The Sontarans are the first of two classic monsters to
return in this series. This is the first appearance of the Sontarans since The
Two Doctors which was remarkable 107 episodes ago or another way to look at it
8,463 days ago. This episode sees UNIT make a return to the show and also
Martha returns after an absence of five episodes.
The humanising that Donna has been putting the Doctor
through has been good so far but in this episode it gets rather annoying. It
happens when she asks the Doctor if that is what he does and turns his
companions into soldiers. There is a
funny moment where the Doctor thinks that Donna is leaving and gives a lovely
speech before realising that Donna is just visiting her family. The best thing
about Donna visiting her family is that it means Bernard Cribbins get to be in
an episode.
There’s a nice joke about the Doctor working for UNIT in the
1970’s and then questions whether it was the 80’s. This is because the date of
UNIT stories is always something of a mystery because it was said that they
took place about five years ahead of when they were transmitted but its never
made clear on screen.
The pool where a faceless body is growing is quite grim and
when it jumps out at the UNIT soldiers is a great little moment. Doctor Who
Confidential highlighted the fact that the pool is the same prop that featured
in The Fires of Pompeii.
The Sontarans costume started really good in The Time
Warrior was really good and over the years it has got worse and this is the
best ever. The Sontarans weren’t allowed to take part in the Time War and its
quite funny to think that they must have been the only race in history to moan
about not taking part in a war. Also we see more Sontarans in this episode than
we have ever seen in all the stories combined. The little chant that they give
at the end of the episode is superb because it just goes with the way the
Sontarans are. Stahl the Undefeated is played by Christopher Ryan who played
Kiv in The Trial of a Timelord: Mindwarp and to be honest the voices sound
quite similar. I didn’t think about it at the time but watching it a day at a
time means that its more noticeable. In fact its only been three months since
that story. Dan Starkey makes his first appearance as a Sontaran and little did
anyone know that he would still be playing a Sontaran. He is rather good and
these two are the only two that don’t always wear their helmet.
Luke Rattigan (Ryan Sampson) is a young genius but the
problem really is that he is quite annoying. It’s quite funny when the Doctor
is trying to outsmart Rattigan. It’s clear that he isn’t in control and it’s a
little bit clichéd.
There is a nice moment between Martha and Donna where Martha
pretty much tries to scare Donna off. This clearly doesn’t work as Donna is
prepared to carry on travelling with the Doctor. There is a question that needs
to be asked as to why Martha is in the story. It seems too soon since she left
to bring her back and its seems that the only reason is to get her in the
situation where she is cloned. It’s a shame really but
The final shot is of the Doctor standing in a smoke screen
and that ends what was a rather good episode. It’s another episode which has
shown a gradual improvement after the surprisingly disappointing start to the
series. The Sontarans’ return is better than I thought and it will be
interesting to see whether things continue on an upward trend or not.
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