Sontarans

The Sontarans Return in 2008

The Sontaran Stratagem

When the Sontarans (or one of them) returned in The Sontaran Experiment, the impact was diluted by the mask redesign, and when they returned again in The Invasion of Time their lisping incompetent cockney leader pretty much finished off any credibility they might have had. Their final full TV appearance in The Two Doctors saw them back in the hands of their creator, the great Robert Holmes but for one reason and another this wasn't exactly their finest hour.

What's interesting is that the Sontarans have been recycled more than any other villain after the Daleks and Cybermen, and despite being loved by fans, never really had the main stream impact to become the third "famous" baddie. They do have some imprint on the public at large, as Billie Piper famously described them as looking like a poo in a spacesuit - which is fair enough really - and Christopher Eccleston rather unconvincingly listed them as one of his childhood favourites when he was interviewed on daytime TV soon after being cast as the ninth Doctor, however he later revealed he had never watched the show as a child.

Beyond their four canon appearances, they also appeared in a Jim'll Fix It programme in a mini adventure called A Fix with the Sontarans and they also featured in the impressive Dreamwatch/Reeltime fan releases called Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans and Mindgame. They also appear in the spoof video Do You Have A License To Save This Planet?

The Sontarans were created by Robert Holmes in 1972 in a story format which was then quite rare - the pseudo-historical story, whereby a realistic historical setting was intertwined with a futuristic alien presence. Their next story was by Bob Baker and Dave Martin, their third by Graham Williams and Anthony Read before finally Robert Holmes returned to writing for his creations.

The Time Warrior

Cast of	The Time Warrior
Doctor Who Sarah Jane Smith The Brigadier Commander Linx Irongron Bloodaxe Edward of Wessex Lady Eleanor Hal the Archer Professor Rubeish Meg Eric Sentry Robot Knight	Jon Pertwee Elisabeth Sladen Nicholas Courtney Kevin Lindsay David Daker John J. Carney Alan Rowe June Brown Jeremy Bulloch Donald Pelmear Sheila Fay Gordon Pitt Steve Brunswick Dudley Long

We first meet the Sontarans in the middle ages, somewhere been the year 1189 and 1199. The Sontaran Linx arrives on Earth in his distinctive three-quarter sphere spaceship as a Commander of the Fifth Army Space Fleet of the Sontaran Army Space Corps. He plants his white S-branded flag and claims Earth for his own people.

The third Doctor only seems to recognise the Sontarans indirectly - he remarks that Linx's attitudes seem Sontaran, but he wasn't sure until Linx identified himself. It is as if the third Doctor had only read about Sontarans but never even seen them, but when Linx asks if the Doctor has met his race before, he does reply "Unfortunately," so the Doctor's other remarks are very out of place. When and where the Doctor first meets a Sontaran only becomes further complicated in the sixth Doctor story The Two Doctors (see below).

Sontaran Technology

Although Linx has access to crude time-travel technology in his ship, it is never suggested that Linx has traveled through time to reach 12th century Earth, hence we discover that the Sontaran race is far more advanced than the human race and has been at war with their sworn enemy the Rutans for millennia. The first piece of their advanced technology we see is a translator which allows Sontaran Linx to speak in English. His second useful technological tool is his weapon which can be used as a cutting torch, stun gun and mind control device. Linx also has a chair with skull cap which allows him to keep a prisoner at a work place which will deliver an electric shock should he try to escape. The inside of Linx's Sontaran Spaceship is pictured on the right.

We learn all the key facts about the Sontaran race during the story. Their bodies are short and powerful, with muscles designed for load bearing on a planet with a very high gravity. If we were to guess Linx might weigh an unlikely maximum of 20 stones then for him to weigh the 'several' tons which the Doctor estimates, then his homeworld must have a gravity of around 20 times that of Earth! Perhaps the Doctor is exaggerating somewhat as a planet of 20G is unlikely to allow the evolution of anything upright like a human, although it might account for an evolutionary path without the luxury of a slender neck! Linx is also disparaging of the human race's two genders, and he suggests that the system be changed.

The Sontarans are a militaristic race, reveling in glory and relishing confrontations. Linx is intelligent and although slightly manipulative in his eagerness to get the job done, he is honourable and not needlessly sadistic or murderous. In fact, Linx is one of the least violent villains in Doctor Who history as he arrives quite peacefully, strikes up an alliance with the local humans and ultimately he only kills one person in the whole story, and even that is only when attacked. Naturally he attempts to kill the Doctor a couple of times, but thankfully he doesn't try especially hard.

Earth is considered strategically significant to the Sontarans and Commander Linx is on a reconnaissance mission in their long conflict with the Rutans.

Sontarans are susceptible to an attack on their Probic Vent (pictured right), which is a small tube on the back of their necks. It is not explicitly stated at this stage that Sontarans are clones, however we learn that at their military academy there are hatchings of a million cadets at each muster parade.

As mentioned, Linx is not especially evil, and although he doesn't treat his slaves particularly well, his worst crime is damaging the time line by providing Irongron with more sophisticated weapons than the period should have. However there have been numerous instances where human evolution has been spurred on specifically by alien intervention - not least in The Daemons, but also with the meddling of The Monk who amongst other things allowed Stonehenge to be built using an anti-gravity lift. So whereas the Doctor once insisted to Barbara in The Aztecs that the course of history was already set in stone, we are now presented with the idea that history is fluid and any messing about in the past will create a different future. It's an inconsistent rule in Doctor Who because you have the likes of Pyramids of Mars where the Doctor flits forward to 1980 to show the consequences of them abandoning their battle, and on the other hand, there's The Visitation which shows that if aliens hadn't landed on Earth, key events such as the Great Fire of London would never have happened.

The Sontaran Experiment

The next time the Doctor meets the Sontarans is in the far distant future after solar flares had cleansed the surface of the Earth. In The Sontaran Experiment the Doctor finds his old enemy trying to determine the weaknesses of the human race so that an invasion can be effective.

The distinctive small three-quarter sphere ship appears once more but the Sontaran within, this time named Styre, has a number of differences to their previous appearance. It is made all the more odd that Sarah seemed to consider this second alien totally identical to the first one that she met. However Sontaran Styre had much lighter skin, thicker lips on a very broad mouth, a wider nose, and more pronounced forehead and cheek bones. He also had five fingers instead of the distinctive three which Linx had had and is lacking whiskers.

His costume too was slightly different, with the helmet having undergone a slight redesign with narrower but taller eye-slits and a dappled finish, instead of the brushed metal of the previous style.

Field Major Styre is a member of the Sontaran G3 Military Assessment Survey and is answerable to his direct superior The Marshall and ultimately the Grand Strategic Council who rules the Sontaran military system - which could arguably mean they rule the entire Sontaran race.

We learn a little more about the probic vent on the back of the neck as Harry goes into Styre's ship to remove part of the Sontaran's body-recharging system (called a terrulian diode bypass transformer). It is revealed that Sontarans can feed on pure energy. Being a cloned race, we also get to see that Styre's superior, The Marshal, is identical in appearance, except for two large discs which appear on his collar (above right).



The Invasion of Time

When the Sontarans returned for the season fifteen finale they were taking on the ultimate challenge - invading the homeworld of the Time Lords, Gallifrey. It's an interesting fact that the Doctor's homeworld wasn't named as "Gallifrey" until the first Sontaran encounter in The Time Warrior, and they remain the only alien aside from the Daleks to even consider mounting an assault on the Doctor's native planet.



We learn no new information about the Sontarans in their third outing except the size of their army numbers in hundreds of millions and they can clone a million new soldiers every four minutes. In this story we finally see more than one Sontaran on screen at the same time, and they have three fingers on each hand as they did in their debut story. The leader of this group, called Stor, has a helmet which bears a bold version of the insignia first seen on Linx's helmet where it was made up of dots. Stor's helmet has the largest eye-holes so far seen, and bears a very thick rim which differs to his troops.

The probic vent has changed slightly, becoming a larger fixture with a wide slit conveniently just wide enough to accommodate a well-aimed knife from Leela.

The physical form of the sontarans in this story is once again different to their previous appearance, showing that although they may breed by cloning, this does not make them all identical. Perhaps their genetics technology is sophisticated enough for them to make modifications to their bodies for different environments, or perhaps there is a core of ethnically diverse Sontarans back on their homeworld which acts as a template for the rest of the race. In this form, some bristles are present on their eyebrows, but their mouths are narrow like a human's.

Stor who leads the attack on Gallifrey is not the most fear-inducing of aliens. Lumbering, slow-speaking, gullible, possessing a lisp and drifting into an odd cockney accent from time to time, he leads a bunch of the most stupid aliens ever to attempt an invasion, one of whom famously falls over a sun lounger. Not the finest hour of these monsters.

The Two Doctors

The Sontarans' final appearance in the classic Doctor Who series was in The Two Doctors, a story which featured both Patrick Troughton and Colin Baker. This is an added complication to the fact that Jon Pertwee's third Doctor seemed never to have directly encountered Sontarans before however in The Two Doctors, the second Doctor meets them, and what's more he still recognises them! Therefore we can only assume he has read about them, or encountered them in either his first or second incarnation.

Sontaran ships are seen flying in space and unlike earlier stories these ships are fully spherical, rather than having a flat base. Maybe the lower sections can retract into a flat surface for landing?

The Sontarans in this story are represented by Group Marshal Stike of the 9th Sontaran Battle Group and Varl, a somewhat farcical double-act who come across like stuffy colonial British army men, rather than the tough, no-nonsense warrior first seen in Linx. Their heads, although domed, wobble as if there is a normal neck under their loose metal collar. Combined with their tall stature, these are the Sontarans arguably at their most disappointing, and furthest from Robert Holmes' original vision, despite them being back in the hands of their creator.

Their eye-bristles have gone and this time their only hair is on their chin. Their mouths are once again wide as in their second appearance. They carry the normal trademark wand as well as large cumbersome assault rifles.



As well as their "Achilles Heel" of their probic vent, this story also demonstrates that Sontarans are vulnerable to coronic acid, however there can't be many organic creatures who can happily survive a bucket of acid being thrown over them so this isn't really a weakness specific to Sontarans. We discover that Sontarans have green blood.

War with the Rutans

The Sontarans are defined almost entirely by their endless war with a race called the Rutans, also known as the Rutan Host who hail from the planet Ruta III. The conflict has raged for so long that neither side can remember how it started however Linx calls the war a "struggle for freedom" so there is the suggestion that the Rutans started out as oppressors and it spiraled from there, but this could just be Sontaran propaganda.

We know that between the 12th century and the 20th century the solar system went from being an area of little interest in the war, to encompassing the domination of the Rutans which is said to include the whole of our Milky Way, however the Rutans were starting to lose the war. This was the information given in the Rutans' only appearance in the TV show, in Horror of Fang Rock.

We learn that they are shape-shifting creatures whose natural form resembles a large, green, luminous jellyfish. They are intelligent and although amphibious are capable of considerable movement out of water including the ability to climb walls. They generate a lot of bio-electrical power and, similarly to their warring counterparts, they can feed off pure energy.

The war with the Rutans showed no sign of abating in the year 13,000 which was the setting of The Sontaran Experiment.

Although Robert Holmes created the notion of the Rutans when he created The Sontarans, it was Terrance Dicks who fleshed out these foes both in Horror of Fang Rock and the spinoff Shakedown. In his own novelisations he added supplementary information about The Great Mother being the repository of the Rutan gestalt intelligence without whom "the Host" i.e. all other Rutans would collapse.

Further Adventures of the Sontarans

The Sontarans and Rutans appear together for the first time in the Dreamwatch/Reeltime fan video Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans, written by Rutan aficionado Terrance Dicks. Both aliens were used under license of the estate of Robert Holmes who is down as the creator of the Rutans, even though Terrance Dicks was the man responsible for establishing almost everything we know about them.

The Sontarans in Shakedown are led by commander Commander Steg and this time the overhaul in their design was due to copyright reasons.

The potato-head creations appear again in a spinoff once again penned by Terrance Dicks, called Mindgame. In this simple set-piece a Sontaran is imprisoned with a Draconian and a human. The Sontaran looks very much like Linx from their debut story, with a lot of extra wiring around his metal collar.

The Sontaran Stratagem

These popular aliens return in series four of the new series of Doctor Who with Christopher Ryan (who previously appeared in The Trial of a Timelord) playing their leader General Staal in episode four, The Sontaran Stratagem. His diminutive stature suits these monsters who were originally supposed to be short, unlike their later portrayals.

The new series Sontarans present quite a departure from the previous design but still remaining faithful to their stocky, militaristic concept. Their uniforms have taken on a graphite blue hue with giant shoulder pads and accentuated muscles. They carry gigantic weapons similar to in their final TV apperance The Two Doctors.

Midnight

Episode Location: Midnight, a diamond, "alien leisure planet"
Aliens/Enemies: Unknown
New Characters: Sky, Professor Hobbes, Dee Dee Blasco, Biff & Vale Cane, Jethro, Hostess
Gadgets Used: Unknown
Episode Objective: To visit the diamond glacier, and then to survive and escape the knocking on the bus.

A sapphire waterfall on the planet Midnight: this enormous jewel, the size of a glacier, reaches the Cliffs of Oblivion, and then shatters into sapphires, falling a hundred, thousand feet into a crystal ravine. But Donna Noble would prefer to sunbathe back at the Leisure Palace, so the Doctor boards the shuttle bus to the waterfall, alone...

Except, he's not alone for long.

There's Sky Silvestry, a businesswoman in her 40's, strong, but quiet.The shambolic Professor Hobbes, full of enthusiasm;
His young assistant Dee Dee Blasco;
Biff and Vale Cane, a nice couple on their holidays;










Their 18-year old son Jethro, a bit of a goth, sullen, moping;
And the Hostess, on duty in the aisle.
All of them are aboard the Crusader 50 shuttle bus as its sets off for the planets big attraction.

This episode is the biggest kept secret of the series! And the less you know before watching it, the more you'll enjoy it.

Its largely a Donna-lite
Its the "low budget" episode.
Features the line "Chicken or beef"
Its the 50th episode to be filmed of New Doctor Who

Donna only appears for the first 2 minutes and last minute. She decides to stay by the pool whilst The Doctor goes on a 4 hour shuttle journey to visit a remarkable sapphire waterfall. But, while Donna is sunbathing and not getting into copious amounts of trouble, bad things are install for the Doctor.

"Writer Russell T Davies takes a beautifully simple concept and turns it into something filled with menace and terror. It's a story that looks at different parts of the Doctor's personality, especially his never ending curiosity, while at the same time showing the risks and danger that that brings.
It also highlights, with Donna not around for most of the story, how important his companion is to him. But the most terrifying part is how it explores how human beings respond when they're under intense pressure."

(Lizo's review)

Donna: You be careful
The Doctor: Taking a big space truck with a bunch of strangers across a diamond planet called Midnight... what could possibly go wrong?!

Ooh! Foreboding words there!
But of course the Doctor needs to settle himself in and have a quick chat to the hostess:

HOSTESS: Enjoy your trip.
THE DOCTOR: Oh, I can't wait! Allons-y!
HOSTESS: I'm sorry..?
THE DOCTOR: It's French, for let's go!
HOSTESS: Fascinating.

Apparently we will hear another Allons-y and a Malto Bene at some point in the episode.









And theres the irony kicking in. What could go wrong?
Well... that for a start...

Looks like the shuttle bus is having a bit of difficulty there. So now our little team of tourists are trapped on a tiny bus in the middle of no where.

Well, at least the Doctor keeps his head.

"We're going to get out of here I promise"

So now what? Stuck on a bus in the middle of nowhere with only a strange man to rely on? No wonder tempers are raised.

Doctor: If we're going to get out of this, then you need me!
Vale: Oh, like you're so special

Hostess: Two people are dead!
Doctor: Don't make it a third!



Apparently theres a point in the episode which only works if the Doctor is alone. The affection between the Doctor and Donna shines in the couple of minutes they are together at the start and end of the episode.

But, moving on from that, the knocking begins. The knock-knock-knocking on the outside of the bus...

Sky: What the hell is making that noise?

Vale: Its trying the door!
Hobbs: There is no "it"!

Sky: What is it? Just tell me what the hell it is?!

"It's coming for me!"

"Get out of there!"

So, according to some review or other "Only Sky seems to know the truth – but as paranoia turns into a witch-hunt, Sky turns the Doctor's greatest strengths against him, and a sacrifice must be made..."

And who is this mysterious Sky, who apparently knows something or other? Well apparently whatever it is that is making the knocking manages to possess Sky... and "terrible things are said"


Lesley Sharp, interviewed on "Loose Women" said that at the end of the episode there won't be a lot left of Sky Silvestry

And although we know theres an alien threat, we don't know what it actually is. But we do know that its effecting the Doctor.



Some lucky people have already seen this episode, and the feedback they give, while sparse, is constantly rewarding. They say Tennant is amazing, and someone kindly gave away this info:

• The first 10 minutes has a lot of humour
  
  
• In the early part of the episode, The Hostess uses a very funny line when talking to the passengers
  
  
• Rafaella Carra (Italian singer) appears "in all her glory" as part of the in-shuttle entertainment package (briefly replaced by Rose)
  
  
• "Doctor, Doctor" is briefly mouthed by someone, via a monitor, but the Doctor doesn't see the message (Rose)
  
  
• Klicks
  
  
• Fear and paranoia reign supreme. Someone must make the ultimate sacrifice. By C=O's recollection, 10 people are aboard the Shuttle when it leaves. By the end only 6 are left.
  

Forest Of The Dead

The Forest of the Dead

Episode Location: The Library, 51st Century
Aliens/Enemies: Vashta Nerada, the suit creature
New Characters: The girl, Doctor Moon, Miss Evangelista, River Song, Lux, Anita, Other Dave, Ella, Lee, Joshua, Miss Evangelista
Gadgets Used: Psychic paper, Sonic screwdrvier x2, Squareness gun
Episode Objective: To find out why no one is in the Library, and then to help the explorers and escape the shadows.



As the shadows rise and march, the Doctor forges an alliance with the mysterious River Song. But can anyone stop the Vashta Nerada? While the Doctor discovers long-buried secrets and revelations about his own future, the sinister Nodes declare that Donna is doomed.

Right, we know theres a central intelligence that runs the Library, the "data core of a triple grid security processor" or something. And this is clearly something to do with the little girl.

The Library was sealed off 100 years ago, but all the people who were on it were saved (except there were no survivors) and the same thing has happened to Donna.

I propose this: the central computer thingy, in an attempt to save all the people, somehow created a world within the Library and put all the people there (maybe saved them as data files or something) which is where Donna and Miss Evangelista are now.

Set Reports
1st Report of Filming
Filming has taken place both in a children's playground and in a suburban street where a child called Ella is bundled into a car...










2nd Report of Filming
Donna and a mysterious woman wearing a veil were seen walking together in the park. Also with them, and playing in the playground were 3 boys and 3 girls

The kiddies were all dressed identically, almost like clones. And its now been speculated that they might not be real.











Two pieces of dialog was also overheard, both said by Donna:

• "Why are you wearing that stupid veil for?"
  
• "Stop talking about my children like that."

Just stop it! Why are you doing this?

And (thanks again to Scooty) we now know the face beneath the veil.











Gasp! Is that Evangelista? Why yes it is!

So perhaps the computer not only put the people in this world, but created a new life for them. Perhaps they're even in a story, one of the books? Who knows... but Donna certainly seems to have a new life:

Apparently, she gets married to a character called Lee (who stutters) and both live at 42 Palace Road with 2 children - there is a scene of him carrying Donna over the threshold

As well as this, filming took place at Dyffryn House - a scene with Donna being taken out of an ambulance on a stretcher... (?!)

So, if Donna is leading a "normal" life, then perhaps Miss Evangelitia is almost like a ghosts, or an echo of a memory long forgotten. Something poetic like that anyway.

Meanwhile, back in the Library, we still have the suit creatue/Vashta Nerada/Proper Dave wandering about as well... and maybe these shadow creatures are getting a little smarter, they seem to be trying to communicate.

The Doctor's having none of it though...

Don't play games with me.
I'm the Doctor, and you're in the biggest Library in the universe.
You just killed someone I liked, that is not a safe place to stand!

But somehow or other the Doctor, River Song and Lux (I don't know about the others, some of them might have survived, but then again, they could have been eaten) manage to escape.

It seems that the Vashta Nerada are ganging together or something, at least it gives our team a bit of time.

Doctor: It wont attack until there's enough of them.

And now they're trying to fix everything.

This planets going to crack like an egg.

We need to stop this, we've gotta save Cal!

What is it? What is Cal?

Um... the name of the central computer/the girl maybe? I dunno, its all just guesswork here.
BUT, we must remember the important thing here:

Spoilers

Yup, the Library is full of books and spoilers. RTD said himself that they play a key part and so far they haven't done much. The spoilers are very important...

Could thus mean that one of the suggestions by DigitalSpy is true?
"The Shadows take hold of River Song's diary and coerce The Doctor into using a gun because of what they discover."
Its sounds very interesting if it does happen. But it could just be a red herring.

Spoilers!

Of course, these scenes will probably be spread out between the ones with Donna and the little girl, but putting them all together makes them look neat.

And then of course theres the big big question that we all really really want to know:

Who are you?!

Yes! Please tell us who you are!
You know the Doctor, it sounds like you were very close, he gave you his screwdriver, AND his book to look after (can we assume its his?) and all you're telling us is:

"I trust that man to the end of the universe. And actually... we've been."

Helpful.
But since the synopsis says "the Doctor discovers long-buried secrets and revelations about his own future" then I'm gonna assume that we do find out. And their relationship seems to pick up well...

I hate you sometimes!

I know!

And, while Donna is liver her new crazy life, and the Doctor and River Song are running about and arguing all over the place, we also have the girl who's desperately trying to understand what the flip is going on.

I don't think Doctor Moon is helping...

...And then, you forgot

What did she forget? Is Doctor Moon trying to explain the incident where he told her the Library was real? Is he even a good guy?

I don't know, but apparently both the Doctor and Donna meet Doctor moon as well... so I hope he'll help them, or at least explain some things.

Meanwhile, the girl is not having a very good time as the Library in her head is breaking up (or "cracking like an egg") and people keep trying to talk to her via TVs

No, no don't tell! You mustn't tell!

Daddy! No, Daddy!

She really doesn't look like she's having a good time. But, as Doctor Mood said, she's the only one who can save everyone, and fix everything.

No pressure...

And then theres probably a huge dramatic finale where this happens:

At least I hope its part of the dramatic finale... its certainly looks interesting. And maybe it has something to do with this:

Is that a hole to the centre of the Library... to the big computer thingy perhaps? And we can see River Song and 2 figures wearing helmets. But one of them is standing is a quite awkward way.. perhaps its the Vashta Nerada/suit creature?

Who knows... and wheres the Doctor? Hes he already gone down the hole? Well, he's a Time Lord after all.. I'm sure he's got some fiendishly clever plan. Or he's just making it up as usual.

We shall have to wait and see!

Speculation:
These hints are from Digitalspy, but there are also two red herrings lurking in the spoiler shadows this week.

• River Song sometimes shows The Doctor a little respect and asks him about erasure.
  
  
• The Shadows have a proper vocalist that's not Cliff Richard.
  
  
• Doctor Moon challenges someone to a game of chess on which millions of lives depend.
  
  
• The Shadows take hold of River Song's diary and coerce The Doctor into using a gun because of what they discover.
  
  
• A Gareth Gates-style affliction prevents Cupid from firing his arrow.
  True according to another digitalspy report, Donna soon gets "a stuttering spouse"
  
  
• River Song tells The Doctor that he is not The Doctor.
  
  
• The little girl destroys every idiot's lantern to prevent the shadows seeping into present day Earth.
  
  
• A familiar female face from the past returns to give Donna some advice.
  
  
• Donna ties a very important knot.
  
  
• The Doctor is stunned by something River Song whispers in his ear.
  True according to another digitalspy report "To say that, by the end of the episode, we find out what she said would only be a half-truth."

And here be some quotes. You can see the full article here
"I trust that man to the end of the universe - and we've been."
"There are no ***** (books? Souls?) in a library."
"The world is wrong."
"Nobody can open a TARDIS by ******** (clicking?) their ******* (fingers?)"
"If he **** (dies?), I'll kill him."
"I've been treating you since you came here two years ago."
Thanks Planet Gallifrey.