On the planet Deva Loka, an investigation team studies the primitive native Kinda people, and are rather alarmed when the Doctor and Adric are rounded up by an automatic security device. The Doctor has brought the TARDIS to Deva Loka so Nyssa can rest and recover from her expeiences aboard Monarch’s ship. Tegan, in a nearby forest, drifts off to sleep and is visited by the Kinda, and her body is inhabited by an evil spirit from their lore, the Mara. The Doctor learns that, pending the final report from the increasingly unstable investigators, the Kinda could be displaced by human colonization of their world…unless all of them are destroyed by the Mara first.
written by Christopher Bailey
directed by Peter Grimwade
music by Peter HowellGuest Cast: Richard Todd (Sanders), Nerys Hughes (Todd), Mary Morris (Panna), Simon Rouse (Hindle), Adrian Mills (Aris), Lee Cornes (Trickster), Sarah Prince (Karuna), Anna Wing (Annatta), Roger Milner (Anicca), Jeffrey Stuart (Dukkha)
Broadcast from February 1 through 9, 1982
LogBook entry & review by Earl Green
Review: One of the most brilliant and underrated Doctor Who stories of the 1980s, Kinda is a radical departure from the typical structure of a Doctor Who adventure, including an extremely rare foray into the externalization of internal dialogue in the scenes where Tegan, standing in a black void, is confronted by the old couple, the Trickster, and finally herself. (This device has since been overused ad nauseum by the various Star Trek spinoffs and Babylon 5.) This also gives Janet Fielding a rare chance to shine, since talent is usually submerged well beneath the dreck of the usual scenes where Tegan gripes at her fellow TARDIS travelers. But just to make sure we don’t miss that aspect of the series, there was yet another senseless squabble between Adric and Tegan toward the end.
The mental instability of Sanders and Hindle is a truly scary random factor of the story, and all of the guest stars are excellent. A highly recommended – yet seldom remembered – adventure…despite the cheesy Giant Snake in part four! If you like Kinda, you may also want to watch the 1983 sequel story, Snakedance.