30.04: The Sontaran Stratagem

[Lenny]

Martha Jones summons the Doctor back to modern-day Earth, but an old enemy lies in wait.

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I'm off building a PC in a while, so I won't get to watch Dr. Who when it airs. I will, however, catch it on the BBC iPlayer tonight.

I thought I'd start the new topic now, so that when the episode has finished, people can come straight on and post, rather than coming online to find no thread and sitting wondering if I'd been hit by a meteor.

Enjoy the episode, you lucky peoples you!!

 

[Kostmayer]

Dammit, I'm liking both Martha and Donna in this episode

 

[SpaceShip]

... and the *spoiler* clone? Kostmayer?

 

[HoopyFrood]

Gods damnit, one of these days I'm actually going to remember to watch this programme!

Epic fail, one might say.

 

[Dave]

I need to watch it again as I could only half-watch it with lots of distractions. However, I liked most of what they did with the "no-necks".

Nice new uniforms for them - they look good in blue. Grey was so not their colour!

I'm not sure about the Haka - that didn't seem very Sontaran to me.

A couple of other observations - the Doctor and the squash ball hitting the Probic Vent. That shows he is a good shot, the cricket ball in 1914 (last Season) wasn't a fluke at all.

The Sat Nav idea - a little bit too much like the Cybermen and the Ear Pods for me.

I liked the Mother ship idea - launching all the spherical Sontaran ships. Very Star Wars.

Donna's family - the Doctor leading the Time War

As I said, it needs watching again. For an episode that was really just a preamble to next week, it did manage to add a lot of back story.

 

[thaddeus6th]

I really liked this episode. I'm aware of the Sontarans, but never saw them in earlier guises, and thought they were pretty damn good.

I just hope they don't end up being killed by an unfeasible plot device/emotions

 

[Mark Robson]

Great episode ... and back to the good old cliffhanger 'If you don't do something in the next 5 seconds the earth is toast!' style ending. Great stuff.

 

[ctg]

I really liked it, even though you almost knew what was coming till the magnificent ending. Still, did it surprise. I cannot wait till next week.

On the Donna character. I think she's more of a woman then the other two.

BTW. Was the 'recycling' logo on the other episodes, or am I just imagining things?

 

[chopper]

ah, that's what we need!
A return to the dr who of ye olden days, when it were all field 'round here and we had proper cliffhangers!
i like the nod to the pertwee-era Who, with UNIT and the mad & misguided human helping the aliens. donna wasn't quite so annoying next to martha either.
having never seen a sontaran episode i'm not sure what i missed, but Chris Ryan's performance was pretty good.

there's a lot of time war references spilling into the series now; possibly pointing towards the series finale?

 

[the_faery_queen]

again, im in a minority but *yawn* im glad i had cross stitch to do. i was boooored.

 

[Pyan]

ah, that's what we need!
A return to the dr who of ye olden days, when it were all field 'round here and we had proper cliffhangers!

And an assistant that screamed!

A good lead-in episode I thought, with a bit more go about it than the usual first-part-of-a-two-parter.
The Doctor doing his stock farewell speech to Donna when she was just popping home to see her mum was cringingly hilarious...

 

[Raalix]

Helen Raynor is forgiven!

Somebody earlier in this thread said that she had written an excellent first part to the whole "Daleks in Manhattan" catastophe. I do have to take issue with that. The concept behind "Daleks in Manhattan" was excellent and had stacks of potential - but it was very poorly executed. Both parts.

However, HR has written a stunning opening episode with "The Sontaran Stragagem" and I am very much looking forward to "The Poison Sky". I hadn’t realised until today that the Sontarans have appeared in very few episodes of Doctor Who. They’re the kind of alien that sticks in your head but are used in the show very rarely. They made a huge impact in the classic series and a very impressive one in tonight’s episode. Helen Raynor has done a fantastic job with some challenging aspects to the episode. She had to write the Sontarans for a start and make them fit for the new series. She had to write the Doctor’s reunion with Martha. She had to write Martha’s first meeting with her successor as companion (ie Donna). She had to write the Doctor’s first (or really second) meeting with Donna’s family and on top of all that she had to write a bloody good two parter. Which she did - so I say again, Helen - you are forgiven for the mess that was "Daleks in Manhattan".

There were some parts of the episode that didn’t sit too well with me. In the first half, there was a certain attitude with the Doctor that reminded me a little of Colin Baker’s incarnation. An arrogance and superiority that was a little uncomfortable to watch in David Tennant’s performance. I wasn’t too impressed with Martha as the evil clone. She played it as though she was some sort of Sontaran shapeshifter who had assumed the appearance of Martha Jones but was evil at the core - this was shown when she smiled; there was a sinister undertone to her body language. The fact was that she was playing a clone that was barely a few minutes old. This clone, although it possesses the memories of the real Martha Jones, it shouldn’t have any concept of evil, duplicity or sinisterness. She should have played it more cold and emotionless. The third thing that I didn’t like was the genius boy at the Rattigan Academy. Why the American accent? Sorry - why the forced American accent? He was annoying enough as a smug over-intelligent brat - but that was the part he was playing. The accent was not necessary. Nor was his involvement with the Sontaran chant. Sontar Ha!


I wish it was just Donna and her grandfather. Her mother is the most annoying family member of any companion yet! It would be fantastic to have a family of a companion in support of her journey with the Doctor - like her grandfather is.

Roll on next week. I hope it lives up to the promise set by this week!

 

[Dr.Jackson]

The opening of this episode got me thinking of a news story I had read on Saturday morning.
BBC NEWS | England | Norfolk | Sat-nav takes cabbie into river
Bit of a spooky coincidence? Or possibly not, knowing what sat-nav is like!

As for the episode, I have to agree that it did seem like a return to the 'Classic' Who formula. A proper cliff-hanger, world in peril and only seconds to respond, no pressing a button and it's sorted.
The whole thing seemed to be very well written, a good pre-credits teaser worthy of a thriller, good coherent plot. The Sontarans were true to form, pretty good considering the impression that I got from watching Confidential was that RTD had to briefly explain to Helen Raynor what they were like.
The character dynamics were well done, and despite earlier misgivings, I'm actually starting to like Donna - not that I'd like to be stuck in a lift with her or anything (give me Rose or Martha, if not both, any day ).

Yes, more exposition in this episode, along with another mention of The Medusa Cascade. Might play a part later, having been woven into the series, or is it a herring of claret hue?

I don't remember the Sontarans being quite so short in the old episodes, although they were meant to be, and having recently re-watched 'The Two Doctors', I'm sure that Stike was as tall as everyone else!
Also, was it just me, or did the U.N.I.T. truck with the field unit in the back seem bigger on the inside?

Anyway, long story short, as with most here, enjoyed it very much and am looking forward to next weeks episode with nearly as much anticipation as years ago.

BTW. Was the 'recycling' logo on the other episodes, or am I just imagining things?

The ATMOS logo appeared briefly in the first episode, it was the windscreen of the taxi Donna got out of where it was most noticable. It was only with this episode that I realised I'd seen the logo before.

 

[Foxbat]

Good fun. I enjoyed this episode.

Slightly off-topic (but still about the Doc). The Bees disappearing was mentioned in previous episodes. Funnily enough, I read an article recently and the Bees are disappearing. Some think it's our own fault filling the air with vibrations and radio waves.
Strange.

 

[Talysia]

Yes, I enjoyed this episode, too. Some nice drama, and it set the next part up well - I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.

 

[HoopyFrood]

Oh my goodness...What's The Doctor going to do! Gas, everywhere, how can he possibly stop all of that!

Unless the gas isn't intended to kill, but for something else -- I think I just heard on the trailer for next week something about needing the gas for something. But what a cliffhanger.

I do like Donna -- she brings The Doctor back down to earth. While he's looking at the wider picture, she sees the small things, digging through the paperwork while he's deciding how he can save the world again. And I like the lines she has: "He's too skinny, when you hug him, you get a paper cut," and "Donna Noble, since you didn't ask and you can give me a salute". Feisty!

Oh...and I still don't like the music to the beginning. To much going on in it now.

 

[Dave]

I watched it again but don't have much more to add. I have a personal pet hate of evil-twin-clones-grown-to-adult-size-with-all-the-memories-of-the-donor, but I'll let that slide if the story is good enough.

That's very good continuity to have the Atmos logo on a taxis in the first episode.

I have the 'Time Warrior' (with June Brown!) and 'The Sontaran Experiment' on VHS and I don't think the Sontarans in that are particularly short either.

Why don't they just smash the car window with a brick to rescue granddad from the gas?

Oh, and Donna's mother is too annoying.

It is very un-Sontaran like behaviour though. They decided before that Earth was of no strategic importance, and it seemed that they were unaware the Doctor would be on Earth.

My TV Guide has a spoiler that was not in the episode, so it must be revealed next week.

Spoiler

They are searching Earth for a Rutan

I never understood how the Sontarans could be at War with that alien species for so long though. The individual that we got to see in 'The Horror of Fang Rock' looked like a piece of bubble wrap, spray-painted green. Hardly a match for the Sontarans!

 

[HoopyFrood]

Yes, I was very close to yelling (as I do) "just smash the window, you fools!"

 

[Foxbat]

I do like Donna -- she brings The Doctor back down to earth. While he's looking at the wider picture, she sees the small things, digging through the paperwork while he's deciding how he can save the world again. And I like the lines she has: "He's too skinny, when you hug him, you get a paper cut," and "Donna Noble, since you didn't ask and you can give me a salute". Feisty!

I agree. Not normally too keen on Tate but her character is definitely growing on me.

 

[PTeppic]

I have a personal pet hate of evil-twin-clones-grown-to-adult-size-with-all-the-memories-of-the-donor, but I'll let that slide if the story is good enough.

I got the impression it was cloned physically and then had the memories "downloaded". She seemed to be wearing a tiara-scanner for a while...