The Mutants Episode Four

The one where the Doctor works out that the mutants aren't mutating, just evolving...

The less time spent on the Skybase, with the Marshal and Jaeger, the better The Mutants is, in my view. While the story might be ticking along rather sedately at this mid-point, at least it looks good, and there are regularly dropped revelations and developments. At the top of episode 4 the Doctor and his gang are rescued from the encroaching gas by the silver suited man Jo saw last time, and we soon discover it isn't a horrifically mutated creature, or a Time Lord, or even the Master - in actual fact, it's Lobot from The Empire Strikes Back! Or alternatively, it's Blofeld from For Your Eyes Only!

Dome-headed John Hollis makes for a striking presence among the team, which retires to Professor Sondergaard's lead-lined quarters (when the Doctor asks Jo what lead means to her, I half expected her to answer: "Rick James"). There, they examine the ancient tablets inside the capsule and wonder what on Earth (or Solos) they mean.

Sondergaard explains that there are pockets of highly radioactive chambers within the thaesium mines of Solos (hence the sparkly suit), and that is where Jo wandered into in episode 3 (it wasn't a CSO trip at all). He says the entire flora and fauna, the very ecological fabric of Solos has been corrupted by the Overlords' experiments on the atmosphere. The people, the soil, the atmosphere and the weather have all been affected by the experiments. The gang works out that the tablets are the Solonian equivalent of the Book of Genesis, charting the origins of the civilisation. But what do the hieroglyphs on the tablets mean?

The Marshal's attack on the mines is making the tunnels unstable, and director Christopher Barry employs good old Mirrorlon to depict the wibbly-wobbly effect of the explosions on the cave galleries. The trouble is, once the shot of the disruption is done with, one studio camera continues to shoot the scene via the Mirrorlon, resulting in several shots looking squished and slanted.

The Doctor works out that each of the four tablets represents the four Solonian seasons. Each season lasts 500 years, and Solos is currently moving from Spring into Summer. Writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin (never short of big ideas) make it so that the mutants aren't the result of a sickness at all, but a natural metamorphosis. As the seasons change, the people of Solos change too, and the mutts are an intermediate stage. This isn't mutation at all; it's evolution!

The Doctor and Sondergaard go to the radiation chamber to get one of the glowing crystals which seem to have inserted themselves into the narrative without me really noticing. This scene is a tour de force of special effects, involving Colour Separation Overlay and rudimentary video effects which must be applauded for effort, but which hasn't aged well.

It's also ironic that the Doctor seems impervious to the high concentration of radiation here, but this is ultimately what brings about his demise and regeneration in Planet of the Spiders. Maybe this jaunt weakened him?

While all this is going on, Ky, Jo, Stubbs and Cotton are captured by Varan and his Viking-esque warriors, and they all transfer up to Skybase to wreak revenge on the Marshal (Skybase security seems very lax indeed). Then everything happens at once as the Marshal's guards gun down Varan's men, and the others escape - rather unwisely - into an airlock, where Varan is sucked out into space, leaving the rest holding on for dear life as the vacuum tries to pull them out too. And on top of all that, Jaeger's atmosphere-altering rockets are launched at the planet's surface.

The situation is pretty desperate!

First broadcast: April 29th, 1972

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The effect of Varan being sucked out into space is surprisingly good (and I'm glad to see the back of James Mellor).
The Bad: It's all getting a bit ponderous. I'm hoping now that the Doctor has got to the bottom of Solos's evolutionary secret, things will hot up a bit.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

"Now listen to me" tally: 17
Neck-rub tally: 7 - the Doctor rubs his neck at 5m 35s when trying to work out why the Time Lords sent him (they sent you to deliver the capsule to Ky, dumbo!).

NEXT TIME: Episode Five...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode One; Episode Two; Episode Three; Episode Five; Episode Six

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-mutants.html

The Mutants is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Mutants-Jon-Pertwee/dp/B004DNWDYQ