January 14, 2010

The Mutant Phase (2000)

The Mutant Phase is the best of the Dalek stories that Big Finish have produced since they started. This story is the third part of Dalek Empire after The Genocide Machine and The Apocalypse Element. However I think that the problem with those two stories are that they never really felt like a proper Dalek story whereas with The Mutant Phase it’s a perfect example of what can be done with the Daleks on radio.

The Daleks are different in this story, they are ill and being killed of by a disease not surprisingly called the Mutant Phase. The Emperor Dalek tries to capture the Doctor to help him out by capturing him in a time corridor (like Ressurection of the Daleks). One problem there has been in the two previous Dalek stories is how they didn’t really sound like the Daleks on TV. So as a result it slightly distracts from the main story. In this one though they have finally got the hang of it and it’s good to hear.

Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton were very good in this story. Davison in particular was different from what we are use to. He does his normal thing of putting all the different bits and pieces managing to stay ahead of everyone else but then unusually and almost unnerving he stands by as Delores is exterminated by the Daleks. The characters that Nicholas Briggs has written in this story are very interesting and it is the Doctor and Nyssa who have to take a back seat. Mark Gatiss who wrote Phantasmagoria was very good in this story, he did a Roboman voice and then also was Professor Karl Hendryk which was a nice character.

If I do have to pick problems out of this story then I think that it has a disappointing ending. I don’t know why but from a Dalek story I was expecting something grander. I think because for 99% of the story it had been enjoyable stuff, anything else would have been poorer. Nicholas Briggs has written a very good story and also managed to direct it in an enjoyable way.

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