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Plot:
After having their more popular and famous adventure on an ark in space, the Doctor, Sarah and Harry transmat down to Earth to apply a permanent fix to the transmat receivers, allowing the revived humans on Nerva to beam down. Unfortunately, they have arrived in the middle of an experiment by a Sontaran, Styre, on some colonist humans he's lured to the abandoned Earth. He's doing this as part of plans for an invasion, but Styre doesn't seem to care about all the empirical evidence that the planet is empty except for these, like, six dudes. Instead, he tortures them to find their weaknesses. He likes torturing people, is what it is. The experiment also involves turning the leader of the humans, Vural, traitor and letting him spy on the others; again, not sure what help this will be for a wholesale military invasion, and anyway there are only about three humans left on the planet by then (the torture kills a few more of them); but, Styre's having fun is the main thing. The TARDIS trio get caught up a bit in the capture and torture, but soon dispatch the Sontaran; the Doctor challenges him to hand to hand combat to tire him out, and Harry meddles with a component in his ship so that when he tries to recharge, everything blows up. After this, the Doctor, Sarah and Harry say goodbye to the remaining couple of humans and transmat away to their more popular and famous adventure witnessing the genesis of the Daleks.
Context:
"But when is bins??!!" That's the traditional cry of mental anguish that can be felt across the UK in the period between Boxing Day and New Year's Eve, the Chrimbo limbo. It was on one early evening during that period in 2020 (and yes, I can't remember which exactly, only a few days on) that I put on and watched The Sontaran Experiment from the box set blu-ray disc accompanied by a glass of beer, and my youngest child (girl of 8). The other two children were amusing themselves elsewhere, firstly by playing draughts against each other, and then after that by fighting about the game of draughts. Happy days! The youngest, when Tom Baker's tones emanated from the TV saying "Doctor Who Season 12 Box Set Disc Three", recognised the voice as belonging to "the one with the scarf" making me proud, and then when he said "To select audio navigation, press Enter now" she said "Bossy!" making me laugh. Aside from thinking right at the start from the long shot that the transmat refractor balls were sheep grazing, and being disappointed when they weren't, there were no further comments from the little one; but, she did keep watching avidly, and fidgeted a bit in excitement at the chase scene in part one when Vural and his colonist crew are pursuing the Doctor.
First time round:
Early October 1991. Bryan Adams was at number one in the UK singles chart for the 400th week running with disproportionately unremarkable song '(Everything I do) I do it for you', and I was packing my things ready to go off to university for the start of my first year at St. Aidan's College, University of Durham. A lot of people I have mentioned regularly over the years on the blog were connected to that place. I would travel up on the train for that first time with my Doctor Who fan friend Zahir, and within a few days would meet a lot of friends for life including my very good Doctor Who fan friend David, and my less keen on Doctor Who friend Phil who nonetheless has watched a hell of a lot of episodes with me over the years. I would quickly meet Mike, whose possession of a single room and a VCR would allow me to watch Doctor Who videos in my first year with lots of other friends who were curious if not fanatic, Tim, Rich, Andy, and even sometimes Mark who really doesn't like Doctor Who at all. I even met later Doctor Who Magazine editor Gary Gillatt who was at the same college at that time, a couple of years above me. Based on the odd time I've bumped into him since, he doesn't remember me, but does remember David.
Perhaps because it was such an exciting transitional time in my life, and there were other things to think about than Doctor Who, it is one of the rare points in this era where I am uncertain of the exact chronology of events regarding my first experience of a new Doctor Who story (get out the tiny violins - before university, seeing new Doctor Who stories on VHS was the most exciting thing in my life!). The Sontaran Experiment / Genesis of the Daleks VHS double pack, as well as The Deadly Assassin, came out at around the start of term, so I don't think I would have bought them on the day of release as was my usual style. My memory is of buying them in Worthing not Durham; later, during the Christmas holidays, I first saw The Deadly Assassin on a pirated VHS copy that David had loaned out to me (see here for more details). All the evidence suggests that, maybe wanting to save pennies, or to grow up a bit since I was in higher education, or maybe because I didn't know Mike well enough yet to monopolise the use of his VCR / room as I would eventually in 1992, I must have showed the most restraint I've ever done in my life and held off from buying a new Doctor Who release for three or four months. After that kind of wait, even The Sontaran Experiment - definitely the least of the three stories released in October 1991 - would have seemed exciting when I finally got to see it.
Reaction:
Tom Baker's first run, season 12, is structured to connect each of the stories loosely. This seems to have been driven by financial rather than narrative concerns; some sets are reused by having the Doctor and friends return to the scene of a previous adventure in a later story, for example, and the production also pulls off a trick that 1980s producer John Nathan-Turner would use regularly in his later seasons, of getting two stories out of one. So, a six part slot with an allocation for studio and location filming is split into one story that's all studio, and another that's all location; the first was The Ark in Space, the second is this 2-part quickie The Sontaran Experiment. To make the location shoot stretch to cover two full episodes, it is made on Outside Broadcast (OB) video rather than film; to be able to reuse a costume and spaceship prop from existing stock, the decision was made to feature an existing monster, the Sontaran as introduced in the previous year's The Time Warrior. All of these decisions look like they were made for budgetary reasons, and all have influences on the shape of the eventual narrative, some good, some not so good.
Starting with the good: the OB video cameras available at the time were designed for use mainly at sporting events, and had restricted scope of movement having to keep closely connected to the OB van. This necessitated the action of the shoot being all in one fairly localised area. Whether desolation was dictated by the script first, or - as I suspect - arose from those limitations, this gave rise to the idea of setting it in Dartmoor National Park, which is one of the biggest aspects the story has in its favour. The vast sweeps of greenery and craggy rock formations allow for a coherent vision of an abandoned world to be established with minimal external elements of set dressing, but still allow for variety without the cast and crew having to trudge too far between set-ups. From a narrative point of view, it allows development on from the previous story of the survivors of a cataclysm. Here we get to see the Earth the Nerva sleepers of The Ark in Space escaped from and which they hope to return. So far, everything is holding up logically. There has to be someone for the Doctor and friends to interact with, though, which is tricky on an abandoned planet; but, this is seeded within the previous story too. The people on the Ark weren't the only escapees, and some colonists have survived elsewhere. Some of these have landed on Earth and are now in a fight for survival. Again, so far, so good.
The colonists have little screen time to establish themselves; some interesting choices in terms of accents and dialect work as a characterisation shorthand to make them different from the Doctor and Friends, and from the humans seen on the Ark. Beyond that, there isn't a lot of space for anyone to shine in two episodes (The Sontaran Experiment was the only two-part story of the decade, this story length had fallen out of favour after being a bit more common in the 1960s, and would stage a comeback in the 1980s). Vural - played by fine Scottish actor Donald Douglas, most famous for portraying Darcy Senior in the Bridget Jones films - gets to do betrayal and last ditch attempt to put things right at the cost of his own life, but at warp speed, blink and you'd miss it. The other interesting character is half-crazed with shock Roth (Peter Rutherford) whose frightening appearance belies his bravery and decency when he rescues Sarah. He survives two seconds into episode 2 before being brutally and disappointingly gunned down by Styre before his character can develop further. Kevin Lindsay does solid work, building on his debut as a Sontaran the year before, this time playing both the two Sontarans in the piece, Styre and the Marshal spoken to on a video communicator (Equity might have had something to say about clone races in science fiction if Doctor Who had played this trick more often). The regulars, in only their second production together, are settling in nicely as a great TARDIS team, with some witty interplay and nice bits of business.
The effects, most of which would have needed to be created on location in camera, without the luxury of the studio gallery or much else in the way of post production, are nonetheless effective. Styre's head deflating when he dies, for example, is very memorable. The music is the Dudley Simpson house style of the time, and none the worse for that. There are a couple of great stunt falls on location too. This is slightly ironic, as one of the most famous things about this story behind the camera is that Tom Baker had a real fall on location and broke his collar bone. Later shots in close up have his scarf wrapped around disguising his neck brace, and later long shots of the Doctor are all played by stunt double Terry Walsh. If this is pointed out, you can't help but see it, but it's done very well, and the first time I watched I was unaware and it looked seamless. So, if all that's competent enough, then the drawbacks of this story must come from the script, mustn't they? But the little details of plotting to link this story to the others around it in the wider narrative are good too, with the Doctor saved from death when shot by Styre as he's got a piece of metal he nicked from Nerva in his pocket, and Harry mentioning the Animal Botanic section which will be used to repopulate the Earth's fauna. There's a nice bit of world building too, when the colonists gripe about the superiority of the pure Mother Earthers from Nerva, and not wanting to be bossed around by them.
No, the major drawbacks of the script are not the details but the bigger picture which doesn't really make sense. It's also not a great fit for the choice of adversary. The Sontarans as delineated in their debut story are thirsty for combat at all costs, so why would they delay and eventually call off their invasion of this galaxy while waiting for one Sontaran to finish an experiment? Though the first Sontaran we are introduced to in The Time Warrior, Linx, is proud of his superior technology, he is not messing about with science as part of a usual experimental process, but because he's stranded on a primitive planet and desperate. If he'd had an invasion force on standby, he'd have called them in without a single thought. Styre and the Marshall on the other hand seem reluctant to engage. Beyond that, though, what hypothesis exactly is the experiment supposed to prove?
At first glance Strye's actions look even more illogical than they actually are, as he seems to be testing humans in order to invade a planet that's uninhabited of humans; but, buried in the dialogue, is a confirmation that the Sontarans want to invade the galaxy not just the planet. So, assuming there are other worlds in that galaxy with humans on, then it does make sense to test their defences. But what have they got to prove except 'do our guns kill them?' which Styre presumably established on day 1. Why bother testing out their survival skills? Also, won't the battles to conquer a galaxy mostly, or at least firstly, be dogfights between spaceships? If so, all that needs to be be proved is 'do our guns kill their spaceships?' which Styre definitely establishes on day 1 when he vaporises the colonists's ship. Even giving the Sontarans the benefit of the doubt and assuming that they were anticipating on-planet troop battles later on, then wouldn't surveying each planet for ground defences and troop numbers be a better use of time than luring nine blokes to an abandoned planet and seeing whether immersing them in water or dehydration is a better way of killing them? Sontarans: you have guns that can vaporise their spaceships, stop mucking about.
Connectivity:
Both The Sontaran Experiment and The Christmas Invasion are set in London (unless the Doctor's comments in the two-parter about underground stations are a joke), and both involve the Doctor challenging the main villain to one-on-one combat, duel style, and then the alien spaceship later getting blown up.
Deeper Thoughts:
2020 Hindsight. So, a new year is almost upon us; from my very unscientific glance at the international mood, it seems to me that nobody has any great concrete expectations for 2021 beyond getting 2020 over and done with. It doesn't feel like a time for resolutions. If you disagree, just think of all the people who at midnight on 31st December 2019 resolved to get out of the house more, see more live gigs, meet up with old friends again, or do lots of exercise in the spring when the weather would be nicer - definitely more than once a day. Those people can supply you their own hollow laugh. Yes, 2020 feels like something inflicted upon us, over which we couldn't have much control, and the beginning of 2021 is going to be more of the same. Resolutions may not be appropriate, but hopes, that's a different deal. Everyone has hopes that the roll out of Covid-19 vaccinations will restore normality at some point later in the year. One's level of optimism or pessimism dictates exactly when in the year seems plausible. I have bookings rearranged from 2020 for a live music event and a sporting event in May and July of 2021 respectively. I wouldn't put any money on being able to attend either, and expect them both to be cancelled or rearranged again. I hadn't had any plans to go to the cinema to see the new (well, quite old now) Daniel Craig Bond film, No Time To Die, but it now feels almost totemic. I feel that I should go along whenever - 2022, 2023? - the producers and distributors decide sufficiently good takings are likely, as that feels like the point where all the madness will definitely be over.
On a smaller scale, I'm looking forward to a resumption of Doctor Who on TV and on shiny disc. In both cases, it's been confirmed that there is something in the can ready for imminent release (Revolution of the Daleks on January 1st and the Blu-Ray Collection box set of season 8, Jon Pertwee's second year, in February), and work on the ongoing series in both cases has been resumed, albeit somewhat restricted by the virus, and associated tier and lockdown rules. I'm trying to remain as un-spoilered as possible for the 1st of January; I've seen some reviews being referenced online, but have not read any, and may have to go on a social media blackout for the next day. I don't know why exactly, I've certainly had my reservations about some of the bigger episodes of the show since 2018, but I think this one's going to be very special. I'll report back here later in January and let you know whether I still feel the same after having watched it. I'm also very intrigued by season 8 restored for an HD delivery medium. This was a set of stories that presented perhaps the most challenges of any colour 20th century run; episodes needed to be re-colourised, either from available non-broadcast standard video tape versions, or from the chroma dots stored in the black and white film copies; more still needed full re-colourisation from scratch. Some episodes are also conversions from another broadcast standard, NTSC, which contains less picture information. I've 100% faith that what is on the discs is the best that could possibly done, and I can't wait to see it.
Beyond this, Who knows what we will see in 2021? Assuming that nothing happens in the wider world to delay it further, there will be eight Jodie Whittaker episodes currently being made that will be shown later in 2021. Or maybe seven, and one will be held back for New Year's 2022 perhaps. What will happen within them is impossible to even take a guess at until any shocks, revelations or changes contained in Revolution of the Daleks are known. Will Covid restrictions change the types of stories being told? Will there be any continuation of the Timeless Child plot arcs from series 12? Will the Master return, or the 'Ruth' Doctor? Will any other old school foes be back? It's exciting to be able to speculate, and not have any kind of hint. Similar is true for classic series releases. What will be the next series box set? Is this the year when a black and white series finally gets its own Blu-ray collection release? What about animated stories, any chance of them? Well, on this last point, there's already some good news that the missing episode of The Web of Fear (part 3) has been animated for a special edition DVD and Blu-Ray sometime TBC in 2020. There's also rumours that another two animations are being worked on for release next year too. Even if not all of that proves accurate, there's still enough already confirmed to suggest that 2021 will have ballpark the same amount in one quarter alone that 2020 did altogether. With their recent work, the teams involved have proved that they can produce animations and Blu-ray restorations while working remotely, so it's only the new series which could be blocked by future events, and production is so far still going strong. There's every reason to be optimistic for a Happy New Year's worth of goodies to keep us entertained, even if we all can't leave our houses.
In Summary:
Like 2020, The Sontaran Experiment didn't make a lot of sense, but still had its fun moments. Happy New Year everyone!
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