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!