Tuesday 29 April 2008
Sontar
Par Pierre, Tuesday 29 April 2008 à 08:54 :: Doctor Who
Last Saturday was the much-dreaded return of Helen Raynor as writer for Doctor Who. Fears were high, anticipation low, after last year's Evolution of the Daleks. However, last year, the first part of her two-parter, Daleks in Manhattan, was amazingly good, despite some terrible terrible American accents. It was formative (that's where I found out about Hoovervilles) and entertaining. And even Ryan Carnes' character was not too annoying. Yet.
The Sontaran Stratagem, however, is different. The slot in the series was an asset, with Martha's return, and that could be either played up or played down. It was not played at all. Martha could have been just a random character from UN.I.T. The story per se is dull. And not in character with the classic Sontarans. Hopefully, next week's will remain on par with The Sontaran Stratagem, and not have all the action crammed into it (like last year's Helen Raynor episodes), and the (slightly off), slow pacing of the first episode will be entirely justified by the introduction of UNIT characters.
Still, aside from the story and the pacing, The Sontaran Stratagem has a lot going for it, especially in terms of production values. The acting is top-notch, especially from the geek boy Rattigan. And private Ross Jenkins. Characterisation was strong, and consistent with the classic series (good points for the Sontaran sense of honour). And, finally, the music - that Sontaran piece towards the end of the episode is the first Murray Gold masterpiece this series. There were several discreet fanwank lines, such as the UNIT dating controversy, which were placed in a cute way and not overplayed; and it was good to see the Sontarans still had an Achilles' heel in their neck! Also, I must admit I loved the conditional clause lines - and Rattigan's retort: both were delivered pitch-perfectly!
And UNIT. UNIT is the major strength of this episode. It looks like it's going to play a bigger part in the future, considering how much effort has been put into the characterisation of some of its characters. UNIT is more nuanced than in the previous series, but has more power as well... and the Doctor can thus emphasize on his differences and his distance from it (no guns, no orders,...). Well, I hope we're going to see more of UNIT in the new series, with (hopefully) a new Benton/Yates with Ross Jenkins; or, who knows, a new companion!
All in all, The Sontaran Stratagem was a "meh" episode. Not amazingly good, because of the story itself, but still quite good thanks to script editing and production values! Hopefully, next week will show that Helen Raynor can write two-parters!