In the 22nd century, the Daleks have occupied planet Earth. By the 43rd century, only a handful of humans survive. Still further into the distant future, a Thal scientist must choose whether to betray his heritage, or see the universe destroyed. When the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa find themselves trapped in this deadly chain of events, they must decide who their real enemies are. What is certain, however, is that no matter where the Doctor turns... his arch enemies, the Daleks, will be waiting for him.
What could possibly be worse than that? The Mutant Phase...
Nicholas Briggs is a British actor and writer, predominantly associated with the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and its various spin-offs. Some of Briggs' earliest Doctor Who-related work was as host of The Myth Makers, a series of made-for-video documentaries produced in the 1980s and 1990s by Reeltime Pictures in which Briggs interviews many of the actors and writers involved in the series. When Reeltime expanded into producing original dramas, Briggs wrote some stories and acted in others, beginning with War Time, the first unofficial Doctor Who spin-off, and Myth Runner, a parody of Blade Runner showcasing bloopers from the Myth Makers series built around a loose storyline featuring Briggs as a down on his luck private detective in the near future.
He wrote and appeared in several made-for-video dramas by BBV, including the third of the Stranger stories, In Memory Alone opposite former Doctor Who stars Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant. He also wrote and appeared in a non-Stranger BBV production called The Airzone Solution (1993) and directed a documentary film, Stranger than Fiction (1994).
Briggs has directed many of the Big Finish Productions audio plays, and has provided Dalek, Cybermen, and other alien voices in several of those as well. He has also written and directed the Dalek Empire and Cyberman audio plays for Big Finish. In 2006, Briggs took over from Gary Russell as executive producer of the Big Finish Doctor Who audio range.
Briggs co-wrote a Doctor Who book called The Dalek Survival Guide.
Since Doctor Who returned to television in 2005, Briggs has provided the voices for several monsters, most notably the Daleks and the Cybermen. Briggs also voiced the Nestene Consciousness in the 2005 episode "Rose", and recorded a voice for the Jagrafess in the 2005 episode "The Long Game"; however, this was not used in the final episode because it was too similar to the voice of the Nestene Consciousness. He also provided the voices for the Judoon in both the 2007 and 2008 series. On 9 July 2009, Briggs made his first appearance in the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood in the serial Children of Earth, playing Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary Rick Yates.
One of the great things about the Big Finish range is the various team ups that didn’t appear on screen. With the Fifth Doctor traveling with just Nyssa in this story it allows Davison and Sutton to give much better performances, rather than the normal crowded TARDIS.
It’s also a very enjoyable Dalek story that links well with The Dalek Invasion of Earth, a fascinating concept of The Daleks needing the Doctor’s help to irradiate a mutated infection from their past that threatens the entire universe.
A nice mix of fun continuity and a solid casts makes this another enjoyable audio adventure!
I can't understand why this adventure is rated so low, by so many reviewers here 🤔 as i had a thoroughly wonderful time! There was daleks, there was mutations, time paradoxes, the 5th doctor. Like it had everything you'd want from a short adventure! Maybe im missing something really obvious, but whatever that is, isn't clear/evident as I loved my time with this story and another great addition to the Dalek Empire series if you ask me
In the 22nd century, the Daleks have occupied planet Earth. By the 43rd century, only a handful of humans survive. Still further into the distant future, a Thal scientist must choose whether to betray his heritage, or see the universe destroyed.
When the Doctor and Nyssa find themselves trapped in this deadly chain of events, they must decide who their real enemies are. What is certain is that no matter where the Doctor turns, the Daleks, will be waiting for him.
What could possibly be worse than that? The Mutant Phase...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I think this and "The Genocide Machine" are the best two of the early Dalek Empire stories, but it still has some sore early BF shortcomings.
It has some great cliffhangers, I'll give it that, and some pretty brutal moments as well. These are some cunning Daleks, and judging by the artwork, it's great to see the original 60s Daleks in use here rather than the later Mark II or Mark III typically used for Big Finish. It is also Nyssa's first exposure to them. Oh, and the Dalek Emperor is also here... With a "facelift"... Don't ask me what it looks like though, because we aren't told!
On the topic of Nyssa, the setting of this story is pretty much identical to the previous 5/Nyssa ones in this range so far. The TARDIS duo arrives at a deserted location to find a small group of humanoid characters they must save from certain doom/extinction... Except this time there's Daleks. So, it's fairly predictable on that front (and I had most of the story figured out by the end of the first part), but it's still an enjoyable audio play and, in fairness, it actually does something pretty niche with the Daleks - And I really love what the actual mutant phase is and how simple its cause wasps--Was* I meant.
Now, the sound mixing... It's early Big Finish so it's not the greatest. The shrill Dalek voices are painful to listen to and the setting gets very confusing once they start firing. The slow motion time distortion sequences also really ring in your ears.
Overall, this story is good and it's a refreshing Dalek tale, which is actually a pretty impressive achievement if you ask me. It just falls short on typical early Big Finish's painful sound mixing and employing a setting almost identical to the past two 5/Nyssa adventures.
Continuity note: This story serves as a pseudo sequel to "The Dalek Invasion Of Earth" as well as being 3 of 4 in the main range Dalek Empire loose tetralogy
Continuing on from The Land of the Dead and Winter for the Adept, this drama sees the Fifth Doctor travelling with only Nyssa of Traken as company, and I do enjoy this partnership. Nyssa is definitely the most level headed out of all of 5's televised companions, so she brings out the best qualities of him and I do get the feeling that the two simply enjoy each others company in comparison to 5 and Adric or 5 and Tegan. Saying this, however, The Mutant Phase doesn't really bring much else to the table. Maybe I've just done a couple of Dalek stories recently, but I'm definitely feeling Dalek fatigue. Briggs is truly iconic as the monsters, yes, and the story does bring an interesting concept with the titular mutant phase, but I just find myself not very interested. In another writer's hands, maybe it could be done more justice as an idea but I don't know.
Ps, when are we going to start using the Fifth Doctor's actual theme in the opening of these? This is the 15th release and we still are using the original 1963 version of the theme. I know the next release Storm Warning introduces a new theme for the Eighth Doctor, so maybe.
This was a rather odd Doctor Who adventure since he somehow crosses path with Daleks who have no idea who he is. Introduce complicated narrative gobbledygook of a "time corridor" interfering with the TARDIS' ability to traverse time and space and we have contrived a decent reason to trap the Doctor within a limited range, thus constantly coming to blows with the Daleks as they get more and more prepared for him.
It's a tricky story but one that remains quite clever, especially when the paradox at the center of the story really begins to lay out and make more sense to you as a reader/listener.
I really enjoyed this one. The Daleks weren't one-dimensional in here, a trap they sometimes fall into in TV and other audio stories, and are in an interesting situation. We get to see some Thals again here too, and their interactions with the Doctor and Nyssa, plus the Daleks and humans are quite good as well. We see the general menace of the Daleks well here, but also the ability for them to occasionally be reasoned with. Certainly a complicated situation regarding timelines has occurred here, but I think it all resolves itself quite well. The Doctor and Nyssa both in good form here, with some good lines like Nyssa's 'that's very patronising of you to say so Doctor'.
As much as I think Nyssa is marvellous - and she is - it says something about The Mutant Phase that I must have listened to it more than a dozen times over the last 20 years, and I still can really tell you what it was about. And that's including having listened to it in the last 24 hours. I think of it as 'the one with the wasps', and the highlight for me this time around was Nyssa protesting that the paradox involved didn't make sense.
Il Quinto Dottore e Nyssa vengono arruolati dall'Imperatore dei Dalek per impedire la genesi di una mutazione mortale sia per i Dalek che per l'universo intero. Un bel gioco di paradossi e una soluzione che risolve se stessa, un intreccio degno delle ultime stagioni della serie tv. Audio parte sia della serie principale del Dottore che della serie tematica dedicata ai Dalek.
This was a nice story? It was interesting seeing something that terrified the Daleks to the extent that they were willing to work with other life forms, even with that relationship being very clearly strained. The ending was kinda lame, though, and didn't really make sense even as paradoxes go.
A Five and Nyssa story. I don't really have much to say about it. It was imaginative and competently put-together, and well-acted. Some scenes were a bit dragged out and some of the plot points didn't make much sense. The way it played with time travel and paradoxes was pretty good. 3.75 stars.
I'm not sure why others are rating this one so low, as it was quite good. You did have to be paying attention in order to not get lost, but the story was worth it.