Spoilers ahead...
What a pity we knew the Sontarans were coming back, as the opening to this episode would have had a far greater impact than it did. I would actually have left them out of last week's episode at least.
More of a stand-alone chapter, this one, focussing on the them - although they're present in more than one setting.
They've been redesigned to look closer to the original 1970's version, so gone are the rubbery blue uniforms. They are not as stupid as they were under Steven Moffat's reign, when the character of Strax virtually trashed the concept. The new Sontarans are certainly not played just for laughs. We get some humour from them, but they are also vicious killers - we see them executing unarmed civilians.
Talking of Strax, Dan Starkey is used again here. However, the main Sontaran player is Scottish comic actor Jonathan Watson (Two Doors Down etc.), who plays two of the aliens, one in each time zone - Skaak and Riskaw. The Sontarans are interested in Earth because Commander Linx had earlier claimed it for their empire - a nice nod to their origins.
The Sontaran / Crimean War section is the Doctor's part of the story, as here we have the TARDIS crew split up - which certainly makes for a good idea. Mary Seacole (this season's historical celebrity) takes on the companion role with the Doctor.
Dan gets sent back to the present day - but it's one where the Sontarans have invaded and taken over. A spaceship sits in the middle of Anfield. We get our first look at Dan's father, Neville (Paul Broughton), and his mother, Eileen (Sue Jenkins). Hopefully we'll see a bit more of them.
Yaz ends up in the Temple of Atropos, on the planet Time, where she encounters Joseph Williamson, the Liverpudlian tunnel builder. His role in all this is still a mystery.
Vinder has also ended up here. He was rather left on the periphery of things last week. He gets a bit more to do here - but not much more.
Swarm and Azure don't turn up until well into the episode - at the temple. They've brought a friend - a huge figure called Passenger.
Karvanista also makes an appearance, saving his human (i.e. Dan) from the Sontarans.
After the Sontarans are defeated - in both time zones - the Doctor and Dan take the TARDIS to the temple. The white robed beings in the temple are called Moori (?), and they somehow control time in this universe. Two of them have died, and Swarm kills another, but he then uses Yaz as a makeshift one (though why he couldn't have just kept the original I don't know).
The cliff-hanger - Yaz being threatened - is rather undermined by her appearing in the throw-forward to next week's instalment. (Warning: may contain Cybermen).
Things yet to be explained - Williamson's presence, what is wrong with the TARDIS, and now who or what is this Passenger bloke?
Overall, it was a much better episode than last week, owing to having a more linear storyline (the Sontaran invasion in the present day, from which they plan to invade the whole of Earth's history - the Crimean War intrusion being a dry run). Some great VFX, and the rehabilitation of the Sontarans.
Did anyone else think, just for a moment, that the British General was going to reveal himself to be a Rutan duplicate at the end?
“Moori” could be “Morai” the fates of Greek Mythology, though there were only three of them. Clotho spun the thread, Lachesis measured it and Atropos cut it. The thread was a mortal’s life and Atropos is the personification of death. I can’t work out whether this will feed into the plot, or whether it’s just plucking names from Greek mythology for no reason other than it sounds sufficiently portentous.
ReplyDeleteI have to say I’m enjoying it so far though!
And no, I don't know why my comment appears three times. I was using my phone at the time and when I clicked the back button twice, it put the comment up again. Twice. Now there's three. Like the Fates. Which is a bit spooky, but I'll let it pass. Which on checking online are spelled Moirai, not Morai. In my defence, I haven't really had the need to spell it since Classical Studies at school.
ReplyDeleteThe Radio Times is spelling it Moirai, and they usually get their info direct from the BBC. As I mentioned in an earlier post, a Google search gives Atropos as "inflexible" or "unalterable" - the opposite to flux, as in "continuous change".
ReplyDelete