''The Mutants'' is the fourth serial of the
ninth season of the British
science fiction television
Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...
series ''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on
BBC1
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
from 8 April to 13 May 1972.
The serial is set on and high above the
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
colony world Solos in the 30th century. In the serial, the Marshal of Solos (
Paul Whitsun-Jones
Paul Whitsun-Jones (25 April 1923 – 14 January 1974) was a Welsh character actor.
Born in Newport in Monmouthshire, he was educated at Merchant Taylors' School in Northwood in Middlesex. He started his acting career in 1948 with two years a ...
) plots to change Solos' atmosphere to make it breathable for humans but not for the native Solonians. At the same time, the alien
time traveller the
Third Doctor
The Third Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord fro ...
(
Jon Pertwee
John Devon Roland "Jon" Pertwee (; 7 July 1919 – 20 May 1996) was an English actor, comedian, entertainer, cabaret performer and TV presenter. Born into a theatrical family, he served in the Royal Navy and the Naval Intelligence Division during ...
) delivers a set of tablets containing lost information about the Solonians' life cycle to the Solonian Ky (
Garrick Hagon
Garrick Hagon (; born September 27, 1939) is a British-Canadian actor in film, stage, television and radio, known for his role as Biggs Darklighter in '' Star Wars: A New Hope''. His many films include ''Batman'', ''Spy Game'', ''Me and Orson ...
).
Plot
In the 30th century, the Earth Empire is contracting and plans are being made to decolonise the colony world of Solos. The militaristic Marshal and other human soldiers, known as Overlords, rule it from Skybase One, an orbiting
space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space station i ...
. The Marshal opposes the decolonisation plans outlined to him by an Administrator sent from Earth, and is also obsessed with eradicating the Mutants or "Mutts" that have sprung up on the planet below. The Solonians themselves are a tribal people, split between those who actively oppose the occupation, such as Ky, and those like Varan who collaborate with the imperialists. The Marshal and Varan ensure the Administrator is murdered before he can confirm to Ky and other tribal chiefs that the Earth Empire is indeed withdrawing from Solos.
The
Third Doctor
The Third Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord fro ...
and
Jo arrive on Skybase One, their
TARDIS
The TARDIS (; acronym for "Time And Relative Dimension In Space") is a fictional hybrid of the time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and its various spin-offs. Its exterior ap ...
having been transported there by the
Time Lord
The Time Lords are a fictional ancient race of extraterrestrial life, extraterrestrial people in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', of which the series' main protagonist, The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor, is a memb ...
s. They have with them a message box which will only open for an intended recipient – and that is not the Marshal or his entourage – but seems to be for Ky, who has been framed for the murder of the Administrator. Jo and Ky flee to the surface of Solos, which is poisonous to humans during daylight hours. This quickly affects Jo, but she survives with Ky's help. The Doctor learns from the Marshal and his chief scientist Jaeger that they are involved in an experiment using rocket barrages to
terraform Solos, making the air breathable for humans, regardless of the cost to indigenous life.
Varan by now has discovered the Marshal's treachery but events make him an outlaw on Skybase. The Doctor makes contact and together they persuade Stubbs and Cotton, the most senior soldiers to the Marshal that much is wrong on Skybase. He then flees to Solos with Varan, and at the thaesium mine where Ky and Jo are hiding he encounters many Mutts, who are not as hostile as they first appeared. The Doctor passes the message box to Ky, and it opens to reveal ancient tablets and etchings which are written in the language of the Old Ones of the planet. Help in avoiding poisonous gas released by the Marshal is provided by a fugitive human scientist, Sondergaard, who lives in the caves and knows much about Solonian anthropology. Sondergaard explains he tried to inform Earth Control about the Marshal's evil, but he was prevented and forced to flee to the caves, where the radiation seems to have affected him. He interprets the contents of the box as a "lost Solos Book of Genesis", and the Doctor then calculates a Solonian year to be equivalent to two thousand human years, with natural changes in the population every five hundred years within the cycle. Investigating a more radioactive part of the caves, the Doctor thus deduces the Mutant phase is a natural part of the Solonian life-cycle.
Varan is by now becoming a Mutt himself. He hides this fact and leads a Solonian attack on the Skybase which results in his death and those of many of his warriors. On Skybase Jo, Ky, Stubbs and Cotton are captured by the Marshal, and Stubbs is killed in a failed escape attempt. The Doctor returns to the Skybase – without Sondergaard, who seems too weak following the radiation contamination. He returns to the caves to communicate with the Mutants and explain to them their change is natural and not to be feared.
The Doctor surmises the Marshal to be mad. It becomes clear that the Earth Government has now dispatched an Investigator to look into the strange events on Solos. The Marshal's rocket attacks have not terraformed the planet, but they have left a hideous environmental impact and he knows he must clean this up or face problems when the Investigator arrives. Under duress (the Marshal has taken Jo prisoner) the Doctor uses Jaeger's technology to conduct a rapid decontamination of the planet's surface. The Investigator arrives and demands answers, but is given more lies by the Marshal, supported by the Doctor. Luckily Jo, Ky and Cotton have escaped detention and arrive in time to help the Investigator see the truth of the situation on Solos and the crimes of the Marshal and Jaeger. The Doctor accuses them of "the most brutal and callous series of crimes against a defenceless people it's ever been my misfortune to encounter." Sondergaard now reaches the Skybase with some Mutants, one of whom scares the Investigator enough that he accepts the Marshal's recommendation that the creatures be killed.
Ky now begins a process of mutation, but it is accelerated beyond the Mutant phase so that he emerges as a radiant angel-like super-being. He communicates with thought transference, can float and can move through whole walls. Dispensing justice, Ky eradicates the Marshal. Jaeger has been killed too and the Investigator now makes sense of the situation. Sondergaard and Cotton elect to stay on Solos to see the other Solonians go through the mutation process, while Jo and the Doctor slip away, their mission from the Time Lords complete.
Production
Working titles for this story included ''Independence'' and ''The Emergents''.
Writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin, as well as producer Barry Letts, intended for ''The Mutants'' to have an anti-racist message.
The basis of the story came from Letts, who had submitted the idea for
Season 4 Season 4 may refer to:
* "Season 4" (''30 Rock'' episode), an episode of ''30 Rock''
See also
*
* Season One (disambiguation) Season One may refer to:
Albums
* ''Season One'' (Suburban Legends album), 2004
* ''Season One'' (All Sons & Daughte ...
but it was rejected by script editor
Gerry Davis.
The opening shot of the story features a bedraggled, hermit-like bearded figure (Sidney Johnson) shambling out of the mist towards the camera. Both fans and Jon Pertwee alike have compared the scene to the "It's" man at the start of most episodes of ''
Monty Python's Flying Circus
''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, who became known ...
''.
The mines of Solos were filmed at
Chislehurst Caves
Chislehurst Caves are a series of intersecting man-made tunnels and caverns covering some 22 miles (35.4 km) in Chislehurst in southeast London, England. From the mid-13th to early 19th centuries the 'caves' were created from the mining of ...
near Bromley. They also filmed at
Bluewater Quarry which was the setting for the planet Solos, before it was a shopping centre and Stone House Farm Caves which was the entrance to Solos caves.
Cast notes
George Pravda had previously played Denes in ''
The Enemy of the World
''The Enemy of the World'' is the fourth serial of the fifth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which originally aired in six weekly parts from 23 December 1967 to 27 January 1968.
The serial is set in Aus ...
'' (1968) and would later play Castellan Spandrell in ''
The Deadly Assassin
''The Deadly Assassin'' is the third serial of the 14th season of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 30 October to 20 November 1976. It is the first seri ...
'' (1976).
Christopher Coll had previously played Technician Phipps opposite
Patrick Troughton
Patrick George Troughton (; 25 March 1920 – 28 March 1987) was an English actor who was classically trained for the stage but became known for his roles in television and film. His work included appearances in several fantasy, science fiction ...
in the 1969 serial ''
The Seeds of Death
''The Seeds of Death'' is the fifth serial of the sixth season of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. Written by Brian Hayles and an uncredited Terrance Dicks and directed by Michael Ferguson, it originally aired ...
''.
Geoffrey Palmer had previously played Masters in ''
Doctor Who and the Silurians'' (1970) and would later play
Captain Hardaker in the 2007 Christmas special "
Voyage of the Damned
''Voyage of the Damned'' is a 1976 drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg, with an all-star cast featuring Faye Dunaway, Oskar Werner, Lee Grant, Max von Sydow, James Mason, and Malcolm McDowell.
The story was inspired by actual events conc ...
".
Broadcast and reception
In 2009, Patrick Mulkern of ''
Radio Times
''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...
'' stated that the serial was "peculiarly variable", with uneven performances and quality; he wrote that "the first episode is surprisingly leaden and unengaging, whereas episode four is one of the most stimulating and creatively innovative under Barry Letts' stewardship". He praised the design of the Mutants and some of the cliffhangers.
DVD Talk
DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman.
History
Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...
's John Sinnott gave the story two and a half out of five stars, calling it "terribly average" but "a solid adventure ... worth watching". He was critical of the acting, especially Rick James, and felt that overall it was too long and "a bit convoluted".
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
reviewer Arnold T. Blumburg gave the story a score of 7 out of 10, writing that there was more to be appreciated as an adult to see "its role as a hard-edged indictment of the culture in which it was created". Ian Berriman of ''
SFX
SFX may refer to:
Entertainment
* Special effects (usually visual), illusions used in film, television, and entertainment
* Sound effects, sounds that are artificially created or enhanced
* SFX (magazine), ''SFX'' (magazine), a British magazine c ...
'' gave ''The Mutants'' three out of five stars, noting its ambition to tackle social issues but concluded that the execution was "bungled".
Commercial releases
In print
A novelisation of this serial, written by
Terrance Dicks
Terrance William Dicks (14 April 1935 – 29 August 2019) was an English people, English author and television screenwriter, script editor and Television producer, producer. In television, he had a long association with the BBC science-fictio ...
, was published by
Target Books
Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became well ...
in September 1977.
Home media
This story was released on
VHS in February 2003 and was the penultimate Jon Pertwee story to be released in this format. The story was released on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
on 31 January 2011.
The music from this serial was released as part of ''
Doctor Who: Devils' Planets – The Music of Tristram Cary'' in 2003.
Notes
References
External links
*
Doctor Who Appreciation Society interview with Jeremy Bear, designer of ''The Mutants''
Target novelisation
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mutants, The
Third Doctor serials
Doctor Who serials novelised by Terrance Dicks
1972 British television episodes
Television episodes written by Bob Baker (scriptwriter)
Fiction set in the 30th century