that help understanding its elements better.
In region 2 countries, this DVD is part of the “Mara Tales” box set – available on Amazon UK
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