Do you feel the choking scene in twin dilemma was a mistake to put in?

What are your opinions on the choking scene in the twin dilemma do you think it should have been cut out altogether or it fits the story well.

I don't mind it, but considering the hysterical overreaction to it, probably.

It's kind of hilarious, actually.

Although, I thought it was a bit much when he started feeling himself up through his trousers while doing the choking.

I think it was a mistake, and an utterly mean-spirited one. I could've lived with the new Doctor being a bit more tasteless and petty from the start, but there was no need to go that far, and frankly it taints his relationship with Peri from thenon to seem like one based on battered wife syndrome.
Back in Frontier in Space, the Doctor made it clear that he would not stand for any police brutality against his companion.
Sadly that scene in Twin Dilemma makes nothing but a hypocrite of him.

That's a rather silly argument. He wasn't in his right mind, and is clearly depicted as such.

Watched on broadcast as a seven year old and it was fairly obvious to me at the time that the Doctor was undergoing some kind of post-regenerational trauma.

I don't think I ever felt that the Doctor was going bad, or had turned evil.

Mindwarp, on the other hand, traumatised me, as I thought the Doctor really had changed sides. If anything I hated that more because it appeared to be of his own volition.

Honestly, I don't think we would have focussed on the choking incident so much had the story been a banging classic with a superior path to redemption and reconciliation between the two of them.

Cunnus Maximus wrote:Honestly, I don't think we would have focussed on the choking incident so much had the story been a banging classic with a superior path to redemption and reconciliation between the two of them.

An arc of redemption like that would've been nice, but as with the aftermath of Traken's destruction or Adric's death, it just seemed beyond the makers at that point to consistently carry that kind of emotional arc properly or lucidly. The era was all about moments, but not much about remembering to follow through emotionally on them (at least not unless they got lucky with a Barbara Clegg or Robert Holmes behind the typewriter).

The TOS episode The Naked Time featured the Enterprise crew collectively succumbing to madness, but that was revered by its fanbase as a classic because through that period of instability, some revealing character work emerged that showed us new sides and hidden depths to Kirk and Spock.

With the strangulation scene in Twin Dilemma, it seemed they just went the cheap and blatant way of 'let's just make him a menacing bully for a scene'. If you took the strangulation scene out, I don't think the viewers would be left with any less needed knowledge or understanding of who his character is. And I think that's why for some fans it feels gratuitous.

Mindwarp, on the other hand, traumatised me, as I thought the Doctor really had changed sides. If anything I hated that more because it appeared to be of his own volition.

I must admit Mindwarp had the same effect on me at 11, when I saw it at Christmas 1993. Infact I suspect maybe it was the reason my interest in the show faded away after that, until years later when the TV Movie aired.