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Heroes of Sontar kicks in the door yelling “GLORY TO THE CLONE BATCH” and immediately trips over its own rifle because oh my god these potato-headed war gremlins are in WAY over their little dome-shaped heads and I am thriving.
We’ve got Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor, aka the human embodiment of “please can everyone just calm down for FIVE MINUTES,” paired with the iconic chaos quartet of Tegan Jovanka (zero patience, maximum volume), Nyssa (gentle genius, walking moral compass), and Vislor Turlough (still looks like he’s considering a light betrayal as a hobby). It’s a TARDIS team that runs on stress, loyalty, and the constant threat of someone storming off mid-argument.
And then… Sontarans. A whole little battalion of them. Marching, shouting, posturing, doing the whole “we live for war” speech like it’s a personality and not a cry for help. Except something is off. Deeply off. They’ve been deployed to this ruined, desolate planet on a mission they don’t fully understand, and for once the Sontarans aren’t the biggest threat in the room.
Oh no. They’re the prey. Which is DELICIOUS.
Because suddenly all that bluster starts to crack. The story introduces this ancient, shadowy force from Sontaran history, something primal and hungry and VERY interested in collecting a few battle-hardened offerings. And the Sontarans, who usually charge headfirst into danger screaming about honour, are forced into this weird, twitchy state of “wait… what if WE’RE the ones being hunted???” Cue existential crisis in a clone vat.
The plot itself is basically a pressure cooker. The Doctor and friends trying to survive. The Sontarans trying to maintain dignity while absolutely spiralling. And this unseen horror stalking the edges like “yes hello I would like one (1) war species, medium rare.”
And honestly? The atmosphere SLAPS. It’s tense, claustrophobic, and weirdly psychological for a story about angry space potatoes. There’s this creeping sense of inevitability, like nobody here fully understands the rules but everyone’s going to pay the price anyway.
Character-wise, it’s a feast. Peter Davison plays this beautifully understated Doctor who doesn’t dominate the room so much as navigate it, slipping between egos and trying to stop everything collapsing into violence. Nyssa gets some lovely, empathetic moments, Tegan is gloriously DONE with everything, and Turlough… oh, Turlough fits right into this morally grey nightmare like he’s found his people.
And the Sontarans themselves? Weirdly compelling. Stripped of their usual role as one-note villains, they become almost tragic. Conditioned for war, built for obedience, and now facing something they can’t shoot their way out of. It’s like watching a hammer realise not everything is a nail and having a full-on breakdown about it.
But okay, not perfect. The pacing can wobble a bit in the middle, with a few stretches where it feels like we’re circling the same tension without escalating it. And the “mysterious force” is perhaps a little too mysterious at times, like I’m squinting into the void going “hi yes could you maybe explain yourself just a TINY bit more???”
Still. The themes land. Hard. War as identity. The horror of blind obedience. What happens when a species built entirely for conflict runs into something older, deeper, and utterly indifferent to their idea of glory. It’s not just a fight. It’s a reckoning. And I love that for them. Terrifying. But I love it.
Final Thoughts
A tense, character-driven twist on the Sontarans that turns them from punchline villains into something almost… pitiable. Not flawless, but atmospheric, thoughtful, and surprisingly haunting.
4 out of 5 deeply confused clone soldiers questioning their entire life purpose mid-battle