The Mind Robber ( TV story ) The Mind Robber was the second story of season 6 of " Doctor Who " . It was the first story which David Maloney directed and the only televised story to feature the Land of Fiction . Synopsis . To escape from the volcanic eruption on Dulkis , the Second Doctor uses an emergency unit . It moves the TARDIS out of normal time and space . The travellers find themselves in an endless void where they are menaced by white robots . Having regained the safety of the TARDIS , they believe they have escaped — until the ship explodes . They find themselves in a land of fiction , where they are hunted by life - size clockwork soldiers and encounter characters like Rapunzel , the Karkus , and Swift ' s Lemuel Gulliver . This domain is presided over by a man known only as the Master — a prolific English writer from 1926 — who in turn is controlled by a Master Brain computer . The Master is desperate to escape and wants the Doctor to take his place , while the Master Brain plans to take over the Earth . The Doctor engages the Master in a battle of wills using fictional characters . Zoe and Jamie overload the Master Brain . In the confusion , the White Robots destroy the computer , freeing the Master . Plot . Episode 1 . Back inside the TARDIS , Zoe watches the volcanic eruption on the scanner . The Doctor attempts to take off , but the fluid link s cannot take the load of the TARDIS and mercury vapour begins to flood into the console room . Jamie watches the lava draw towards them . The Doctor tells him there is nothing to worry about but begins to doubt himself , the TARDIS never having been subjected to lava before . He watches as the readings of the mercury levels rise . The Doctor mentions an emergency unit that moves the TARDIS out of the time and space dimension and out of reality altogether . He is very reluctant . He gets the unit out to look at it , and Jamie literally forces him into employing it . As the TARDIS is engulfed in lava , it dematerialises . The console room flashes and then stops . The Doctor realises that the gauges are reading zero on everything . They have landed , but nothing is displaying anything , not even the scanner . When asked where they are , the Doctor responds with " nowhere " before hurrying off . Zoe has gone to change and then encounters the Doctor . He is worried but is trying to hide it . Zoe reasons with the Doctor that the TARDIS only lands them in places that are safe , so they must be somewhere safe . The Doctor reasons with Zoe : they are in a dimension about which they know nothing , and they are at the mercy of forces which they don ' t understand . Zoe still wants to go . The Doctor is forced to put his foot down . Back in the console room , Jamie is engrossed by the scanner . He can see his home , the Scottish Highlands . Zoe enters and he shows her . She can see nothing . When he looks back , he can ' t see anything either . He puts it down to Scotch mist . As Jamie is distracted , Zoe gets engrossed by the scanner too . She too sees her home city . Just as before , she shows him and it disappears . Zoe wants to go out , but Jamie stops her . He goes to fetch the Doctor . Left alone , Zoe can see her home city on the scanner again . She opens the door and calls for Jamie and the Doctor so they can leave . Impatiently she leaves the TARDIS . As soon as she leaves , the scanner goes blank . Jamie explains what has happened to the Doctor . He is still convinced he saw the Scottish Highlands . The Doctor rushes in to find Zoe . When he realises she has gone , he reasons that there must be something tempting them out of the TARDIS . A warning light goes off on the TARDIS . They do not have much time before they are forced to take off . Jamie says he will go and find Zoe . Before the Doctor can stop him , he ' s run off . Another warning light goes off on the TARDIS console . The Doctor then nears a sharp , piercing sound . He staggers around the TARDIS , crying out for whoever is making the noise to identify themselves , where they are and what they want . The Doctor sits on a chair , determined to fight the noise . Zoe has found herself in a completely blank canvas . She is calling out for the Doctor and Jamie . Jamie finds Zoe . They decide to go back to the TARDIS , but they have become utterly lost . They decide to stand still and call for the Doctor . Back in the TARDIS , the Doctor can hear them but is still trying to fight against the noise . Out in the nothingness , Jamie feels they are being watched . Zoe concurs . Unseen by them , two robots are indeed watching over them . Zoe is distracted again by a vivid depiction of her city . Jamie brings her to her senses , but she is very hard to convince that she did not see it . In turn , Jamie starts to see his homeland . Zoe has to slap him to bring him to his senses . They decide to find the TARDIS again , but as they turn they encounter two of the robots . They run off but bump into more and soon they are surrounded by them . They turn to see a depiction of themselves beckoning them forward . The Doctor sees this image of Jamie and Zoe too . He hears a voice imploring him to follow them and to save them . He refuses , but the voice tells him that he will . The robots produce a hypnotic effect on Zoe and Jamie , causing the former to scream in distress . The voice is still imploring the Doctor to save his friends . In a daze , the Doctor walks out the TARDIS . Once outside , he comes to his senses again . He calls to Jamie and Zoe and tells them to focus on his voice . He tells them everything else is unreality and that he and the TARDIS are the only things that are real . He tells them to come towards him . They obey . He tells them to go into the TARDIS . The robots begin to use their hypnotic effects on them , and the Doctor pushes them into the TARDIS . Once inside , Jamie and Zoe come to . The Doctor hurriedly takes off . As they are in flight , the high pitched noise starts again . Jamie leaves the Doctor and Zoe to it and goes for a nap . Zoe apologises to the Doctor , who understands and says if it was anything as tempting as the voice that he heard she was bound to get in . The Doctor realises that he had forgotten about the voice up until then . He notices that the TARDIS is using more power than normal and begins to rectify it . Meanwhile , in the corner of the room , Jamie tosses and turns fretfully in his sleep . He suddenly wakes with a start . The Doctor tells him not to bother him as he cannot get power back to normal . Jamie tells Zoe that he was dreaming about a unicorn . They look up and see that the Doctor is in a trance . He draws their attention to the sound vibrating through the TARDIS and identifies it as alien . Zoe and Jamie start to notice it too and can ' t focus because of it . The Doctor implores Zoe and Jamie to read aloud the numbers on the dial so that they can focus on something else . The sound heightens . It is too strong for the Doctor , who slumps back against the wall . Outside , the TARDIS is flying aimlessly through space when suddenly it explodes . The console alone is left flying through space with Zoe and Jamie clinging on to it . Zoe turns and screams as she sees the Doctor , seemingly dead , floating in space . Smoke slowly covers the console as it drifts out of sight . . . Episode 2 . Jamie is looking for the Doctor and Zoe in what appears to be a very odd forest . He hears Zoe cry out . As he seeks her out , he comes across a Redcoat . Assuming he is back in his own time , he draws a knife and attacks the soldier . The soldier turns and shoots , and Jamie turns into a cardboard cutout of himself . Zoe is wandering around the forest looking for her friends . She notices she is trapped . All of a sudden she turns to see a door . Slowly the door creaks open , and she walks in before falling through the floor . An unseen figure watches over this on television screens . He is looking for the Doctor . He orders that they search all areas so that the Doctor can be completely under his control . The Doctor awakes . He hears Jamie and Zoe and begins to seek them out . He begins to get confused as they are both calling out at the same time . He tells Zoe to stop and follows the sound of Jamie ' s voice . The unseen figure turns the lights up so as to find the Doctor quicker . The Doctor thanks whoever turned on the lights as it is helping him find Jamie . He hears some figures approaching and hides . The unseen figure orders his soldiers to spread out and cover all areas so the Doctor can be found . The soldiers move on . The Doctor emerges and continues his search . Soon an armed figure emerges and draws a gun on him . He speaks in a strange language , but the Doctor soon discovers that , not only can he speak English , he comes from England . He questions the Doctor , worried that he may be a highway man . The man tells the Doctor that he left England in 1699 and that he has lost his companions . The Doctor asks where they are , but the man does not know . The Doctor asks for his help in finding Jamie and Zoe , but the man says that " the Master " will not permit it and that he has a warrant out for the Doctor . The man says he must leave and walks away . The Doctor pursues , but the man is gone . The Doctor puts it down to a hallucination . He begins to search for Jamie again when he is surrounded by schoolchildren . They bombard him with riddles before one draws a sword and points it at his neck , ordering him to answer the riddle , " What can you make of a sword ? " The children all shout at him before the Doctor realises the answer is " words " . The boy throws the sword in the air , and it turns into a dictionary . The schoolchildren bid the Doctor goodbye , but not before wishing him all the best and hoping that he is " suitable " . They to disappear as soon as they run off . Left alone , the Doctor hears Jamie cry out again . He turns to find Jamie , but is disheartened when he discovers it is just a cardboard cutout . He turns to see that a safe and a wishing well has appeared . He throws the dictionary down the well , only for laughter to emerge from it . This causes the Doctor to investigate more closely . He looks around the safe , and out of the mist emerges the letters " M " and " T " with crosses through them . Between the well and the safe emerges the figure of a hand with an " H " crossed out in the middle . The Doctor figures out that this is a riddle too . When looked at , it is the figure of " JAMIE " ; mist without the " M " or the " T " : " IS " ; the " SAFE " ; the hand without the " H " : " AND " ; and the " WELL " . " JAMIE IS SAFE AND WELL " . Pleased with himself , he turns to see the cardboard cutout is missing its face . He sees a board next to him that has all kinds of faces on it . He begins to piece the faces togethe , but he does it wrong . Jamie comes alive , but looks completely different . The Doctor tests Jamie to make sure it is not a trick , but he can remember everything that has happened so far and can even tell the Doctor about the destruction of the TARDIS , which even he did not know about . They hear Zoe cry out and go to look for her . They find a door , but the Doctor realises that it is just a brick wall with a door painted in it . Jamie wants to find a battering ram to knock it down , but the Doctor realises this is another riddle : " When is a door not a door ? " " When it ' s ajar . " No sooner is this said then Zoe emerges , trapped in a jar . They free her , and she is glad to be free but then notices Jamie ' s face . She doubts that it is Jamie , but the Doctor says they are in a place where nothing is impossible . Later the Doctor and his colleagues are tired from trying to get to the end of the forest . Jamie climbs one of the trees and is astounded to find it is not a tree but a huge " S " . He discovers that they are in a forest of letters and words . The Doctor asks him to read out what he can see , and Jamie realises they are in a forest of proverbs : " Slow but sure " , " In for a penny , in for a pound " , and " Look before you leap " . Jamie sees a way out and climbs down so they can head out of the forest . As they do , they come across the man the Doctor encountered earlier . The Doctor introduces Jamie and Zoe and tells the man they are going to escape . The man warns them against this and says he has never even contemplated escape . Zoe questions the man as to who has created these tests for them . The man , yet again , says it is the doing of the Master . When the Doctor questions him on the army of robot , the man denies any knowledge of such a thing . The Doctor hears them approaching , and he , Jamie and Zoe hide in the letters whilst the man takes guard . Once the robots have approached , the man turns and talks to the Doctor , revealing his whereabouts . From his control room , the Master orders them to be rounded up and led away . As they are rounded up , Jamie sarcastically thanks the man , but the Doctor says that he does not think that the man can see the robots . The man bids goodbye and disappears again . Now that the robots are seen in full light , Zoe realises that they are huge deadly toy soldiers . The soldiers lead them out of the letters and into a large blank area . Seeing this , the Master delightfully announces that his missions is accomplished . Jamie says that he thinks he has been here before . They hear a galloping horse and look up to see the unicorn that Jamie dreamt of in the TARDIS . The unicorn begins to charge . Despite all common sense , the Doctor gets Jamie and Zoe to stand still in the face of the oncoming beast . . . Episode 3 . The Doctor forces his companions into shouting that the unicorn doesn ' t exist . When they all do so at once , the unicorn turns into a cardboard cutout . The Doctor believes that the Master is challenging their beliefs in reality and credits his fantastic mind . The Master , watching over them , thanks the Doctor and returns the compliment . The soldiers approach the Doctor and his colleagues . The Master calls them off , stating that the trap is set for them and that they are walking into it anyway . The Doctor and his colleagues make their way through a thick web of cobwebs when , all of a sudden , they see a house . As they make their way towards it , Jamie sees the Redcoat he attacked earlier . As he rushes towards him , he is again shot and rendered into a faceless cardboard cutout . The board appears next to him , and the Doctor lets slip it was his fault that Jamie ' s face was changed . The Doctor , with lots of help from Zoe , returns Jamie ' s face to normal . When Jamie is back , they head into the house . As they enter , the door closes behind them . The house seems abandoned but there are candle s lit . Before them are four tunnels and a reel of twine . The Doctor suggests this is another test set for them and asks Jamie to tie the end of the twine to the door handle ; as he does , he realises the door is locked . Zoe is perturbed by the fact that everything is prepared for them which means that the Master can preempt their every move . From his lair , the Master watches on a map and urges the Doctor and his colleagues to move towards the heart of the maze . As they make their way through the maze , Zoe reveals she has figured out the pattern , but Jamie raises a problem — they are out of twine . They decide that Jamie is to stay put whilst Zoe and the Doctor continue to explore . The Master watches in glee as the Doctor and Zoe make their way directly to the heart of the maze . Once they have reached the middle , the Doctor seems vaguely disappointed that there is nobody or nothing to meet them . They do discover , however , the skeleton of a man and the tracks of animal . No sooner do they see this than they hear the roar of a creature . Putting all the clues together , Zoe reckons the beast must be the mythical Minotaur . The Doctor says that this cannot be possible but sees a shadow of a large horned creature approaching . Hearing the roars , Jamie drops the twine and heads off to help but is soon hedged off by a soldier . He realises that the soldiers house cameras through which they are being observed . Taking off his jacket , he covers the soldier ' s camera . By the time the soldier removes the coat , Jamie has disappeared . The Minotaur approaches . The Doctor encourages Zoe to register it as unreality and , as soon as they do , it disappears . They set off to find Jamie and discover him gone , with only his jacket left behind . They call for him but instead are met by the man they have met previously . They ask if he has seen Jamie ; he hasn ' t . They ask if he knows where the Master lives , and he says he lives in a " walled citadel atop the largest cliff in the kingdom " . Recognising the words , the Doctor asks if the man comes from Nottingham . The man answers in the affirmative and begins to recite , word for word , the opening lines of " Gulliver ' s Travels " . Gleefully , the Doctor joins in . The man is Lemuel Gulliver . He bids them good day and leaves . The Doctor explains to Zoe that this is a land of fiction where everything that is made up lives . Zoe asks what they are doing there , which the Doctor cannot answer . They set off to find Jamie . Jamie has managed to exit the maze but has a soldier hot on his heels . He climbs a cliff to escape him . With great difficulty he reaches a ledge , only to find a much steeper cliff facing him . Jamie wishes for a rope , and no sooner have the words left his lips than one is thrown down to him . As he begins to climb , he sees a tower . He climbs to the top where he is met by Rapunzel , whose hair he has been climbing all this time . She is eager to know if he is a prince , or at the very least a woodcutter ' s son , but when she is told he is the son of a piper , she is very disappointed . With nowhere else to go , he asks if he can climb through the window and leave out the other side . Reluctantly Rapunzel agrees . Once he has climbed in , however , Rapunzel has disappeared , and Jamie is in a stark white modern room . He switches on a screen which has " Treasure Island " projected upon it ; he turns on a recording which reads an extract of " Little Women " to him ; he approaches some drawers that are labelled " Vanity Fair " and " Don Quixote " . Finally , he approaches a stock tipper machine producing a long ticker tape story . He reads , " The Doctor and Zoe , unable to find their companion , decided to return to the cave in search of him , where a new terror awaited them . " The Doctor and Zoe are indeed back in the centre of the maze where they see a statue . The statue comes to life and snakes begin to grow out of her head . It is Medusa . In the tower , Jamie is stood by a drawer reading " Myths of Ancient Greece " and reads from the ticker tape " The Doctor and Zoe were face to face with Medusa . One glance from her eyes would turn them to stone . " The Doctor and Zoe have their backs to Medusa , who is rapidly approaching them . Zoe is finding it hard to deny the existence of a creature that is so palpably real . The Doctor implores that she does as Medusa ' s hand reaches out to grab them . . . Episode 4 . Jamie continues to read from the stock ticker machine . The story continues , " But all is not lost . Suddenly the Doctor found a sword at his feet , picked it up and , with one shake , slew the monster . " As written , the Doctor does find a sword at his feet but rejects it . How can he kill something that doesn ' t exist ? Following in the footsteps of Perseus , he uses a mirror produced from his jacket to turn Medusa into stone . The stock ticker machine reacts wildly to this reading : " Cancel : The Doctor test report - failure . " Jamie begins to explore the room and accidentally triggers an alarm . He tries to escape out the window but bars drop down . Gulliver enters the room and offers no help for Jamie . He soon finds a hatch , in which he hides until the robots have passed . Yet again Gulliver cannot see the robots . Jamie sets about trying to escape . Gulliver states that it is impossible . The Doctor and Zoe have made their way out of the labyrinth and can see the citadel looming over them . The Doctor urges Zoe to duck as he sees a laser beam approach them . They look up to see the Karkus , a comic book superhero from Zoe ' s time , looming over them . The Doctor asks what the weapon he holds is . Zoe informs him it is an anti - molecular ray disintegrator . The Doctor says that no such thing exists , which causes it to disappear . The Karkus attacks . Zoe and the Doctor run . They cannot make it disappear as , due to the fact that the Doctor has never seen this character , he cannot say it doesn ' t exist . The Karkus fights with Zoe , and Zoe eventually forces the superhero into submission . The Karkus becomes Zoe ' s slave . She orders him to lead them to the citadel . Once there , the Karkus is dismissed . The Doctor rings the bell and , using his cloak to hide Zoe and as a disguise , claims to be the Karkus . He is allowed in . Inside the citadel , Jamie is trying to convince Gulliver of the existence of the robots when Zoe and the Doctor appear . He wards them off tripping the alarm and they jump over its beam . The Doctor tells Gulliver and Jamie of his plan to confront the Master . Gulliver wards him off such actions , saying that he should be content to live in peace . The Doctor says he will think about it , but the moment Gulliver leaves , he tells his friends he is going to fight on . Jamie shows the Doctor the ticker tape , and the Doctor begins to realise what is going on . When he refused to follow the predetermined actions produced by the Master , he was not following the path of fiction — he was creating his own history . Zoe doesn ' t like the idea of this and accidentally triggers the alarm . They hear the robots approach . The Doctor tells his companions not to run and that he craves an audience with the Master . The robots back them up towards a wall , which opens behind them . The Master beckons them in . They are in a large futuristic room with a complex illuminated orb spinning in front of them . The Master greets them in a friendly way and congratulates them for passing the tests . He explains that he is the writer of the Captain Jack Harkaway stories from " The Ensign " magazine who , in the summer of 1926 , was brought here to be the imagination that powers the whole realm . The Doctor states that this means the Master is merely a prisoner . This causes the orb to throb and spin faster and makes the Master , trance - like , go back to his writing . The Doctor uses this lull to suggest that Jamie and Zoe slip away to explore . As the Master comes to , he states that he works for a much greater power who only lacks one thing : imagination . He explains that the Doctor has been brought here to replace him . The Master is ageing , whereas the Doctor operates outside of time so could do this forever . The Doctor refuses . The orb spins and throbs . The Master ' s voice becomes robotic and says that it is impossible for the Doctor to refuse . Jamie and Zoe find themselves in a huge library . They are soon surrounded by robots . The Doctor still refuses , but the Master says that the decision has already been made for him . He shares with him the last lines of his latest chapter : " Jamie and Zoe attempted to escape but , in making their way through the library , they were soon ambushed by a party of guards and overpowered . " The Master states that the only way to save them is to take over writing duties himself . In the library , Jamie and Zoe are backed up into a large book , which the robots close on them . . . Episode 5 . Despite the threat to his friends , the Doctor still refuses . The Master summons the robots to force him . In a bid to escape , the Doctor climbs some bookcases . The Master vows that the Doctor cannot escape , but he will play his game a little longer . The Doctor finds himself on the rooftop of the fort . He encounters Jamie and Zoe ; however , they repeat the same phrases over and over and keep freezing . The Doctor begins to explore . He sees a skylight and looks down through it to see a typewriter typing the words : " They were ambushed by a party of white robots . " The Doctor theorises that that is the master tape and that he could alter the story if he can get to it . The window is sealed . The Doctor wishes that he had the strength of the Karkus . . . and low and behold the superhero appears . He prises open the window , and Rapunzel appears to help the Doctor down . Once down there , he begins to plan what to type . Overseeing all of this , the Master urges him on . The Doctor has planned what he is about to type : " The enemy had been finally defeated by the Doctor ' s plans . " He stops himself just beforehand , realising that in so doing he would be fictionalising himself . He turns to see a soldier observing him and escapes up Rapunzel ' s hair . The Master now vows that there will be no more games . When the Doctor emerges on the rooftop , Jamie and Zoe are gone . Gulliver and the schoolchildren reappear and pester the Doctor with so many questions he can ' t think . The Master adds the next section to his story : " Jamie and Zoe realise at last that the Doctor was actually the most monstrous and cunning villain . There was no punishment too severe for the crimes he had committed . " Entranced , Jamie and Zoe are ushered into the Master ' s presence by the white robots . They believe the Master ' s story and want to know what they are to do . As the Doctor thinks about his next step , the schoolchildren draw his attention to the TARDIS that has just appeared . Jamie and Zoe emerge from inside and beckon him in . As soon as he is in they lock the door . The facade of the TARDIS falls away , and the Doctor has been imprisoned within a glass case . As everyone laughs at him the case disappears . The Master adds to his story : " The children obeyed perfectly . Their mission is completed . " The Doctor appears , and the Master informs him he is now part of the computer system and that the plan has now been altered . All of Earth ' s citizens are to be fictionalised , leaving them to take over Earth . The Doctor realises he is part of the computer and can begin thinking things into existence . The Doctor urges Jamie and Zoe to free themselves from the control of the Master . The Master deploys his soldiers . Jamie and Zoe force themselves from within the book and find themselves on the rooftop with the soldiers approaching . Zoe implores Gulliver to help them , but he says he cannot as it is not the will of his master . Overseeing this , the Doctor and the Master battle for control of the story . The Doctor thinks : " Suddenly , the Karkus came to their rescue . He fires his anti - molecular disintegration gun and destroyed the soldiers . " Before the Master writes : " But the Karkus realises his mistake and turns back to face his real enemy : Jamie and Zoe . " The Karkus does so . Jamie and Zoe duck . The Master adds : " With Jamie and Zoe fixed firmly in his sights , the Karkus pressed the trigger of his gun " , whilst the Doctor adds : " But all the power had been used up on the soldiers and it was useless . " Having to change tact the Master writes , " Suddenly , a swashbuckling figure appeared . Poet and swordsman , the famous Cyrano de Bergerac . Remorselessly , Cyrano advanced on those who had dared to poke fun at his nose . " So as to fight fire with fire , the Doctor draws on his own fictional celebrity : " But wait ! He found himself face to face with the fearless musketeer and swordsman D ' Artagnan . " The two characters fight . The Doctor implores Jamie and Zoe to escape . Using the sword fight as a decoy , Jamie and Zoe use Rapunzel ' s hair to escape down into the fort again . They set off to find the Doctor . The Master substitutes Cyrano for Blackbeard . The Doctor retorts : " And so D ' Artagnan is substituted for Sir Lancelot in full armour . " Lancelot immediately disarms Blackbeard . The computer has decided this is the final straw and that the Doctor is to be destroyed . The Master begs that he is the only candidate to replace him , but the computer overrules him . The robots free the Doctor and turn their beams onto destruction mode . Jamie and Zoe sneak up . The Doctor tries to rewrite the story but cannot , otherwise it will fictionalise him . Zoe realises that they can overload the computer . Just as the Master orders the disintegration , Jamie and Zoe begin turning switches and mashing all the buttons . The Master orders it to stop , but the computer begins to explode and the destruction of the robots causes devastation . The Doctor rushes over and unplugs the Master from the computer . Jamie and Zoe reach the Doctor and the Master and rescue them . The Master has now returned to his normal self . He is confused and disorientated and wanting to get back to the running of his magazine . Zoe is worried about the destruction of all the people they met . The Doctor points out that they were never real . As they begin to fade , the Doctor says they have two possible outcomes : returning to reality or obliteration . They disappear . In mid - space the TARDIS reforms itself . Home video and audio releases . DVD releases . This story was released as " Doctor Who : The Mind Robber " . Released : Contents : Notes : Digital releases . This story is available :