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S13E02 " War of the Sontarans" BBC1 6.10-7.10pm 7th November

Rate "War of the Sontarans"

  • Sontar-Ha!

    Votes: 5 11.6%

  • 9

    Votes: 10 23.3%

  • 8

    Votes: 14 32.6%

  • 7

    Votes: 7 16.3%

  • 6

    Votes: 2 4.7%

  • 5

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 4

    Votes: 1 2.3%

  • 3

    Votes: 1 2.3%

  • 2

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Sontar-Blah!

    Votes: 3 7.0%
  • Total voters
    43
S

StCoop

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"The Doctor has an unexpected encounter with one of her deadliest enemies when the Sontarans become a new faction in the Crimean War. As the British army goes into pitched battle with the warlike aliens, the Doctor and her companions seek the help of renowned nurse Mary Seacole (Sara Powell), while an ancient temple hides mysterious secrets."
 
Lots of nice moments in that:

"I've still got a human in this fight" (said by a dog)

"Hit the road, Skaak"

And anyone who thought the injured Sontaran who was nursed by Mary Seacole was going to turn out to be Strax would not be alone.

Great cliffhanger too.

The Sontarans are daft for having their sleep cycle set the same for all their troops. But then they are parodies of "military intelligence" as also exemplified by the British commander here. He's lucky his explosives worked rather than leaving their ships intact to rain nuclear warheads onto the planet....
 
This episode was tremendously fun. Not only do we get classic Sontarans at their finest (and a reference to the original, Link!), but lots of great timey-wimey shenanigans, all coalescing to another terrific cliffhanger.

I imagine some (probably many...) fans are going to hate this further divergence from established Doctor Who continuity and apparently how these Mouri are actually responsible for controlling and maintaining time and not the Time Lords of Gallifrey, but, honestly, I don't mind. I'm curious to see where Chibnall is going with it all.

Seems very likely these are the same people that the Timeless Child came from but I'm still curious about Swarm and Azure's connection with all of this. Some speculated last week that they might be the same species as the Timeless Child (or connected to) considering Swarm's apparent regeneration (but I'm still more reminded of what Eldrad did...), but here it seems they have a specific distain for that entire species for whatever reason.

Speaking of Eldrad, it is curious how this season keeps alluding to the classic series (at least for me) because the Mouri look a lot like the Fendahl and I wondered if they were in fact them until it was confirmed not to be them (just like I thought with Eldrad last week). Plus, we keep getting these wonderful classic Who cliffhangers!

It was great to see Dan Starkey again (more than just a couple of minutes over a transmission) but this time in classic Sontaran make-up. I especially loved the argument between Svild and The Doctor while he was a captive. I hope he continues to the grand tradition of playing a different Sontaran each time they pop up. He's always so much fun to watch.

Loved meeting Dan's parents and the introduction of the wok as the great weapon against the Sontarans! Not too much, but just the right amount of levity that reminded me of a mix of Wilf and Jackie at their best. I hope we get to see them again.

Edited to change: Not Mollari (too bad) but actually Mouri.
 
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I thought that was another cracker. Splitting the three leads was a great idea, and the plot very much thickens... Great cliffhanger too.

Speaking of classic monsters, I was convinced the big guy with Swarm and Azure was the Shadow, the Black Guardian's henchman from The Armageddon Factor.

We never really found out who the Guardians were, other than that they were more powerful than the Time Lords, but also had an interest in keeping time ticking away.

My working theory is that the Guardians are beind the Timeless Child stuff.
 
I guess they couldn't afford the charge of the Light Brigade and had to make do with infantry - or the Sontarans nicked all the horses. Perhaps the British troops could have banged coconut halves together. At least they got the age of George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan, seemingly correct. Lucan was 54 at the time. He is vilified by the Irish, who refer to him as the "Exterminator" for his callous behaviour during the Great Famine.
 
I watched episodes one and two together this evening.

A few off the cuff reactions:

the sound mix is baaaad. I had to put on the subtitles for episode two to know what the pyramid with the grecian key motif was saying.

It started really confusing in ep one, is slightly less so by ep two, but I hope they pick up all the loose ends they started last week,.

I shall sleep easier knowing that somewhere in the universe a big doggy is looking out for me.
 
Tomalak said:
Speaking of classic monsters, I was convinced the big guy with Swarm and Azure was the Shadow, the Black Guardian's henchman from The Armageddon Factor.
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Yes, of course! I knew the henchman's physical appearance looked familiar but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

Between that, not Eldrad, and not Fendahl, I have to think the visual allusions are deliberate.

Tomalak said:
We never really found out who the Guardians were, other than that they were more powerful than the Time Lords, but also had an interest in keeping time ticking away.

My working theory is that the Guardians are beind the Timeless Child stuff.
Click to expand...
Definitely a solid theory. I always wanted to see more of the Guardians. Big Finish covered them pretty well but it would be great to see them on the main show again.
 
Not alone on the subtitle front, Kathy, but I think it was more an issue with those floaty geometric buggers. No lips so harder to make out words like "Mouri" which we are expecting/familiar with.
 
Better, if only because it was more focused, dealing with just the three storylines with two of them clearly connected, and one each of the three main characters anchored to each storyline so we were invested. Nicely done.

Swarm was more menacing this time, I thought. He almost reminded me of Scorpius in a way - that kind of cool, casual evil with the gentle lilting voice, rather than overtly threatening evil with shouting and bellowing. I still like the idea that he could somehow be the original Master from pre-Gallifrey. In fact I think it would have been great if they left Missy as the 'last' Master, and then introduced this guy who turns out to be the 'first' Master pre-Delgado, and just left Dhawan's 'O' Master out of it altogether.

Sontarans were fun, I liked the slight expanding of their mythology and how they work, I like that they combined the old school threat with the new school comedy aspects ("I just wanted to ride a horse"), and yes, I also paused the playback to ask "Is that actually Strax?" After all, isn't that where the 11th Doctor picked him up - as a nurse in a war?

I was a bit surprised by Dan being quite so brave and proactive already in only his second episode - it normally takes companions a while to build up to that. More than meets the eye again, or just foreshortened characterisation thanks to the reduced episode run? The parents were fun though, and I enjoyed the Doctor's utter bafflement at Dan carrying a wok. "It's me mam's!" Although my husband, who is a thorough Manc, is quite disturbed by the show's attempt to humanise Scousers.

And the 13th Doctor was classic Doctor this episode - commanding, purposeful, trying to save lives, even the bad guys', and incensed when someone else goes behind her back to kill them anyway. (And I remembered the 10th Doctor in "The Christmas Invasion" when she said "You didn't need to do that, they were retreating!") Also Mary Seacole - another important woman getting her chance to shine in a celebrity historical. (She already appeared in a 12 Doctor audio drama btw.)

I like the idea upthread that we could be bringing back the Guardians, and that they may be associated with the Timeless Child. Again, the 13th Doctor has gone from actively avoiding her history and refusing to dwell on it, to getting caught up in all of her history connecting to itself all at once. Interesting...

.
 
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A rollicking good episode. Really liked the humour, the cliffhanger, and the throwaway use of the word “Doctress.” Sara Powell was terrific as Mary Seacole and Jodie Whittaker once again owned the part of the Doctor. Also, once again I was impressed by the attention to special effects such as when the humans and the Sontarans clashed in battle.

Minor gripes include the Sontarans’ ridiculous ineptitude, but I guess it was the sensible option in the end. 8/10.
 
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Dr Who really good this week- probably Chibnall's best story since The Woman Who Fell To Earth. More intrigued by the Planet Of Time/Atropos stuff though - is it Gallifrey or the place where the Timess Child came from. Assuming they're not one and the same.

Love a bit Strax- er, I mean Sontaran Starkey. Weird how they let Jonathan Watson go full Scottish when he had that verbal duel with the Doctor, pre-battle, but not the rest of the time... Also love that they're going all out wscale and effects. And the dog. Really loving Swarm too- Has Chibbers actually created a good villain at last?

Now to watch What We Do In The Shadows season 3 on iPlayer.
 
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I bloody loved that! Fantastic episode from start to finish. Why couldn't Chibnall and Whittaker's Who been this much fun from the start? Loved the Sontarans, loved Mary Seacole. Not for the first time Whittaker excels when separated from her companions.

@DS9Continuing yes Dan has seemed to hit the ground running as a companion but I'd put that down to the truncated season. We've only got six episodes so I don't mind him getting into the groove very quickly.

Anyway, I probably was a bit giddy from how much fun I had watching this and may regret it in the morning, but I gave it a 10! Up there with Fugitive of the Judoon and The Haunting of Villa Diodati as highlights of this era.
 
matthunter said:
Not alone on the subtitle front, Kathy, but I think it was more an issue with those floaty geometric buggers. No lips so harder to make out words like "Mouri" which we are expecting/familiar with.
Click to expand...
Asbo Zaprudder said:
Those floaty geometric buggers made me think the props department had been shopping at Homebase's lighting section.
Click to expand...
Oh, forgot to mention that the floating geometric buggers (called Priest Triangle according to the credits) reminded me of Bit from Tron.
 
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