Monday, May 24, 2010

Target: The Mutants

Just finished this again - I've written about the screen version already, but the Target continues to strike me as being one of Terrance's best efforts. This time round I noticed how neatly structured the plot is, almost like a board game (which is perhaps why I loved it so much as a kid). The Doctor has to get the box to Ky to open it, then to Prof Sondergaard to help him translate the scrolls, then he has to obtain the crystal, and finally to get the crystal, a Mutant (Ky) and the radiation together all at once to prove his theory (and dispose of the Marshal). Meanwhile he periodically gets forced to work in Jaeger's lab (perhaps until he can throw a 6 and escape by stunning or killing Jaeger with the old 'exploding circuit' trick).

Also noticed: in the book Jaeger does not tell the Marshal that Solos has a 2000-year seasonal cycle. That's kept quiet until the discussion in Sondergaard's cave.

The radiation cave has a globe in it, showing the benign face of one of the Old Ones, which crumbles to dust as soon as the Doctor picks up the crystal.

The ionisation rockets turn the surface vegetation brittle and crumbly, and when the Doctor uses the maser to fix the problem, large areas of jungle excellently explode into white-hot flames under the power flow.

The Marshal shrewdly notes that the Investigator is scared and disgusted by the Mutant that follows Sondergaard aboard Skybase, and realises that killing the Mutt will cause the Investigator to trust him.

And Cotton, when he has to lie about Jo receiving oxygen treatment, speaks 'woodenly'.