The War Doctor’s first audio outside of his series of adventures in the four-story mini-series, Sontarans vs Rutans. A series that celebrated 50 years since the first Sontaran story, The Time Warrior, set during the Sontarans ongoing war against their sworn enemies, the Rutans with each story featuring a different Doctor (Three, Six, Eight and War) but not necessarily in the right order.
In Name Only marks the culmination of events as a Time Lord station is attacked by an assault party of Rutans, prompting an aggressive response from a member of the High Council who proposes the invasion and destruction of the Rutan’s homeworld, as if they had never existed. Curious as to why the Rutans would risk their own genocide by attacking the Time Lords, the Doctor’s investigation takes him to Sontar itself and what he may discover not only connects to a few incursions throughout his previous lives, but the result of destroying the Rutans may bring about the destruction of time itself.
This is a story that absolutely requires the context of the three prior stories (The Battle of Giant’s Causeway, Children of the Future and Born to Die) as it connects the events surrounding this mini-series whilst using the complicated nature of the Time War to put a time paradox spin on things. It makes for an epic and clever finale that takes the Sontarans in a unique direction. The good news is that the series itself is solid all-round. As a celebration of 50 years since the first Sontaran story, The Time Warrior, this series does the ruthless clone warriors justice and In Name Only makes for a good conclusion with the War Doctor himself showcasing his more ruthless nature. There are moments where it resorts to tons of exposition explaining how the story arc fits together and some segments that were a bit confusing to follow. This is a good listen but do yourself a favour and listen to the rest in order first.
DanDunn
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