Rate & Discuss 4.4: The Sontaran Stratagem

[Pip Madeley]

Fanboys around the country will be jumping for joy as those potato headed warriors return after a 23 year absence...



Rate and discuss the episode right after the episode has broadcast - no spoilers til then please!

[Rob McCow]

Stay off-screen for 23 years then turn up in a big two-parter? That sounds more like a Kraal strategem to me!

[Jon Masters]

The exclusive clip on the website looks quite exciting (apart from the 12 year old in the UNIT uniform) - certainly the character of the Sontaran seems sopt on

BUT..........we all know what Helen Rayner did the last time she got hold of a classic monster for a two parter.....

[Rob McCow]

DNA! Lightning! Solar Flares!
How were they connected?! I have no idea.

This time I'm expecting a virus spread by radiation that turns people into human Sontarans when a nebula lands on Earth.

[Andrew Curnow]

I got a bit fed up with the Radio Times proclaiming the first appearance for 23 years. Yes, it's true, but 16 of those the show was off-air. Frankly any old monster brought back will have been off our screens for nearly two decades at minimum.

That moan aside, I'm looking forward to this one!!

[Perry Vale]

I'm hoping for a subtle 'Gareth Jenkins' mention somewhere in the script. Or not. The Sontaran looks too wide, and why is he calling The Doctor 'Sir'. Surely they look down on all other lifeforms as scum?

[SiHart]

I got a bit fed up with the Radio Times proclaiming the first appearance for 23 years. Yes, it's true, but 16 of those the show was off-air. Frankly any old monster brought back will have been off our screens for nearly two decades at minimum.

That moan aside, I'm looking forward to this one!!

Tonight, here's someone you haven't seen in 16 years, and we've flown him in direct from the planet Sontar, so he can share your special night... yes it's Commander Staal.

Si xx

[Logo Polish]

I'm hoping for a subtle 'Gareth Jenkins' mention somewhere in the script. Or not. The Sontaran looks too wide, and why is he calling The Doctor 'Sir'. Surely they look down on all other lifeforms as scum?

It might be meant in the passive-aggressive sarcastic style teachers use when talking to pupils. I doubt if he means it in a respectful sense.

[Larry]

just had a look at the trailers and this looks like being one of the best episodes of series 4 .

[Perry Vale]

I think it's going to be the best episode 4 of any of the new series, where episode 4 is the first of a two part story.

[Andrew Curnow]

Would it be too sad to admit that I've been humming the "dum-dum-dududum" Sontaran march from The Two Doctors most of this week?

[Zbigniev Hamson]

"Unified Intelligence Taskforce" indeed

I wonder if there will be a twist where this turns out to be Lord Kiv in another body.

[Pip Madeley]

But that would be a highly unnecessary piece of continuity that would confuse 99.9% of viewers.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Precisely

[WhiteCrow]

I wonder if there will be a twist where this turns out to be Lord Kiv in another body.

I thought Kiv looked like Nichola Bryant when I last saw it?

[Larry]

"Unified Intelligence Taskforce" indeed

I wonder if there will be a twist where this turns out to be Lord Kiv in another body.

well untill today I had no idea they had changed the name but this "unified" sounds bloody awful...

[Pip Madeley]

They had to change the name Larry, the United Nations didn't want their name being used this time round.

[Rob McCow]

Seeing as Torchwood has re-invented them as a bunch of Guantanmo Bay hugging secret police, I'm not surprised!

[Pip Madeley]

Torchwood are laughable though, they're meant to be a secret organisation beyond everything and yet everyone in the whole of South Wales knows about them. I bet they have an Appreciation Society.

[Logo Polish]

Or a fan club. Maybe there's a free badge and a letter from Captain Jack to people who join?

[Andrew Curnow]

We always used to laugh during season 1 - there's Jack & co bleating on about super secret, and they've got TORCHWOOD written on their 4x4!!

I don't mind them changing the definition of UNIT (things do change after all) but shouldn't the UN have more important things to concern themselves with than the initials of a fictional organisation in a TV show?

[Stuart Wallis]

I thought Kiv looked like Nichola Bryant when I last saw it?

See what you've done, you've woken Tim up now!

[Larry]

Seeing as Torchwood has re-invented them as a bunch of Guantanmo Bay hugging secret police, I'm not surprised!

well it's better then the Keystone Cops UNIT soldiers we had during the Pertwee era..

[Lord President]

What the hell is the Unified Intelligence Taskforce?

I really enjoyed tonight's episode, it paves the way for the conclusion to an excellent 2-parter!

I'm not too sure about the shrinking of the Sontarans though!

8/10

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Utter crap. I was generous and rounded up to 1 though