The Sontaran Stratagem

Donna is appalling, Martha is ok, and of course David Tennant shines, but it is wonderful to see a veteran proper actor, Bernard Cribbins, being so effortlessly natural. I do like Sontarans, however, so they and Martha push up the rating.

There's something missing from "The Sontaran Stratagem". While the use of sat-nav devices to evil effect is inspired and reminiscent of something like "Terror of the Autons", the episode somehow fails to inspire.

There's something very un-Sontaran about the whole affair. The menace here is Sontaran-lite, just as I was bitterly disappointed with the return of The Doctor's silver nemesis in Season 2. Perhaps it's me but while the make-up is wonderful (the early close-up of the Sontaran is excellent), the costume looks like something from a '90s Action Man.

Donna remains the strongest companion to-date, making Martha look rather lightweight in comparison.

7 out of 10. Only the first part of this double-header so things may improve but this is a very average tale so far. At the end of the day, Helen Raynor just doesn't deliver the quality of scripts that you expect from this series. It's missing fizz and pop and, overall, disappoints.

I was among those not impressed with Helen Raynor's Dalek two-parter from Series 3, but "The Sontraran Stratagem", the opening part to her two-part story which sees the return of classic Doctor Who villains the Sontarans, is surprisingly effective and exciting.

The episode has a nice humorous tinge to its opening scenes and it is absolutely brilliant to see the Doctor's interaction with UNIT once again. The Sontarans themselves also look quite good and their storyline is handled reasonably well.

The trailer for next week's episode left me cold and a tad bit concerned rather than excited, with another really outlandish Earth invasion sort of thing apparently slated to happen. During Pertwee's era of Earth-bound stories at least everything happened under wraps. However, considering how surprised I was with this episode, next week's could be impressive as well.

I very much enjoyed Bernard Cribbins' character again. I think I like Donna's family more than Rose's or Martha's family, although I honestly could do without Sylvia Noble (Donna's mother's) cartoonish 'comic relief', which contrasted badly with the well-delivered and occasionally clever one-liners Raynor came up with.

I doubt this story will end up not being my least favorite Sontaran story, but it's already looking like it'll finish a not so distant loser, and considering the competition from classics like "The Time Warrior" and "The Sontaran Experiment", it's not really much of an insult.

7/10 for this first part, and what a cliffhanger (I sure do miss those).

Sontarens are back, and boy do they pose a real threat. They seem to be strong and forcefull and even disarm any sort of Weapon with ease, even if it's a Sniper Gun or just a regular Gun. They bring back a sort of scare factor to the Show, Which Siries 4 at the Start doesn't have scare Factor type episodes as of Such. Luke Rattigan is annoying as the genius scientist but he's an okay protagonist. It's really the return of Martha that deserves high praise, as that was brilliant. She is a much different and much stronger character. This works to her advantage as she's not having to rely on the Doctor so much, and this concept works. Seeing Sylvia and Wilf for a bit is always a delight. As the Episode ends on a high with Donna being stuck in her Car, and the Gas all poors out all over the street, which is what the Sontarens did. The Episode leades excitingly to the next one.

Having taken a little break from our rewatch run, in order to concentrate on the latest series, we return to rebooted Doctor's fourth season, for it's first two-part story. Oddly, that meant that I watched the Sontaran's return to the series, having just watched them successfully invade Earth some 13 years later.

Martha Jones, (Freema Agyeman) now a UNIT agent, recalls The Doctor (David Tennant) to Earth to help investigate a string of deaths linked to ATMOS, a newly released device that lowers car emissions to zero. Though the device is invented by teenage genius Luke Rattigan (Ryan Sampson) the Doctor firmly believes that the technology is too far advanced and must be alien in origin.

The Sontaran's are amongst the strangest of the Doctor's pantheon of villains. They do, as the show points out, look like a baked potato in a space suit. This is not to say that the effect isn't reasonably well realised here. Christopher Ryan and Dan Starkey, who play the principle two in this episode would go on to play various Sontarans whenever the characters appeared.

This episode is really the one to watch for actors who would make it in other shows. Ryan Sampson is now on "Brassic", Clive Standen would play a key role in "Vikings". The pre-credits scene even has an early death for "The Walking Dead's" Eleanor Matsuura. It's selling point though is probably the return of Martha, who gets to meet another companion, though she and Donna get on well - presumably as Donna hasn't any romantic feelings for The Doctor.

It's a two-part episode, so this is mostly set up for aspects to be paid off next time. There are some funny moments and a few other bits of silliness that let the episode down a little. It's not awful though.