Warning: include() [function.include]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /home/584/galli/www.gallifrey5.co.uk/public_html/review_mutants.php on line 23
Warning: include(http://www.gallifrey5.co.uk/navigation.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/584/galli/www.gallifrey5.co.uk/public_html/review_mutants.php on line 23
Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://www.gallifrey5.co.uk/navigation.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/share/pear:/usr/share/php') in /home/584/galli/www.gallifrey5.co.uk/public_html/review_mutants.php on line 23
| THE MUTANTS :: VHS REVIEW
by Stephen Mills
Added Thursday,
April 24 2003
|
||||||||||||||||||||
» THE PLOT ... |
||||||||||||||||||||
| The Time Lords send
the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and Jo on a mission to deliver a sealed message
pod to an unknown party aboard a Skybase orbiting the planet Solos
in the 30th century. Solos is due to gain independence from Earth's
empire but its Marshal is determined to prevent this. He arranges
the murder of the Earth Administrator and, with his chief scientist
Jaeger, plans to transform Solo's atmosphere into one more suited
to humans. Ky, a young Solonian leader, is falsely accused of the murder and flees to the planet, taking Jo with him. The Doctor follows and joins them in an old thaesium mine. Ky turns out to be the intended recipient of the message pod, which opens automatically for him. Inside are stone tablets carved with ancient inscriptions... |
||||||||||||||||||||
| » THE COVER ... | ||||||||||||||||||||
[Click the cover for a larger version] |
||||||||||||||||||||
| » THE STORY ... | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Mutants is often regarded as one of the poorer stories featuring Jon Pertwee’s Doctor, but on looking at it recently, it’s difficult to see how the story gained it’s poor reputation, as unlike most stories from the typewriter of Bob Baker and Dave Martin, the political moralising is as relevant today as it was in the 1970s. The story, one of Baker and Martin’s better ones, sees an intelligent parody of the Apartheid regime in South Africa, and can be indirectly linked to recent events with Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s policy of evicting white farmers from `black land`, while also having links with the recent asylum seekers debate in Britain. Baker and Martin intelligently portray this in a gentle way, been a good example of the type of stories Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks wanted to do. Unfortunately, the well drawn-out characterisation that for once, Baker & Martin bought to their scripts with most of the parts been the sort that all the actors could have got their teeth stuck into. However, due to some bizarre acting choices by director Christopher Barry and some of the worst acting ever seen in a Doctor Who story possibly ever, any subtlety in the script destroyed with a level of shouting that Brian Blessed would be proud of. It’s easy to start off with the regulars, with both Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning turning out excellent performances. It’s easy to say that Pertwee turns out a consistent performance, but there are several nice moments. The time where he uses his uneasy alliance with the Marshal and Jaeger to his advantage, while portraying his true feelings about the Marshal’s cleansing policies. Katy Manning again brings Jo Grant to life in a way that only she can, at times she is reduced to the screaming girlie, but she does have some strong scenes, particularly those with the Marshal. It starts to fall down with the guest actor’s. A classic example of the badly miscast Paul Whistun-Jones is a classic example. Here he plays the single minded Marshal, but with Whitsun-Jones been a comedy actor, he sadly can’t manage to play the part with any sense of threat without bellowing and he comes across as comical as opposed to threatening. Having said that, Whistun-Jones put his back into it, and his performance stands out from all the people around him are just as incompetent, with the only decent actor, Geoffrey Palmer being killed off quicker than you can say `You are the Weakest Link, goodbye`. Sadly, there are far weaker links, with George Pravda’s Jaeger apparently auditioning for The Two Ronnies with a silly accent. The supposedly brilliant Sondegaard is destroyed by John Hollis’ ridiculous accent. I think fandom has said all it should do about Rick James. There are other examples of the bad cast, but you might as well just stick a pin in the cast list and you’ll have an example there for you. Right, onto the other bad thing about this story. Bob Baker and Dave Martin. This is only their second story after The Claws of Axos, and I always end up feeling sorry for any director who works on one of their scripts. Doctor Who always has a limited budget, but Baker and Martin at times fail to understand this. Rather than try and work to this like they do in Axos, they test it to the limit. For this six part serial, director Christopher Barry has to commission an entire spaceship set of sets (at least 3 major ones), a hydroponic garden (barely used), a large amount of Mutant costumes on top of location footage and model shots (which Doctor Who never seems to do convincingly). It would be all right if the plot was convincing, but it’s not. You get the idea that there are some people deliberately treading on each other’s toes, rather than all the Solonians uniting against the Overlords, they seem to disband into smaller factions, which seem like the worst military tactics in history. Also for the six-parter, some of the action gets very repetitive, and ends up turning into a slightly more exciting version of Colony in Space without the Master. Having said that, despite some suicidal casting choices, there is some rather directorial moments from Christopher Barry. The location footage is startlingly effective, a baron atmosphere is created well, giving an impression of an alien planet superbly. The caves as well, with a decent use of CSO re-inforce the fact that it’s an alien planet with strange lights coming from outside. The Mutants themselves are also excellent designs, giving the impression of a weak little thing, which is what is happening to the in the story, and Jim Acheson manages them excellent. However, you have to feel sorry for John Scott-Martin left in them. Overall, The Mutants isn’t a bad story. There is certainly the genesis of one here with the political messages coming across (despite them being rather forceful), it’s just that it’s a deeply flawed one. |
||||||||||||||||||||
| » OVERALL SUMMARY ... | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
I recommend you get this, only if you’re a completist. There is some decent moments, but to be honest, they aren’t worth shelling out the money for. Just make a copy off UK Gold, or ask your mum to buy it for your birthday. |
||||||||||||||||||||
| » TECHNICAL DETAILS ... | ||||||||||||||||||||
All screen grabs and images appearing
in the above review are Copyright (C) BBC Worldwide Ltd 2003. |
» All reviews are © to their respective authors and may not be reproduced elsewhere without prior permission