Sontar-ha-ha-ha…

Timothy X. Atack starts off the next box set of adventures for Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor with a story that takes a lot of our preconceptions about the Sontarans and turns them on their head… just as it does, in-universe, for the Doctor. We start with a bravura piece of showing off by the Time Lord as he makes his way to the head of a military unit who is convinced her people (or rather, their robots) are about to eradicate a Sontaran menace based on the planet Salvation Nine – and then the rug is well and truly pulled out from under our feet, as we learn the true nature of the inhabitants. Yes, they are Sontarans. Sort of. But they’re Sontarans with a huge difference… and the question is, will that difference be enough to save them?

There’s been valid criticism in the past that the Sontarans have potentially become figures of fun, with Strax basically being the Hoppy Uniatz of the Doctor Who universe (for those who know the pre-war adventures of the Saint, this analogy will mean you’ll never read those stories quite the same way again). Here their comic potential is quite definitely tapped – there are some laugh aloud moments in the first half of the story, particularly when the Doctor can’t quite believe what he is encountering – but that’s counterpointed with some more familiar Sontarans that we meet later. As has been the case a few times recently, one of the key plot conceits in the story mirrors something from TV Who (albeit flipped on its head, which makes you wonder why the Doctor didn’t see it coming then, given what he makes happen here), but that doesn’t stop it being a neat idea, which is played through to its logical ending… thus depriving this Doctor from achieving one particular milestone and giving some extra context to the moment in the televised Ninth Doctor tales when he does manage it.

Josie Lawrence and Dan Starkey make good foils for Eccleston with Pooja Shah and Lily Bevan their effective counterparts, and director Helen Goldwyn maintains the varying tones well – it’s a story that blends drama and comedy in a deliberately uneven mix, with Iain Meadows’ sound design and Howard Carter’s score assisting.

Verdict: Not what you might expect, and all the better for it. 9/10

Paul Simpson

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