Doctor Who review: Strax faces the Sontarans in The Paternoster Gang: Truth and Bone
By James Aggas
In the final episode of Doctor Who spin-off box set The Paternoster Gang: Heritage 3, Strax faces his past as the gang fight against the Sontarans!
The last episode of The Paternoster Gang: Heritage 3 features a confrontation that I’ve been waiting for for a long time. Not just in the audio series itself, but in the Gang’s original Doctor Who episodes. Simply put, it features Strax against the Sontarans.
Strax is a brilliant comedy character, but it’s often easy to forget how dangerous the Sontarans are, at times. Especially on TV, when the only appearances of the clone race since 2008 have either been cameos or just Strax.
So it’s nice to see them show up in this audio, lead by Requisitioner Skark. Unlike Strax, Skark is every bit as ruthless and dangerous as the rest of his race. But what is his goal? Is he really after Strax? Or is there something else he’s looking for?
The Paternoster Gang are reunited with the Bloomsbury Bunch while facing the Sontarans!
(L to R) John Banks, Neve McIntosh, Dan Starkey, Christopher Ryan, Arthur Hughes. Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions
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Strax’s loyalty
As expected, Strax is explored on a slightly deeper level than usual in this story. We have a couple of scenes that explore how he feels at what he’s become, as well as his own sense of loyalty. Being a member of the Paternoster Gang isn’t something that he actually chose. It’s more something that he fell into. With the Sontarans finally looking for him, would he abandon his friends to return to what he was literally made for?
It’s not just Strax who’s focused on in this episode, though. Following on from events in Whatever Remains, Vastra finds herself forced to make a difficult choice in this episode. She’s found a power, but what’s the cost if she unleashes it?
There are a lot of elements that feature in Truth and Bone in terms of comedy, drama, and sci-fi. But writer Roy Gill handles all of them well. We’re given hilarious scenes with not just the Paternoster Gang but also the Bloomsbury Bunch (who were originally introduced in A Photograph to Remember from Heritage 1). In particular, the scenes featuring both Strax and fellow exiled Sontaran Stonn are hilarious to listen to.
But at the same time, Gill provides us with a lot of strong character focus and drama, too. While this isn’t a massively dramatic episode for Strax, it’s still refreshing to actually hear what happens when he’s confronted with both his own race and his past. We also get a decent amount of plot development too, especially in terms of the arc for the series.
Overall, Truth and Bone wraps up Heritage 3 nicely. We’ve got just one more volume of the arc to go, and I’m keen to find out how everything is resolved. More importantly, I’m hoping that Heritage 4 is as strong as this volume has proved to be.
Next. Stranded 1 begins a completely fresh era for the Eighth Doctor. dark
Do you think Strax should have faced the Sontarans on television? Are you hoping his past will be explored further in future box sets, or even in other Doctor Who audios? Let us know in the comments below.