SE30E04: The Sontaran Strategem [Spoilers]

[Dartzap]

In just over an hours time.

Spuds 'eads, Martha, Donna, Unit and much, much more!

[Jon]

Oh, another episode where another alien race wants to destroy modern earth for no particular reason, and given next week's preview, all very publicly! I'm sure once the doctor magics these guys away we'll see another episode on Earth in a few weeks where life is all back to normal and yet another alien invasion has been shrugged off setting the scene for it to happen to these ignorant earthlings all over again! As for that ending... contrived or what. Shame no one knows how to break glass.

[Lord Woodlouse]

Well, I really bloody enjoyed it. I'm sure it'll get nitpicked to death and I'll find myself reconsidering how much I enjoyed it, but while watching it? It was compulsive viewing for me.

I hope the second part keeps the same quality.

[Bounty]

Very mediocre and fridge logic-y. I like the way the Sontarans were played, but apart from that, it was just a bunch of clichés strung together. Brainwashed soldiers! Evil clones! A company selling evils devices that so totally aren't like the Earpods or Adipose! A human genius working for the evil aliens who so totally won't turn on them next week at the very last moment thus saving us all!

I'm not feeling a massive urge to watch next week. Well, maybe to see the Sontarans, because the guys in the suits are really trying their best, but everything else is solidly parked in "meh".

[Big Orange]

Pretty paint by numbers, although I don't get the feeling of the gradual encroachment of mediocrity when I watched "Daleks in Manhattan" and the Sontarans were perhaps more successfully revamped than the Cybermen (with their colour scheme growing on me and Christopher Ryan stealing the show).

I just hope that sniveling runt of a Mensa candidate gets his in a satisfying manner, and be thankful Bounty we got cloned and brainwashed UNIT staff instead of Pigmen.

[Bounty]

and Christopher Ryan stealing the show

Holy shit, Staal is Mike TheCoolPerson!? That explains why he's so good, then. I didn't recognise him at all.

[Lord Woodlouse]

Oh well, I loved it anyway.

I can't get enough of the preview's humourous "The planet is going nu-clear!".

[Bounty]

I can't get enough of the preview's humourous "The planet is going nu-clear!".

I missed the preview - what's the joke?

[Lord Woodlouse]

I can't get enough of the preview's humourous "The planet is going nu-clear!".

I missed the preview - what's the joke?

It's just the way General Staal says that line, and the look on his face, it's genius.

[Ford Prefect]

Holy shit, Staal is Mike TheCoolPerson!?

By the gods.

[mr friendly guy]

I think its a promising start, although it could easily fall by the wayside if they don't explain why the Sontarans need to invade in such a clandestine manner, and what is with the gas.

The clones and hypnotised people may be cliche, but this is consistent with Sontaran technology shown before (ie they are a cloned race and they have demonstrated hypnotic ability way back in the classic series). Seriously, are they going to change their technology and tactics which work just so the viewers can find it not cliche.

That being said, the selling the sinister product is just repeating itself in this current series. It was old even in the classic series, what with the Autons. Its almost like the aliens have a handbook on invading earth where they analyse what works and what doesn't.

Other good things was that Humpty Dumpty line before Staal dominates the UNIT soldiers. Sontaran tech which renders humans guns inoperative was a cool thing as well. It would be tempting to have the bullets bounce off their armour for that "bad ass" feel, but plot wise that would have just attracted unwanted attention.

The other joke I liked was how boy genius asked how the Sontarans tell each other apart, in which Staal replied he wondered the same for humans. I suppose they could have used a technobabble explanation, but dealing it with wit just seemed so much better.

The bad thing was that Sontaran "war dance". It would have looked good if they just did a few moves, but they kept on dragging it out and shouting, I mean what are they trying to do, the Haka?

Lets see what part II will bring. I always felt the Sontarans and by extension their enemies the Rutans weren't given enough exposure. Hopefully this will expand on their society and technology and why the hell their war has dragged on for so long.

[StarKillaz]

I have to say that I enjoyed this episode a lot, the style was very reminiscent of old-who.

However one thing which really grated (for me) was the obvious distaste the doctor had for UNIT, especially shown in the scene with the (I believe but could be wrong) colonel and the whole "don’t stand so close" etc. This for me is the antithesis of the attitude and feeling that I picked up from the third, forth and seventh doctors.

[Stark]

Wow, so they thought 'everyone wants more exciting UNIT adventures, and the reboots of other species while removing retarded legacy elements were a big success. Let's villainise UNIT and make them retards (although changing the name, which was a nice touch) and leave the Sontarans with their cripplingly retarded weakness that is now EVEN WORSE and looks awful because it's made of a bit of cut garden hose'.

Mission accomplised, idiots. I hear overloading a Sontaran's power input or shooting an arrow into it wasn't stupid enough, so now it works with bouncy balls!

[Flakin]

It wasn't terrible... I've just.. seen it before! I mean almost every plot element was a previous element revomited back up onto the table, again.

Meh.

Mike was excellent though.

[NecronLord]

Ffft. All the probic vent does here is make him yelp and fall over - no worse than human testes as a weakness (it's not armoured, certainly, but hell, I'll let them have one stupid weakness due to bravado) If it were the old series, it would have got stuck there and killed him.

I just hope that sniveling runt of a Mensa candidate gets his in a satisfying manner,

I don't. I hope that he survives to emigrate to the Sontaran Empire. Why? It'd be cool (and believable, you don't get to their level of technology by being dumb) if they respected scientific ability.

I also liked 'Unified Intelligence Taskforce... Funded by the United Nations.'

Incidentally, with their changting and talk about glorious battle, these Sontarans remind me of Klingons. But done right (so far). I found it interesting that general Staal values deductive skills in soldiers.

[andrewgpaul]

Well, they had to change the UNIT name; the real UN comlpained, apparently.

I'm surprised no-one complained about UNIT calling a Land Rover a 'jeep' Well done.

[NecronLord]

Well, they had to change the UNIT name; the real UN comlpained, apparently.

I mean they changed it. And then said United Nations anyway. Just to be clever.

[Stark]

Ffft. All the probic vent does here is make him yelp and fall over - no worse than human testes as a weakness (it's not armoured, certainly, but hell, I'll let them have one stupid weakness due to bravado) If it were the old series, it would have got stuck there and killed him.

Knife stuck in hole = less stupid than super powerarmour from the stars with an 'I lose' button on the back. It's *exactly* as dumb as Klingons. No doubt they'll bring back the retarded gold thing for cybermen now.

I mean, Sontaran invasion? Stinger grenades. You win.

I just hope that sniveling runt of a Mensa candidate gets his in a satisfying manner,

You mean Adam? Oh, I think he's supposed to be someone else! I see you picked up on the super-subtle implication that he's perhaps not such a nice person. Raynor is just an artist!

You may have missed, however, that 'guns are bad'. Raynor cunningly interweaves her theme into the narrative, so a close inspection of the text is required for it to divulge it's secrets. Nothing hamfisted here! And the UNIT troops remain the well-trained, professional alien-fighters of old, with not a soccer hooligan or poorly-briefed thug to be seen!

[NecronLord]

Knife stuck in hole = less stupid than super powerarmour

No indication that it's power armour so much as space-suit body armour.

from the stars with an 'I lose' button on the back.

Because of course, a weak point in the armour design (and we're assuming it can be corrected; if it's a 'vent' as said on numerous occasions before, then it might be rather difficult to correct) is really crippling; I wouldn't fancy trying to hit that thing in combat. Especially as the Sontaran will usually be shooting back...

It's *exactly* as dumb as Klingons.

That will be true when I see them dropping their guns and charging at the enemy with melee weapons, or walking into a room and deliberately shooting at the ceiling repeatedly. And so on.

And the UNIT troops remain the well-trained, professional alien-fighters of old, with not a soccer hooligan or poorly-briefed thug to be seen!

UNIT troops? Professional? Ffft. They've always been luckless goons that get slaughtered by anything that comes their way. Try The Ambassadors of Death for some really stupid UNIT soldiers - where they walk up to some completely ordinary human criminals with their SLRs, then stand so close, and do nothing as said criminals take their guns away and proceed to beat them up.

[Lord Woodlouse]

You may have missed, however, that 'guns are bad'. Raynor cunningly interweaves her theme into the narrative, so a close inspection of the text is required for it to divulge it's secrets. Nothing hamfisted here! And the UNIT troops remain the well-trained, professional alien-fighters of old, with not a soccer hooligan or poorly-briefed thug to be seen!

Yeah, it's not like the Doctor has displayed a distaste for guns in the past, has he? Erm.

[NecronLord]

One moment I liked here; General Stahl saying "primative sonic trickery!" waving his swagger stick at the teleport pod, and then commenting "the device is repaired."

[SylasGaunt]

That and the Sontarans apparently have deadlocks on almost all their evil widgetry.

[The Grim Squeaker]

That and the Sontarans apparently have deadlocks on almost all their evil widgetry.

And can deadlock even attached equipment. (The Car windows. Apparently it protects against physical damage as well, since the doctor didn't just bash it open).

I really liked the episode, it wasn't brilliant, but was well done and the Sontarans (With their dialect) & the genius school were excellently done.

Also, am I the only one who thought "Giant Space Dalek" during the Pan-out of the Sontaran battleship until the last few seconds?

[Big Orange]

Knife stuck in hole = less stupid than super powerarmour from the stars with an 'I lose' button on the back. It's *exactly* as dumb as Klingons. No doubt they'll bring back the retarded gold thing for cybermen now.

It is a tiny spot at the back of a collar that you wouldn't notice in combat when the Sontarans are facing their enemies, the Doctor had a very lucky shot with that tennis ball and it only made Staal disorientated for about twenty seconds.

UNIT troops? Professional? Ffft. They've always been luckless goons that get slaughtered by anything that comes their way. Try The Ambassadors of Death for some really stupid UNIT soldiers - where they walk up to some completely ordinary human criminals with their SLRs, then stand so close, and do nothing as said criminals take their guns away and proceed to beat them up.

And while not UNIT per se, I found it stupid that several RAF guards armed with pistols, grenades and assault rifles were incapacitated/killed by a handful of seemingly unarmed Neo-Facist thugs from a small construction firm in "Remembrance of the Daleks".

The UNIT people in this episode were not that bad as Redshirts go, they were not quite up to the standards of the Redcoats from PotC, but I don't see anything wrong with two cocky squaddies wandering off and even then they were attempted to maintain radio contact. Plus they had a cool mobile command centre, while the commanding officer and the grunt escorted Doctor seemed likable enough.

I get the impression the UNIT boys are going to massacred more due to technological and firepower disparity than incompetence.

[NecronLord]

And while not UNIT per se, I found it stupid that several RAF guards armed with pistols, grenades and assault rifles were incapacitated/killed by a handful of seemingly unarmed Neo-Facist thugs from a small construction firm in "Remembrance of the Daleks".

Errr. Given that that unit's sergeant was in the Association, I see no reason to assume that Ratcliffe's other men don't have military backgrounds too...

The UNIT people in this episode were not that bad as Redshirts go, they were not quite up to the standards of the Redcoats from PotC, but I don't see anything wrong with two cocky squaddies wandering off and even then they were attempted to maintain radio contact. Plus they had a cool mobile command centre, while the commanding officer and the grunt escorted Doctor seemed likable enough.

To be honest, Stahl giving a review on their preformance in the basement made it totally forgivable for me. Especially congratulating the more sensible one of them.