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Transmitting down from Nerva Beacon, the Doctor, Sarah
and Harry find themselves on Earth in the far future, long-since
abandoned by the human race. But it soon becomes clear that
they are not alone: a shipwrecked crew of Galsec colonists
are being hunted own, one by one. What is the creature that
lives in the rocks, and what is the purpose of the lethal
tests it is conducting? Can the Doctor ensure the safety of
the Earth for the future generations of mankind...?
Two-part
stories were always something of an oddity in the original
Doctor
Who
series. Nowadays, we are of course accustomed to stories running
to an equivalent short length in the form of single 45-minute
episodes in the new series, but the original show naturally
ran at a much more leisurely pace, and four-parters were generally
considered to be a standard in which to tell a good, solid
story.
A couple of experimental two-parters were produced in the
very early years of the show, and John Nathan-Turner later
resurrected the format for a while in the 1980's with mixed
results - the problem being that stories running to just half
the usual length were often seen as very brief and almost
inconsequential entries into the Who canon.
The
Sontaran Experiment is odder than most, standing alone
as the only two-parter to be produced in the glorious golden
age of the 1970's, and it seems to act almost as a short 'interlude',
sandwiched as it is between two bona fide classics, The
Ark In Space and Genesis
Of The Daleks.
Back
in 1991, it was simply tacked onto the beginning of the Genesis
VHS release, so this solitary arrival on DVD may take a few
fans by surprise - we're certainly not used to seeing such
brief encounters having to stand on their own merits as a
complete release. In fact, this is the first of the BBC's
new single-disc Standard Editions for the Doctor
Who range.
The
double-disc releases of recent times, crammed to the hilt
with special features, will henceforth be referred to as Special
Editions and will share the schedule with more straightforward
releases which will contain simply the episodes and an audio
commentary. This may initially seem like a diluting of the
Who range but it's actually a welcome move which ensures
the release of 'slight' stories such as this, where there's
an obvious limitation for special features of any kind, and
the cheaper price tag will thankfully reflect the new slimmed-down
volumes.
Just to confuse matters though, and to keep you on your toes,
this package does include an accompanying 40-minute documentary.
This is very probably a one-off treat, and we are warned not
to expect these luxuries on future Standard Editions,
so The Sontaran Experiment works out as pretty exceptional
value for money.
The
story itself is a bleak glimpse into a desolated and ravaged
Earth of the far future. A group of stranded astronauts find
themselves at the mercy of Styre the Sontaran and his ridiculous
grappling robot drone, which captures human subjects for Styre
to conduct his torturous experiments upon, in admirable forward-thinking
preparation for a planned invasion fleet. The Fourth Doctor,
Sarah and Harry stumble into proceedings and try to save the
day, as Styre's lengthy experiments are reaching such pivotal
conclusions as "the humans' dependency on fluid is a weakness."
You can't help thinking that Styre could have saved himself
an awful lot of trouble by simply hiring a book from the library
or something.
The
whole look and feel of The Sontaran Experiment is distinctly
strange for Doctor Who, helped in part by it being
the only story in the show's history to be filmed completely
on OB Video. If I was being kind, I would venture that this
contributes to an unusual and uneasy atmosphere, as we observe
the time-travellers exploring a silent, almost deathlike planet
Earth, through the harsh glare of videotape. If I was being
less generous, I might conclude that the story comes perilously
close to looking like a fan-made video production, as a bunch
of mates run around the moors in home-made space costumes,
being chased by a silly robot thing that somebody's dad helped
knock up on a Saturday afternoon, but didn't quite get round
to finishing.
This feeling is compounded further when it becomes abundantly
clear that the Doctor is not Tom Baker at all in some of the
scenes, it's just a bloke dressed up in a curly wig and scarf,
and shot from behind. This sadly couldn't be helped as Baker
broke his collarbone during filming, and was capable of only
very limited movement, but it proves to be very unfortunate
for the production, especially considering the climax of the
story is an ambitious combat scene between the Doctor and
Styre.
Tom Baker himself, or what little we see of him, is clearly
still finding his feet as the Doctor. Although this was his
third story to be transmitted, it was actually only his second
to go into production. But it is a pleasure to watch the growing
interplay between this classic but short-lived TARDIS line-up
of Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen and Ian Marter, the latter
of whom should never have been dropped after a mere five stories,
as producer Philip Hinchcliffe will now freely admit.
The
story has plenty of nice touches. Styre is definitely a superior-looking
Sontaran - it's the last time we would see a member of his
race look this good in the television series. His spherical
spacecraft and retro yellow computer terminal do look very
snazzy indeed, although it's a shame about his rubbish robot.
The episode one cliff-hanger is nicely done too with a polite
nod to continuity, as Styre removes his helmet for the first
time, and a horrified Sarah understandably mistakes him for
Linx, the original Sontaran from her debut story The Time
Warrior. The conclusion is rather lame, but then the whole
story is based around such an absurd premise (why would an
entire Sontaran invasion fleet need to await the results of
some daft experiments on a handful of stranded humans before
'invading' an otherwise completely desolated planet?) that
it barely seems to matter. It's an enjoyable mix of the bleak
and the ridiculous, and serves its purpose adequately as an
off-kilter stopgap before the following Dalek epic.
An
excellent commentary is provided by co-writer Bob Baker, Elisabeth
Sladen and Philip Hinchcliffe (commenting on his first story
as producer). Sadly no Tom this time, although I suppose it
could be tricky offering fresh insight into the agony of lying
on your back with a broken collarbone.
The
documentary Built For War charts the televised history
of the Sontarans, from 1974's The Time Warrior through
to 1985's The
Two Doctors, and it's particularly interesting
to compare the extreme differences between the working relationships
of the 70's and 80's production teams.
Terrance
Dicks, Bob Baker and Elisabeth Sladen speak with great fondness
of their memories of the 70's shows, and of the late, great
Sontaran creator Robert Holmes, who had created a staggering
background to his monstrous creations that, frankly, bordered
on the worrying (you don't want to know what they can do with
the probic vents on the back of their necks...) Conversely,
80's script editor Eric Saward is clearly disappointed with
the Sontarans' final appearance in The Two Doctors,
and points the finger squarely at his producer John Nathan-Turner,
who seemed more concerned over blagging a chance to film overseas
rather than trivialities such as script or direction.
It's
a superb documentary, and even features clips from the 1985
Jim'll Fix It special In A Fix With Sontarans,
spliced with amusing anecdotes from Colin Baker and a still
grumpy Eric Saward. Strangely though, no mention at all of
Dreamwatch Media's 1994 video spin-off Shakedown - Return
Of The Sontarans. I can see why it's possibly a practical
decision to stick to official televised material in these
DVD commentaries, and why they may wish to avoid branching
out into the prolific, confusing and occasionally murky world
of video spin-offs, but Shakedown was pretty special.
Written by Terrance Dicks and directed by the brilliant Kevin
Davies, it was one of the most popular Doctor Who video
spin-offs ever produced, and featured an impressive 90's revamping
of the Sontarans - a bit of a shame then that it's completely
overlooked here.
The
Sontaran Experiment is certainly an odd DVD release then,
and maybe not one to put right at the very top of your shopping
list, but it's still pretty good value for such a deceptively
slim package.
Danny
Salter
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