321 The Mutants Episode Four

EPISODE: The Mutants: Episode Four
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 321
STORY NUMBER: 063
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 29 April 1972
WRITER: Bob Baker & Dave Martin
DIRECTOR: Christopher Barry
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 7.5 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - The Mutants
EPISODE FORMAT: 625 video

"Yes, of course. The Solonians are meant to mutate. The mutation is part of it. A part of an evolution. They're meant to change as their environment changes every five hundred years. A life cycle unique in the history of the universe. And now, thanks to the Marshal, threatened with extinction!"

The Doctor & his friends are rescued by the figure in a silver protective suit who leads them to an underground shelter where he reveals himself to be the missing scientist Professor Sondergaard. The Marshall tried to kill him when he attempted to inform Earth of the conditions for the natives on Solos. His is concerned by the changes he has observed to Solos' environment which he thinks Jaeger's experiments have accelerated. Sondergaard starts to translates the tablets with the Doctor as Stubbs, Cotton, Jo & Ky leave for the surface. The Doctor deduces that Solos' seasons are 500 years long and that the tablets show the radiation found in the caves. Jo's party is captured by Varan. The Doctor finds a crystal mounted on a statue in the middle of the radiation caves which he removes. While preparing the missiles to shoot into Solos' atmosphere the Marshall gets word that the Earth shuttle Hyperion is en route to the station carrying an Investigator. The Doctor works out that the Solonians are meant to mutate in reaction to the change in the environment and that the mutants are an intermediate form. He & Sondergaard decide to take the crystal to the Skybase lab to analyse it. Varan takes his captives to Skybase where their intrusion is detected. As the missiles are launched the Marshall attacks Varan, blasting a hole in Skybase's hull which Varan is sucked through into space causing an explosive decompression.....

My goodness, surely the Marshall would have known what would happen if he fired one of his weapons on Skybase and yet he does putting them all endanger. You are Horatio Chinn and I claim my five pounds!

But that's almost a late add on, effectively the main thrust of the episode is Professor Sondergaard and the revelations he helps to bring:

SONDERGAARD: Welcome. You must not be alarmed. My name is
DOCTOR: Professor Sondergaard, I presume.

SONDERGAARD: There is radioactivity present throughout the cave system. Oh, it's natural in a thaesium mine, and it's not dangerous, unless you're here for many years, as I am, or unless you find yourself in an unstable zone, as you did, young lady. The entrance you found led you straight to the heart of the most dangerous radioactivity.
JO: So it was you I saw, and you brought me out.
SONDERGAARD: Ha! I didn't know what to do. I couldn't let you die, so I carried you as quickly as I could out of the radioactive zone to where I hoped your friends would find you.
JO: Well, thank you, Professor.
KY: You were given up for dead years ago.
SONDERGAARD: Yes, so were many others in the mines. The mutants, for example.
JO: The mutants? Well, they attacked us and tried to kill us.
SONDERGAARD: Yes, I know. There are more now, many more, and as their numbers increase, so it seems does their aggression.

The reason Sondergaard has been forced into hiding won't be a huge surprise:

SONDERGAARD: Well, he has my sympathies. Do you think I've chosen to live here? To work with this primitive equipment? I was young, ambitious. I hoped to make many great discoveries here. And my first was that Solos had become a slave colony. I was unwise enough to try to inform Earth control. The Marshal intercepted my report. I was lucky to escape with my life. I managed to reach the caves. I've been here ever since.
DOCTOR: But you have continued with your research?
SONDERGAARD: As well as I could. As you see, I lack equipment. If it were not for the mutants, I would not have been able to survive here.
KY: My people help you?
SONDERGAARD: They did. We were all outcasts. We helped one another. Once they stole food for me, and clothing.
DOCTOR: And now?
SONDERGAARD: Now they don't come near me. It is as if I were
KY: Diseased?
SONDERGAARD: Who knows? Perhaps they're right. Strange things are happening on Solos, Doctor. Oh, not just to the people, but to the plants, the soil, the atmosphere, even the weather. The whole flora and fauna of Solos.
DOCTOR: Professor Jaeger's experiments.
SONDERGAARD: Exactly, and my belief is this. At first the changes were natural, but now Professor Jaeger's experiments have accelerated the changes and something is seriously wrong.

So the mutations have been influenced by the Overlords, and in particular Jaeger's experiments on the atmosphere, yet another disastrous effect of the Overlord's occupation of Solos.

All through the story Ky has been reminding us that the Overlords have wiped out the Solonian culture, which has resulted in the tablets inside the box not being readable. But now they're in the hands of a man who might be able to help translate them:

SONDERGAARD: Extraordinary. This wonderful, Doctor, marvellous.
DOCTOR: Yes, but what do they mean?
SONDERGAARD: This is the same kind of hieroglyphs I've seen in the old temples.
SONDERGAARD: All over Solos you see the same symbols, you see.
DOCTOR: Yes, I can see that, Professor, but can you read them?
SONDERGAARD: Well, I can try. I have approximate translations for many of the basic symbols. One might call this the Solonian book of Genesis. The lost tablets. This, Doctor, is the story of how Solonian civilisation began.

SONDERGAARD: Now then, Doctor. Now, this particular symbol here, for instance, is the Solonian symbol for life. This pattern repeated is almost the same, and this is the Solonian sun symbol.
DOCTOR: Yes, well, they aren't numbers, so it can't be a code. Let's try something else. Fire, earth, air, water. No, all right, that's no good.
SONDERGAARD: Well, er, a cycle, perhaps, representing some form of chemical process.
DOCTOR: Yes, but the process keeps repeating itself. What process repeats itself?
SONDERGAARD: Well, life.
DOCTOR: Life in some form will always go on.
SONDERGAARD: Let's hope so....

It's The Doctor that makes the crucial leap:

DOCTOR: It must be a code of some kind. It must. Eureka, it's a calendar! Spring, summer, autumn, winter.
SONDERGAARD: But Solos has no seasons. It does not tilt on its axis relative to its sun.
DOCTOR: Well, it may not tilt, Professor, but it could move closer. Look, these ellipses here, they're the orbits.
SONDERGAARD: But Solos takes two thousand years to go round its sun. We know that.
DOCTOR: Then the seasons must be five hundred years long.
SONDERGAARD: Possibly.
DOCTOR: See, these signs here. They only appear in the summer. And these little matchstick men here only appear in the spring.
SONDERGAARD: Yes, but what about these spirals? They're like small sun symbols.
DOCTOR: Yes, like small sun symbols. Well, yes, but that's it! That that's what I said. That's radiation. That's thaesium radiation! So that's why they sent me here. Professor, I want you to take me to that place where you found Jo Grant.
STUBBS: The radiation cave? But I've only one suit. If you spend any time in there without one, Doctor, you will die. Any man would.
DOCTOR: Any man, perhaps.

And within the cave they find a crystal and the Doctor makes another leap in his understanding:

DOCTOR: Yes, of course. The Solonians are meant to mutate. The mutation is part of it. A part of an evolution. They're meant to change as their environment changes every five hundred years. A life cycle unique in the history of the universe. And now, thanks to the Marshal, threatened with extinction.
SONDERGAARD: So it's not a sickness.
DOCTOR: No, it's a metamorphosis, an adaptive change. The mutants, as we know them, are an intermediate form.
SONDERGAARD: And we've yet to see the final metamorphosis?
DOCTOR: Exactly. The radiation cave is the key to that.
SONDERGAARD: The tablets led us to the crystal.
DOCTOR: Yes. It must play a vital part in the process, but what?
SONDERGAARD: Maybe that the cellular change is only affected by the particular radiation in the crystal.
DOCTOR: That's the extraordinary thing about it. It shows absolutely no radioactivity at all. Here, try it for yourself.
SONDERGAARD: That's impossible.
DOCTOR: Apparently not. If only we could analyse it and find out its true function.
SONDERGAARD: The equipment here's too primitive for crystallography. There's only one place.
DOCTOR: Skybase. Jaeger's lab.

This episode introduces us to Professor Sondergaard, previously seen disguised in protective gear. Under the suit he's recognisable bald headed actor John Hollis. A long & extensive career means he's appeared in a great many things: He was Kaufman in A for Andromeda and The Andromeda Breakthrough, Czesni in the now missing Out of the Unknown episode Too Many Cooks, Two Tone in The Tomorrow People story One Law, a Krypton Elder in Superman & Superman II plus a Russian General Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, Lom in the Blake's 7 episode Powerplay, one of Klytus' Observers in Flash Gordon, Ernst Stavro Blofeld in For Your Eyes Only and Alf in the fourth episode of The Day of the Triffids Here, in addition to Sondergaard and like Garrick Hagon who plays Ky, he provides additional voices heard over the communications system.

Garrick Hagon & John Hollis have another connection though: They both appear in the Star Wars films. Yes in this episode we have Biggs Darklighter - Red 5 from Star Wars (Hagon) - sharing a scene with Lando Calrissian's aid Lobot (Hollis)! As a youngster I was a Star Wars fan and knew Garrick Hagon was Biggs so when I got my Doctor Who Programme Guide it's possibly this very story that put me on to the entire business of recognising actors that have appeared in different productions that you've seen which haunts obsesses me to this day! Of course they're not the only Classic Doctor who cast members to have appeared in Star Wars: Indeed most of the Imperial Military hierarchy has put an appearance then at some point. Here then, with only a little help from a now defunct page on the The Tardis Index File, is a by no means complete list of people that have been in classic Doctor Who & Star Wars:

Claire Davenport	Empress (Marco Polo)	Yarna Dal Gargan (Return of the Jedi)
Julian Glover	Richard The Lionheart (The Crusade) Count Scarlioni/Scarroth (City of Death)	General Veers (Empire Strikes Back)
Jeremy Bulloch	Tor (The Space Museum) Hal The Archer (The Time Warrior)	Boba Fett (Empire Strikes Back) Boba Fett Return of the Jedi) Captain Colton (Revenge of the Sith)
Michael Sheard	Rhos (The Ark) Laurence Scarman (Pyramids of Mars) Lowe (The Invisible Enemy) Mergrave (Castrovalva) Headmaster (Remembrance of the Daleks)	Admiral Ozzel (Empire Strikes Back)
Shane Rimmer	Seth Harper (The Gunfighters)	Incom Engineer (Star Wars)
Graham Ashley	Overseer (Underwater Menace)	Gold Five (Star Wars)
Milton John	Bennik (Enemy of the World) Guy Crayford (Android Invasion) Kelner (Invasion of Time)	Imperial Officer (Empire Strikes Back)
Leslie Schofield	Leroy (The War Games) Calib (The Face of Evil)	Chief Bast (Star Wars)
Richard Franklin	Captain Mike Yates (Terror of the Autons onwards)	Technician (Rogue One)
Declan Mulholland	Clark (The Sea Devils) Till (The Androids of Tara)	Jabba the Hut (Star Wars - cut)
John Hollis	Professor Sondegaard (The Mutants)	Lobot (The Empire Strikes Back)
Garrick Hagon	Ky (The Mutants)	Biggs Darklighter (Star Wars)
Dave Prowse	Minotaur (Time Monster)	Darth Vader (Star Wars) Darth Vader (The Empire Strikes Back) Darth Vader (Return of the Jedi)
Deep Roy	Mr Sin (Talons of Weng Chiang)	Droopy McColl (Return of the Jedi)
Ian Liston	Hero (The Armageddon Factor)	Wes Janson (Empire Strikes Back)
Peter Burroughs	Jester (King's Demons)	Ewok (Return of the Jedi)
Don Henderson	Gavrok (Delta & The Bannermen)	General Tagge (Star Wars)
Peter Roy	many & various	Major Olander Brit (Return of the Jedi)
Maurice Bush	Ogrons in Day of the Daleks & Frontier in Space	Dengar (Empire Strike Back & Return of the Jedi)
Katy Jarret (Cathy Munroe)	Anethian Sacrifice in Horns of the Nimon	Zuckuss (Empire Strike Back)
Harry Aitch Fielder	Many & Various	Death Squad Commander (Star Wars)
Peter Cushing	The Doctor (Films)	Grand Moff Tarken (Star Wars)

The speaking warrior amongst Varan's group is David Arlen who'd been in The Prisoner: The Chimes of Big Ben as Karel

In amongst the Warriors we have Derek Chafer who'd bee a Saxon in The Time Meddler, a Greek Soldier in The Myth Makers, a Guard in The Massacre, a Lynch Mob Member in The Gunfighters, a Cyberman in The Moonbase, a Guard in Fury from the Deep, a Cyberman in The Invasion, a Technician in Seeds of Death, an Issigri HQ Miner in The Space Pirates, a UNIT Soldier in Doctor Who and the Silurians episode, a Military Policeman & UNIT Soldier in Ambassadors of Death, a Prisoner in The Mind of Evil, a Primitive in Colony in Space and a Guard in The Curse of Peladon. He returns as an Exxilon in Death to the Daleks, a Guard in The Monster of Peladon, a Soldier/Armourer/Brethren Guest in The Masque of Mandragora, a Leviathan Guard in Ribos Operation, a Gracht Guard in Androids of Tara, a Skonnan Elder in Horns of the Nimon, Doctor Body Parts/Pangol Doctor in The Leisure Hive and a Gundan in Warriors' Gate. And on the way the production paperwork will; spell his names several different ways! He was in Doomwatch as a man in Project Sahara, Re-Entry Forbidden & The Red Sky and played a man in the missing third season Out of the Unknown episode 1+1=1.5.

Ian Elliot was previously a UNIT Soldier in Inferno, a Daffodil Man in Terror of the Autons, a UNIT Soldier in The Mind of Evil, a Colonist in Colony in Space and a Villager in The Dæmons He's back as a UNIT Soldier in The Time Monster, a Regular Army Soldier / UNIT Soldier in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, a Villager in Planet of the Spiders, an Android Villager in The Android Invasion, a Guard in The Seeds of Doom and a Haemovore in The Curse of Fenric. In Doomwatch he is an Ambulance Driver in Tomorrow, the Rat, a Man in You Killed Toby Wren, a Man in No Room for Error, a Man in Flight Into Yesterday, a Manservant in High Mountain and a Man in Flood.

Alex Hood had been a Gond in The Krotons, a Firing Squad Member & British Soldier in The War Games, a Technician in Doctor Who and the Silurians. He returns as an SRS Member in Robot. He was in Doomwatch as a Man in The Islanders.

Terry Sartain was an Alien Technician / Union Recruit in The War Games. He later plays a UNIT Soldier in The Three Doctors, an Earth Prison Guard / Draconian Guard at Embassy in Frontier in Space, an Exxilon in Death to the Daleks, the SRS Bouncer in Robot, a UNIT Soldier Android in Android Invasion, a Brother in The Masque of Mandragora, a Time Lord in Deadly Assassin, a Customer at Art Gallery in City of Death, a Gundan in Warriors' Gate ad a Cave Crowd Member in Snakedance. In Blake's 7 he was a Crewman in Space Fall and a Hooded Figure in Cygnus Alpha. In Doomwatch he is the Minister's P.P.S. / Man in Club / Man at Palazzo in The Killer Dolphins.