The Mutant Phase [AUDIO/2000.12.18]

★★★☆☆

  Big Finish was obviously still trying to find their feet with the Fifth Doctor and the Daleks, and I'd say The Mutant Phase has all the teetering problems one woudl expect from a new company. I'm not too bothered with them, though, not when this has one of Nicholas Briggs's more imaginative ideas with the Daleks as well as a solid performance from Peter Davison. With the highs he reached with Bi Finish over the years, it's almost odd to remember just how unsure he was back when he started getting back into his role. As a historical document, The Mutant Phase is peerless. As a Doctor Who story, it's still pretty entertaining.

  In the best of ways, The Mutant Phase feels like a mixture of every Dalek fan's dream: the Golden Emperor, the conquered Earth during The Dalek Invasion of Earth complete with Robomen, Thals, and a tiny bit of body horror. There's an oppressive, almost clinical tone to this piece, and I think that's its greatest asset. The stakes feel impossibly high (even if you understand very few of them) and it fits with a story dealing with a Dalek mutation that could be even more dangerous to the universe than the Daleks. It's a very fine adventure, and it's well worth your time.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ  

  I don't know if it was fixed, but back when I used to scavenge around the Internet for Big Finish freebies, I found The Mutant Phase uploaded by the company on Soundcloud. I spent the longest time thinking it was the complete thing, but it turns out much later that The Mutant Phase on Soundcloud was a cut-down version with about thirty minutes or so missing. Imagine my surprise when I first got to hear the genuine article, finally getting a sense of how much more there was to it.