The Sontaran Stratagem

I've noticed that with Nu Who, the dodgy episodes come in threes, and here's the start. Series 4 is still my favourite it is so full and rich, it has it all, sadly this was the dip.

Having only watched this the once it was interesting to see it again.

Cars are being controlled by 'Atmos' devices, a sat nav device that reduces co2 emissions to zero. Martha has summoned the Doctor back (with Donna) to help explain 52 deaths, all of which occurred simultaneously around the world, all of whom were poisoned in their cars. Atmos employees are arrested and UNIT take over the base, but an old foe lay in wait, and have the means of getting to millions of people on earth, through their cars.

Someone's feeling guilty about getting shot of Freema so they've brought her back, whilst I did really like Martha, in comparison to Donna she's just so bland. She's still looking longingly at the Doctor, but toughened up a bit.

Oh Donna, please come back......I digress, had there been no Donna this would have been a total disaster, her reaction to seeing Wilf was just glorious. I'm hooked on her, and her family, Wilf is class obviously, but I really like Sylvia too. The domestic scene was fun.

What's with this 'unified' intelligence task force? Don't like it. Should be United.

That child genius Luke Rattigan makes we want to throw things at the screen, it's like having a super powered Adric, and that institution, I wish for the Drashigs to visit them.

Standout scene belongs to the guards discovery of the monster in the vat and the subsequent Sontaran appearance, scary and fantastically done. The scene of Martha's cloning is also a good one too, she looks pretty good in that vat.

Would the Sontarans really use tomtom to invade the Earth? For their return it all seems a bit small scale somehow. Rattigan is hideous. Donna is its saving grace. Sadly Helen Raynor's writing is off the mark again. 6/10

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.

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.

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).

This isn't my favorite episode of season 4 so far. The Sontaran, though being a classic monster of Dr.Who, don't really do much for me. Though being creatures of war and not really having much mercy they don't deliver the same umph that the Daleks and Cybermen do. But the episode wasn't a complete failure! Having two companions in this episode was very interesting and funny at times. It also helped to keep the story along because the Sontarans could not hold my attention for two whole episodes. It's also really suspenseful when you know something that none of the other characters know, but you can't warn them. I won't spoil what it is but it keeps the story moving along. Also this story would've been much better if it woudn't have neen for the American teenager who constantly whined over everything under the sun. Maybe if they would've cut him out and crammed it in to one episode it would've been better!