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« Kelvington's Corner
Doctor Who - The Sontaran Stratagem...
As with most Doctor Who two parters the action is typically back loaded into the second part, which is fine, and we've come to expect that, but I'll admit this episode is fairly action packed for a first parter. Tonight we get to hear the Sontaran voice long before one is seen, and the subtle ATMOS which has been cropping up since episode one, is played nicely here in the first part. Including a nice car driven into the water stunt at the beginning. Of course the person in the car didn't have to die if they had only watched "Mythbusters" but that's an argument for another day.
This is one of the few Doctor Who's that has a very long teaser, I was surprised we didn't dive right into the titles after the reporter dived into the water. But getting to see Donna fly the TARDIS was worth the long intro, and the cute way they worked Martha Jones in was funny. Let me tell you what pleasure it was to see Martha Jones again, hot sexy, Martha Jones, not that Donna is second best, but REALLY she can't hold a candle to the lovely Ms. Jones.
Seeing the Doctor and Martha meet up was great, including the new super duper UNIT, complete with fancy code names. Now I want to lay to rest this idea that this is NOT a continuation of the original Doctor Who series, tonight should put that to rest forever, as the UNIT people not only know of the Doctor, he HIMSELF admits to working for them in the '70's. So enough with the idea this is a NEW SERIES that has nothing to do with the old one. As for what ATMOS is, it turns out that ATMOS is a super TOM TOM, and it cleans the emissions from your car.
Within the first fifteen minutes we get our first glimpse at not only a cloning facility, but some smart UNIT soldiers, and a fully armored Sontaran. Of course to the Sontarans the UNIT boys are only toy soldiers by comparison and are easily defeated. We also get to see both Donna and Martha at their best, in solving issues and finding clues. Very Scooby Doo of them. In fact this could have easily been the "Doctor-less" episode had it been written just slightly differently.
As the episode progresses we get to meet the kid who created the ATMOS and it's nice to see that the Doctor is truly very smart, and with some well written word play puts the boy genius who invented the ATMOS to shame, and exposes the Sontarans in short order. Plus the Doctor shows us the one Sontaran weakness, with a great bit of squash.
The acting in this episode is excellent, from Sontaran leader, right down to the boy genius, it's well done and well played. The script for a first parter is well above what we have seen in the past, and Tennant shows why he should be the Doctor for the next four or five years, he moves effortlessly through the part, but still allows others to have their moments, like when Donna mocks him when she off to visit the family.
What's good about the episode, Donna telling the Doctor she's going home, how the ATOMS is defeated in the Jeep, the dripping wet naked Martha Jones. And the idea of 400 million cars as poisonous weapons.
What's not so good is how easily Martha is trapped, the third person flash backs (I've always hated them), the Rattigan Academy, because Rattigan is such an obvious anagram for "Giant Rat"
I look forward to seeing next week to see how we save Grandpa, planet earth and how the Sontarans are defeated, if it's with more Squash I think I'll laugh myself silly.
Just my 2¢,
Kelvington
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Apr 26, 2008 4:07 PM
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