Product Details

• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: BBC Warner
• VHS Release Date: October 7, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000AGQ2A
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #185,936 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very underrated 6-parter, on the evils of empires, October 31, 2003

By 

Daniel J. Hamlow (Narita, Japan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Doctor Who - The Mutants [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Upon seeing the old bearded man running towards the screen through the mist and bushes at the onset of the story, no, it isn't the "It's..." man from Monty Python's first season. Rather, it's a mutant native of Solos, derogatorily called "Mutts" by the Marshal of Solos.

The appearance of a small sphere resembling a cross between a basketball and a coconut is a three-line whip from the Time Lords to the Doctor, a task that's an emergency. The TARDIS takes the Doctor and Jo to a Skybase hovering over Solos in the 30th century Earth Empire. "Once [Earth] sacked the solar system, they moved on to pastures new. Solos is one of them, one of the last [to gain independence]. Did you ever read Gibbons' Decline and Fall?... Empires rise and empires fall."

They instantly fall in trouble. The Marshal, the blustering, stout colonial ruler of Solos with piggish eyes and expression, is stunned to hear that Earth is finally giving Solos its independence. "We can't afford an empire anymore. Earth is exhausted, finished, politically, economically, and biologically," says the Administrator (Geoffrey Palmer). In a panic, the Marshal has the Administrator murdered, then imposes martial law to continue his reign over Solos, which has been exploited for its thaesium. Ky, leader of the more radical natives, is not only framed for the murder, but the sphere is intended for him.

The Doctor, Jo, and Ky are befriended by two of the Marshal's guards, Stubbs and Cotton, who learn of the Marshal's plot and see Solos as a "stinking rotting hole" that should've been given independence years ago. The planet is grey, but that's nothing compared to the Doctor's description of 30th century Earth, "land and sea alike, all grey. Grey cities linked by grey highways across grey deserts. Slag, ash, and clinker. The fruits of technology." Hmm, sounds like 20th century Earth to me.

But the Marshal also has a dream to turn Solos's atmosphere into one breathable for humans and to heck with the Solonians. Experiments by his scientist Jaeger has caused pollutions that have caused the mutations among Solonians. At least, that's the ostensible explanation. "Genocide as a side effect? You ought to write a paper on that, professor," the Doctor angrily tells Jaeger. As for the mutants, they resemble giant, grey, large-eyed armoured insectoids.

Paul Whitsun-Jones pulls in a strong performance as the sadistic Marshal, accused by the Doctor as being responsible for "one of the most brutal and callous series of crimes against a defenseless people it's been my misfortune to encounter." Indeed, the Marshal ranks as one of the most heinous villains in Doctor Who's history. When told he is quite mad by the Doctor, he replies calmly, "Only if I lose." And George Pravda (Jaeger) would later play Castellan Spandrell in The Who story The Deadly Assassin.

There are three elements in this story comparable to The Empire Strikes Back. One, the navy blue uniforms and helmets of the guards are similar to that of the Bespin Guards. Two, the Skybase and Cloud City float above their respective planets. Three, John Hollis, who plays Dr. Sondegaard here, also played Lando Calrissian's bald android assistant, Lobot. And speaking of Star Wars, Garrick Hagon (Ky) played Biggs Darklighter, Luke's best friend from Tatooine who ends up being toast in the Death Star battle.

Also, this was the story Saladin Chamcha watches in Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, only it was mistakenly called The Mutilasians.

Despite being criticized for its overlength and bad performances, this allegory on the fall of the British Empire and apartheid is thematic of British guilt in the 70's for exploiting native peoples, and a striking Pertwee story, well worth its six episodes. John Hollis, Rick James-no, not the Superfreak, (Cotton), and Christopher Coll (Stubbs) lend credible support. The mutants are effectively realized, with the Doctor and the lovable Jo still a great team.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "MUUUTT!!!!!!!", August 19, 2003

By 

Cole Kekelis (Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Doctor Who - The Mutants [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is one of the Third Doctor's best episodes!

It is an action-packed 6-parter from Pertwee's golden period.

An empire is in decay and a world is left ravaged by the evils of colonialism. The Doctor goes against the ruthless Marshal of the planet Solos and works to uncover the mystery behind the monstrous mutation of the Solonian people. The Marshall rules Solos from his orbiting Skybase and will stop at nothing to prevent the weary Earth Empire from retracting and granting Solos its independence.

Those who liked Colony in Space and Frontier in Space will enjoy this epic Doctor Who socio-political thriller.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars SHINY, HAPPY PEOPLE, February 10, 2011

By 

Thomas E. O'Sullivan - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Doctor Who: The Mutants (Story 63) (DVD)

Nothing lasts, or ages as fast, as politics. It's always up front and always being crushed by the heel and at the same time; and with THE MUTANTS you can see this happening again and again over this (too long) six part series. The Doctor and Jo are given a mission to play ball with Ky, leader, rebel of a planet long held under the rule of Earth and soon to be given freedom. In the midst of this there are those who will hold onto power as long as they can, even if it means not only the death of the people they rule, but even the planet in question...it's politics, it's social commentary, it comedy, it's a moral, it's too often a snore.

And at the heart of it is a mystery no has bothered to explore...exactly what interest do the Time Lords have on Solos? Exactly why are they returning ancient tablets to a people who have long since forgotten who they are or even what they were (Ky's speech about how the world used to be is pure fancy on his part, he's too young to know exactly how Solos was before the Overlords came) and what are the Time Lords hoping to gain from it? At the heart of the mystery is the one thing we take for grated with Time Lords...regeneration; and it's here again as well. A race of people who at a certain time (be it from crisis or nature) change their nature, their bodies and become new people. The people on Solos appear to become a form of gods, gifted with great powers over nature and matter and seem to serve no purpose other than to provide a touch of Deus Ex Machina for the Doctor to help end the show on a peaceful note...and that's it; the Doctor's only role in this story appears to be playing the part of a mid-wife on behalf of the Time Lords.

This story, THE BRAIN OF MORBIUS and MAWDRYN UNDEAD (perhaps even THE MYSTERIOUS PLANET) are the only stories I know in classic WHO that deal with the Time Lords talents being granted, mocked and mimicked and it's a shame no one has done anything since with this idea and spun off a series or a one shot dealing with the aftermath of the events in THE MUTANTS.

Commentary is a mess here. As like the story itself there are too many players sitting in and bowing out over the course of the six episodes and their input is often uneven. I feel anything dealing with the prodcution of the show outside director, producer or writer should be given a 10min overview/interview separate from the commentary because that's just about how long you can stand to listen to it.

Not that I feel their input is not valid, but in the case of Brian Hodgson, special sounds supervisor, his work requires you to actually hear it and instead we have people talking over it and confusing musical cues with his sound effects and not being able to tell the difference between the two. His work, his history on the show would have been better served with a spotlight on the sound effects of WHO separate from the cast. The polite friction between Terrance Dicks and Bob Baker is amusing and again and again you can hear Dicks holding back the thought that maybe not doing this story would have been a good idea.

The rest of the special features follow the formula from before and the MAKING OF is actually very good as is RACE AGAINST TIME a look at WHO's very limited use of black actors in the series. I also feel that anything to do with BLUE PETER at this point should be collected into one feature or at least have some bearing on the story at hand; the short here (and it's very short) doesn't even feature anything from this story.

Text commentary is tight and worth the the time reading.

Overall THE MUTANTS is very much like a meeting of Parliament, its balance of camp and politics too often takes itself too seriously and last far too long and doesn't truly resolve anything; but sometimes the fuss makes up for it and that's what we have a lot of here in THE MUTATNS - fuss.