The Mutants - Episode 5

The episode starts off with the rather impressive cliffhanger which even with CSO doesn’t diminish how good it looks. I would have liked a bit more of an idea what the story is building towards because it doesn’t seem like theres much of an idea about what the climax will be. That said this fact is somewhat forgotten as there are enough things happening in this episode to make you forget this.

The Marshall seems to have regain some of his menace from episode three. The scene where Jo and the others are being put on trial is an interesting one and it shows how the Marshal is trying to balance many things at the same time. It’s good how at one point it seems like the game is up for the Marshall when the earth investigator arrives. Speaking of the investigator, I wonder how many people watching in 1972 were still thinking that it would be the Master. I am surprised that it was mentioned so often and yet he or she doesn’t make an appearance.

As far as the sets are concerned, it’s a story of two tales because the scenes on Solos are really well done and atmospheric but when the story moves to the studio, it loses something and this isn’t something that struck me until now. The lab that Jaeger uses is the best of the Sky Base sets but the rest all seem rather boring in comparison.

Jaeger seems to have had a sugary drink when he first appears in this episode. Apart from that he is still good to watch even though he’s on the bad side. You can tell when they have remembered Katy Manning is in this story as she suddenly starts to be proactive. Here she is tied up but she is the one that escapes and when they make radio contact she is the one that explains it all. She is not the dumb blonde in this episode which is a blessed relief. Even Jon Pertwee does some good stuff in this episode even though he spends most with Jaeger.

I nearly went an entire entry without mentioning my new positive approach to the story and that’s because I haven’t had to force myself to find the positives. Yes there have been moments which have caused me to be negative but the pros outweigh the negatives in this episode. I think that this was a solid episode that had a ok cliffhanger to compliment what was a productive episode. It’s a shame though that its taken until the fifth episode for me to feel like this. Sadly it will probably go down as one of the weakest Pertwee stories and certainly the weakest so far.