Stories Television Doctor Who Season 12 Serial: 1 2 3 4 5 The Sontaran Experiment 1 image Overview Episodes Characters How to Watch Reviews 12 Statistics Related Stories Quotes 3 Transcript Overview First aired Saturday, February 22, 1975 Production Code 4B Written by Bob Baker, Dave Martin Directed by Rodney Bennett Runtime 50 minutes Time Travel Future Tropes (Potential Spoilers!) Lost the TARDIS Story Arc (Potential Spoilers!) Nerva Beacon Location (Potential Spoilers!) Earth Synopsis Arriving on a seemingly deserted Earth, the Doctor, Sarah and Harry soon discover a crew of shipwrecked astronauts from a distant Earth colony. Lured there by a fake distress call, the astronauts are being experimented on by the deadly Sontarans in preparation of a full-scale invasion of the planet. Can the Doctor defeat Sontaran Field-Major Styre and save the world? Watch Watched Favourite Favourited Add Review Edit Review Log a repeat Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Owned Save to my list Saved Edit date completed Custom Date Release Date Archive (no date) Save 2 Episodes Part One First aired Saturday, February 22, 1975 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Bob Baker Dave Martin Directed by Rodney Bennett UK Viewers 11 million Synopsis The Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry teleport to Earth to ensure the planet is safe for the survivors on board Nerva Beacon to return and reinhabit their world. A Sontaran named Styre has captured a group of humans and is conducting experiments on them to discover the human body's weaknesses, as part of the Sontaran's goal for domination of the galaxy. Part Two First aired Saturday, March 1, 1975 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Bob Baker Dave Martin Directed by Rodney Bennett UK Viewers 10.5 million Appreciation Index 55 Synopsis The Doctor learns that Styre has been experimenting on the Galsec crewmembers to pave the way for a Sontaran invasion of Earth and decides the only way to halt his plans is to challenge him to a duel. Show All Episodes Characters Fourth Doctor Tom Baker Sarah Jane Smith Elisabeth Sladen Harry Sullivan Ian Marter Field Major Styre Sontarans Show All Characters (5) How to watch The Sontaran Experiment: Watch on iPlayer Blu-Ray The Collection – Season 12 DVD Bred For War – The Sontaran Collection DVD The Sontaran Experiment VHS The Sontaran Experiment & The Genesis of the Daleks (VHS) Reviews Add Review Edit Review Sort: Date (Newest First) Date (Oldest First) Likes (High-Low) Likes (Low-High) Rating (High-Low) Rating (Low-High) Word count (High-Low) Word count (Low-High) Username (A-Z) Username (Z-A) Spoilers First Spoilers Last 12 reviews 24 April 2025 · 31 words Review by Azurillkirby Sontarans are cool! ...I don't have much else to say. The story is perfectly good, but at only two episodes, there's not much of substance to dig your teeth in. B. Azurillkirby View profile Like Liked 0 24 April 2025 · 33 words Review by Nitronine This story is fun, but the most fun I have watching it is mentioning that Tom Baker does half of his scenes with a broken collarbone. This is my LOTR helmet kick scene. Nitronine View profile Like Liked 0 12 April 2025 · 52 words Review by Jonathan_ Spoilers This review contains spoilers! Not a ton happens in this episode to be honest, but its short and nice to see Sontarans again We get some nice background information about humanity during this period, while the Ark was still in space humanity spread out to different planets and survived whatever it was that ruined the Earth Jonathan_ View profile Like Liked 0 19 March 2025 · 95 words Review by KieranCooper I rather enjoyed this story, a much improvement on the Sontarans after their first story Sells completely how much I like the pairing of Sarah Jane and Harry, if only Harry had more I wished the experiments were explored more, the fear experiment was particularly something I wished they explored more As much as the story perfectly fits only 2 parts, I would have loved it if we got a third-party I often think the side cast takes over, maybe one or two less of them would have been beneficial to smooth the whole story out KieranCooper View profile Like Liked 0 1 March 2025 · 86 words Review by Guardax Spoilers This review contains spoilers! A pretty inoffensive two-episode story. It's a nice change of pace to get the rare story that's filmed entirely outdoors in some scenic rocky terrain. The first episode doesn't do much with us meeting some stranded astronauts with a machine following them. It picks up more when we meet the Sontaran, but the story consists of a lot of 'Sontaran pops up with these characters, then with this characters, etc'. The Doctor tiring out the Sontaran is pretty fun. Overall, an inoffensive story but nothing memorable. Guardax View profile Like Liked 0 Show All Reviews (12) Open in new window Statistics AVG. Rating508 members 3.17 / 5 Trakt.tv AVG. Rating214 votes 3.85 / 5 Member Statistics Watched 932 Favourited 28 Reviewed 12 Saved 3 Skipped 2 Related Stories Other adaptations of this story: We define an adaptation as a recreation of a similar story but on a different medium or with different characters. Target Collection Doctor Who and the Sontaran Experiment Rating: 3.83 Story Skipped Book More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: Target Collection Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Quotes Add Quote Link to Quote Favourite Tags: Name dropping SARAH: Linx. — Sarah Jane Smith, The Sontaran Experiment Show All Quotes (3) Open in new window Transcript Needs checking Part One [Transmat station] (A number of globes nestle amongst the heather of Headland Warren, Dartmoor, just north of Widecombe. They buzz, then the Doctor appears. He has just transported down from Space Station Nerva, the Ark in Space. After a few moments, Harry appears, disappears, and appears in another place.) HARRY: Ah, Doctor. (Harry disappears again, then finally reappears.) Show Full Transcript Open in new window
