I am – Hercules!!

America’s SciFi Channel transmitted “Doctor Who” 30.1 only last night, but the Brits are already up to 30.4.

“Doctor Dan” says:

DOCTOR WHO 4.4 – "The Sontaran Stratagem"

Writer: Helen Raynor
Director: Douglas Mackinnon

Cast: David Tennant (The Doctor), Catherine Tate (Donna), Freema Agyeman (Martha), Christopher Ryan (General Staal), Rupert Holiday Evans (Colonel Mace), Dan Starkey (Commander Skorr), Bernard Cribbins (Wilfred Mott), Jacqueline King (Sylvia Noble), Elenor Matsuura (Jo Nakashima), Ryan Sampson (Luke Rattigan), Christian Cooke (Ross Jenkins), Clive Standen (Prvt. Harris), Wesley Theobald (Prvt. Gray), Rad Kaim (Worker) & Elizabeth Ryder (ATMOS Voice)

The Doctor is urgently called back to Earth by Martha Jones, as the war-mongering Sontarans attack the planet...

"Is that what you did to her; turn her into a soldier?"
-- Donna to The Doctor, on Martha

After last year's disappointing Daleks In Manhattan/Evolution Of The Daleks two-parter (some good ideas, badly executed) writer Helen Raynor tries her luck again in another epic two-part story; this one contemporized and involving lesser-known classic Who villains The Sontarans...

Doctor Who has a long history of finding ways to turn innocent-looking people or innocuous items into deadly weapons and enemies, and that's exactly what The Sontaran Stratagem counts on with its ATMOS device. These "Atmospheric Omissions Systems" are now attached to the world's 800 million vehicles, but their environmentally-friendly appearance (and helpful in-built sat-navs) are actually miniature Trojan Horses for a devastating alien attack...

The Doctor (David Tennant) has to cut short a TARDIS-driving less with Donna (Catherine Tate), after receiving a phone call from former-companion Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), who's now a qualified doctor, engaged to Tom Millington (the handsome soldier seen in Last Of The Time Lords) and working for UNIT. She needs The Doctor's help in identifying the source of the ATMOS devices, after 52 people simultaneously died from some kind of poisoning whilst driving ATMOS-equipped vehicles worldwide.

The Sontaran Stratagem works on a number of levels for fans of the series: 1 -- it's obviously great to see Martha Jones back on the show (her character so badly fudged after a great introduction last year), although her appearances on Torchwood in the interim mean her reappearance isn't quite as exciting as it might have been. 2 -- The prospect of seeing two companions together is interesting to see play out, but the script is quick to shoot down any antagonism between Donna and Martha. I suppose that's fair, as both women are adults, Donna's yet to stamp her authority as a companion, and Martha's moved on from The Doctor, but it was still a missed opportunity in some ways. I actually think the writers shied away from having two companions bickering (thus fuelling anti-Donna sentiment from Martha fans), which is fair enough. And 3 -- the return of a popular Who villain like the Sontarans is bound to get old-school fans salivating at how modern techniques have breathed life into these potato-headed cloned super-soldiers...

After a muted performance last week, The Doctor is back on top form as he's brought up to speed on events from Martha and UNITs Colonel Mace (Rupert Holiday Evans), who has just led an assault on an ATMOS manufacturing plant looking for answers. As is usual, there's a sinister underbelly to the ATMOS factory, but it's not quite as clichéd as usual – although it does once again involve a secret area where two UNIT soldiers find an faceless, naked human swimming about in a tub of green, stinking goo.

Martha imparts some advice to Donna about ensuring her family knows about her adventures, so Donna decides to head home to catch up with her family. With Martha engaged with UNIT-related matters, The Doctor actually spends a large chunk of the episode with a new "companion", in the shape of UNIT grunt Ross (Christian Cooke). Together, they investigate Rattigan Academy , the abode of teenage genius Luke Rattigan (Ryan Sampson), the creator of ATMOS who's in cahoots with the orbiting Sontarans, led by General Staal (Christopher Ryan).

The performances are all very good here. As I mentioned, David Tennant is really back on form, as Helen Raynor's script gives him more opportunities for inventive wordplay, "bad" jokes and the impish glee Tennant really excels at. Without a decent script, Tennant always brings enthusiasm and playfulness to the role, but he's at his best when he can spit out some killer lines and the strength of dialogue matches his performance. A scene where he mistakenly thinks Donna has decided to go home for good, before it dawns on him she has every intention of coming back in a few hours, was beautifully done. And only Tennant could get away with puns like "intruder-window" after teleporting aboard the Sontaran ship, which elicits a big smile instead of eye rolls.

Catherine Tate is pushed into the background quite a bit, as she's not particularly instrumental to the Sontaran-based plot. Her trip back home to Chiswick, to see her Gramps (Bernard Cribbins) and mother Sylvia (Jacqueline King), wasn't particularly interesting, but it was amusing when Martha realized her Gramps has already met The Doctor (during Voyage Of The Damned) and her mother remembers him from the wedding day fiasco (in The Runaway Bride). If there's one thing Donna's elevation to proper companion status has achieved, it's the loss of wearisome introductions between Doctor and extended family.

Freema Agyeman can be a bit limp and occasionally rather wooden (was that really the best line deliver of "Doctor, I'm bringing you home" the director could choose from?), she has a strange habit of getting better as you watch. It helps that the tinkering to her character (off-screen, but seen in Torchwood's second season) has definitely helped, but I don't think it's likely she'll return to the TARDIS as a regular companion again – not if she's found her place in life and has a fiancé now. Martha's more proactive and in-charge than we've seen her before, and it works well – even when she's captured and reverts to being a damsel in distress. But as a result, Freema's fans are treated to the sight of a naked clone-Martha covered in slime -- so I doubt there'll be any complaints!

Guest star Christopher Ryan is excellent as General Staal – with his voice particularly perfect for a dictatorial "little man", while the make-up for all the Sontarans finally do justice to the idea (which 70s/80s make-up couldn't quite achieve). They've always been the stupidest-looking Who aliens with their potato-heads, but the revamp here works extremely well. And it's just nice to have an iconic villain for The Doctor to properly act opposite – as the Daleks and Cybermen (while both great for other reasons) are faceless automatons.

Overall, The Sontaran Stratagem is definitely a very strong episode, packed with entertaining moments and lots of Who mythology for older fans to savour. It works brilliantly as a set-up for next week's pay-off The Poison Sky, although the specifics of the plot were slightly too humdrum and clichéd to fire my imagination. A top-form Tennant, likeable Agyeman, the presence of UNIT and the wonderful Sontarans ensure there's never a dull moment, but I'm hoping part 2 gets Donna more actively involved and explains its less successful elements; like Rattigan's background, the reason for that cloning pool, and the Sontarans' ultimate aim...

The Good

-- David Tennant is really back on fine here; thanks to strong, witty dialogue from writer Helen Raynor. Give Tennant the words and he'll deliver in spades.

-- Her delivery is sometimes a bit wooden, but Freema Agyeman's new take on Martha Jones is a welcome evolution of the character from love-struck clever clogs to confident professional woman.

-- The make-up for the new-look Sontarans was excellent and Christopher Ryan's performance was particularly strong as General Staal.

-- A superb "going home" moment of comedy between The Doctor and Donna. And I rather liked the Donna TARDIS-driving line: "A bit too close to the 1980s!"

-- The general harking back to recent and past glories (Martha, UNIT, Sontarans, Time War) means this episode should please geekier fans -- particularly those who remember the Sontarans the first time round.

-- I really liked the purple/pink/red/blue colour palettes used throughout this episode, clearly linking the Sontaran's aesthetic to the events they're manipulating on Earth around ATMOS and Rattigan Academy .

The Bad

-- The subplot with Donna was a bit weak and only really served to give The Doctor a decent life-or-death cliffhanger that involved her family.

-- Things will hopefully become clearer in part 2, but it seemed strange that a kid genius like Luke Rattigan would think it a good idea help aliens who want to kill 800 million vehicle drivers. And the whole Rattigan Academy scenario, where the world's gifted children come to learn, just didn't click with me. But I do think it will become clearer in part 2.

-- The CGI for the Sontaran ship was pretty good, but a bit staccato when in motion.

The Geeky

-- The Sontarans are classic Doctor Who villains who first appeared in the 1973 story The Time Warrior, with Jon Pertwee as The Third Doctor. The Sontarans last appeared in 1985s The Two Doctors, when Colin Baker (The Sixth Doctor) was joined by Patrick Troughton (The Second Doctor).

-- Christopher Ryan (General Staal) is most famous for playing diminutive Mike in 80s sitcom The Young Ones. You might also recognize Rupert Holiday Evans (Colonel Mace) as one-half of The Double-Take Brothers from Harry Enfield's Television Programme.

-- Another mention of The Time War, with Sontarans aggrieved that "face-changer" The Doctor led to greatest battle in the universe, and they weren't part of it. The Doctor also mentions The Medusa Cascade, which has been mentioned before by The Master and in The Fires Of Pompeii a few episodes ago.

-- The Doctor's "intruder-window" pun was a joke he remembered Harry van Statten say in season 1's Dalek.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

“Kelvington” says:

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 me 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¢

“Weatherballoon” says:

Episode Four:

I snickered to myself the other day in Tescos when the automated check-out kept saying “Call for help” - I thought it sounded like a Russell T. Davies Dr Who villain. (Note for Americans – Tescos is the “supermarket eating Britain”). So not much surprise when the “Atmos” car's Sat-Nav kept saying “this is your final destination” before murdering the journalist at the beginning of the episode. Oh, and all the way through really. Mmm! Hokey!

The episode starts with discovering Martha Jones left a mobile phone in the middle of the TARDIS that the Doctor didn't notice for months. Amazingly, it still has reception.

Martha works for UNIT and in engaged, meaning the writer doesn't have to bother with dealing with left-over feelings for the Doctor. Her fiance is in Africa, meaning the writer doesn't have to bother with him either.

The Atmos cars turn out to be under the control of the Sontarans. Shockingly, Sat-Nav turn out to be the only thing in the universe impervious to the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, so we might have a bit of a fight on our hands.

Donna goes back to visit her family. Her oddly middle-class mother found the right bin for the car-keys, without any help from Billie Piper apparently. I'd been worrying about that.

An evil clone of Martha Jones is created. Not sure why the Sontarans didn't just hypnotise her like the other humans working for them, but it might have something to do with finding a way for Freema to rise naked and dripping wet from a green bath. We know she is evil as she swans around looking smug and not passing on phone messages.

The episode finishes with half the world's cars gassing their occupants and anyone standing in a Tesco's car-park.

Good Stuff:

The Doctor's Sat-Nav exploding. Very funny.

The ending, with the Doctor standing helplessly by while Donna's grandad suffocates, is a damn dramatic cliff-hanger.

The special-effects are, as ever, superb.

For Talkbackers:

The Medusa Cascade is mentioned. Again. RTD's foreshadowing could block out sunlight.

There is a brief mention of some gay bloke living somewhere in England, which will enable furious homophobic talkbackers to complain about RTD's plot to transform sci-fi geeks into sodomites through TV sets. Huzzah!

“The Handsome 12th Doctor” says:

Whooo. That was ace.

From the opening credits where it was wondrous to see Freema Agyeman's name flying through the vortex again. Though there followed a downturn when the name Helen Raynor appeared as the writer, bringing my mood down a bit.
I believe Raynor is an excellent script editor as she's worked on some outstanding episodes. However, as a writer, she was largely responsible for the Daleks Take Manhattan story last year. Which, in all fairness, was shite.
And if you can't tell a good tale using the Daleks then what chance would you have with the Sontarans?

Since in my opinion the Sontarans weren't ever that great a "Classic Who" villain. There are far better ones they could have brought back. The Sea Devils, the Ice Warriors, the Happiness Patrol (I'm joking of course about the Sea Devils).

My problem with the Sontarans in the past is their grand schemes were generally too simple and rubbish, and easy to defeat.

Up until now that is.

The Sontarans in tonight's ep were a much more worthy enemy than normal. And Helen Raynor may actually be a good writer (as long as she doesn't have a list of 'things to include' from RTD, which I've heard may be the reason her previous effort turned out so weak).

She's taken the race of madly-war-fixated beings and given their plottings a touch of imagination. And in doing so has created a very well composed chunk of sci-fi complete with decent dialogue. My favourite lines being "Short answer, yes" and the Doctor's "Oh is that it?"

In fact, the episode was everything that Daleks In Manhattan was not. Helen Raynor has redeemed herself a long way.

Now it wasn't just the Sontarans that returned to Who tonight. UNIT are back. And so is Doctor Martha Jones. Either of those would be marvellous enough on their own but both together, cool as milk.
Martha kicked the story into gear by phoning up the other Doctor and asking for his help. When he arrives it was pleasing to see that she's sooooo over him now. She's got a new fiance, new job, new jacket (thank god). The little exchanges between her and Donna amused me.

So the Doctor, Martha, UNIT and (sometimes) Donna team up to take on the Sontarans led by General Staal, played by Christopher Ryan. Making him General Staal TheCoolPerson to give him his proper name.

The action gradually built up till we found out the true purpose of the Atmos. Which we briefly saw three weeks ago on the taxi windscreen in "Partners In Crime". And if I'm the fourth or fifth reviewer to be posted here then I'll bet somebody else has already mentioned that. We really are geeks aren't we?

It then led up to a suspenseful cliffhanger that isn't immediately obvious how they'll get out of. I would love for their solution to be clever next week. If it's anything along the lines of "The Doctor points the sonic screwdriver at something" then I'll be really narked.

We'll find out in seven days. The trailer for the second part made it look mucho fun with lots of men-with-guns action and a big critical countdown.

My only real gripe about tonight's show is that some of the colour schemes were a bit Joel Schumacher-y.

On a more positive note it had the bonus of featuring Bernard Cribbins again. Back at the start of this season I was opposed to seeing another companion's family life but in this case, if it means a recurring role for Mr Cribbins, then I'm all for this. The bloke's a star.

“DJ Bollocks” says:

So within seconds you get the feeling this is infinitely better than what we've seen so far this series.

Within minutes we've had our first death via Atmos sat nav system... as a journo same/different one from Episode 1 ?) makes a sharpish exit from The Rattigan Academy

We catch up with Dr Martha before the credits and we discover soon after that Atmos Systems are an inbuilt Sat Nav system that also reduces car carbon emissions to zero as designed by child prodigy Luke Rattign - but that there have been nearly 10 deaths in the past few days with Atmos the only connection.

To combat this Unit which Martha now works for have contained the factory where they are made and we go to a scene where two 'gung ho' Unit soldiers first meet the Sontarans in a room with a mysterious gloopy tank with a body of sorts...

Nice Doctor and Mratha scene - after all the Doctorish indignation over the past few weeks we get a human affected by her adventures with the Doctor.

Donna's been doing a bit of investigating herself and finds out that none of the Atmos workers have never had a sick day...

We discover a bit more about the Rattigan Academy that was seen in the opening scene

Donna and Martha have a chat about the effects on the family

"He's like fire... Stand too close and people get burned..."

The brain washed Unit soldiers are now under the influence of General Stahl and they "get to work".

The Doctor decides to visit the Rattigan Academy whilst Donna decides to visit home (Medusa Cascade - has that been mentioned before ?)

"You great big outer space dunce..."

Martha checks out an Atmos worker and is met by the Unit soldiers - Donna goes back home and meets up with her Gramps

Martha is captured and taken down to the bowels of the factory..

Donna and Bernard Cribbens have a cuppa "Nice One Fred Let's Have a Cuppa Tea" (2 points for the reference) Donna's mum is a bit of a cow... again...

I'm getting the sense that Donna's adventures are ultimately going to be a one way trip - everything she's being told is slightly ominous...

The Doctor goes to his "final destination" according to the Atmos sat nav - The Rattigan Academy to meet the child prodigy who's supposedly come up with all this amazing technology...Terraforming, biospheres you know the usual...

In his front room we discover something that Ikea haven't yet designed - a teleport system and the Doctor briefly enters the Sontaran spaceship - The Sontarans come back through and the Corelain field - which nullifies certain weaponry is mentioned again...

Stahl (the undefeated) unmasks...

"He looks like a baked potato..."

We are reminded of their wakness - a vent at back - and the Doctor highlights the weakness by hitting a tennis ball with perfect accuracy - a high jinks escape is made in the Atmos controlled jeep.

Stahl and Rattigan go back to the Sontran spaceship.

There are 400 million cars with the Atmo system - ooooh.....

Back to Martha she's all tied up right now where she meets Commander Score the Bloodbringer. We also meet our friend in the gloopy tank again - and Martha looks like she's going to meet a little clone friend...

Back on the Sontarans rather cheap looking ship.

"War can never come too soon- Take your last look boy..."

"The finest war in history and we weren't allowed to be a part of it..."

Back to Earth and the Atmos factory and some pre watershed naked clonelike Marthaness... whilst the Doctor discovers an Atmos system weakness...

"An ordinary death for such a emarkable enemy..."

The jeep starts driving itself

An exploding jeep ? No....

"Oh is that it ?"

Martha clone "goes to work"

The Doctor meets up with Donna

The Doctor meets Gramps - Wilfred Mott

The Doctor calls clone Martha but she doesn't pass the message on to UNIt - naughty clone....

The Doctor diengages the Atmos system in Gramps car but it alerts the Sontarans...

Various Sontaran activity ensues and all the cars start emitting poisonous gas.... Tesco's will never be the same...

"Now we begin let's get to work"

Meanwhile Gramps is stuck in the car and looks like he's is peril as the Doctor and Donna can't open the car door ! And the Sontaran attack begins...

To be continued....

Honestly - this is what Doctor Who means to me - some great directorial stunts and shots - the old school shots of the Sontaran hands first, taken straight from old Who - qv The Deadly Assassin. Stories for a broader audience - not just the kids. To be honest I wasn't expecting much after Helen Naylor's Daleks in Mahattan story last year, and there was nothing groundbreaking in there... However this didn't feel like a dragging 2 parter - and for the first time this season I can't wait til next week.

Liked it a lot - wonder if that becasue there was less Tate ?

$35.49!!!