'Doctor Who: The Sontaran Experiment' (1975)


A lot of my Doctor Who watching pretty much depends on what's on sale in Lewisham CEX, at any given time (I'm not ready to take out a subscription to Britbox just yet, I just know I'd end up watching 'El Dorado'...), so this week you're getting Sontarans and that's all there is to it ;o)

The Sontarans are one of those races in Doctor Who where I've seen them more in books, than on the telly, so when I saw this DVD, I knew I had to pick it up. It's a nice short story as well, only two episodes, which was just what I was after last night.And yes, I'm watching it 'out of order', this story sits in the middle of 'The Ark In Space' and 'Genesis of the Daleks' and I've already watched 'Genesis'. I'm not going to lie, it makes me feel like a time-traveller going backwards in time... ;o)

Anyway, enough of that. Let's have a little chat about 'The Sontaran Experiment'.

Transmitting down from Nerva Beacon, the Doctor, Sarah and Harry find themselves on Earth in the far future, long-since abandoned by the human race.But it soon becomes clear that they are not alone; a shipwrecked crew of Galsec colonists are being hunted down one by one. What is the creature that lives in the rocks, and what is the purpose of the lethal tests that is is conducting? Can the Doctor ensure the safety of the Earth for future generations of humanity...?

There's usually quite a fair bit that's spread out over the four to six episodes that normally make up a Doctor Who story; I was interested then to see how that would work out in a story that was only two episodes long. Turns out that it worked pretty well. I like the idea that not every story is going to spin out into something long; sometimes the Doctor and co. will just land on a planet and get shit done with no mucking about with cliffhangers and all that.

Given the length of the stoy, the plot is fairly basic but you can excuse that ;o) I found it to be very 'to the point' and the robot that kept appearing was a nice way to keep things a little tense, even if it did look like the 'Smash Robot's' big brother... The big clue (as to the identity of the alien) is right there in the title so if you're expecting any surprises then, erm... don't. It's not a huge deal though as we get to see Field Major Styre work his captives over in the name of science and the Sontaran Empire. The story makes the most of the little space that it has then, there's a fair bit going on but it's all very efficiently done and you don't feel like anything outstays it's welcome.

The Doctor, well... We don't actually see an awful lot of him but that somehow makes his moments all the more dramatic as he swoops in with a plan that settles everything in literally the last moments of the story (although I couldn't help but wonder why the Sontaran's wouldn't invade anyway, just to get the plans back, minor niggle though).And if there's a better way to sign off a story than with a melting Sontaran; well, I've yet to hear it.

'The Sontaran Experiment' was a short, sharp lesson in how to tell the best story in the least space and make it a good one. And it was, I'm glad that I finally got a chance to see it.

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