The Poison Sky

"It's the scale of it". This quote from Wilf, who is fast becoming my favorite character of the new series who isn't an alien who hops around time and space in a police phone box, perfectly describes my problem with this episode and with much of the new series. Perhaps for lack of a budget, the classic episodes rarely if ever dared set up a catastrophe on this scale. I really hate the idea of humanity being threatened every couple of weeks while the Doctor saves them. It's better if he's stopping plans that are being laid early or something of the sort. It's like the Pertwee era on steroids or something. At least the aliens didn't hover over London with nobody noticing them again.

However, there was much to love in "The Poison Sky" with the Sontarans getting their butts kicked, more Wilf action (the only reason I'll be in favor of more Earth stories this season is seeing Bernard Cribbins in the role again), and some fine action scenes and special effects.

The best part of the episode though, was what some would term 'fanwank' and those were the references. They weren't too obvious, after all, why WOULDN'T the Doctor mention the Brigadier?! (Stranded in Peru? Could we be seeing the return of the Brigadier sometime?) The rest of the references were pretty funny too, in particular "Are you my mummy?" If you didn't laugh at that you're either not a fan or you just don't have a sense of humor.

I liked this episode quite a bit, and this story as a whole. It is definitely the weakest Sontaran story but the competition is strong so I'm not complaining. Good stuff, just wish we could have fewer stories where the entire universe is in peril (just Earth, eh? Still too big a scale).

7/10

The conclusion of this two-part episode was, thankfully, a bit stronger than the opening half.

With the Sontaran's gas slowly overwhelming the planet, The Doctor (David Tennant) must find some way to eradicate that danger, all whilst convincing the UNIT team not to attempt to take the nuclear option on the Sontaran warship and with something off about Martha (Freema Agyeman). He does have help though, as unbeknownst to the Sontaran when they transported the TARDIS on board, they brought Donna (Catherine Tate) along with them.

The silliness that soured the first part is largely sorted out here in the conclusion, especially once someone works out that you can smash windows to save Wilfred. He and Sylvia sealing themselves inside the house is, admittedly a bit of a strange idea, but I suppose the idea was to buy more time for the Doctor to save them? One bit of silliness that remains though is the fireball solution to burning off the gas, which would be plausible if it was only in the lower atmosphere, but we've seen the gas at ground level. I'm probably thinking too much about it, especially as, as I said I quite liked this episode.

It holds another Doctor sacrifice, although this time he's replaced by a much more deserving replacement. Years ahead of his time, Luke Rattigan nails the Incel aesthetic by sacrificing his planet, so he can organise an off-world breeding program.

Truth be told, it's still not brilliant. The Sontaran's are a pretty underwhelming threat. The Cybermen have the unconquerable army aesthetic down already and you think a little plastic cap on their feeding pipe would deal with the one weakness pretty quickly. This second episode was an improvement though, and lifted the double bill from shaky to solid.

Perhaps the most disappointing Sontaran tale to-date, this double header just doesn't cut the mustard. There are moments of genius contained within the story but the pace is too slow and there's too much filler. This could have made for a great single episode but I'm not truly impressed with the quality of Helen Raynor's script.

While the effects work continues to impress, the quality of this adventure is not up to previous installments. I'm complained about the scope of recent "Who" stories before and this is no exception. In "The Poison Sky" the whole planet is at risk. Whatever happened to good old fashioned "domestic" peril? Tennant and Tate continue to be a classic double act while Martha seems a little out of her depth. The next episode should prove a very interesting one...

8 out of 10.

The second part of the story is better. Watching it from a 2022 rewatch, it's actually amazing how much this episode predicted. A petulant man-child using "emissions" to pretend he cares about anything but his ego. And of course everyone having to seal themselves in their homes because it's deadly outside.

While it's not the best in season 4, it was fun to come back to earth to see Donna's family. The conversation around collateral damage is a good one to keep having, and it presents a good before and after between Martha and Donna. I think it's also a good contrast between the two, and shows how the shoe benefits without the sexual tension or crush. When the companion is simply a companion, the doctor is at his best.

No worse either, and yes for a guest star Bernard Cribbins is killing it in his role as Donna's Granddad, so that was good to see. Another problem is I see this episode as a way of putting Donna and Martha together to "compete" you know the same way they already did in season 2 with Sarah Jane Smith and Rose