Doctor Who 2008: Sontarans cometh, RTD Ood 'ave 'im etc.

plz at some point go to another planet

They were just on the Planet of the Ood last week, don't tell me they sprayed all that fake snow over a rock quarry and nobody noticed.

I've seen almost no old-school Who, but this morning my sister downloaded The Sontaran Experiment for us to watch before the new ep. Damn, those fuckers were terrifying. Nu-Sontarans lacked that grinning rubber clown-face quality that made them so scary.

They're doing it again, as mentioned upthread(or an earlier thread). Modern tech neuroses used as plot devices(literally in this case). Instead of cell phones or bluetooth headsets, we got satnav rigs.

For a minute, the guy's makeup & accent were thick enough so I had difficulty distinguishing between "Staal" and "Styre".

Are they going to bring back Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart? Nicholas Courtney is still alive, at least.

The most entertaining episode of the series so far. And the rubbishy old Sontarans made a quite an effective villain for the first time since The Time Warrior, mainly thanks to Chris Ryan's characterisation. Not sure about the moulded foam-rubber suits, but at least the heads are better designed now.

Well Sontarans are a clone race so it should be tough to distinguish between them. Good opportunities for short-arse actor anyway, I can't remember the last time Mike from the Young Ones had an acting gig.

Some very good Doctor Donna stuff, though as mentioned evil sat-nav feels pretty old hat for nu-Who (and the evil sat-nav creating a deadly gas as well as crashing peoples cars is a bit silly). Yet again stakes raised so high as a cliff hanger that the only solution next week is deus ex machina / sci-fi gobbledegook.

Beyond that it was a nicely exciting episode with some nice UNIT call backs, but equally some Captain Scarlet call backs too for no good reasons.

Someone place odds that the bees will be mentioned next ep...

can't remember the last time Mike from the Young Ones had an acting gig.

heh. Didn't catch this when I was watching.

i last saw him in saxondale.

if last week's reminded me of colin baker era, this one just made me forget all nu-who. "Modern tech neuroses used as plot devices" (just to borrow the quote) is not nu-who of course. it was used all the time in 'classic' who too.

this was immensely old skool. sontaran voice while watching on a scanner is straight out of sontaran experiment. automaton/brainwashed workforce, doppelganger assistants recalled android invasion. jokes about UNIT being the 70s "or was it the 80s' (LOLZ). teleporting.

all = ONE FOR THE TRAD FANS

f'ing probic rubbish vents even.

"Dear the sontarans, i notice you have a vulnerable spot on the back of your neck, i have an invention here that would cover that up"

gas = terraforming, right? i wonder if the sontarans are after a new home planet too.

Were the Sontarans always so, erm, lacking in self-awareness? It was sort of refreshing to see an evil alien race exposed as complete buffoons but once you've done that you're reliant on other things (evil SatNav, gassing people in cars, Evil Clone Martha) to make it even remotely scary.

I'm quite liking the 'Doctor wards off alien with everyday object' thread in this series - first a waterpistol, now a racquet and ball. This series is pretty strong so far, especially given how poor the first half of S3 was.

Old Who Sontarans were genuinely quite sinister in the the two serials I've seen them in (The Time Warrior and The Sontaran Experiment).

xpost

Best bit of this episode - the look on Evil Child Genius's face when the Doctor corrected his grammar.

Second best bit of this episode - "it's driving me round the bend".

I did like that they kept the voice.

they practically had mike the cool person saying 'your puny weapons are no match for our superior intellect'

i would like Sontaran/Judoon army/police face-off - surely the latter are harder

Just breaking my self-imposed Doctor Who thread avoidance to point out that Sontarans are fucking awesome and if you don't agree fuck you.

loltarans

sonnedtarans in internet beef

IM IN YR PLANET

http://www.sf-radio.net/doctorwho/charaktere/bilder/sontaran.jpg

BREAKIN ALL YR SATNAVS

attack of the killer potatoes more like

Potato-faced Prussians with a short man complex and a release valve in the back of their necks are about a kajillion times more fun than twatting Daleks.

close run thing though

I was trying to explain to Mrs V why I love them so much and I can't, really. Something about them just triggers some primeval pleasure node in my brain.

never seen you and a sontaran in the same room, to be honest

Yes obviously I'm aware of the significance of my empathising with the short, dumpy, potato-faced, scrap-happy dudes.

http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/5916/4647212mg0.jpg

Me, earlier today.

- the hand reaching up from the glowing bubbling gloop was PURE PULP awesomeness (both (all three?) times)

- was the fact that Martha was exactly the same after her reprogramming an intentional joke or not?

- the donna/doctor moment when she realizes she needs to go check in with the family was such a sublime moment of acting by both of them - tate really is tennant's equal, at least within the confines of this show

- what's with the "donna/doctor" thing anyway? it's like a joke they've carried through.. are they one person somehow?? why did she get a salute?

I've been really pleasantly surprised by Tate so far. I'm not a fan of her comedy, but she can certainly inhabit a character. She sure shows up Freema's rather underdeveloped acting skills.

Going off Tate and her role as Russell Davies' conscience week by week.

Thought they was going to launch into Culture Club's "War Song" at some point tonight.

The embryo in the bubbling vat was the creepiest thing in nu-Who since The Controller at the end of series one.

poor old gramps, he finally meets an alien and then gets trapped in his car and suffocates. while the doctor only occasionally races back to it to futilely try the door again.

Was wondering why nobody tried to smash the window.

no see the glass of the window itself was remotely DEADLOCKED® by the sontarans

Hmmmmm.

The Sontaran's strategem seems kind of sneaky for a race so into honour and shit. I thought that was kind of their hook, that they were honourable? Or are they just all talk?

Cribbins is so not dead.

Better not be, or I'll cry real tears.

I'm pretty comfortable with watching him cark it.

No way is he dying off the back of a cliffhanger. Perhaps he'll die of boredom when the Sontarans start talking again.

Yes, I have to admit rather enjoying that one, which I did not expect when I saw it was written by the same person who did the rubbish Daleks-in-Manhattan one. As long as this one isn't solved by electrically-conducted DNA.

And I was really expecting to hate Catherine Tate, but I'm really enjoying her so far. Good stuff.

In the interests of science, here is a direct comparison of series 3 and 4 so far:

Smith and Jones>>>>Partners in Crime
The Shakespeare Code<<<The Fires of Pompei
Gridlock<Planet of the Ood
Daleks in Manhatten<<The Sontaran Strategem

So far S4 is wining by 2 '>'s.

I do like the UFO-spotter grandpa as Donna's confidante; them sharing a delight in Donna's secret adventures from the blowhard RTD-style mum. Assuming he isn't wiped out next ep, I hope he's kept on as a device for Donna to check in with from time to time. Give her one of those amped-up cellphones, help her to keep centered.

Hell, with Rickey/Mickey off in other-other land, somebody's gotta keep up whoisdoctorwho, what with the only other site admin being taken out by autons in the pilot ep.

I'm expecting nobody smashed in the car window with a brick or something because that's how they're going to resolve the crisis next week - they always resolve cliffhangers but doing something cheap and easy. Like saying "Go to your room!" to the gas mask monsters, or, um, however they didn't die in the Dalek two-parter last year ("hey Human Dalek, don't kill us." "Okay.")

I'm enjoying Catherine Tate immensely, she and Tennant have great actorly chemistry. When the Doctor got all soppy saying goodbye and she just let him go on, feeding him more and more rope...awesome. Donna and the Doctor get on so well that it's making me retroactively fatigued with all the S3 Martha/Ten crush nonsense.

Yeah, the Tennant/Tate partnership is done superbly, and Donna is a very well realised character. Martha bleh, I don't miss her at all.

So I had to watch the last two (thanks Ed) and the Ood one was fantastic. Love some of the actors they've been getting in (Ayesha Dharker) and no, I really don't mind implied criticism of sweatshops in mainstream entertainment.

I'm not so down on Martha as you all are. And yeah, super creepy clone-o-vat.

If RTD has done one thing this season, he appears to have shown he can turn around the Taters, we are now beyond tolerating her, and actually enjoying her presence. It reminds me that there are more types of Who companion to try out (and that the lovelorn girl is actually a relatively new one).

Donna has the complicity of Romana II, with the morality of Sarah Jane? Certainly Tennant and Tate's chemistry feels more Baker and Sladen than any other we've had (ie she thinks he's great, and is enjoying the adventures, but has a fair bit of pause to thought about situations).

Why would you create a Sick Days folder if you knew you were never going to use it? And surely creating clone Martha is just so the Doc can watch her die / kill her himself?

I still think she's crap, sorry. The idea for the character is great but every time she starts getting shouty it reminds me that Tate really cannot act, and not in a low-key Martha way either. She's better at the emo stuff.

Wow, I couldn't disagree more. I've only ever seen a total of about three minutes of her previous work -- could that make a difference? Cause I believe every single thing she does in this show. It could just be down to me liking her character a lot more. Imagine her dealing with Captain Jack, for instance.

I liked how she's been in what, four episodes so far and she's already had a montage flashback!

ha I hated that bit - it would have played better and funnier if that montage had run before she totally psyched the Doc out with her "I have to go home" routine.

But I did love how she and Martha get along instantly and there's no Rose-Sarah Jane type bickering at all.