Doctor Who and the Mutants

"Their hands turned to claws, their spines grew curved and knobbly, and finally they changed into a creature that looked like a giant insect."

Writer: Terrance Dicks

Format: Novel

Released: September 1977

Series: Target 44

Featuring: Third Doctor, Jo

Synopsis 

A massive shape scuttled out of the darkness and strikes the earth Overlord down. It is a Mutant - a huge insectoid creature. It moves in a crouch, its back arched and scaly, with huge knobbly vertebrae. The controlling Overlord, the Marshal, has ordered all such Mutants killed instantly. 

What was happening to the people of Solos? Why are they gradually turning into Monsters? Hands that become claws, flesh that turns scale-like...

When Doctor Who meets the Marshal and Jaeger, he realises that all is not as it appears to be. The Marshal has a sinister plan to gain control of this planet, and Doctor Who must save Solos from this mad earthman, as well as save the Solonians themselves. 

Verdict 

Doctor Who and the Mutants was a very enjoyable, pleasant and relaxing read on this Christmas Eve! I didn't even realise until it came to providing the information section of my blog entry that I had read yet another Terrance Dicks novel! Other than my reading of The Masque of Mandragora, it seems all I read is the work of the novel master as I've done Endgame, Made of Steel and Revenge of the Judoon all recently. This was much different to those mentioned stories, as you'd expect with it being based upon a TV story. It was nice to once again do a story with the terrific pairing of the Third Doctor and Jo whose personas were expertly captured in print. The story itself has a lot going for it with a lot of conflicting interests and bitterness. I liked how the Doctor didn't seem too pleased about being sent as an agent from the Time Lords once again and he was given a black box who would only open for who his superiors intended. One small problem, he didn't know who that person was at first. A wild goose chase on an unknown planet or spaceship seemed ahead then. I liked Jo's eagerness to go with the Doctor in the TARDIS and with him still facing exile, it was nice for them to get away from the Brigadier and UNIT for a bit! The characters in the novel were very good with Stubbs and Cotton probably my favourite. I liked how they were always together, not believing everything the Marshal did was for the best of intentions. They would of course turn out to be correct. The villainous Marshal was a fantastic enemy and his ruthlessness and callousness was shocking at times! He's possibly the most selfish person we've seen in Doctor Who! He wanted Solos to be independent but only under his command and once he'd ridded the planet of its native inhabitants. Referring to the Mutants as "Mutts" was a bit of a disgrace, considering it was assumed that the reason for the mutations of the Solonians was under his doing in attempting to change the atmosphere of the planet to make it completely breathable for humans. The reference to The War Games was nicely included and I loved how Jo didn't know why the Doctor was in exile. It's intriguing to think what she would think the Doctor had done. The characters of Ky and Varan were very good and the climax being based around the former was excellent. With much of the Third Doctor era featuring UNIT, this really was a breath of fresh air and it was nice to see the pair roaming around the Skybase orbiting Solos. I imagine the view was spectacular for Jo! The plot was very good with much of Solos under threat. The Doctor's particle reversal coming into fruition was superb and I liked how he eventually got the box to the person it was intended for - Ky. In it was scrolls and messages containing information from the Old Ones regarding the history of civilisation on the planet. The way the Doctor and Sondergaard worked out what the storage of the box meant was terrific. It was brilliant to see the Doctor quickly put things into place and work out the truth about the mutations. That would prove pivotal for the climax. The scenes in the caves were very good but I did think Jo and co got captured perhaps a few too many times. The Marshal really didn't have the best security it seemed! The arrival of the Inspector allowing the Marshal's downfall was good and I liked the character, even if he was petrified of the Mutants. The full transformation of Ky, via the crystal, was a good ending which would see the death of Marshal. He was sent into nothingness. Solos was saved, Earth would be able to grant its independence now. Overall, a very good story for a terrific TARDIS pairing! 

Rating: 8/10