The Mutants

This article is about the 1972 Doctor Who serial. For the 1963 Doctor Who serial also called The Mutants, see The Daleks. For other uses of The Mutants, see mutant (disambiguation).

063 – The Mutants
Doctor Who serial
Cast
Doctor Jon Pertwee – Third Doctor
Companion Katy Manning – Jo Grant
Others Paul Whitsun-Jones – The Marshal George Pravda – Jaeger Christopher Coll – Stubbs Rick James – Cotton James Mellor – Varan Jonathan Sherwood – Varan's Son Garrick Hagon – Ky John Hollis – Sondergaard Geoffrey Palmer – Administrator Peter Howell – Investigator David Arlen – Warrior Guard Roy Pearce, Damon Sanders, Martin Taylor – Guards Sidney Johnson – Old Man John Scott Martin – Mutt
Production
Directed by	Christopher Barry
Written by	Bob Baker and Dave Martin
Script editor	Terrance Dicks
Produced by	Barry Letts
Executive producer(s)	None
Music by	Tristram Cary
Production code	NNN
Series	Season 9
Running time	6 episodes, 25 minutes each
First broadcast	8 April 1972 (1972-04-08)
Last broadcast	13 May 1972 (1972-05-13)
Chronology
← Preceded by The Sea Devils Followed by → The Time Monster

The Mutants is the fourth serial of the ninth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 8 April to 13 May 1972.

The serial is set on and high above the Earth colony world Solos in the 30th century. In the serial, the Marshal of Solos (Paul Whitsun-Jones) 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 (Jon Pertwee) delivers a set of tablets containing lost information about the Solonians' life cycle to the Solonian Ky (Garrick Hagon).

Plot

In the 30th century, the Earth Empire is contracting and plans are made to decolonise the planet of Solos. The militaristic and bigoted Marshal and other human soldiers, known as Overlords, rule it and the disunionised tribal Solonian people from Skybase One, an orbiting space station. The Marshal opposes the decolonisation plans outlined by an Earth Administrator, and is obsessed with eradicating the arthropod-like mutants or "Mutts" developing on the planet. The Solonians are split between those who actively oppose the occupation, and those who collaborate with the Overlords to eradicate the Mutants, believing them to be a disease. The Marshal and one Solonian, Varan, with his son, all ensure the Administrator is assassinated before he can confirm Solos' independence.

The Third Doctor and Jo arrive on Skybase, the Time Lords having transported the TARDIS there, with a pod which will only open for an intended recipient, which seems to be Ky, another Solonian framed for the Administrator's murder. Ky flees to the surface of Solos, abducting Jo as well. There, daylight-exposed atmosphere is poisonous to humans. With Ky's help, Jo survives. The Doctor learns that the Marshal and his chief scientist Jaeger plan to terraform Solos, to make the planet habitable for humans, but not for indigenous life. The Marshal betrays Varan by killing his son. In response, Stubbs and Cotton, the Marshal's most senior officers, secretly ally with the Doctor.

The now-fugitive Varan takes the Doctor hostage, fleeing to Solos' caverns, but is convinced to spare him. There, they encounter many mutants, who aren't animalistic as first assumed. The Doctor reunites with Ky and Jo, giving the pod to Ky. It opens to reveal ancient etched tablets that Ky cannot decipher. The Marshal fumigates the caves, but an outcast human scientist, Sondergaard, an expert in Solonian anthropology, saves the group, and later explains he tried to inform Earth Control of the corruption, but was silenced and fled in fear. The Doctor and Sondergaard interpret the tablets as a lengthy Solonian calendar. While investigating more of the caves, the Doctor also finds a lensing stone, which focuses and converts thaesium radiation. From both the calendar and stone, he deduces the Mutant phase is a natural part of the Solonian life-cycle.

Despite partly mutating, Varan leads an attack on Skybase which fails and results in his death with many of his warriors. The Marshal captures Jo, Ky, Stubbs and Cotton, with Stubbs killed in an escape attempt. The Doctor returns to Skybase – without Sondergaard, who seems weakened from radiation sickness in the caves. To look into the strange events, the Earth government has dispatched an Investigator. The Marshal's terraform attempt fails, instead poisoning the environment. To force the Doctor to rapidly decontaminate the planet with Jaeger's technology, the Marshal imprisons Jo and the rest in a soon-to-be-radioactive thaesium refueling bay. The Investigator arrives for an inquiry, but the Marshal gives more lies, supported by the Doctor under duress. Luckily, the prisoners escape their fate and arrive in time to help the Investigator see the truth of the situation. Sondergaard, now recovered, also arrives to offer testimony. Unfortunately, a Mutant accidentally scares the Investigator enough to reinstate the Marshal's command and recommendation to eradicate the creatures.

Now unbalanced from thoughts of ruling grandeur, The Marshal forces Sondergaard, Jo (whom the Doctor secretly passes the lensing stone to), Cotton, and Ky back into the refueling bay, holds the Investigator's entourage hostage to be the first forced citizens of New Earth (on Solos), and orders the terraforming process to be completed, but the Doctor's covert mechanical sabotage kills Jaeger. Meanwhile, Ky, with the lensing stone, absorbs the thaesium radiation and rapidly mutates, emerging as a radiant angel-like super-being and saving the prisoners. Dispensing justice, Ky vapourises the Marshal. Sondergaard and Cotton elect to stay to help see the other Solonians through their mutations, 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 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.

The mines of Solos were filmed at Chislehurst Caves 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 (1968) and would later play Castellan Spandrell in The Deadly Assassin (1976).

Christopher Coll had previously played Technician Phipps opposite Patrick Troughton in the 1969 serial The Seeds of Death.

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".

Broadcast and reception

Episode	Title	Run time	Original air date	UK viewers (millions)	Archive
1	"Episode One"	24:25	8 April 1972 (1972-04-08)	9.1	RSC converted (NTSC-to-PAL)
2	"Episode Two"	24:24	15 April 1972 (1972-04-15)	7.8	RSC converted (NTSC-to-PAL)
3	"Episode Three"	24:32	22 April 1972 (1972-04-22)	7.9	PAL 2" colour videotape
4	"Episode Four"	24:00	29 April 1972 (1972-04-29)	7.5	PAL 2" colour videotape
5	"Episode Five"	24:37	6 May 1972 (1972-05-06)	7.9	PAL 2" colour videotape
6	"Episode Six"	23:43	13 May 1972 (1972-05-13)	6.5	PAL 2" colour videotape

In 2009, Patrick Mulkern of Radio Times 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'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 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 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

Doctor Who and the Mutants

Author	Terrance Dicks
Cover artist	Jeff Cummins
Series	Doctor Who book: Target novelisations
Release number	44
Publisher	Target Books
Publication date	29 September 1977
ISBN	0-426-11690-9

A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books 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 on 31 January 2011.

In March 2023, the story was released again in an upgraded format for Blu-ray, being included with the four other stories from Season 9 in the Doctor Who - The Collection Box Set.

The music from this serial was released as part of Doctor Who: Devils' Planets – The Music of Tristram Cary in 2003.

External links

• The Mutants at BBC Online
• Doctor Who Appreciation Society interview with Jeremy Bear, designer of The Mutants

Target novelisation

• Doctor Who and the Mutants title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• On Target — Doctor Who and the Mutants