Once it was a mining facility. Then later its corridors rang with screams generated by grotesque military experiments. However when the Doctor and Mel arrive on a hostile alien world after detecting a distress signal, the base they find themselves in is almost deserted.
But not for long. Soon the Doctor’s old enemies, the Sontarans, have landed, and are searching for the remnants of their previous research team. Before long they uncover evidence of strange occurrences on the planet. Of madness and death.
They are warriors bred for war, strong of spirit and unafraid of death. To fear the enemy is an act of betrayal. Nothing holds terror for the Sontarans.
TERROR OF THE SONTARANS
It’s the final entry in this trilogy of season 24 Seventh Doctor adventures: “Terror of the Sontarans” from co-writers John Dorney and Dan Starkey. The story continues in the vein of other stories from that season: it has some interesting ideas but is largely a light, unimportant tale. It leaves us with two questions: what could possibly terrify a Sontaran and should the listener care?
There is some genuinely interesting material in “Terror of the Sontarans,” but it’s unfortunately buried under a great deal of cliché. The story has Sontarans in the title and Sontarans on the cover, yet for the entire first episode nobody refers to the Sontarans by name and the script acts as though we are supposed to be shocked when the Sontarans turn up at the end of episode 1. There isn’t even a cliffhanger, just “…for the glory of the Sontaran race!” Guys: everyone knew they were coming; we didn’t need an entire episode of the Doctor and Mel responding to a distress signal and then trying to open some doors. The remainder of the story turns up the action content significantly, but it’s largely a series of chases along corridors and capture/recapture plotting. I understand that long-time Sontaran actor Starkey is new to writing Doctor Who, but Dorney’s scripts usually have a bit more variety than this.
The selling point of “Terror” is that it goes into some detail about the Sontarans themselves, building them up only to show what it’s like when their training breaks down in the face of mortal horror. The problem, however, is that we really don’t learn anything new about them. They’re militaristic to a fault with a society built entirely around the concept of honor in battle, yes, but we learned that all the way back in “The Time Warrior” – do we really need that stuff repeated yet again? Perhaps one of the most interesting elements is glossed over – this story should have spent more time with the Sontarans involved in research and intelligence and played up the warriors’ disdain for that sort of behavior. Instead of simply being disgusted by a fellow Sontaran’s cowardice, why not have Kayste (Starkey) attribute it to that Sontaran’s job? I do like that Starkey takes them seriously – I like comedy Sontarans like Strax but I also enjoy seeing the Sontarans as a legitimate threat, and they certainly seem formidable in this story despite their losses.
The supporting characters are rather odd. Ketch (Daniel O’Meara) has a Mr. Fantastic-like ability to stretch his limbs, Jackson (Jon Edgley Bond) is an overconfident adventurer, and then there’s Stettimer (John Banks), a warlike crustacean that is bizarrely out of place. I don’t mind the ridiculous image of a giant lobster fighting a Sontaran, but triumphantly declaring “I caught you in a… PINCER MOVEMENT!” is unnecessarily silly in a story that doesn’t set itself out as a comedy. I do like Sylvester McCoy quite a bit in this story as he embraces the more lighthearted side of his character – his declaration of love for spiral staircases is refreshing, and I say that as someone who loves the dark Seventh Doctor. Bonnie Langford doesn’t get much to do, which is a shame – she’s capable of carrying so much more dramatic weight.
Ken Bentley directs, doing his usual, capable job. Andy Hardwick is a talented sound designer, but I must admit I don’t remember anything about the score despite having finished the story two days ago. Overall, “Terror of the Sontarans” is something of a struggle. It’s all about the Sontarans without telling us anything interesting about them. It doesn’t know what kind of tone it should have. Its characterization is uneven at best. Fortunately, it’s paced well enough that it rarely loses the interest, but this is something of a damp end to what had been an entertaining trilogy.
Not bad, not great.
5/10