SE30E04: The Sontaran Strategem [Spoilers]

[Shortie]

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."

Not bad, but the Doctor going "Ooh look, it's a teleporter, let's see where it goes." without a second thought was even greater.

[Stark]

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.

So next time the US Army designs something with an unforgiveable, hopeless flaw out of some doctrinal craziness, we won't say anything bad. Just like gold for cybermen, it started making kind-of sense (a chink in the armour, jam something into the guy's neck has to suck) and turned into 'a teenager can throw a gold coin at you and you'll die... somehow', or in this case lightly tapping the surface of his armour incapacitates him. And 'won't notice'? It's almost the only feature on the entire suit, and there's this thing called 'intelligence briefing', and UNIT is already informed about Sontarans. Break out the 200-super-bouncy-ball nades! Whoops, that'd ruin the forced morality play. We'll just have them be retarded instead!

Oh, but it's ONLY 20 SECONDS. In combat? Pffft, what could go wrong? Let's hear it for villains with unforgivable built-in weaknesses!

And like I said, humans already have a hand grenade that would RAPE Sontarans, but because Raynor can barely work a computer we won't see them.

It saddens me that people are so inured to dumb shit like this they sit around and make excuses - like with the 'lol immortal giant brain in glacier' thing. It's stupid, but it's 'characterful' or 'we like it' or 'it'd be way too hard to armour the place they plug in to get energy/food depending on who's writing even though it's already an elevated structure lol'.

But hey, these are the guys who dig hamfisted forced morality and comic-book style power inflation (ps now everything in the world is deadlocked llololol), so it's hardly difficult to disagree.

Any bets on when the season will start getting good? S3 had to wait about halfway, so...

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

Is this an excuse for bad writing? No, it isn't. I mean, changing UNIT from the inside out to not carry guns when they're PROTECTING THE EARTH FROM ALIEN INVASION? Fuck off, Helen Raynor, you're an idiot. Needs more straight for the headlines foreign workers! Damn government!

[Ford Prefect]

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

Except that in the past, he has taken up weapons and resorted to violence when it was sensible to do so. I mean, Christ, this is the Doctor post-Great Time War, where he fought on the frontlines. It wasn't really an aversion, given that the First Doctor was all 'oh hey, it would be sensible of me to carry a weapon right now, so I will'.

[Stark]

This IS the Tenth Doctor, who can be reduced to STARING WISTFULLY by a fucking car door being locked. The Ninth was quite willing to work with armed military force when required, even putting civilians on the front line in desperation or using weapons himself when required. The Tenth gets all teary because they shot down some space-slavers and is repulsed by the presence of local military officers.

MY DAD is officially more resourceful than Doctor Who. Or is it just that I'm a better writer than Ms Poo?

[Big Orange]

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...

Maybe, but that was not the overt impression I had with Ratcliffe's henchmen (who were not even seen carrying around koshes). And I would've assumed the RAF contingent quickly packed up and moved away that killed Dalek without assistance, let alone without regular crooks getting the jump on them (although Ratcliffe was seen meeting the commanding officer at the RAF headquarters).

So next time the US Army designs something with an unforgiveable, hopeless flaw out of some doctrinal craziness, we won't say anything bad. Just like gold for cybermen, it started making kind-of sense (a chink in the armour, jam something into the guy's neck has to suck) and turned into 'a teenager can throw a gold coin at you and you'll die... somehow', or in this case lightly tapping the surface of his armour incapacitates him. And 'won't notice'? It's almost the only feature on the entire suit, and there's this thing called 'intelligence briefing', and UNIT is already informed about Sontarans. Break out the 200-super-bouncy-ball nades! Whoops, that'd ruin the forced morality play. We'll just have them be retarded instead!

Wait, you think stinger grenades would work against Sontaran armour, with the expanding mass of rubber pellets magically hitting a tiny intake hole at the back of the neck (which likely seals up for lengthy periods of time in combat in case of NBC attack or when a Sontaran needs to space walk). Although it would be cool and slightly more feasible if a commando steathly sneaks up behind an unaware Sontaran sentry and then jams bluetack down the probic vent.

[The Grim Squeaker]

Is the redesigned probic vent even exposed with the helmet on? It looked as though it would be hidden by the helmet, and we only saw Stahl get hit after removing his helmet.

[NecronLord]

And like I said, humans already have a hand grenade that would RAPE Sontarans,

And Sontarans have a bomb they could drop on humans and kill every last one of them. Your point?

Sure, terrible weakness - but while UNIT are doing all this, what're the Sontarans going to be doing?

[Lord Woodlouse]

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

Except that in the past, he has taken up weapons and resorted to violence when it was sensible to do so. I mean, Christ, this is the Doctor post-Great Time War, where he fought on the frontlines. It wasn't really an aversion, given that the First Doctor was all 'oh hey, it would be sensible of me to carry a weapon right now, so I will'.

Aye, he's willing to use guns himself when push comes to shove, but that's never stopped him having an dislike (to an irrational degree) of guns throughout all his incarnations. That's all it seemed to me. Not a commentary on how "guns are bad", but the Doctor disliking guns because he always has done.

Nor did I get the impression that Martha was trying to say she wanted to disarm UNIT, simply that she intended to make them less gung-ho aggressive. We even had Martha take the Doctor down a peg or two for being rude to the Colonel.

[mr friendly guy]

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.

Given he has displayed good hand eye coordination before eg catching the Slitheen dart in "Boom town" and cool skills with a crossbow "The Face of evil" I think its more likely he is just very coordinated.

[Gandalf]

I liked the Sontarans, everything else was so-so.

This IS the Tenth Doctor, who can be reduced to STARING WISTFULLY by a fucking car door being locked.

You'd think a guy stuck behind glass would be the perfect candidate for rescue via the sonic screwdriver.

[NecronLord]

I liked the Sontarans, everything else was so-so.

This IS the Tenth Doctor, who can be reduced to STARING WISTFULLY by a fucking car door being locked.

You'd think a guy stuck behind glass would be the perfect candidate for rescue via the sonic screwdriver.

I was indeed thinking that. I expect it'll be the not-very-exciting resolution of the cliffhanger. That or Donna will put the window through...

[Lost Soal]

I liked the Sontarans, everything else was so-so.

This IS the Tenth Doctor, who can be reduced to STARING WISTFULLY by a fucking car door being locked.

You'd think a guy stuck behind glass would be the perfect candidate for rescue via the sonic screwdriver.

I was indeed thinking that. I expect it'll be the not-very-exciting resolution of the cliffhanger. That or Donna will put the window through...

Nah, soilder boy turns up in a car without ATMOS and shoots the door open.

[NecronLord]

Nah, soilder boy turns up in a car without ATMOS and shoots the door open.

Ooh. Yeah, I'll put my money on that one.

[DocHorror]

Nah, soilder boy turns up in a car without ATMOS and shoots the door open.

Ooh. Yeah, I'll put my money on that one.

It'd be nice if he showed up in Betsy, although I freely acknoeledge that it would be cock-suckingly fanboy appeasing.

[Big Orange]

Given he has displayed good hand eye coordination before eg catching the Slitheen dart in "Boom town" and cool skills with a crossbow "The Face of evil" I think its more likely he is just very coordinated.

I know he is supremely skilled, but he was very lucky that there was a tennis bat and ball close to hand, with General Staal having his back to a large(ish), flat and reflective surface. 99% of the time (or more) I doubt enemy grunts would have an good opportunity to hit the 'sweet spot' on the nape of the Sontaran's neck (also is the probic vent's valve always open?).

The Sontarans seem far more technologically advanced than the Judoon from "Smith & Jones" and potentially have a very big military machine if they can clone millions of themselves every few minutes. Also they were well aware of the Time War, their ATMOS devices have a temporal quality in their workings and in an early 70s serial a lone Sontaran had a temporal transmat device that could zap people from centuries away in the future.

Why could they not participate in the Time War, how would they fare against the Daleks or Time Lords in open war, and what is their fate is by the 41st century when humanity has a major presence in three galaxies and likely posses Asguard (Stargate SG-1p/i]) level FTL drives?

[NecronLord]

Why could they not participate in the Time War,

Perhaps they wanted to ally with the Time Lords and were told to piss off.

The Sontarans after all, once invaded Gallifrey, though they don't know it - the entire affair was erased from time, they're lucky they're still around.

how would they fare against the Daleks or Time Lords in open war,

Unknown. They invaded Gallifrey through trickery, and would have been swiftly dealt with even by the idiot goons (sigh) of the Chancellry guard, if a concerted opposition was made.

and what is their fate is by the 41st century when humanity has a major presence in three galaxies

Still powerful. The Sontaran Experiment is set in the one hundred and thirty first century, where the Sontarans are investigating a now-deserted Earth and torturing the astronauts they come across in order to investigate human weakness. When the humans become aware of Sontaran plans, however, high command calls its plans off.

They've developed somewhat by this time - they have five fingers per hand, like us - but other than that, you'd not notice a difference. There's certainly nothing indicathing humanity's war-making potential ever exceeds Sontar's.

The Sontarans are actually rather formidable technologically - look at this episode, where they're able to manufacture hundreds of millions of time pockets. They were (with the aid of freelance scientists) experimenting with building a primative tardis in the 80s. That's quite a long way up the Doctor Who totem pole. There's nothing to suggest that this technological lead they have will ever be supassed.

and likely posses Asguard (Stargate SG-1p/i]) level FTL drives?

Unsupported.

[Vympel]

Is it just me or was the UNIT trailer employing TARDIS technology?

[Lord Woodlouse]

Is it just me or was the UNIT trailer employing TARDIS technology?

*grin* It looked like it, but it seemed to pull out.

Still looked suspiciously like the inside of a building, mind.

[Hillary]

The Sontarans after all, once invaded Gallifrey, though they don't know it - the entire affair was erased from time,

Was it? The Doctor forgot the events that happened, but everyone else remembered them. The hole above Gallifrey's protection system simply closed up, shutting the Sontaran battle fleet out. Only the Commander and his goons perished.

And, Orange, it was a Squash ball, not a tennis ball. A much faster and harder object. The Doctor has shown more than a few extraordinary skills of dexterity throughout the years; this is hardly new.

As for the episode, I really loved it. Donna's character is really growing with every week and the whole non-confrontation with Martha was a refreshing change from the constant jealousy shown by Martha and Rose in previous series. I also loved her rant at the UNIT Commander and her comment to the Doctor "So you turned her [Martha] into a soldier. Is that what you do?"

The Sontarans looked and were brilliant. The deadly SatNavs were great (given an extra twist as I work in an office with two SatNav bores).

So what if the storylines aren't completely original, I was gripped for 45 minutes and I can't wait for next week.

[Soontir C'boath]

What is the wedding Donna's mother is talking about? Wasn't it Torchwood that crashed a wedding?

[Bounty]

What is the wedding Donna's mother is talking about? Wasn't it Torchwood that crashed a wedding?

She's referring to the events of Runaway Bride. Torchwood crashed Gwen's wedding.

[Soontir C'boath]

What is the wedding Donna's mother is talking about? Wasn't it Torchwood that crashed a wedding?

She's referring to the events of Runaway Bride. Torchwood crashed Gwen's wedding.

Right, wow. I must've completely didn't care for that one.

Which is weird since I just got in the Empress of Racnoss deluxe figure.

[LadyTevar]

Watched it... it wasn't as interesting to me as I thought it would be.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Grr, missed it trying to get my dalek...

[Straha]

Watched it... it wasn't as interesting to me as I thought it would be.

Then you don't want to watch "The Doctor's Daughter". When they air it over here.

Just turn on your DVD player and watch Blink. Or go play with kittens. Do something. Anything. Really.