REVIEW: Doctor Who: 'Terror of the Sontarans' (Audio)

So here’s ‘Terror of the Sontarans’, the final story in Big Finish‘s “season” with the Seventh Doctor, set during the Classic Series’s twenty-fourth season. Does it match up to ‘We Are The Daleks‘ or ‘The Warehouse‘? Personally, not quite. While I still found it more enjoyable than the original TV serials in season twenty-four, it doesn’t quite match up to the highs of the earlier stories.

First, one thing I need to get out of the way: I love the Sontarans. I love their original story, ‘The Time Warrior’, and how clearly they were introduced as a very dangerous threat. I love how, along with ‘The Sontaran Experiment’, we’re given a very clear idea of their race, including how ruthless they are; how focused they remain on their objectives; even how uniform they are as a whole.

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The only problem is, on-screen, their subsequent appearances as the villains of the story have never quite matched up to their first two appearances (although Tenth Doctor story ‘The Sontaran Stratagem’/’The Poison Sky’ did come very close). While I enjoy the character of Strax, I think on television at least, we need another story where his race are clearly represented as the villains of the piece, as a reminder of how truly different Strax is now compared to the rest of his race.

With this audio story, while the Sontarans are represented as nasty and thuggish, they still don’t feel quite as villainous as they should in their own story. One problem is that the ‘Terror’ of the title isn’t because of the Sontarans, but rather, it’s something they themselves are afraid of. Honestly, it doesn’t feel too suited to the Sontarans, not right now, anyway. With the race becoming more and more used as comedy relief – not just in the TV series, but even in audios like ‘Heroes of Sontar’ – a story that makes their threat even less credible isn’t really needed.

The story itself also feels a little too long at four episodes. There’s an intriguing mystery presented of people going mad, but it’s not quite intriguing enough to grab your attention for the whole duration. What doesn’t help is that some of the characters lack depth. While they’re colourful and still stick out (such as Anvil Jackson, a James Bond wannabe who clearly sees himself as the hero of the story), they don’t feel quite fleshed out enough.

The same goes for the overall story. Nothing quite grabbed me beyond the surface plot. While ‘We Are The Daleks’ nicely satirized Thatcher-era Britain, and ‘The Warehouse’ took on some very old science-fiction ideas in a very fresh way, ‘Terror of the Sontarans’ didn’t seem to have any additional layers that grabbed me. And that’s a real shame, as sometimes, the surprising depth and satire a story can have can make all the difference. It’s why I rate the highly colourful ‘The Happiness Patrol’ much higher than any story from season 24. Even with the “Candy Man” and the TARDIS being painted bright pink, it all worked because there was a heavy dose of satire in there, too.

I’m also missing some of Seven’s darkness, as well. One thing I liked about the previous two stories was that Seven himself was still very light-hearted, but there were also hints of the grand chess player he would become, and difficult choices he had to make that would push him further into becoming the kind of man who would keep secrets from his companions, and create grand schemes that would trap his greatest enemies. There didn’t seem to be as much development of that side to him here, so I was a little disappointed by that.

I might be too harsh on ‘Terror of the Sontarans‘, and perhaps I’d enjoy it more on re-listen. For the moment though, considering it’s from John Dorney and Dan Starkey, one of which is one of my favourite writers of Doctor Who, and the other someone who really understands the Sontarans so well, respectively, it’s a story that ultimately doesn’t quite live up to expectations.

Next: REVIEW: Doctor Who: 'Before the Flood'

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REVIEW: Doctor Who: ‘Terror of the Sontarans’ (Audio)

By James Aggas | Oct 14, 2015

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