The Mutants Episode Six

The one where the Marshal wants to rule New Earth...

Dear oh dear oh dear... this story really does go downhill fast, doesn't it? It didn't start out all that promising, but it enjoyed a bit of a peak midway through thanks to the beautifully lit and directed location filming at Chislehurst Caves. But now we're at the end I can't help feeling that The Mutants really does deserve its reputation as one of the poorest Pertwee serials of all. It's certainly the worst I've watched so far on this marathon, although I'm aware there are horrors to come...

The Investigator (played by Peter Howell with, as per Geoffrey Palmer's Administrator, sacks more gravitas and professionalism than the majority of the cast) arrives with his tribunal and guards in an effort to get to the bottom of this debacle once and for all. Dressed in a rather Time Lord-y fashion, the Investigator listens to the reports and statements of various protagonists in an interminable summary of 'the story so far', like it's some kind of intergalactic Poirot mystery. This tribunal is dull, dull, dull, until the Doctor manages to expose the Marshal's true splenetic nature.

The Mutants Episode Five

The one where the Doctor reverses the poisoning of Solos...

While the effect of Varan tumbling into the void of space was done quite effectively (and I am glad to see the back of him), the realisation of everybody being sucked towards the hole in the wall is done very poorly. There's no attempt to show the rush of air out into the void, no corresponding sound effect, just a bunch of actors tumbling around and pretending to be slightly troubled by the vacuum of space. It's almost embarrassing to watch as they stumble upright back into the Skybase corridor and neatly close the door. For heaven's sake, Skybase should be on major alert!

The episode is almost entirely made up of people being captured, escaping, being recaptured, running, stumbling, and making ridiculous threats. It's the sort of rubbish casual viewers thought Doctor Who was like all the time, with immoderately bad acting, harshly lit space sets and ridiculous clothes. It's the type of Doctor Who that gave the show a bad name, and led to merciless spoofs by comedians like Victoria Wood, Lenny Henry and French and Saunders in the 1980s (I always think The Trial of a Time Lord Parts 1-4 is the pinnacle of this 'public-perception Who', and it's not unlike The Mutants, with its sci-fi sets, feudalistic planet surface, crazy costumes and undisciplined acting).

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.

The Mutants Episode Three

The one where we see the mutated Solonians...

All hail Frank Cresswell, the lighting designer for this story, for his exemplary work on location at Chislehurst Caves (and let's not forget film cameraman Fred Hamilton). He casts verdant greens and ruby reds onto the textured cave walls, creating a wonderfully otherworldly, phosphorescent atmosphere quite different to the almost colourless planet surface. He uses silhouette to great effect too, and although the firestorms outside are obviously fireworks, the effect works beautifully, casting sparks of blue, red and green onto Katy Manning's startled face, like a kid on Bonfire night. The coloured lights also make Jon Pertwee's fuzzy bouffant glow amusingly too!

I really enjoyed this episode, principally because it is almost all shot on location in Kent and looks stunning. The scene where Varan escapes from the cave mouth, heading for his village, is directed so well, as he runs towards camera, weaving between explosions as he is chased by Overlord guards (to be honest, I can't help thinking they're Federation troops from Blake's 7!). Then we see Varan standing atop a hill, a cloudy-blue spring sky behind him. It all looks stunning, thanks to Christopher Barry's expert direction. The Mutants is one of those Doctor Who stories which boasts high production values, but appalling acting.

The Mutants Episode Two

The one where Jo ventures onto the poisoned surface of Solos...

Having purposefully taken Jo hostage in the last episode and used her as a human shield, Ky wastes little time in trying to ditch her once he's transferred down to Solos. Jo, realising the importance of Ky to the Time Lord capsule, refuses to be left behind, and despite being told about the poisonous air of Solos, sticks with Ky as he returns to his people.

The location filming for the surface of Solos is so atmospheric, with waves and wisps of mist in a landscape which looks freezing and barren (and no wonder: it's a cement quarry in the depths of a British February). The way director Christopher Barry shoots through the twiggy trees and pallid shrubbery is lovely. Apparently they took sprigs of buddleia on location and sprayed them silver, and it adds a certain "damaged pastoral" feel to the landscape.

The Mutants Episode One

The one where the Time Lords employ the Doctor as an intergalactic postman...

An old, bedraggled man with long white hair and torn clothes runs breathlessly through petrified trees, clearly on the run. He clutches his chest as he pauses for breath, then heads off in a new direction as shouting from the distance draws nearer. This man is being hunted, and seems desperately afraid.

But the creepy atmosphere is almost completely ruined by the mildly comical figure of Paul Whitsun-Jones striding out of the fog dressed in typical Nazi-esque black uniform and jackboots and spouting dialogue like he's in The Tomorrow People. The direction by Christopher Barry can't be faulted, but the ripe performance from Whitsun-Jones undermines it all. When they find their quarry's body, it is mutated with a bony spine, but the gruesomeness of this is erased by the emergence of two more stilted performances, from Christopher Coll as Stubbs and Rick James as Cotton.

The Sea Devils Episode Six

The one where the Doctor reverses the polarity of the neutron flow...

Don't you just love the lunacy of what looks like an old man in a crazy white wig and antique clothes beating the living shit out of rubber-suited monsters? The Third Doctor was a man of action, but looked anything like it until he burst into life, with his red-lined cape flying, as he karate-chopped, threw and hurled his enemies left, right and centre (and headfirst into walls). And after the Doctor fells two Sea Devils, he's rewarded with a lovely shoulder massage by a third Sea Devil!

As is customary in almost all of the stories featuring the Master so far, the evil Time Lord has to call on the Doctor's help, this time to build a fully-functioning revival machine to help wake up the Sea Devil hordes. It's not clear why the Master can't do it himself, because he's obviously capable, otherwise how did he build the calling device he used earlier in the story? The two Time Lords working together like old buddies makes me squirm: I really dislike this chummy relationship the two have, when all the Master has done is kill, maim and threaten innocent people. I really don't see how the Doctor can entertain being even civil with this psychopath. "I need a polarising condenser," says the Doctor. "Oh, allow me," replies the Master. It's all so annoyingly genial. A couple of episodes ago the Master was trying to kill the Doctor with a gun, a rapier and a dagger, for goodness sake!

The Sea Devils Episode Five

The one where the British Government starts a conflict with the Sea Devils...

"He's gone!" exclaims Jo, just seconds after the reprise - so why couldn't they have included this at the end of episode 4, to make it clearer what's happened? Seems a very odd editing choice to me, and it's not as if it would have pushed the episode's duration over the 25-minute mark (not that that seemed to bother producer Barry Letts too much during his tenure!).

This is the episode where the heart of the story really kicks in, but let's face it, we've been here before. The Sea Devils essentially has the same principal plot as Doctor Who and the Silurians, only it's shorter, more action-packed and with a maritime theme rather than a subterranean one. In my eyes, The Sea Devils is the better of the two as an overall slice of entertainment, but it loses something by being pretty much a retread of its predecessor's narrative. The only main difference is that the Master is in The Sea Devils, which spices things up a bit, but even his involvement is rather hackneyed, allying himself with the monsters in order to subjugate Earth.

The Sea Devils Episode Four

The one where the Sea Devils emerge from the ocean...

These Sea Devils are quite bloodthirsty fellas, aren't they? It's assumed by everybody from the start that they are aggressive and homicidal, and indeed they are. There's no mercy or lenience shown by these creatures, they are intent on simply killing any humans that cross their paths: the crews of the three vanished ships, Clark and Hickman, the Doctor, and now the innocent prison guards on the beach. Unlike their Silurian cousins, these Sea Devils seem much more like generic monsters than intelligent beings; wordless murderers rather than reasoning thinkers.

In one of his less wise (but braver!) moves, the Doctor leads Jo through a live minefield, using his trusty sonic screwdriver to detect where the buried explosives are (amazingly, this is only the third time the Third Doctor has used the sonic). He then uses the sonic to deliberately detonate the mines close to the pursuing Sea Devil, which screams repeatedly in some considerable distress before scarpering back into the sea. The explosions on the beach are pretty impressive, it must be said!

The Sea Devils Episode Three

The one where the Doctor goes from prison visitor to prisoner...

It seems Michael Briant thought the end of episode 2 was so good that the reprise should last more than 90 seconds, which is a bit of a chore (I know contemporary viewers had had a whole week in between, and I've had just a day, but still...). The Master needs to brush up on his knife-throwing skills because he misses the Doctor (chilling that he was aiming for his head!), but I'm wondering whether he missed on purpose because when he subsequently has the perfect chance to kill him, he doesn't bother. The Master claims he'd rather the Doctor witness the extermination of his beloved human race instead. Hmmm... those shifting priorities of the Master's.

There's not a lot to this episode, as it mainly concerns the Doctor being imprisoned and escaping, but it's a fantastic showcase for Jo Grant, whose ingenuity and determination really pay off. Before embarking on this Pertwee marathon, I always considered Jo Grant to be a rather dense, kooky clot, but after having watched through, episode by episode, I must admit she's a brilliant companion, and a true friend and sidekick to the Doctor. They adore one another, and Jo's innate resourcefulness is often highlighted.

The Sea Devils Episode Two

The one where the Doctor and the Master sword-fight...

The hulking, heavy-breathing monster in the shadows was Clark all along, in a classic cliffhanger twist from writer Malcolm Hulke. The terrified, wounded Clark mumbles something about "sea devils", a name for the creatures that sticks from hereon in as if it is their actual name, rather than an invention of a frightened man's fractured imagination. A similar thing happened with the Ice Warriors, who were named as such by Walters in The Ice Warriors, and ever since then everybody's called them that (rarely Martians).

The first five minutes of this episode rattle along at breakneck speed and manage to be both thrilling and scary in equal measure. The Sea Devil watches the Doctor, Jo and Clark from the shadows, contemplating its next move.

The Sea Devils Episode One

The one where the Doctor visits the Master in prison...

The episode opens with a great introductory scene in which the crew of the SS Pevensey Castle are under attack by an unseen enemy, and are forced to abandon ship. It transpires that it is one of three ships which have vanished without trace of late, with all hands lost. It's a great way to set up a story (reminiscent of the first scene of Terror of the Zygons), and I love the way the picture fades into a shot of the Doctor and Jo approaching the fortress island aboard Robbins' boat. Malcolm Clarke's eccentric soundtrack feels eerie and mournful, somehow capturing the maritime theme without resorting to cliched hornpipes.

The score bubbles and burbles, with moments which evoke a "lost at sea" yearning, a maritime melancholy. I realise Clarke's music for The Sea Devils is a controversial one - there are aspects of it which startle, such as what I call the 'Sea Devil sting' - but I adore it, it's so wonderfully strange and experimental, in the best tradition of the Radiophonic Workshop and Delia Derbyshire. Parts of the soundtrack sound unexpectedly ahead of their time, as if lifted from a 1980s Doctor Who story such as The Twin Dilemma (also Clarke), or a 21st century movie soundtrack such as Disasterpeace's It Follows. It's also reminiscent of some of John Carpenter's spookier work. I really, really love this score!

The Curse of Peladon Episode Four

The one where Hepesh leads a revolt against the royal house of Peladon...

The first few scenes of episode four feel like one huge info-dump on the part of writer Brian Hayles, who tries to have his characters (principally the Doctor) explain everything that's happened in one long summary and Q&A. Arcturus has been exposed, and destroyed by Ssorg, reduced to nothing more than a gooey green blob with a disgorged eyeball (it's not as if he consisted of very much to start with!).

The Doctor explains that Arcturus and Hepesh were in cahoots, and that Hepesh's ultimate aim was to unseat King Peladon and seize control of the planet for himself, thereby preserving its ancient customs and ridding his beloved people of the Galactic Federation altogether. This doesn't quite ring true with me because at no stage did Hepesh come across as your typical power-mad conspirator. All he really wants is for progress to go away. He is not a man who embraces change; he prefers tradition and custom. He's the sort of man who catches the same bus to work every day for 40 years and always sits on the same seat, reading the same newspaper, and doing the same crossword.

The Curse of Peladon Episode Three

The one where the Doctor fights the King's Champion...

It's not a very appealing pair of options, is it? Death, or trial by combat. Especially when the fella you're fighting is the King's Champion, Grun, who towers over you with arms and legs the size of railway sleepers. It's the best that King Peladon can do for the Doctor, who is accused of sacrilege and seems doomed to perish in some way at the behest of High Priest Hepesh's barbaric beliefs.

There's lots of knowing and accusing looks from Jon Pertwee toward Geoffrey Toone, as it seems the Doctor's sussed out that Hepesh is the fly in the ointment here, the one who's trying to scupper the galactic alliance and keep Peladon in the dark ages. Pertwee's great at these subtle glances and accusatory looks ("You're a wily old bird, Hepesh"), with a tiny smile in the corners of his mouth to express his knowing bemusement (however, I doubt he'll ever better the scene with Fulton Mackay in episode 3 of Doctor Who and the Silurians).

The Curse of Peladon Episode Two

The one where the Doctor is sentenced to death without trial for desecrating a holy temple...

The falling granite statue misses its target thanks to a quick-witted Doctor, but this attempt on the life of a delegate makes everybody very jumpy (particularly Alpha Centauri), and the conference is in danger of falling through. Luckily, the Doctor has taken very easily to his newfound role as chairman of the committee, and pleads with everybody to remain calm and retire to consider the way forward.

In their quarters, the Doctor and Jo have a good chinwag about what they think is going on and who they suspect of trying to scupper the conference. Yet again, the chemistry between Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning is obvious as the two tease and chuckle their way through the script like old friends just having a good time. They're physically close in frame too, reflecting the "mother hen" nature of Pertwee's portrayal, and it's a delight when Jo prods the Doctor's self-importance by saying: "You love all that chairman delegate stuff, admit it!", and he replies, "Well how do you like being a princess, princess?"

The Curse of Peladon Episode One

The one where Jo becomes a princess...

Thunder and lightning! A gothic castle on a mountainside! Gloomy corridors lit by flaming torches! A man in flowing robes accompanied by bare-chested guards! We're on another planet, and this must surely be the most alien place we've been to since The Dominators. It all looks a bit doomy! It's designed and lit beautifully by Gloria Clayton and Howard King respectively and gets you right into the feel and atmosphere of Peladon. The opening scene might just be an old man walking along some dark corridors, but it feels refreshing and quite exciting after so many stories set on contemporary Earth.

We get straight into a soap opera showdown between traditionalist high priest Hepesh and progressive chancellor Torbis, who disagree fundamentally about the way forward for their people. Peladon is on the cusp of joining the Galactic Federation, but Hepesh fears the unlike and does not trust aliens, believing the planet should maintain its independence. Torbis believes there will be greater prosperity in uniting with neighbouring planets in the galaxy.