323 The Mutants Episode Six

EPISODE: The Mutants: Episode Six
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 323
STORY NUMBER: 063
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 13 May 1972
WRITER: Bob Baker & Dave Martin
DIRECTOR: Christopher Barry
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 6.5 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - The Mutants
EPISODE FORMAT: 625 video

"Investigator, I accuse that man and that man of the most brutal and callous series of crimes against a defenceless people it's ever been my misfortune to encounter. You destroyed these poor people for no reason at all!"

The Investigator arrives and accuses the Marshall of serious crimes, with the Doctor forced to back up the Marshall's defence. As the Hyperion starts to refuel Ky is quickly taken ill, but they manage to escape from the refuelling chamber. Jaeger denies the accusations laid against him too. Jo, Ky & Cotton burst into the chamber interrupting proceedings allowing the Doctor to reveal what he really thinks, but he is unable to back up what he says with evidence. A Mutant enters the chamber which the Marshall uses to demonstrate his point of view is right. The Investigator gives the Marshall authority over his men. The Doctor, hiding in the lab, analyses the crystal. The Marshall bursts in sending Sondergaard & Jo to the refuelling chamber with the crystal which Sondergaard gives to Ky, which drains the thaesium radiation, causing him to mutate first into an insect like mutants and then into a glowing being of light. The Marshall is forcing the Doctor to transform Solos' atmosphere when the machine explodes killing Jaeger. Ky appears and kills the Marshall.

He thanks the Doctor and leaves for Solos to finish transforming the Solonians using the crystal. The Doctor & Jo make their excuses and return to the Tardis leaving for Earth.

This final episode, after the procrastination of previous ones, feels like a rush to the finish line with lots happening all at once.

The Investigator shows up and is about to send down a verdict in favour of the Marshall when the Marshall's prisoners escape, removing the hold The Marshall has over the Doctor!

INVESTIGATOR: What is going on here? Who are these people?
DOCTOR: Investigator, these are the missing witnesses. Jo, Miss Grant here, is my assistant, kept hostage
MARSHAL: Lies, all lies!
DOCTOR: Kept hostage to ensure my cooperation in this travesty of justice. Investigator, I accuse that man and that man of the most brutal and callous series of crimes against a defenceless people it's ever been my misfortune to encounter. You destroyed these poor people for no reason at all.
MARSHAL: They would have died anyway.
DOCTOR: Not died, Marshal, changed.
MARSHAL: It was my duty! My duty to save Solos from contamination!
DOCTOR: Duty? Your idea of duty was to keep this planet for yourself.
MARSHAL: They're mutants! Mutts! They're diseased! To be wiped off the face of the planet! I
DOCTOR: Need I say more, Investigator?

All is going well till a mutant unexpectedly appears:

MARSHAL: Mutts!
SONDERGAARD: No! There's nothing to be afraid of. The mutants are not dangerous unless you try to harm them.
MARSHAL: They're evil! Don't deserve to live!
SONDERGAARD: That is a rational and intelligent creature. To kill it would be murder!
MARSHAL: Destroy it or we'll all be killed!
KY: No!
MARSHAL: There, you see what I have to deal with? More of these creatures may attack us. I want my men released at once. Now! And your men placed under my command.
INVESTIGATOR: Release the Marshal's men. Obey his orders during this emergency.
MARSHAL: You others follow me.

At which point the Marshal starts throwing people back in the radiation chamber he's using as a makeshift prison/method of execution:

JAEGER: They've gone.
MARSHAL: What? Who?
JAEGER: The Doctor, his assistant, Sondergaard. These two weren't quick enough.
MARSHAL: Right, after them. To the laboratory. Seal all exits. Take these two to the radiation chamber.
JAEGER: But what about the radiation level? After refuelling, it'll be much higher than
MARSHAL: That's their problem, isn't it? Take them away.

What the Marshall hasn't realise is that Ky is now exactly where he needs to be. All he's short of now is the crystal ..... and the Marshall handily supplies that too!

DOCTOR: Yes, of course. Of course! The crystal acts as a bio-catalytic agent. Sondergaard, take this crystal to Ky immediately. But what about the thaesium radiation? Surely that's the vital part of the process?
JO: Well, there's thaesium radiation in the chamber where they took us. Cotton told me.
DOCTOR: Well, what else can we do? We must try it. If we hope to achieve a successful mutation, that is.
MARSHAL: Get away from that machine, Doctor. Guards, take that girl and Sondergaard to the radiation chamber.

When they arrive Ky is in a sorry state:

COTTON: I'm afraid Ky's just about had it, Miss.
SONDERGAARD: How long has he been like this?
COTTON: It started as soon as we got in here. The first dose didn't do him any good. Now this lot on top.
SONDERGAARD: The first dose? Oh yes, you were confined here before, weren't you? Well, we'll have to hurry. We may already be too late.
COTTON: Now what?
SONDERGAARD: We wait.
COTTON: We can't wait too long.
JO: Ky!
SONDERGAARD: No, no, leave him.
JO: Look, he's changing.

Ky first changes into a Mutant, like we're familiar with but it appears that this is just a chrysalis stage and he passes through that quickly to become a superbeing.

By this point the Marshall has gone completely mad

INVESTIGATOR: Why have my men been disarmed and confined to their quarters? What is this nonsense about my ship not being allowed to leave Skybase?
MARSHAL: Oh, no nonsense, Investigator. I'm sure you and your crew will enjoy your stay on Solos.
INVESTIGATOR: Solos?
MARSHAL: Yes, as soon as our good friend the Doctor here has finished his twiddling, Solos will find itself with a new atmosphere. You and the others will be the first settlers on New Earth.
INVESTIGATOR: And you, Marshal?
MARSHAL: I shall rule from Skybase.
INVESTIGATOR: You will never be allowed
MARSHAL: Oh, come now. You didn't think I'd let you return to Earth Council? An accident will be reported. Lost with all hands I believe is the phrase.
INVESTIGATOR: Other ships will come from Earth.
MARSHAL: Oh, they'll be room for them. You should be grateful to help me. We'll begin a new Earth, the centre of a new empire.
DOCTOR: It's all right, Investigator. He's quite mad.
MARSHAL: Oh no, Doctor. I told you. Madmen lose. I've won. Solos is mine. Have you finished your work?
DOCTOR: Almost. And my companions?
MARSHAL: Will be released as soon as the job is done.

Since he was really annoying me so I was glad to see Ky show up and finish him off.

By an odd coincidence years later in Star Fleet there's a similar ending as Lamia (voiced by Liza Ross, the wife of Garrick Hagon, who plays Ky) becomes a glowing light being and fights the the villain of that series!

Guest starring in this episode only is experienced actor Peter Howell who plays The Investigator. He'd been in The Prisoner as The Professor in The General. You can see him in The Sweeney as Alan Sevier in Chalk and Cheese and The Professionals as Howard in A Man Called Quinn. He appears in Yes Minister as the Permanent Secretary at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in Equal Opportunities.

His staff includes a number of Earth Control Guards:

Gary Dean had been in The Ice Warriors as a Technician, The Enemy of the World as a Guard, The Invasion as a UNIT Soldier, The War Games as a German Soldier and Doctor Who and the Silurians as a UNIT Soldier. He returns in Frontier in Space as a Lunar Guard, Planet of the Daleks as a Spiridon, Pirate Planet as a Guard, Nightmare of Eden as a Medic, Time Flight as a Passenger and Remembrance of the Daleks as a Pallbearer. He was in Doomwatch as a man in Project Sahara and Fawlty Towers as a Hotel Guest in Communication Problems.

Mick Urry was also in Doomwatch as a Newspaper Man in Fire and Brimstone and also appears in Moonbase 3 as a Technician in View of a Dead Planet.

The Investigator has two Advisors with him:

Evan Ross will return as a Cabinet Minister in The Green Death, an Extra in Robot, a Noble in Androids of Tara and a Logopolitan in Logopolis. Ken Nazarin can be seen in the Inspector Morse story Driven to Distraction where he is Whyting Lau.

There's a couple of new Mutants in this episode too: Bill Gosling was a Tracking Room Technician in The Tenth Plane & Villager in The Dæmons. Ricky Newby was previously a Dalek in Day of the Daleks and returns as a Gell Guard in the Three Doctors. There's a lot of comedy on his CV including an appearance in The Young Ones: Cash.

I can't say I've got any real affection for what I see onscreen in the Mutants but it worked better for me this time than it has ever done before. There's still a lot of treading water and stalling for time, especially in episodes two and five, and then big rush in episode six. I suspect it may have worked better as a four parter!

When I was younger read the book from my local library, adapted by Terrance Dicks, several times and somehow what I see on screen has never matched up to that, a problem the next story shares. Oddly the paperback copy currently in my collection has the words "DR WHO AND THE MUTANTS" on the spine rather than the more commonly used "Doctor Who...."

The Mutants was a very late video release towards the end of the range in 2003 and then appeared on DVD early in 2011.