Plot
In the 30th century, the Earth Empire is contracting and plans are made to decolonise the planet of Solos. The militaristic and bigoted Marshal and other human soldiers, known as Overlords, rule it and the disunionised tribal Solonian people from Skybase One, an orbiting space station. The Marshal opposes the decolonisation plans outlined by an Earth Administrator, and is obsessed with eradicating the arthropod-like mutants or "Mutts" developing on the planet. The Solonians are split between those who actively oppose the occupation, and those who collaborate with the Overlords to eradicate the Mutants, believing them to be a disease. The Marshal and one Solonian, Varan, with his son, all ensure the Administrator is assassinated before he can confirm Solos' independence.
The Third Doctor and Jo arrive on Skybase, the Time Lords having transported the TARDIS there, with a pod which will only open for an intended recipient, which seems to be Ky, another Solonian framed for the Administrator's murder. Ky flees to the surface of Solos, abducting Jo as well. There, daylight-exposed atmosphere is poisonous to humans. With Ky's help, Jo survives. The Doctor learns that the Marshal and his chief scientist Jaeger plan to terraform Solos, to make the planet habitable for humans, but not for indigenous life. The Marshal betrays Varan by killing his son. In response, Stubbs and Cotton, the Marshal's most senior officers, secretly ally with the Doctor.
The now-fugitive Varan takes the Doctor hostage, fleeing to Solos' caverns, but is convinced to spare him. There, they encounter many mutants, who aren't animalistic as first assumed. The Doctor reunites with Ky and Jo, giving the pod to Ky. It opens to reveal ancient etched tablets that Ky cannot decipher. The Marshal fumigates the caves, but an outcast human scientist, Sondergaard, an expert in Solonian anthropology, saves the group, and later explains he tried to inform Earth Control of the corruption, but was silenced and fled in fear. The Doctor and Sondergaard interpret the tablets as a lengthy Solonian calendar. While investigating more of the caves, the Doctor also finds a lensing stone, which focuses and converts thaesium radiation. From both the calendar and stone, he deduces the Mutant phase is a natural part of the Solonian life-cycle.
Despite partly mutating, Varan leads an attack on Skybase which fails and results in his death with many of his warriors. The Marshal captures Jo, Ky, Stubbs and Cotton, with Stubbs killed in an escape attempt. The Doctor returns to Skybase – without Sondergaard, who seems weakened from radiation sickness in the caves. To look into the strange events, the Earth government has dispatched an Investigator. The Marshal's terraform attempt fails, instead poisoning the environment. To force the Doctor to rapidly decontaminate the planet with Jaeger's technology, the Marshal imprisons Jo and the rest in a soon-to-be-radioactive thaesium refueling bay. The Investigator arrives for an inquiry, but the Marshal gives more lies, supported by the Doctor under duress. Luckily, the prisoners escape their fate and arrive in time to help the Investigator see the truth of the situation. Sondergaard, now recovered, also arrives to offer testimony. Unfortunately, a Mutant accidentally scares the Investigator enough to reinstate the Marshal's command and recommendation to eradicate the creatures.
Now unbalanced from thoughts of ruling grandeur, The Marshal forces Sondergaard, Jo (whom the Doctor secretly passes the lensing stone to), Cotton, and Ky back into the refueling bay, holds the Investigator's entourage hostage to be the first forced citizens of New Earth (on Solos), and orders the terraforming process to be completed, but the Doctor's covert mechanical sabotage kills Jaeger. Meanwhile, Ky, with the lensing stone, absorbs the thaesium radiation and rapidly mutates, emerging as a radiant angel-like super-being and saving the prisoners. Dispensing justice, Ky vapourises the Marshal. Sondergaard and Cotton elect to stay to help see the other Solonians through their mutations, while Jo and the Doctor slip away, their mission from the Time Lords complete.
Production
Working titles for this story included Independence and The Emergents.
Writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin, as well as producer Barry Letts, intended for The Mutants to have an anti-racist message. [1] [2] The basis of the story came from Letts, who had submitted the idea for Season 4 but it was rejected by script editor Gerry Davis.
The opening shot of the story features a bedraggled, hermit-like bearded figure (Sidney Johnson) shambling out of the mist towards the camera. Both fans and Jon Pertwee alike have compared the scene to the "It's" man at the start of most episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus . [3] [4]
The mines of Solos were filmed at Chislehurst Caves near Bromley. [5] They also filmed at Bluewater Quarry which was the setting for the planet Solos, before it was a shopping centre and Stone House Farm Caves which was the entrance to Solos caves. [6]
