It's easy to underestimate The Sontaran Ordeal, and it definitely is held back in little ways, not the least of which that the Sontarans simply aren't a new monster - at best, this is the re-imagined version of the classic monster going up against a semi-classic Doctor, also bringing in Time War content, which arguably is the new monster, but again, we have the Eighth Doctor interacting with this story, so it remains dubious in how well it fits with the idea of this set.

Still, minor quibbles about this story's identity aside, it is a pretty entertaining affair on the whole. The Sontarans and Eighth Doctor is fun, and I love the idea of this world being victim to the Time War. We heard a lot about stuff like this in passing from the new series, that many worlds and peoples suffered under the Time War and even the fact that Sontarans were largely excluded from the conflict, and it all leads to a very natural story following the consequences of all this. I had a lot of fun with this story but yeah, it's pretty one and done (and also is worth noting it took a couple of tries for me to get through it). Still, worth listening to, at least once. The stuff with Sarana was pretty good at putting a face to the suffering caused by the Time War, which I think was really well conveyed through the special effects at the start of this audio. That was very compelling stuff, even if I think aspects of it could have been better explored here.