You know, this season is off to such a strong start, and doesn’t seem to be letting up.

Probably an even stronger episode than last week, we had Helen Raynor’s second Dr Who story. Still dealing with the return of a classic enemy, this time she was writing the first appearance of the Sontarans in new Who.

I wasn’t a big fan of her Dalek 2-parter this year, but I’ve enjoyed her Torchwood scripts, and this was a great first part. It packed in loads, and successfully reinvented the Sontarans. Well, I say reinvented, but beyond their new blue suits, they were very true to their initial concept.

Their love of warfare was brought to the fore in a way it probably hadn’t been before, but I think this worked well to set them apart from the other alien menaces. I especially liked the touch of Staal being bitter about his race’s exclusion from the Time War. We also saw the return of some Sontaran staples. Just like in the Time Warrior, we saw the Sontarans hypnotising humans, pushing them to the point of death as a workforce. They’re also happy to use other humans in achieving their goals, with Rattigan being used in presumably much the same way as Irongron was (or indeed the Androgums in The Two Doctors).

For arc fans, we also had the third (by my count) mention of the Medusa Cascade this season. There seems to be a few arc threads putting put into the stories, and this seems to be one of the more mysterious. The Master mentioned it last year, and beyond its name, we have little idea of its significance.

Great to see Wilf back as well. His role as Donna’s Grandad has really clicked in a way Martha’s family didn’t last year.

And talking of Martha, I loved her return. Its no secret I was a fan of her character last year, and this more mature version works well. Her working for UNIT was, of course, mentioned in her Torchwood appearances, but still makes a lot of sense, much like Rose working for the alt-Torchwood. It makes sense that the Doctor’s companions would take up roles like these, unable to ignore what they’ve seen while travelling with the Doctor. Much like we’ve also seen Sarah Jane carrying on the cause (albeit without the benefit of a big organisation like Rose or Martha).

If the rest of the season can maintain this level of quality, then its fair to say it’ll have been the strongest one yet. Which is appropriate given its minor rest next year.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 27th, 2008 at 17:27 and is filed under Doctor Who, Television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.