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"Doctor Who"
The Sontaran Stratagem (2008)
8 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Surprisingly good opening part to the Sontarans' return, 26 April 2008
Author: AdnanZ from Canada
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).
4 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
A strangely unsatisfying first parter, 27 April 2008
Author: DVD_Connoisseur from England
There's something missing from "The Sontaran Stratagem". While the use of sat-nav devices to evil effect is inspired and reminiscent of something like "Terror of the Autons", the episode somehow fails to inspire.
There's something very un-Sontaran about the whole affair. The menace here is Sontaran-lite, just as I was bitterly disappointed with the return of The Doctor's silver nemesis in Season 2. Perhaps it's me but while the make-up is wonderful (the early close-up of the Sontaran is excellent), the costume looks like something from a '90s Action Man.
Donna remains the strongest companion to-date, making Martha look rather lightweight in comparison.
7 out of 10. Only the first part of this double-header so things may improve but this is a very average tale so far. At the end of the day, Helen Raynor just doesn't deliver the quality of scripts that you expect from this series. It's missing fizz and pop and, overall, disappoints.
0 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
This is the silliest sketch..., 27 April 2008
Author: ZekeRage911 from United States
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
Killer cars.
Yes, the Doctor must find a way to deal with killer cars. Those of us who actually watched Monty Python must find this a little too silly. Oh, but it gets better. It also involves a Kid whose American accent is worse than most American's British accents, UNIT, Martha Jones who works for UNIT, and the Sontarans, the potato-headed warriors.
This is another script brought to you by the woman who ruined the Daleks last season, Helen Raynor. Skip this one. Seriously, I found myself rooting for everyone to die. The side characters are dumber than victims in horror movies, Donna Noble is completely out of character the entire time, and even Martha Jones says her lines with a look behind her eyes of "how silly is this?" AND it's a two-parter. The last four minutes are just cutting back and forth between scenes of tension before the cliffhangar. This is a waste of time and money. Both writer and director should be sacked. It looks like it was directed by a four year old.
I can write better than this. And I have. Helen, please, go back to being a script editor. Now don't get me wrong, your Torchwood scripts have been decent, but for some reason your Doctor Who stories are so silly and directionless that I honestly can't tell if you're trying to be silly and funny, or deep and awe-inspiring, and failing at both. Please, for everyone's sake, run your scripts past Paul Cornell or Steve Moffat before showing them to Russel.
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