Seria de um bem danado para as futuras histórias Daleks seguirem os exemplos de The Mutant Phase e The Genocide Machine que fogem do convencional evitando os clichês e desenrolares previsíveis – O Doutor e Nyssa voltam para a Terra no século 22 dominada pelos Daleks com poucos humanos sobreviventes. Um vírus altamente danoso começa a assombrar os vilões podendo custar até mesmo a existência de sua espécie, chamado “A Fase Mutante” ou se preferir “O Estado Mutante” é o suficiente para as criaturas aprisionarem o Doutor e sua TARDIS em um corredor temporal o forçando a ajuda-los. Isso faz com que os Daleks se tornam uma peça muito mais interessante estando totalmente vulneráveis, deixa aqueles clichês de lado que na maioria das vezes envolve um plano de dominação em alta escala ou uma arma destruidora de planetas - Sim de fato talvez essa história deveria ter uma minutagem menor como muitos criticam, mesmo com isso o que preenche esse meio tempo (que poderia ser cortado), acaba sendo satisfatório e muito benéfico para o desenvolvimento e envolvimento dos ouvintes com os personagens secundários que de meros NPCs (podemos dizer assim haha) Ptolem e Ganatus crescem de forma absurda no enredo. [⚠ SPOILERS] O conceito das “vespas assassinas” são bem sacadas com uma explicação bem convincente, devido à mutação geneticamente modificada os enxames se tornaram letais, uma ameaça até mesmo para uma raça superior e poderosa, os Daleks, o que faz sentido o tempo altera coisas já estabelecidas, e infelizmente já tivemos vários casos de vírus dominando uma raça “”superior””, se pesarmos bem é algo que poderia facilmente ter sido visto como algo bastante ridículo, mas felizmente a ideia é muito bem reproduzida trazendo desenrolares sólidos seguindo uma ótima estrutura convencendo seu ouvinte a aceita-la. [⚠ FIM DE SPOILERS] Mas infelizmente The Mutant Phase não se mostrou indiferente de suas histórias anteriores (The Land Of The Dead e Winter For The Adept), apresentando o mesmo diagnostico de desandar em um certo momento... Isso porque, em sua última parte Nicholas Briggs causa enormes confusões bem timey wimey envolvendo paradoxos, corredores temporais, paradoxos interrompendo anomalias temporais e bla bla...uma confusão danada que requer muita atenção. Mas no meio disso tudo o que me chamou mais atenção nesse bloco final, foi quando questionado por Nyssa, o Doutor explica de uma forma esquisitíssima que essa situação se difere a da Morte do Adric no que se disse em voltar no tempo para salva-lo, sinceramente eu não entendi foi nada. No geral The Mutant Phase é o que mais desejo para as futuras histórias Daleks, menos “pega pega Dalek” e mais conceitos e formas diferentes de incluírem os saleiros em tramas realmente instigantes.

This audio had all the markings of something I wasn't going to enjoy.  It is a script by Nicholas Briggs, which usually means it is a story I'm either going to really love or really hate.  It's part of the Dalek Empire storyline which in general I haven't connected with much at all.  In fact, The Mutant Phase is the only chapter of that loose arc I've actually very much enjoyed so far.  And it is generally not very well liked among the fan community.

Yet I found myself enjoying every part of The Mutant Phase and happily following along through the adventure.  It felt like a story that very much kept the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa active and engaged with the events at hand.  I really liked how the Daleks reacted from this genetic disease of sorts spreading through them.  I thought it was well done and fun how they were panicking about this but not really willing to seek out help, either.  We don't often see these villains on the back foot like this - at a distinct disadvantage and in a fairly weak position.  It was very well done on the whole, leaving it the strongest aspect of the audio.

I mostly liked how it was all resolved through a paradox, to a degree, although that part is also where Mutant Phase is at its weakest - being an entertaining enough novelty while also being a little overblown and this still being early for Big Finish to rely this much on sound effects in resolving the plot.  Still, I did enjoy it, and would definitely recommend The Mutant Phase.

13.05.2022

Entertaining enough, but mostly just fills the space. You're not bored listening to this, but there's nothing to hold onto and savor really. A perfectly fine 3/5 story. Not the worst Dalek outing.

MR 015: The Mutant Phase

😴 😴 🛌 💤

Wha... what was that? Oh there was an audio here? Oh right. Uh... Daleks have a mutation that makes them into scary flying killers. More than they already are anyway. The Daleks and Thals are working together to try to stop the mutation at its source which turns out to be a wasp stinging a badly damaged Dalek during the Dalek Invasion of Earth.

It's wild to me, though, that this audio is the follow up to Holy Terror, the BEST audio so far, an absolute masterpiece. And then this one comes along and is dull as hell. The Fifth Doctor and Nyssa continue to be pretty boring here. Nyssa retains some of her combative personality with the Doctor from her previous audios, which is nice, but it's all so bland and formulaic.

The mutant phase itself is an interesting concept, but it quickly gets subverted in favor of a "changing time bad" story which then changes into a "paradox" story. The Doctor says "fate, never heard of it," which is a cool line... except for the fact that he constantly argues in favor of maintaining history as he remembers it in history books. So he absolutely does believe in fate.

The paradox is just as uninteresting as the rest of the plot around it. The Dalek Emperor went back in time with them to stop the mutant phase, but his using the pesticide to kill the wasp is what triggers the mutation. Because the Daleks had already identified it and were going to get rid of it themselves. Or something. Honestly, I checked out a long time ago.

I think, at this point, BF is kind of floundering with both the Fifth Doctor and the Daleks. The Fifth Doctor himself is hard to make interesting, clearly. They had an interesting story in Winter for the Adept, but not becasue of the Doctor or Nyssa. And their Dalek stories thus far have been pretty dull and formulaic. They don't really know yet what to do with them, I think. They don't have the Time War to play with either. We'll see if that trend continues.

The Monthly Adventures #015 - "The Mutant Phase" by Nicholas Briggs

Going off one of the most unique and fascinating stories I’ve ever experienced, I was not happy to see I was going into yet another instalment of the utter thrillride that is the Dalek Empire quadrilogy, now penned by Nick Briggs himself, who did just such a stand up job on his last script. I’ve listened to The Mutant Phase before and when I did, I remember liking some ideas in it, but finding the story and characters all together lacking. Listening to it again, I can say I was very, very much right the first time around, The Mutant Phase is another very dull story, although, I can certainly say it does try.

Chasing a strange fluctuation in the vortex, the Doctor and Nyssa find themselves stranded in a universe ravaged by the Mutant Phase, a genetic disease that turns Daleks into insectoid abominations

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

As is common for these Dalek Empire stories, there isn’t a whole lot to talk about with The Mutant Phase, it’s not as bog-standard as its two predecessors but it certainly doesn’t do well at filling its time. I’d actually call this the best of the quadrilogy so far because I actually quite liked what it was going for, the idea of it is genuinely really interesting. A parasitic wasp has caused a genetic fault in the Daleks that has resulted in a mutation that leaves the pepperpots as ravenous, unstoppable beasts, which has caused history to change and the universe to end. The mutant phase is a terrifying force to be reckoned with for one thing but I also like the sci-fi angle of the paradox; I always love when Doctor Who utilises its concept as a time travel show to create a conundrum. Mainly I just admire this story - The Genocide Machine and The Apocalypse Element were both so generic I could barely keep my focus up but The Mutant Phase actually has a good idea behind it, and I really can’t fault it for that. Other positives? I don't know, a lot of this story is just fine. The acting's fine. The sound design's fine. A lot of it's fine.

However, there are some major places where it slips up. The script is too long and too boring, none of the characters are memorable in any respect, the narrative is a mess. It jumps location about three times in the first two parts, changing characters along with settings and it makes the plot both jarring and underdeveloped. Eventually, all this meandering leads to an incredibly convoluted ending that feels as messy as Briggs’ previous work. So, the paradox began when the Dalek Emperor hidden in the body of a human scientist (doesn’t really make sense for a Dalek to willingly do this, given the whole superior species mantra and all plus the scientist never has a hint of acting like a Dalek, even after the reveal of his true identity, I’m off topic now) convinces the Daleks in the past to use a pesticide to kill the mutant phase, which would end up not working when, if he had left it alone, they would’ve successfully removed the parasite. This is not explained clearly enough and when the credits rolled, I was just left confused. Briggs’ strong suit is not in the exposition that’s for sure.

The Mutant Phase is one of the weird stories where I just feel like half of it was missing; I am certain more happened than I remember because I recall so little going on and it’s two hours in length, so I must be forgetting the finer details. I’m getting very tired of these dull as anything Dalek stories, even if this one entertained a good idea.

5/10

Pros:

+ The idea of the Mutant Phase is a very interesting concept

+ The paradoxical storytelling was a nice touch of sci-fi

+ Tried something new and I can admire it for that

Cons:

- Extremely forgettable sidecast

- Jumps from plot thread to plot thread too quickly

- Convoluted and overwritten ending

- The Emperor didn’t act like a dalek at any point

- Overly drawn out