“It’s . . .” The Mutants.
The Mutants is another six episode Doctor Who story; at
several points I thought the adventure was winding down only to realize that
there were one or two episodes left yet. But The Mutants is such great fun that
I didn’t mind. Any time you have a
blustery character shouting, “I’m surrounded by incompetents,” you know you’re
in the middle of something good.
“Marshal, you are quite mad,” the Doctor tells the leader of
Skybase. “Only if I lose,” he responds. And indeed, over much of our six parts
he keeps his madness under wraps, revealing it only in small doses and only
when his position is threatened. But the insanity escalates with the action
until there is no longer any doubt.
It is unfortunate for the empire dreaming Marshal that he is
in charge of a doomed colony on a dying planet with an atmosphere that is toxic
to humans and with an indigenous population that is rapidly mutating. But that
is the hand he has been dealt and by golly he is going to make it work.
Problem one: assassinate the Administrator come to announce
the abandonment of the colony. Problem two: bombard the planet surface with
experimental terraforming rockets. Problem three: kill all of the mutants, or
mutts as he calls them.
Problems solved. Or so he thinks.
The difficulty with empire building dreams is that they are
dependent upon the complete and utter loyalty of everyone else. The Marshal has
this to some extent with Professor Jaeger who has been trying to transform the
planet’s atmosphere. “Simply obeying orders—that’s a common excuse Professor,”
the Doctor admonishes him.
Not all, however, are willing to simply obey orders. The
Marshal has his hands full with the discontented inhabitants of the planet
Solos, lead by Ky. He briefly has the
cooperation of the warrior faction of Solos, lead by Varan, until the Marshal kills
Varan’s son that is. Then the Doctor and Jo show up to start asking questions,
and two of his guards, Cotton and Stubbs, start asking questions of their own.
“I’m surrounded by incompetents;” the Marshal and his plans
are coming unhinged.
I want to pause a moment, Gary, to put in a word about
Cotton and Stubbs. The sight of the rotund Marshal becoming increasingly
frustrated and barking irritated orders through his long stick of a transmitter
is highly amusing, but it’s not going to carry six episodes in and of itself.
Enter Cotton and Stubbs.
When we first meet Cotton and Stubbs leisurely playing cards
and ignoring the system warnings of a malfunctioning door I assumed them to be another
classic Doctor Who duo of minor comic relief underlings. Not so. Cotton and
Stubbs might be bored guards waiting out their time until they can return to
Earth, but when faced with increasing evidence against their leader they rise
to the occasion. They show a compassion and intelligence and depth of character
I had not expected upon first encounter.
“Doctor! Always the Doctor!” Yes, you always have to account
for the Doctor in Doctor Who. “You need me to look after you;” and you always
have to account for Jo when the third Doctor is around. Curiously, though, I
find them of lesser interest than the Marshal, Stubbs, and Cotton show.
The Doctor and Jo arrive on Solos with a mysterious box from
the Time Lords intended as it turns out for Ky. But I quickly lose interest in
the box, and when the contents are revealed to be some ancient tablets with
long-lost writings on them I’m rather disappointed. And the whole mutant angle
and the revelation that this is in reality a natural transformative stage in
the 2,000 year life cycle of the Solonians is interesting enough I suppose but
hardly worthy of six episodes.
The Doctor and Jo serve to carry the action forward, but it
is the Marshal, Stubbs, and Cotton that I really look forward to. And to some
extent “this is stupid; I take no responsibility” Jaeger.
I am saddened along with Cotton when ‘Stubbsy’ is killed,
but I am impressed with Cotton for carrying on in the face of this devastating
loss of his best mate. In my mind Cotton
is the true hero of The Mutants. Just an ordinary guy doing his job when thrust
into extraordinary circumstances. He sees what is right and what is wrong and
acts accordingly, regardless of his own danger or detriment to his career. He
has that rarity of bravery combined with presence of mind, acting with no
thought of personal gain.
And through it all he is calm and rational, contrasting
nicely with the mounting hysteria of the Marshal. Although I have to say that
the Marshal’s hysteria remains simmering and subdued. He always retains a hint
of optimism regardless of how hopeless things seem. And he does manage to
wriggle out of many a hopeless scenario, thus exacerbating his rosy delusions
of grandeur. In the end it is rather anti-climatic and “rather too convenient”
(to borrow a phrase from Alpha Centaurie from The Curse of Peladon) when Ky is
transformed into some godlike creature and simply annihilates the pitiful Marshal.
I am glad to see, though, that Cotton continues a grand
tradition of Doctor Who and elects to stay behind on Solos to help in the
rebuilding process. He joins such good company as Caldwell from Colony in Space
and the first Doctor’s companions Steven and (arguably) Susan.
It helps that Cotton
isn’t giving up too much by not returning to Earth; Doctor Who always seems to
have an overly pessimistic view of our future, and in The Mutants we are told
of a 30th Century Earth full of “gray cities lined by gray highways
across gray deserts.” This is all, we are told, “the fruits of technology.” I
have my own gripes against our technology dependent world, but I do think that
the trees and the grass and the flowers will persist.
Now I can’t leave, Gary, without at least mentioning one
quote from the Doctor: “We’d all become unpeople undoing unthings
untogether—fascinating.” The Doctor posits this theory while working on his
particle reversal experiment to undo the atmospheric damage wreaked by Jaeger’s
terraforming rockets. This is another
plot element that is interesting enough, but doesn’t quite outshine our M-S-C
show.
But I guess that is what makes Doctor Who work. We might
have some mildly interesting plot elements strung together into an overlong
story, but the strong support makes it all gel. Alternatively we might have
some typically competent extras along for the ride on a gripping storyline. It
is a rare Doctor Who when all the essentials fail us.
The Mutants certainly does not fail us. And so I send this
out, Gary, hoping that it catches you somewhere in the Doctor’s time swirl . .
.
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