The Mutants

Doctor: Marshal, you are quite mad.
Marshal: Only if I lose.

I've heard mixed things about The Mutants. It is generally considered an anti-colonialist story and fairly well written and acted. However, it also has a reputation for somewhat shoddy effects. Unless they are blatantly bad, I generally like to give stories a bit of a pass there so we'll just have to see how this holds up story-wise. Not being British, colonial stories don't register with me they way they did with their intended audiences so I'll be curious to see how much that impacts my enjoyment of the story.

Plot Summary

After receiving a mysterious package to deliver from the Time Lords, the Doctor and Jo land on Skybase 1, a platform orbiting the planet Solos. Earth had been exploiting Solos as a resource colony but is now preparing to pull out. This decision is to be announced by the planetary administrator to a group of Solonian leaders. Disagreeing with this is the Marshal, whose men have been fighting native uprisings and a strange mutation among the natives.

The Marshal makes a deal with Varan, one of the Solonian leaders, to promote him as leader of all tribes during the conference in exchange for carrying out the Marshal's plan. Varan is dismayed to learn that Ky, a fellow chieftain and strong voice of the uprising, is also in attendance.

The Doctor and Jo pose as representatives from Earth and try to deliver the package to both the Administrator and the Marshal but it opens for neither. Suspicious of the Doctor, the Marshal has them detained during the conference. The Doctor however knocks the guard out and heads towards the meeting.

The Administrator opens the meeting but Ky heckles almost from the start. Despite the Administrator's acknowledgement that they are preparing for independence, Ky builds some of the natives into a frenzy, demanding independence now. He rushes the Administrator as the Administrator is shot, causing the Marshal to order Ky's immediate death. Ky runs out where he runs into the Doctor. The package begins to open, causing the Doctor to realize it's for Ky. Ky however grabs Jo as a hostage and runs into the transmat station, the Marshal's men firing their guns after them.

Ky and Jo manage to transmat down. Ky urges Jo to stay behind as the fog that covers the ground is toxic to people from Earth but she says she must stay with him since the package was meant for him. They flee into the mist where Jo eventually does collapse due to the mist. Ky manages to get the drop on one of the pursing guards and steals his mask. Placing it on Jo, he carries her into a cave where he and other rebels hide.

The Marshal agrees to continue the search for Jo if the Doctor reveals what is in the package The Doctor reluctantly agrees though he needs the use of the lab of Professor Jaeger, the principle scientist. Jaeger is astonished to see the Doctor put together a particle accelerator, though it burns out before the package can be opened. Jaeger goes to the Marshal and convinces the Marshal to have the Doctor use this same technology to terraform Solon to make it inhabitable for humans.

At the same time, the Marshal summons the son of Varan who actually killed the Administrator under the Marshal's orders. The Marshal kills him but is observed by Varan. The Marshal tries to kill Varan but he flees into the Herbarium to hide.

The Marshal summons the Doctor and lies to him about having found Jo, pretending that she is recuperating in a hospital on Solos. He then suggests the Doctor assist Jaeger in working the terraform project. Shortly after this, a soldier named Cotton gets the Doctor alone and informs him that the Marshal has not found Jo and that he escape with Varan to the surface where he can deliver his package. The Doctor hatches a plan to allow him to do so by overloading the main power grid of the base. Cotton's fellow soldier Stubbs informs Varan that he can get to the transmat when he hears the alarm about the power failure.

The Doctor manages to blow the power grid during one of his experiments, the explosion briefly knocking out Jaeger in the process. He heads to the transmat where he is attacked by Varan, thinking him a guard. They transmat down to Solos where the Doctor disarms Varan and forces him to take him to Ky's lair.

An atmospheric firestorm erupts driving several Mutts (the Solonian mutants) into the cave. Jo and Ky retreat further in to the cave where the normally docile Mutts start attacking them. Ky places Jo in a cleft while he fends off the Mutts with a torch. One gets behind him and tries to attack Jo who flees into a radioactive cavern. She collapses but is rescued by a mysterious figure in a silver suit.

Ky is overrun by the Mutts but the Doctor and Varan arrive with fresh torches and drive the Mutts back. The Doctor gives Ky the package which opens to reveal four stone tablets. Ky cannot read the writing as the actions of the Marshal have destroyed Solonian culture and their ability to read their ancient writing. Annoyed that no weapons were included, Varan leaves. He gets past the pursuing guards and heads for his own village.

With the Doctor gone, the Marshal orders Jaeger to continue with his plan to fire missiles and alter the atmosphere. He then takes guards down to pursue the Doctor. He learns they and a large number of Mutts have gone into the caves. The Marshal places guards at the various entrances and puts explosives on several key entrances. He then orders toxic gas to be fired into the caves to either flush them out or kill them. Stubbs and Cotton request permission to enter the caves to find the Doctor and the Marshal agrees although he suspects their role in the Doctor's escape.

Ky and the Doctor go to look for Jo and find her outside the radioactive cavern where she describes her rescuer. As she recovers, the group is found by Stubbs and Cotton who prepare to pull them out. Overhearing contact on the radio, the Marshal orders the gas fired in the caves and sets the charges at the entrance. Stubbs sees the gas coming in and the group flees deeper in the caves. They catch sight of the same silver suited figure that rescued Jo and he beckons them to follow him.

As the entrances blow up, they enter a radiation proof chamber where the figure reveals himself as Professor Sondergaard, a sympathetic scientist who has been researching Solonian culture. He also was driven to hiding by the Marshal's displeasure with him. The Doctor shows Sondergaard the tablets and the two of them begin work on translating them.

An earthquake dislodges bits of rock into the shelter and Stubbs notes that the explosions have destabilized the caverns. The Doctor orders Stubbs, Cotton, Jo and Ky to head out of the caves via a route that Sondergaard knows. They will exit near Varan's village. The Doctor and Sondergaard stay behind to work on the tablets.

The Doctor and Sondergaard manage to piece together that the tablets speak of a cycle and that the Mutts are a natural mutation that occurs as Solos enters it's summer season, seasons lasting 500 years on Solos. They also key in on the radioactive cave that Sondergaard rescued Jo from and the Mutts seem to be defending. The Doctor and Sondergaard head into that cave where the Doctor recovers a small crystal from a larger glowing structure. They head back to the lab but Sondergaard's equipment is insufficient to study it. They decide to head back to Skybase 1 to study it in Jaeger's lab.

Stubbs, Cotton, Jo and Ky emerge outside Varan's village where they are captured by Varan and his remaining warriors. All of them, including Varan, have begun to mutate and are preparing for a suicidal attack on Skybase 1. Using Stubbs and Cotton's weapons and Ky and Jo as shields, they penetrate the transmat station and subsequently Skybase 1.

The Marshal, having returned to base, receives word that an inspector is coming from Earth following the death of the Administrator. The Marshal, worried about loss of position, orders Jaeger to launch the missiles. At the same time, the alarm sounds as Varan's force is detected. The Marshal and his men attack the war party but the exchange of fire blows a hole in the base and Varan is sucked out into space.

Stubbs, Cotton, Jo and Ky manages to pull themselves out of the room and seal the door to the breach where they are arrested by the Marshal. He takes them to his office and prepares to have them shot but Jaeger stops him. Jaeger's missiles impacted rather than detonating in the atmosphere and Solos is now infected with ionizing radiation. He needs the Doctor to fix the problem. The Marshal orders his hostages held and leads a squad down to collect the Doctor.

The Doctor and Sondergaard observe the missile hits and the Doctor immediately figures out the danger. He observes Varan's abandoned village and assumes they went to Skybase 1. Weakened by the radiation exposure, Sondergaard urges the Doctor to go alone. He will rest and then return to the caves and meet him there. The Doctor agrees. He gets past the Marshal's men and transmats back up to the base, the guards in pursuit.

The Doctor eludes the guards and begins to loose Jo when the Marshal and his men catch him. The Marshal orders the Doctor to assist Jaeger in correcting the missile mistake or he will kill the hostages. The Doctor agrees and begins to help Jaeger. In doing so, he pulls needed equipment from the transmat device, rendering it inoperable and isolating Skybase 1 from the planet.

Her bonds nearly undone by the Doctor, Jo manages to free herself and gets the drop on the guard, stealing his weapon. She frees the others and they make an emergency transmission to the inspector's ship, informing him of what the Marshal has been doing. The transmission attracts the Marshal and a firefight erupts. The group flees the room but Stubbs is killed in the crossfire. The three remaining flee to the transmat station but are trapped due to the Doctor taking it offline. They are rearrested with Cotton and Ky being sent to the radiation collection room.

Back on Solos, Sondergaard makes it back to the caves where he is approached by the surviving Mutts. He manages to communicate to them that their mutation is part of a natural process but somewhat affected by the Marshal's experiments on them. He rallies them to help him get to the Doctor who he believes will help them.

The Doctor and Jaeger manage to remove the ionizing radiation and restore Solos to it's prior state with their device. The Marshal threatens to kill Jo unless the Doctor uses the device to continue the process and make it habitable for Earth colonization. The Doctor refuses but before the Marshal can carry out his threat, the inspector's ship arrives. Jo is locked in the radiation collection room with the others while the Doctor accompanies the Marshal to meet the Inspector.

The radiation collection room begins to fill with thaesium radiation as the Inspector's ship begins to refuel. Cotton leads the other two along the refueling tube to escape radiation poisoning, although Ky is showing effects from the radiation exposure. They burst in to the makeshift inquiry, allowing the Doctor to tell his side of the story about the Marshal's actions, refuting the Marshal's spin on events.

On Solos, Sondergaard transmats himself up to Skybase 1. He encourages the Mutts to follow him but only one does and that after he has already gone. Sondergaard enters the proceedings and accuses both the Marshal and Jaeger of prematurely initiating the mutation process. The Marshal refutes Sondergaard's claims that the Mutts are not dangerous. When the one Mutt who followed Sondergaard enters, the Marshal seizes a weapon and attacks it, killing it as it tries to flee back down the corridor. The Inspector, disturbed by the creature, gives control of his men over the Marshal.

Seeing things go against them, the Doctor, Sondergaard and Jo flee to Jaeger's lab where the Doctor analyzes the crystal taken from the radiation cave. He determines that the crystal is a catalytic agent for the mutation. He gives it to Sondergaard as the Marshal's forces burst in. Jo and Sondergaard are taken to the radiation collection room along with Ky and Cotton who were captured earlier while the Marshal forces the Doctor to work on the machine to transform the Solonian atmosphere.

In the radiation chamber, Sondergaard gives Ky the crystal as he is already being mutated by the thaesium radiation. He completes his transformation into a Mutt quickly with the help of the crystal. He continues to hold the crystal and absorb more radiation from the room. He transforms again into an ethereal being. He opens the door and disappears down the corridor.

In the lab, the Inspector is brought in outraged that the Marshal is keeping him and his men against their will. The Marshal informs him that they will be taken down to Solos once the Doctor has changed the atmosphere to become the first colonists for him to rule over. The Doctor takes advantage of the argument and sabotages the machine. He proclaims himself finished and the Marshal orders Jaeger to operate it. The Doctor's sabotage causes the machine to malfunction and explode, killing Jaeger. Enraged at his actions, the Marshal prepares to kill the Doctor but Ky enters the room and vaporizes the Marshal before he can fire. Ky then disappears back to Solos.

Afterwards, the Inspector appoints Cotton as the new Skybase 1 administrator and Solon volunteers to stay on Solos long enough to help guide the remaining Mutts to the radiation caves to complete their transformations. He and the Doctor theorize that they hadn't been able to do that on their own because Jaeger's experiments caused them to mutate before they were ready and they were confused like butterflies emerging on a frosty Spring day. The Inspector asks the Doctor to accompany him back to Earth but the Doctor makes excuses using Jo as a cover and the two of them slip back to the TARDIS and home.

Analysis

For the life of me, I can't figure out why this story has a middling to negative reputation. There are flaws and it does drag in a couple of points, but overall it is quite good. Most of the acting is good, the pacing is pretty well done, there is some nice location shooting, the atmosphere works and the special effects are no where near as bad as general consensus makes them out to be.

One of the best things about this story is the Marshal. He is megalomaniacal but not over-the-top about it. He is very direct about what he wants but at the same times, gives the impression of some subtlety and a reasonable amount of thought regarding his actions. He is also a competent villain. If carried out properly, his plans would have succeeded. He is only thwarted by things he could not predict, such as the arrival of the Doctor, the existence of Sondergaard and betrayal by his own men. Even after all these things, he continues to push on, never giving in to a hysterical fit as we might expect an overarching villain to do. Instead, it is cold and steady throughout except for a few points at the end where the Doctor's goading trick him into letting the mask slip on occasion. It was quite a good performance in my opinion.

Both the Doctor and Jo are also quite good in this. The Doctor gets a good bead on the situation but still operates just enough in the dark to force him to push forward. He is captured and persuaded all the time because he works for the benefit of Jo and the others. He is also a bit nicer to Jo in this story than he sometimes is when they work closer together. You see the friendship they have with the trace hints of the fatherly affection he has towards her.

Jo is also pretty good here. Yes, she plays the damsel quite a bit, but she only gives in to hysteria once and that is at the first appearance of the Mutts. At all other times she is actively trying to help either Ky or the Doctor. She finally gets a chance to be fully proactive in Episode Five where she disarms the guard and signals the Inspector. At no point does she ever become just an object to be rescued, even if that is all she is at various points. It is still a strong portrayal and enjoyable to watch.

The rest of the cast was fairly decent, although none stood overly out. The lone exception is Cotton. His acting was dreadful; very stiff and wooden. I was genuinely sad when Stubbs was killed, not for any affection for him, but because it meant that Cotton would be expressing grief and get a lot more dialogue. His attempt at describing the danger their party was in at the end of Episode Five to create the cliffhanger was just terrible. I'm not sure he could have acted worse if he had actually been reading off cue cards just off screen. But, one flawed portrayal does not ruin the whole.

Another thing I don't get is why there is a badmouthing of the effects in this story. The couple of points where CSO is heavily used (the radiation caves) do look pretty bad with significant fringing along the Doctor's outline. However, I'm not sure I've seen anything from the early 70's that didn't have the same flaws. These were also flaws that cropped up through the 80's so I can't say that this scene bothered me to any great detail.

I actually liked the design of the Mutts and thought those costumes fairly well done. Up until Episode Six, they were mostly shot only in the caves and that darkened atmosphere helped maintain their illusion. However, even when they were exposed to full light in Episode Six, I still thought it shot well enough to hide whatever flaws there were there.

The set of Skybase 1 looked very nice and even the reuse of corridor sets was nicely masked. Shooting on location for the planet was nicely done with the film shots in caves working well. I especially liked the exterior scenes using the foggy marshes to give an extra sense of creep to the various pursuit scenes that happened there.

If I had to pick out one significant thing I didn't like (other than Cotton's acting) it would be the near literal Deus Ex Machina ending. This ending was somewhat heavily broadcast throughout the story but even so, it felt a bit cheap at the end. I would have preferred that that final mutation for Ky would have been something a bit less god-like, forcing the Doctor to think of a way out or arrange some other method of dealing with the Marshal. I am glad that the Doctor did make the decision to sacrifice himself rather than let the Marshal destroy the atmosphere of Solos but Ky's quick fix rescue of him and his friends just seemed like the easy way out.

I can't say much about the colonialism aspect of the story. Being an American, I have a somewhat natural disdain for colonialism despite our own history in that regard. So there was never any question in my mind that I would sympathize with the Solonians. Of course, as a family show, things are portrayed in fairly stark black and white.

I think I would have enjoyed a bit more grey on the human's part regarding their actions. Apart from Stubbs and Cotton, there is no real indication of the humans having any inclination that what the Marshal is doing is wrong. Jaeger only objects to the timing with his experiments and his later objects are against killing humans, not Solonians. Stubbs suggests that there are others in the guards that object to the Marshal's actions but we never see them nor is there any indication that other guards are willing to oppose him other than Stubbs and Cotton. Even the Marshal himself is subject to this limited treatment. No one in authority objects to his actions for the most part. It is only because he has gone mad with power that there is any movement against him. It doesn't hurt the story in any significant way but some subtlety or nuance would have elevated the story a bit beyond itself and might have helped its reputation as a whole.

Overall, I liked this story. I think it's a bit too long and the characters lack depth but these are things that prevent it from being elevated to very good or great status rather than pulling it down into the mire. I think just about anyone could enjoy this story if it were pulled off the shelf but I would also say that I don't think it would be anyone's first choice. It is good but there is just not enough to make it stand out above some of the other classics of the Third Doctor era.

Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5