‘Doctor Who and the Sontaran Experiment’ – Ian Marter (Target)

 

Page Count: 127 Pages

Saturday was a busy one (a lot of fun but, busy…), with my youngest daughter, and so yesterday was a day where I dragged myself out of bed and went straight to the comfy chair, there to stay until I realised I’d forgotten to pick some stuff up from the shop :o)

I got a couple more movies under my belt but that’s a post for another day. In what seems to be becoming a habit at the moment, we’re all about old ‘Doctor Who’ novelisations, today, and it’s the turn of ‘The Sontaran Experiment’. Here’s a story that I only watched, for the first time, back in 2021; but I’d never read the book until yesterday…

Landing on Earth, now a barren, desolate planet, Sarah, Harry and the Doctor are unaware of the large watching robot. The robot is the work of Styre, a Sontaran warrior, who uses all humans landing here for his experimental programmes.

What has happened to the other space explorers who have come here? Why is the Sontaran scout so interested in Earth and in brutally torturing humans, including Sarah Jane? Will the Doctor be able to prevent an invasion and certain disaster, and save both Earth and his companions…?

It was a good job that I wasn’t in the mood for anything too in-depth, yesterday afternoon, as ‘The Sontaran Experiment’ tells its story very efficiently and against a backdrop that doesn’t exactly inspire. I guess that’s the danger you encounter when you’re writing a novelisation of a story that was only two episodes long… I’ll give Marter the benefit of the doubt here as he doesn’t do a bad job of the plot and there’s only so much description you can put into a landscape that is stark and, more or less, deserted.

The plot may not outstay its welcome but Marter uses this brevity to its advantage; giving us a plot where it feels like not a lot is taking place but… it’s really urgent that whatever is happening is resolved as soon as possible. That’s some trick to pull off so fair play to Marter for managing it so smoothly. Add a particularly evil Sontaran villain into the mix and even if the wider threat doesn’t seem that bad (the Doctor solves it with the equivalent of a phone call…), the immediate threat is very clear. Especially when you see the experiments that Styre is carrying out. It has been a while since I watched the TV serial, so can’t be sure, but I think Marter took the opportunity to show moments here that wouldn’t have made it onto the screen in 1975. It adds a little bit of the horror that can make it into ‘Doctor Who’ every now and then, I’m cool with that.

And to be honest, there’s not a lot else to say about ‘The Sontaran Experiment’; it may not have a lot to work with but Marter does a good job with what he has. If you’re after a short, sharp ‘Doctor Who’ read then this is probably one for you. If you’re after something a little meatier, well… Pick any novelisation where the corresponding TV serial is a six-parter at least ;o)