The conclusion to "The Sontaran Stratagem" was just as terrific. For the duration of the episode, The Doctor continues to unravel the reason for the Atmos gas that started filling the skies at the close of the previous episode.
With each of my reviews, I watch the episode from the classic Doctor Who side of the fence, so I often spend my reviews ranting about things I felt were inconsistent with the fundamentals set by the original series. While some people have told me that there is no comparing the two, the fact that fans like myself who grew up with the multi-colored scarf are h
ooked on the revived series as much as we are the original is proof that in spite of all of Russell T Davies' shortcomings with his vision of the new series, Doctor Who still has the spark that it did all those years ago.
Helen Raynor once again shows that she can keep a plotline afloat for the length of two episodes, just as she did with her Dalek story. I was relieved to see that Sontaran firearms were alien in design, complete with flashing red lights at the tip of their barrels. I know it sounds toyish and cheesy, but just because it's 2008 doesn't mean everything alien has to be exotic in design. The Sontaran weapons weren't too Star Wars-y, in short. Ofcourse, I now distinctly remember a Sontaran in "The Invasion of Time" wielding a weapon shaped more like a wand, with the handle end tailored to better suit a Sontaran's large three fingers.
Another plus I neglected to mention in my review of "The Sontaran Stratagem" was the electronic sounds used as music for the Sontarans. However, I must confess I was also partial to the short trumpet fanfare that played during short Sontaran marching scenes.
About the only minuses I could find with this two parter was the usual RTD dummy marks - scene after scene after scene of news anchors ranting about "stay in your homes," "biblical plagues," and "the end of days," with close ups of the anchors' mouths accompanied with extreme shaky camera work. Completely unnecessary, since audiences would have already worked it out themselves. As I've said, this is always inserted just to give the drama a shot of nitrous oxide.
The other RTD "dummy mark" was, of course, the involvement of Donna's family in the Sontaran crisis, setting the stage for RTD's usual tear-jerker scenes, and that includes Martha's farewell to her clone.
The only other minus was the shaky reality TV camera work as Rattigan attempts to persuade his fellow students to join him on his new world, which ultimately ends up just being an empty promise made to Rattigan by the Sontarans.
Donna is fantastic once again as the companion, showing some full-on calm initiative while under pressure on the Sontaran ship, as well as bravery, something Rose lacked frequently.
The conclusion was a bit puzzling though, as The Doctor ignited all the gas in the sky causing a wall of fire which conveniently seemed to only affect the upper atmosphere, but still clear the gas below.
The episode is full of twists right to the end, where the TARDIS inexplicably sends The Doctor, Martha, and Donna on an adventure without The Doctor touching a thing.
Favorite dialogue? The Doctor in a gas mask: "Are you my mummy?"
With each of my reviews, I watch the episode from the classic Doctor Who side of the fence, so I often spend my reviews ranting about things I felt were inconsistent with the fundamentals set by the original series. While some people have told me that there is no comparing the two, the fact that fans like myself who grew up with the multi-colored scarf are h
ooked on the revived series as much as we are the original is proof that in spite of all of Russell T Davies' shortcomings with his vision of the new series, Doctor Who still has the spark that it did all those years ago.Helen Raynor once again shows that she can keep a plotline afloat for the length of two episodes, just as she did with her Dalek story. I was relieved to see that Sontaran firearms were alien in design, complete with flashing red lights at the tip of their barrels. I know it sounds toyish and cheesy, but just because it's 2008 doesn't mean everything alien has to be exotic in design. The Sontaran weapons weren't too Star Wars-y, in short. Ofcourse, I now distinctly remember a Sontaran in "The Invasion of Time" wielding a weapon shaped more like a wand, with the handle end tailored to better suit a Sontaran's large three fingers.
Another plus I neglected to mention in my review of "The Sontaran Stratagem" was the electronic sounds used as music for the Sontarans. However, I must confess I was also partial to the short trumpet fanfare that played during short Sontaran marching scenes.
About the only minuses I could find with this two parter was the usual RTD dummy marks - scene after scene after scene of news anchors ranting about "stay in your homes," "biblical plagues," and "the end of days," with close ups of the anchors' mouths accompanied with extreme shaky camera work. Completely unnecessary, since audiences would have already worked it out themselves. As I've said, this is always inserted just to give the drama a shot of nitrous oxide.
The other RTD "dummy mark" was, of course, the involvement of Donna's family in the Sontaran crisis, setting the stage for RTD's usual tear-jerker scenes, and that includes Martha's farewell to her clone.
The only other minus was the shaky reality TV camera work as Rattigan attempts to persuade his fellow students to join him on his new world, which ultimately ends up just being an empty promise made to Rattigan by the Sontarans.
Donna is fantastic once again as the companion, showing some full-on calm initiative while under pressure on the Sontaran ship, as well as bravery, something Rose lacked frequently.
The conclusion was a bit puzzling though, as The Doctor ignited all the gas in the sky causing a wall of fire which conveniently seemed to only affect the upper atmosphere, but still clear the gas below.
The episode is full of twists right to the end, where the TARDIS inexplicably sends The Doctor, Martha, and Donna on an adventure without The Doctor touching a thing.
Favorite dialogue? The Doctor in a gas mask: "Are you my mummy?"
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