An interesting sontaran story I’m impressed

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Beast of Kravenos

Sontarans, zombies, zombie Sontarans, what more could you want? Very few stories show the Sontarans in this light and give them any depth beyond their very 2-dimensional appearances. I like that they didn't betray the Doctor at the end which is something that every "enemy reluctantly helps the Doctor and slowly begins to respect him" story does.

The story itself is pretty good, it's quite similar to The War Games and explores a similar idea of constructed wars. The evil AI's motivation didn't really make sense but that's my only important gripe with the story. I would definitely recommend this if you enjoy Sontarans but otherwise as it stands it's just ok.

Next Story: The Silent Scream

A grim and dark story featuring the Sontarans - utterly unique, full of atmosphere and tension, and some really interesting ideas surrounding these famous foes! But this serious tone fits perfectly with this TARDIS team, as they manage to add a bit of humour into their grisly surroundings.

This TARDIS team is usually in light-hearted romps, so it's great to hear these actors get their teeth around a stark contrast - a deadly, eternal war - and they handle the material fantastically! Rather than make the story feel jarring with a lot of witty dialogue, they keep these travellers in-character with smart-ass comments about the situation, which actually do portray Romana and the Doctor in a positive light, being able to demonstrate their mass intelligence. As well as this, K-9 would usually be getting right into the action, but they all know that he can't take on Sontarans, and this shows off what a threat they are in this story - For the first time in quite a while, they're a force to be reckoned with. It's also a nice touch that Romana is aware of the Sontarans from the Invasion of Time.

To be honest, I would've preferred if this story focused solely on the Sontarans - the idea of a Sontaran Civil War is awesome, and elements of this do bleed through, with mutinies and zombie Sontarans running amok. It's a struggle to write for returning monsters, and this story builds on their mythos and lore excellently without ruining their character - Sontarans scared of death? How come it's never been done before?! Genius! They're a proper threat, and it's great that we're seeing different sides to these monsters, with one of them even becoming a "companion" for the story. There's some really great moments that just make fun of these monsters, as they can be silly and childish sometimes - like the criticism of the probic vent, questioning why that's never been fixed to stop it being a weakness.

The battlefield is captured excellently by the sound designers, and the theme of "war always comes, no matter what" is a grim one, but rather apt when it comes to the Sontarans. The atmosphere is perfectly scary and this setting makes the story a lot more tense, reminding me of the Early Adventure story, "The Sontarans" (I might relisten to that tomorrow). But the horror element works so well and compliments these monsters in a unique and original way.

Back to the biggest flaw I had with this story - the inclusion of some random human army that the Sontarans are fighting. It sets up an interesting dilemma for the Sontarans with "What's the point in fighting", but these humans felt generic and only there to advance the plot rather than have any emotional contribution.

This is the kind of story I'm hoping for - a simple concept, but going the stretch with it and utilising it to its full potential! Sombre, bleak and full of novel ideas, with a fantastic cast at the helm!

Two words - zombie Sontarans