Doctor Who Series 4 - The Sontaran Stratagem
Russell T. Davies has done it again, he has brought back a classic Doctor Who villian in a re-imagined form; and it’s been brilliant. ‘The Sontaran Strategem‘ was packed with mystery and suspense but yet seemed very comfortable and familiar to me; the mark of a modern classic?
The Doctor and Donna are summoned back to Earth’s present by Martha Jones, the doctor’s previous companion (I personally dont count Astrid Peth from the Christmas Special 2007, ‘Voyage of the Damned‘).
Martha Jones now works as a medical doctor for UNIT (Unified Intelligence Taskforce, known in the classic series as United Nations Intelligence Taskforce) who are investigating ATMOS, a pollution control and navigation system installed in approximately 400 million vehicles world-wide.
ATMOS was developed and sold by a young genius and former prodigy, Luke Rattigan. Although Rattigan is widely accepted as a world-class genius and even has his own academy for prodigies from allover the globe, ATMOS technology is so advanced that UNIT believe it to have alien origins.
This UNIT operation is led by Colonel Mace who sees the Doctor as something as a legend because of the Doctor’s work with UNIT during his time in exile on Earth. Colonel Mace says the Doctor is still listed as a UNIT staff member.
Though very polite, Colonel Mace seems very sure of himself and his intel, despite the Doctor’s protestations. The Doctor recalls his work with UNIT;
“…that was in the 70s, or was it the 80s?”
This is a direct reference to the UNIT dating controversy, an ongoing debate in Doctor Who fandom about whether these stories took place in the 1970s or the 1980s; as inconsistant dates were constantly given.
UNIT personel find a clone nursery in the basement of an ATMOS factory but are quickly intercepted by a Sontaran, General Staal of Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet, also known as ‘Staal the undefeated’.
UNIT troops attempt to fire upon General Staal but their weapons are been rendered useless by a Sontaran cordolane signal which causes expansion in copper-coated bullets, jamming them in the gun-barrell. General Staal then uses mind-control to send these troops back into the UNIT controlled-area of the factory to lure the more senior Martha Jones into the clone nursery.
As Donna returns to her family home to tell her extraterrestrial adventure stories with her Grandfather as listen to her mother’s insessant moaning, the Sontaran Stratagem is finally unleashed and 400 million ATMOS vehicles begin releasing poisonous gas into Earth’s atmosphere. As panic spreads throughout the world and entire cities are engulfed in clouds of gas, only one force remains to protect us; the Doctor.
This episode concludes next week and I cant wait; the acting was brilliant, the story-telling was dynamite and the the plot was a huge enigma. The Sontaran Battlefleet could obliterate the entire planet instantly if it wanted us dead, so why employ a cowardly poison gas attack? Perhaps they mean to enslave us?
Series 4 of Doctor Who seems to be alot sexier I think; in her brief appearance in ‘Partners In Crime‘ Rose Tyler looked alot fitter than in the previous series and in ‘The Sontaran Stratagem’, Martha Jones looks very fuckable, definately the fittest I’ve ever seen her. Yet another reason why I cant wait until the next episode of Doctor Who!
Next week’s Doctor Who is entitled “The Poison Sky“.
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