An average but intense story for the Sontarans, as we move further into the Williams Era.

The Doctor has developed a lot, becoming sillier and more light-hearted when around the Sontarans. His interactions are always fun, and he has some great moments which show off why he is clearly the most popular Doctor. There's some decent continuity in his reaction to the Time Lords interfering once again, such as when they show up in Colony in Space, the Mutants and Genesis of the Daleks. Leela has an extremely thrilling storyline, teaming up with Vilhol and then having to go to such extremes - this leads to a strained relationship between the two travellers, and I can't wait for them to expand this in the future.

Strang is a really intimidating foe, and is pretty ruthless for a Sontaran (none of that funny Strax nonsense), even killing an entire squadron of Sontarans in his first scene. The idea that accompanied this was a very fascinating concept, and I'm surprised it hasn't been done before. The Doctor's reaction to not be able to knock him out was a O_O moment. Strang's clones ramped up the threat, being practically invulnerable and I had no idea how they would be defeated.

There aren't many side characters, since practically everyone in the story wants to kill the Doctor, so I'm just going to talk about the Sontarans in general. They are pretty decent, but aside from Vilhol, who bonds with Leela far too well, and Strang, they have nothing that special about them.

Overall, quite a good story in terms of characterisation for one Sontaran and developing Leela and the Doctor's relationship, but aside from that, quite generic.

It is difficult, I think, when you have an alien race that has been designated as a homogenous fighter race who love war and all think the same, to write a story that is actually interesting as well as not just being a rehash of stuff done before. John Dorney, as always, delivers. This story plays with the ideas of Sontaran clone batches and how powerful a Sontaran would be if they were to have an entire clone genetic batch in one being. There's also some generic humans v Sontarans stuff, and Strang trying to create a portal that will take him anywhere in space so he can go and conquer it completely.

In a sense, it is a relatively generic story - the Sontaran plotline, though interesting, is run of the mill in terms of 'the bad guy is defeated. But it is the Doctor and Leela's relationship that really makes this story shine. Leela decides, at the end, that it is not worth the potential of Strang's dangerous genetic batch getting out into the universe so she detroys them, against the Doctor's wishes. He is upset by this, but Leela is steadfast in her beliefs. It was very good to hear a story that allows Leela to be ruthless and calculating in a way that isn't just 'yeah, the stupid warrior stabs'. It offers a truly interesting insight into the stark differences between the Doctor and Leela, and Jameson's performance when the Doctor tells Leela he's taking her home is utterly heartbreaking. This alone elevated this to a higher rating for me.

This was my first 4th doctor audio and honestly think it’s up there as one of his best performances him and Leela thrive in this audio and think the ending is actually such a humble note to leave it on showing that Leela and the doctor are still different and look at things in different lights