History Recap / DoctorWhoS9E4TheMutants

'''Production code:''' NNN

Written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin. This six-episode serial first aired April 8 to May 13, 1972.

Not to be confused with the seminal story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks The Daleks]]", which was also named "The Mutants" as its internal WorkingTitle and is still referred to by that title by Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine.

Not to be confused with the seminal story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks The Daleks]]", which was also named "The Mutants" as its internal WorkingTitle and is still referred to by that title by Doctor Who Magazine.

* DyingAsYourself - Varan's and his followers' plan, when they think that mutation is a bad thing.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep - they really go for it in this story, with the Marshall, the Administrator and the Investigator. It's not just the humans - Varan's son doesn't get a name either.

* EvolutionaryLevels - with a twist on the usual human-centric scale. Here HumanAliens < InsectoidAliens < EnergyBeings
* ExplosiveDecompression - Averted: Varan doesn't explode when he's blown out into space. (Cue viewers who are used to this trope deeming it [[RealityIsUnrealistic inaccurate]].)

* FantasticSlurs: "mutt" (originally intended to be "munt", a real ethnic slur used by English-speaking people in southern Africa against black Africans. It was apparently changed not because that was a bit too on the nose, but because it sounded like [[CountryMatters something else]].)

* GoingNative - Sondergaard

* MotiveRant - a short but effective one, when the Doctor gets the Marshall to express himself about the mutants in front of the Investigator.
* {{Mutants}} - You'd think so, wouldn't you? But that's actually the twist - they're not mutants, but a metamorphosis.

* NobleSavage - Ky, in particular.
* NuclearMutant - Zigzagged: The radiation jumpstarts the mutation process, which is actually a good thing. But radiation isn't enough, and because the process is started too soon, the Solonians don't have time to realise they also need the [[BuffySpeak glowy crystal]].

* PhysicalGod - The final phase of the Solonians' metamorphosis.

* TheQuisling - Varan, to start with.

* ReverseThePolarity - Particle Reversal can do ''anything''.

* WhatMeasureIsANonhuman - lampshaded and attacked throughout.

Not to be confused with the seminal episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks The Daleks]]", which was also named "The Mutants" as its internal WorkingTitle and is still a common FanNickname for that episode.

-> ''Grey cities linked by grey highways across a grey desert. Slag, ash and clinker - the fruits of technology.''

The one with Buddhism. [[note]]No, the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E3Kinda other one]]. No, the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E5PlanetOfTheSpiders OTHER one]].[[/note]]

* ILoveNuclearPower - Zigzagged: The radiation jumpstarts the mutation process, which is actually a good thing. But radiation isn't enough, and because the process is started too soon, the Solonians don't have time to realise they also need the [[BuffySpeak glowy crystal]].

* ShoutOut: Jaeger is named after actor Frederick Jaeger.

Written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin. This serial first aired April 8-May 13, 1972.

The Doctor is off on another mission for the Time Lords (who presumably figure that giving him busywork will keep him out of trouble) - he has a sealed message to deliver to recipients unknown aboard a space station orbiting the planet Solos in the 30th century. Solos is about to gain independence from Earth's Empire, but the Marshal in command is determined to prevent this and is working with scientist Jaeger to convert Solos's atmosphere into an Earth-like one which will kill the Solonians.

* ThoseTwoGuys[=/=]ThoseTwoBadGuys: Stubbs and Cotton, the two security guards who chip in with observations throughout the story. They end up performing a HeelFaceTurn on realising how evil the Marshal is.