Over the last few years, Big Finish has treated us to old monsters who perhaps didn’t hit the mark as well as the Daleks or Cybermen. We’ve had the Ice Warriors, Zygons, the Spiders, Autons and now the Sontarans. It’s really surprising how long it’s taken Big Finish to get round bringing them back considering they appeared in several stories since their debut in 1973. This story was a substitute because Alan Barnes (author) wanted to do a Winston Churchill story but was told by Cardiff that he couldn’t because he would appear on TV.
Set on the planet of Samur, the Doctor and his band of merry men (and women) arrive to find the planet covered in a purple moss and it infects Nyssa and part of the story is about finding the cure to stop it killing her. The main plot is about the Sontarans and we meet seven of them and it’s clear they are not normal Sontarans but we learn that there is a curse which can only be lifted when seven souls have been sacrificed. It’s a different story that I wasn’t expecting when I heard that the Sontarans would be making their debut for Big Finish.
I thought all the regulars were very good. In particular I was impressed with Janet Fielding and Mark Strickson. I thought that they both had some of the funniest lines and in particular Strickson going on his holding flying with speech. Fielding was on fiery form with her Napoleon digs at the Sontarans. The mere fact that Tegan wasn’t scared of them was the right move by Alan Barnes.
There was one thing that I wasn’t so keen on and that was that Nyssa didn’t have much to do for large chunks of this story and this is something that became a problem on TV and did show itself in the previous series. Thankfully it wasn’t a massive problem because the story itself is very good an.
There are more things that I liked about this such as the mentions of the Rutans (previously appeared in Castle of Fear) and this makes another reference to their war. However I found the moment when Nyssa fears that she is about to die she makes a revelation about the Doctor’s future that she can’t let him find anything about. This refers to the 2007 story Circular Time and the winter part of that story. I wasn’t expecting that because I thought it was so long ago that it ceased to really have any importance to the Doctor’s timeline. That said it was well written into the story.
The Sontarans that we got to begin with are not the brightest bunch. Now normally I would get really irate about this but on this occasion I found it hilarious and that’s what I like about it. It’s clear that there is something not right because they make mistakes like leaving orders somewhere else and not sounding particularly bright. It would have been so easy to have a Sontaran versus Rutan battle but hopefully that wont come round just yet but what they did to add a bit more drama to was the introduction of the Witch Guard who are extremely miffed with the Sontarans and are powerful enough to be able to put a curse on them and at times occupy someone’s body.
Heroes of Sontar is a fun story that doesn’t take itself too seriously but doest go the full hog and does retain a certain amount of drama. Big Finish’s track record of bringing back characters from the classic era is getting stronger every time they try. Hopefully it won’t be long before we get another Sontaran story. It’s another cracking start to this Fifth Doctor/Nyssa/Tegan and Turlough series and shows no sign of waning.
Set on the planet of Samur, the Doctor and his band of merry men (and women) arrive to find the planet covered in a purple moss and it infects Nyssa and part of the story is about finding the cure to stop it killing her. The main plot is about the Sontarans and we meet seven of them and it’s clear they are not normal Sontarans but we learn that there is a curse which can only be lifted when seven souls have been sacrificed. It’s a different story that I wasn’t expecting when I heard that the Sontarans would be making their debut for Big Finish.
I thought all the regulars were very good. In particular I was impressed with Janet Fielding and Mark Strickson. I thought that they both had some of the funniest lines and in particular Strickson going on his holding flying with speech. Fielding was on fiery form with her Napoleon digs at the Sontarans. The mere fact that Tegan wasn’t scared of them was the right move by Alan Barnes.
There was one thing that I wasn’t so keen on and that was that Nyssa didn’t have much to do for large chunks of this story and this is something that became a problem on TV and did show itself in the previous series. Thankfully it wasn’t a massive problem because the story itself is very good an.
There are more things that I liked about this such as the mentions of the Rutans (previously appeared in Castle of Fear) and this makes another reference to their war. However I found the moment when Nyssa fears that she is about to die she makes a revelation about the Doctor’s future that she can’t let him find anything about. This refers to the 2007 story Circular Time and the winter part of that story. I wasn’t expecting that because I thought it was so long ago that it ceased to really have any importance to the Doctor’s timeline. That said it was well written into the story.
The Sontarans that we got to begin with are not the brightest bunch. Now normally I would get really irate about this but on this occasion I found it hilarious and that’s what I like about it. It’s clear that there is something not right because they make mistakes like leaving orders somewhere else and not sounding particularly bright. It would have been so easy to have a Sontaran versus Rutan battle but hopefully that wont come round just yet but what they did to add a bit more drama to was the introduction of the Witch Guard who are extremely miffed with the Sontarans and are powerful enough to be able to put a curse on them and at times occupy someone’s body.
Heroes of Sontar is a fun story that doesn’t take itself too seriously but doest go the full hog and does retain a certain amount of drama. Big Finish’s track record of bringing back characters from the classic era is getting stronger every time they try. Hopefully it won’t be long before we get another Sontaran story. It’s another cracking start to this Fifth Doctor/Nyssa/Tegan and Turlough series and shows no sign of waning.
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