On "The Sontaran Strategem"
Looking back, the Sontarans were never one of my favourite 'classic' Doctor Who villains. I've never been a fan of war films, so the militaristic midgets from Sontar always seemed to be a bit too po(tato)-faced for my liking. It came as quite a surprise to me, then, that I found myself rather looking forward to Saturday's episode, 'The Sontaran Strategem'.
Adding to my low expectations in spite of my anticipation was the fact that the episode, the first of a two-parter, is written by Helen Raynor, whose story last year showed that the answer to the question "Wouldn't it be terribly exciting if the Daleks showed up in 1930s New York?" is actually a resounding "No, it'd just be fairly terrible". It wasn't all Raynor's fault, of course; when Russell "I wrote for Chucklevision" T Davies tells you he wants an episode with Daleks, showgirls and pig-men, you have to do the best that you can to minimise the damage. Remember- Saying no to RTD buys you a one-way ticket out of Cardiff.
When I look forward to an episode this much, I usually find that I'm headed for a fall, and come away with a level of disappointment akin to that of a businessman who arrives in Thailand only to find that the prostitutes are all on holiday. This time round, however, I was about as satisfied as a businessman who arrives in Thailand to find that there's a half-price sale on, only without the hollow, empty feeling which follows on shortly afterwards (I would imagine).
It probably helped for the squealing fanboy within me that UNIT, everyone's second-favourite fictional military organisation, makes its grand return in this episode. We've had occasional glimpses of them ever since their best and brightest got killed by farting extraterrestrials in 2005's 'Aliens of London', but this is their first working-with-the-Doctor-to-fend-off-the-alien-invaders episode. And despite the mandatory re-branding as the Unified Intelligence Taskforce (Which makes them UIT now, surely?) they're the same friendly but barely competent soldier-folk the fans have come to know and love, with a by-the-book Colonel, a couple of lower-ranking officers designed to provide the comic relief, and generous helpings of "Greyhound to trap one" and hot, sweet army tea.
One new addition to the UNIT family, as those unfortunate enough to have watched the second season of 'Torchwood' will know, is Martha Jones, played as ever by the attractive but vacant Freema Agyeman, whose time with John 'I'd Do Anything' Barrowman and the rest of the Torchwood gang seems to have left her in dire need of some acting refresher lessons. It's not all bad, though, as Agyeman gets to appear as Martha's evil, naked clone, giving her a chance to exude that extra level of sexual allure that all evil women possess (Except, perhaps, for Myra Hindley). Martha's reunion with the Doctor probably could've provided half an episode of material all by itself, but in an episode paced faster than a kitten sneeze, it's left to a few short scenes in which the Doctor and Martha stare confusedly at each other for several minutes.
The Doctor's other travelling companion in the story, excluding the fun but throwaway Private Jenkins, is of course Catherine Tate, who, despite my best wishes, has not yet fallen into a well and been mauled to death by mutant ferrets. It has to be said, though, that she's slowly growing on me (Like a tumour), and she didn't seem to have any of her random shouty irritating moments this week, although she did have a rather inexplicable flashback which reminded me of episode 2 of the 'Clerks' cartoon, a clipshow reusing material from the first episode to humorous effect. Ultimately, the fact that I no longer want to vomit and cry when she appears on screen is probably testament to Tate's acting abilities, but please don't tell her I said that- Her sketch show's still a steaming turd on the toilet floor at the BBC.
The Sontarans themselves were handled well, and full opportunity was taken to mock them, while not taking away any of the threat they posed. In the old series, having a villain that was quite so serious could be detrimental to the atmosphere of the episode, but one of the good things about the new series is that its pacy, lively and not afraid to make jokes, and this story may well be the story that sees the Sontarans successfully reinvented as a credible villain. That is, unless Part 2 contains more slightly silly moments along the lines of the "Sontar, ha!" chant which marred the ending just a little bit.
Part 2 of the story will be the ultimate test of whether or not Helen Raynor's learned from her mistakes of last year. New Who has a tendency to provide first episodes which promise much, and then conclusions which fail to deliver (See 'Age of Steel', 'The Satan Pit' and 'Last of the Time Lords' among others), and it'll be a desperate shame if this is one of those stories which falls apart in its second half. Part 1 wasn't perfect (An annoying teen villain- When will producers learn?- and the aforementioned chant saw to this), but the story has plenty of potential to go down as a true classic; let's just hope it lives up to it.
Adding to my low expectations in spite of my anticipation was the fact that the episode, the first of a two-parter, is written by Helen Raynor, whose story last year showed that the answer to the question "Wouldn't it be terribly exciting if the Daleks showed up in 1930s New York?" is actually a resounding "No, it'd just be fairly terrible". It wasn't all Raynor's fault, of course; when Russell "I wrote for Chucklevision" T Davies tells you he wants an episode with Daleks, showgirls and pig-men, you have to do the best that you can to minimise the damage. Remember- Saying no to RTD buys you a one-way ticket out of Cardiff.
When I look forward to an episode this much, I usually find that I'm headed for a fall, and come away with a level of disappointment akin to that of a businessman who arrives in Thailand only to find that the prostitutes are all on holiday. This time round, however, I was about as satisfied as a businessman who arrives in Thailand to find that there's a half-price sale on, only without the hollow, empty feeling which follows on shortly afterwards (I would imagine).
It probably helped for the squealing fanboy within me that UNIT, everyone's second-favourite fictional military organisation, makes its grand return in this episode. We've had occasional glimpses of them ever since their best and brightest got killed by farting extraterrestrials in 2005's 'Aliens of London', but this is their first working-with-the-Doctor-to-fend-off-the-alien-invaders episode. And despite the mandatory re-branding as the Unified Intelligence Taskforce (Which makes them UIT now, surely?) they're the same friendly but barely competent soldier-folk the fans have come to know and love, with a by-the-book Colonel, a couple of lower-ranking officers designed to provide the comic relief, and generous helpings of "Greyhound to trap one" and hot, sweet army tea.
One new addition to the UNIT family, as those unfortunate enough to have watched the second season of 'Torchwood' will know, is Martha Jones, played as ever by the attractive but vacant Freema Agyeman, whose time with John 'I'd Do Anything' Barrowman and the rest of the Torchwood gang seems to have left her in dire need of some acting refresher lessons. It's not all bad, though, as Agyeman gets to appear as Martha's evil, naked clone, giving her a chance to exude that extra level of sexual allure that all evil women possess (Except, perhaps, for Myra Hindley). Martha's reunion with the Doctor probably could've provided half an episode of material all by itself, but in an episode paced faster than a kitten sneeze, it's left to a few short scenes in which the Doctor and Martha stare confusedly at each other for several minutes.
The Doctor's other travelling companion in the story, excluding the fun but throwaway Private Jenkins, is of course Catherine Tate, who, despite my best wishes, has not yet fallen into a well and been mauled to death by mutant ferrets. It has to be said, though, that she's slowly growing on me (Like a tumour), and she didn't seem to have any of her random shouty irritating moments this week, although she did have a rather inexplicable flashback which reminded me of episode 2 of the 'Clerks' cartoon, a clipshow reusing material from the first episode to humorous effect. Ultimately, the fact that I no longer want to vomit and cry when she appears on screen is probably testament to Tate's acting abilities, but please don't tell her I said that- Her sketch show's still a steaming turd on the toilet floor at the BBC.
The Sontarans themselves were handled well, and full opportunity was taken to mock them, while not taking away any of the threat they posed. In the old series, having a villain that was quite so serious could be detrimental to the atmosphere of the episode, but one of the good things about the new series is that its pacy, lively and not afraid to make jokes, and this story may well be the story that sees the Sontarans successfully reinvented as a credible villain. That is, unless Part 2 contains more slightly silly moments along the lines of the "Sontar, ha!" chant which marred the ending just a little bit.
Part 2 of the story will be the ultimate test of whether or not Helen Raynor's learned from her mistakes of last year. New Who has a tendency to provide first episodes which promise much, and then conclusions which fail to deliver (See 'Age of Steel', 'The Satan Pit' and 'Last of the Time Lords' among others), and it'll be a desperate shame if this is one of those stories which falls apart in its second half. Part 1 wasn't perfect (An annoying teen villain- When will producers learn?- and the aforementioned chant saw to this), but the story has plenty of potential to go down as a true classic; let's just hope it lives up to it.