The Sontaran Stratagem

196a – "The Sontaran Stratagem"
Doctor Who episode
File:Sontaranstratagem.jpg The redesigned Sontaran warriors
Cast
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companion Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)
Others Christopher Ryan – General Staal Rupert Holliday Evans – Colonel Mace Dan Starkey – Commander Skorr Bernard Cribbins – Wilfred Mott Jacqueline King – Sylvia Noble Elenor Matsuura – Jo Nakashima Ryan Sampson - Luke Rattigan Christian Cooke - Ross Jenkins Clive Standen- Private Harris Wesley Theobald- Private Gray Ruari Mears- Clone
Production
Directed by	Douglas Mackinnon
Written by	Helen Raynor
Produced by	Susie Liggat
Executive producer(s)	Russell T. Davies Julie Gardner Phil Collinson
Production code	4.4
Series	Series 4
Running time	45 mins
First broadcast	April 26 2008
Chronology
← Preceded by "Planet of the Ood" Followed by → "The Poison Sky"

"The Sontaran Stratagem" is the fourth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 26 April 2008. The episode features the return of former companion Martha Jones, as well as the return of the alien Sontarans to the series. It is the first of a two part story, followed by "The Poison Sky". This is the Sontarans' first appearance since the 1985 Colin Baker story The Two Doctors.

Plot

Synopsis

A journalist, Jo Nakashima, attempts to interview a boy genius named Luke Rattigan about his invention, the carbon-cleaning car filter/GPS navigation system known as ATMOS. She believes it is dangerous, but has no proof, and so he throws her out. As she attempts to report her findings to UNIT, Rattigan informs his unnamed superiors about her, recommending that she be terminated. They agree, and moments later her car takes control of itself and drives her into a nearby river.

Martha Jones calls the Doctor for assistance, just as the Doctor is giving Donna Noble a flying lesson in the TARDIS. She is now working for UNIT, and, having just raided the main ATMOS factory, they need his help in determining if the ATMOS system is alien in origin. Though it is much more advanced than human technology should be, the Doctor notes that it is entirely human-made. He also notes that there are 800 million cars in the world, which would equal 800 million weapons if ATMOS could control every one. Donna points out that while the system may be man-made, the factory workers do not seem quite human, as not a single one has ever taken a sick day. While they prepare to examine the workers, two UNIT soldiers stumble upon a cloning facility in the basement. There they are confronted by a Sontaran, who identifies himself as General Staal of the 10th Sontaran Battlefleet, or 'Staal the Undefeated', who disables them and has them hypnotically converted into loyal servants. They in turn kidnap Martha, who is cloned by the Sontarans and kept prisoner so the clone can access her memories.

The Doctor decides to check out Rattigan while Donna heads home to check on her family under Martha's advice. At Rattigan's school, the Doctor confronts him about the fact that he did not invent the ATMOS system, as though it is human-made, the technology is far too advanced. He also points out the very large teleportation device sitting in the middle of his room. The Doctor quickly uses it to teleport to the Sontaran's battleship, getting one (General Staal) to follow him back before disabling the teleporter. After giving a quick run-down of Sontaran history, revealing that the Sontarans developed the ATMOS technology, he uses a squash-ball to injure the probic vent on the back of Staal's neck, which is the Sontarans' only weak point. On the Sontaran battleship, Rattigan's off-hand comments about the Doctor reveal his identity to the Sontarans, and General Staal, still irked about his race not being allowed to fight in the Time War, relishes the prospect of slaying the Doctor in battle. The Sontarans deadlock the Doctor's ATMOS-equipped land rover and instruct its sat-nav to drive into the river, but the Doctor, realising that the ATMOS device is programmed to do the reverse of everything he says, instructs it to drive into the river; the resulting logical paradox overloads the machine and unlocks the doors, allowing the Doctor to escape.

Though only half the cars worldwide use ATMOS, the Sontarans realize that their plans need to be accelerated. They activate converters in each ATMOS system, pumping out poisonous gas from 400 million cars worldwide. They deadlock each one to keep the Doctor from interfering. The Doctor tries to warn UNIT, but since it is the Martha clone he calls, they remain uninformed. Meanwhile, Donna's grandfather is trapped in his car whilst attempting to get it off the road, the Doctor having realised what the ATMOS devices are for, and despite their best efforts the Doctor and Donna cannot free him as gas from the device sprays into the car. As the episode ends, the Sontarans prepare their soldiers for invasion and begin chanting battlecries, mentally readying themselves for battle, while the Doctor watches as hundreds of cars release the poison, powerless to stop them.

Continuity

• The Doctor says he worked with UNIT sometime in the 1970s "or was it the '80s?", referring to inconsistencies in dating UNIT stories.
• UNIT is revealed to now be 'Unified Intelligence Taskforce', as the real United Nations no longer wished to be associated with the fictional organisation.
• Martha says that she is engaged to Thomas Milligan, who previously appeared in "Last of the Time Lords".
• Wilfred Mott recalls how he met the Doctor on Christmas Eve, when the Doctor disappeared before his eyes in "Voyage of the Damned". Donna's mother also remembers him, from Donna's wedding reception in "The Runaway Bride", and mentions that Wilfred was in bed with Spanish flu on that day, explaining the character's absence from the episode.
• The Doctor tells Donna of the "fifteenth broken moon" of the Medusa Cascade. The Medusa Cascade was previously mentioned in "Last of the Time Lords" and in "The Fires of Pompeii".
• The Doctor tells the Martha clone that UNIT will have information on the Sontarans "in the file Code Red Sontarans". While UNIT never dealt with the Sontarans directly, they were indirectly involved with them in The Time Warrior.
• General Staal refers to the legend of the Doctor leading the battle in the "last Great Time War" and to the fact Sontarans "weren't allowed" to participate in the war.
• Two taxis in "Partners in Crime" are labled with ATMOS stickers
• When the Doctor teleports into the Sontaran ship and is called an 'intruder' he asks 'How did he get in? Intruder window' this was previously said by Henry Van Statten in Dalek

Production

• Christopher Ryan, who plays General Staal, had previously played an alien for Doctor Who in the serial The Trial of a Time Lord: Mindwarp, in 1986.

External links

• The Sontaran Stratagem on Tardis Wiki, the Doctor Who Wiki
• "The Sontaran Stratagem" at the BBC Doctor Who homepage
• Template:Brief