Doctor Who Rewind - The Mutants
You might be forgiven to thinking you've accidentally put a Monty Python DVD on instead of the first episode of this forth ninth season story of Doctor Who. As the first scene your greeted with is a grizzly tramp like guy (identical to the tramp played by Mr Palin in the opening credits to said 1970's comedy series) running and panting through woodland. I half expected him to stop and say, "It's..."
The Doctor has been given another mission by the time lords. This time to deliver a strange looking squashed football looking object to someone, but who? He and Joe step into the TARDIS and out into a space station in the 30th century.
Earth Empire is contracting and plans are being made to decolonize the colony world of Solos, which is ruled over by a tyrant marshall from Skybase One, an orbiting space station. He opposes the decolonisation and is obsessed with cleansing the planet of the mutts or mutants which have been springing up on the planet. The Marshall and Varen ensure the Administrator (who has outlined the decolonisation plan) is murdered before he can confirm to Ky (a gutsy rebel Solonian leader) that the empire is indeed withdrawing from Solos.
When the Doctor and Jo bump into Ky the strange ball device begins opening, revealing that it is indeed for him. Ky is on the run as he is suspected of killing the administrator. He and Jo flee to the surface of Solos. It's surface is poisonous to humans during daylight hours, and Joe is affected but escapes.
The Doctor learns from Marshall and his chief scientist Jaeger that they are involved in an experiment to terraform Solos, making it habitable to humans despite the cost to the indigenous life.
With the help of Stubbs and Cotton, two of the Marshall's senior soldiers, who want no part of his plans, the Doctor escapes to the surface and follows the trail of Ky and Joe into the mines where he encounters giant bug type creatures referred to as mutts. The Doctor realises these creatures are not hostile at all.
The message ball is given to Ky and inside they find ancient tablets with some kind of etchings written in a language of the old ones of the planet.
Ky takes the Doctor to A fugitive human scientist called Sondergaard who lives in the caves and knows about Solonian anthropoly. Sondergaard and the Doctor eventually work out that the mutant phase of the Solonians is in fact a natural part of the Solonian life cycle.
Sondergaard, The Doctor and Ky eventually put their case to another investigator who has been dispatched to Skybase One. The Doctor accuses the Marshall and Jaeger of the most brutal and callous series of crimes against a defenceless people it's ever been his misfortune to encounter.
When the investigator sees how the Marshall treats the mutts (some of whom have been brought to the Skybase One by Sondergaard) he realises what kind of man he is. But it is Ky's eventual transformation from Mutt to higher energy life form that kills the evil Marshall.
Obviously this story has parallels with some of Earths darker moments, for instance apartheid, or any number of racial and ethnic wars. And rather frighteningly, it still has relevance in today, with wars raging in the Middle East.
For such serious subject matter though, it's funny that the light relief should come from the embarrassingly laugh out loud dialogue that soldier Cotton is given, despite him being black. He's a veritable white version of Dick Van Dyke, and you can clearly see that he struggles with some of the almost cockney slang, in it. It's so wrong. But very funny.
There's a very interesting documentary extra on the DVD narrated by Noel Clark (Micky Smith - from the new Doctor Who series) that looks at the roles of ethnic actors down through the history if the programme.
Also if note here is the wonderful costume designs for the mutts or mutants. They really do look the part and would certainly have put the willies up me as a kid.
Next time on Doctor Who rewind, the Master gets tied up with the Atlantean's.
The Doctor has been given another mission by the time lords. This time to deliver a strange looking squashed football looking object to someone, but who? He and Joe step into the TARDIS and out into a space station in the 30th century.
Earth Empire is contracting and plans are being made to decolonize the colony world of Solos, which is ruled over by a tyrant marshall from Skybase One, an orbiting space station. He opposes the decolonisation and is obsessed with cleansing the planet of the mutts or mutants which have been springing up on the planet. The Marshall and Varen ensure the Administrator (who has outlined the decolonisation plan) is murdered before he can confirm to Ky (a gutsy rebel Solonian leader) that the empire is indeed withdrawing from Solos.
When the Doctor and Jo bump into Ky the strange ball device begins opening, revealing that it is indeed for him. Ky is on the run as he is suspected of killing the administrator. He and Jo flee to the surface of Solos. It's surface is poisonous to humans during daylight hours, and Joe is affected but escapes.
The Doctor learns from Marshall and his chief scientist Jaeger that they are involved in an experiment to terraform Solos, making it habitable to humans despite the cost to the indigenous life.
With the help of Stubbs and Cotton, two of the Marshall's senior soldiers, who want no part of his plans, the Doctor escapes to the surface and follows the trail of Ky and Joe into the mines where he encounters giant bug type creatures referred to as mutts. The Doctor realises these creatures are not hostile at all.
The message ball is given to Ky and inside they find ancient tablets with some kind of etchings written in a language of the old ones of the planet.
Ky takes the Doctor to A fugitive human scientist called Sondergaard who lives in the caves and knows about Solonian anthropoly. Sondergaard and the Doctor eventually work out that the mutant phase of the Solonians is in fact a natural part of the Solonian life cycle.
Sondergaard, The Doctor and Ky eventually put their case to another investigator who has been dispatched to Skybase One. The Doctor accuses the Marshall and Jaeger of the most brutal and callous series of crimes against a defenceless people it's ever been his misfortune to encounter.
When the investigator sees how the Marshall treats the mutts (some of whom have been brought to the Skybase One by Sondergaard) he realises what kind of man he is. But it is Ky's eventual transformation from Mutt to higher energy life form that kills the evil Marshall.
Obviously this story has parallels with some of Earths darker moments, for instance apartheid, or any number of racial and ethnic wars. And rather frighteningly, it still has relevance in today, with wars raging in the Middle East.
For such serious subject matter though, it's funny that the light relief should come from the embarrassingly laugh out loud dialogue that soldier Cotton is given, despite him being black. He's a veritable white version of Dick Van Dyke, and you can clearly see that he struggles with some of the almost cockney slang, in it. It's so wrong. But very funny.
There's a very interesting documentary extra on the DVD narrated by Noel Clark (Micky Smith - from the new Doctor Who series) that looks at the roles of ethnic actors down through the history if the programme.
Also if note here is the wonderful costume designs for the mutts or mutants. They really do look the part and would certainly have put the willies up me as a kid.
Next time on Doctor Who rewind, the Master gets tied up with the Atlantean's.
posted by Nic Treadwell at 9:02 pm
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