In which the Doctor succeeds in guiding the TARDIS back through time to avoid impact with the Flux - a rolling mass of destructive energy which is devouring the cosmos.
The wave strikes, and the Doctor suddenly finds herself alone in a bizarre dream-like landscape, dominated by a huge crumbling house. Before she can identify where she is, she is on a battlefield. There are dead soldiers lying around, wearing red uniforms of the mid-19th Century, and abandoned artillery.
The TARDIS is also here, and Dan and Yaz soon appear. A woman approaches, accusing them of robbing the dead. She is Mary Seacole, who has come to the Crimea to nurse the wounded - for this is Sebastapol in 1855. They here enemy troops approach, and the Doctor is shocked to discover that they are not Russian soldiers. They are Sontaran warriors...
Vinder has also been thrown into another environment by the Flux. He is in an ancient temple complex, where he is confronted by floating Priest Triangles. They ask if he has come to make repairs, as they need someone to fix something of great importance. Led into the inner chamber, he discovers that six plinths, which appear empty, actually have a white-robed figure standing on them - only visible when approached. These are the Mouri, but two are missing.
Seacole takes the Doctor and her companions to her hospital / shelter, which she calls the "British Hotel". First Dan, then Yaz vanish, and the Doctor discovers that the TARDIS doors have disappeared - trapping her here. She assumes this to be a side effect of the Flux interacting with vortex energy.
Dan finds himself back on his street in Liverpool - but dominating the skyline is a Sontaran warship. The aliens have invaded. Chased through the city, he encounters his parents - Neville and Eileen - who tell him that the planet is now dominated by Sontarans, despite human resistance activity.
Yaz has arrived at the same location as Vinder. As she explores, she encounters the Liverpudlian tunnel-obsessive Joseph Williamson, who has also found his way here. He is looking for the way home, and wanders away.
Yaz then meets the Priest Triangles, which lead her to where Vinder is waiting.
The Doctor meets Lt General Logan at the British Hotel - commander of the British forces here. he is planning a counter-offensive against the Sontarans - and refuses to heed the Doctor's advice about them.
She fears a bloodbath should Victorian soldiers attempt to battle alien laser weaponry.
From Logan and Seacole, the Doctor discovers that the corruption of history is only recent. Seacole reveals that she has a wounded Sontaran soldier - Svild - hidden at the Hotel. The Doctor decides that he should be released, so that she can follow him and discover the location of the Sontaran base.
She is determined to try to negotiate a peace. Svild will inform his commander that she is here.
They follow him discreetly and see him enter a nearby valley, where a fleet of warships are hidden by a camouflage barrier.
He tells his commander - Skaak - of the Doctor's request for a parley, before being shot dead for having allowed himself to be captured.
Dan learns that the Sontarans invaded two days ago - just as the Lupari spaceships formed their shield around the planet. They have made their base at the docks, so he heads for there - sending his parents to safety.
Vinder and Yaz have learned that they are in the Temple of Atropos, on a planet called Time. The Mouri act as conduits for all the time in the universe, which passes through them. They control it and prevent it from causing chaos - but two have been damaged.
Dan witnesses Commander Ritskaw executing curfew-breakers, and overhears mention of a full temporal offensive which is due to take place. He decides to break into one of the warships to learn more.
The Doctor attend her parlay with Skaak and discovers that the Sontarans have simply exploited the Flux - slipping into Earth just before the Lupari shield closed. They have made this incursion into history as a test, before launching their main attack on the whole of Earth's past, present and future.
Her attempts at peace are halted by the arrival of Logan, who pledges his forces to battle. Skaak naturally accepts the challenge.
The Doctor is unable to halt the slaughter. She and Seacole break into a warship, where she manages to make contact with Dan on another ship in 2021. They must each stop their respective war fleet.
Dan is then captured by warriors - but is saved from summary execution by the arrival of Karvanista, who continues to be bound to him.
Logan returns a broken man, his troops almost entirely wiped out. The Doctor knows that Sontarans are vulnerable for a short period each day when they re-energise themselves from their ship. She forms a plan, then she, Seacole and Logan set off for the hidden valley with some surviving soldiers. Once there, they begin sabotaging the ships as the aliens recharge. However, Logan decides to adapt the scheme.
In Liverpool, Karvanista arranges for the ship he and Dan are in to take off then crash into the others - creating a temporal chain reaction. They escape through a waste unit into the dock.
Instead of merely disabling the fleet in Sebastapol - to force the Sontarans to withdraw, Logan has released their fuel which will be ignited.
The Doctor discovers this too late, as the entire fleet explodes. The Liverpool fleet is also destroyed, with the temporal shockwave wiping out both incursions and putting history back on course.
The Doctor is able to gain access to the TARDIS again - now increasingly warped within - and heads off in search of her companions.
It materialises in the Temple of Atropos - where she encounters Swarm and Azure. They have with them a giant mute figure, known as Passenger. They have destroyed the Priest Triangles and now Yaz and Vinder are captive - transformed into the missing Mouri.
The full force of time is about to flow through them, destroying them...
Flux - War of the Sontarans was written by Chris Chibnall and first broadcast on Sunday 7th November 2021.
It is the first of two instalments of the Flux storyline which could have been stand-alone episodes, with some rejigging. In this case, the removal of the Temple of Atropos material. The Sontarans have been shown to be interested in mastering time travel since the beginning. In The Time Warrior they had some limited technology, allowing Linx to move between Medieval England and the 20th Century. By The Invasion of Time, they are actually launching an attack on Gallifrey itself, and may well have conquered or destroyed it had the Doctor not been there. (So it's ironic that their agents, the Vardans, involved him in the first place).
So a story in which the Sontarans attempted another invasion by manipulating time and altering history as a test could easily have been a story in its own rights.
As mentioned last time, the aliens have undergone a design makeover. The basic outline remains, including the short stature and the domed helmet which reflects their domed heads. In place of the very rubbery-looking blue costumes introduced in Series 4, they now sport a dark padded suit, with a number of armoured sections - on chest, shoulders, knees and forearms. Below is a costume from the Worlds of Wonder exhibition.
The metalwork is tarnished, looking slightly rusted, and therefore more lived-in and battle-used. As for the masks, they have also undergone a tweak to make them resemble more closely the original Linx mask, in terms of skull shape and colouring. Their spaceships remain the version introduced in The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky.
We only visit the planet Time for a few scenes - when Vinder arrives, followed by Yaz, and finally when the Doctor catches up with them. Swarm and Azure only appear briefly, accompanied by new character "Passenger". Victorian eccentric Williamson appears, and his role in events remains totally enigmatic.
Dan properly becomes the Doctor's companion this week, whilst Vinder also joins the Doctor's narrative.
We are also introduced to a monochrome dream-like landscape in which there is a huge, tottering house, which appears to be slowly breaking apart.
The guest cast is headed by Sara Powell as Mary Seacole. She had a recurring role in fire brigade drama London's Burning. Lt General Logan is Gerald Kyd. Like Powell, he has appeared in forensics drama Silent Witness and is currently co-starring in Love Rat.
We are introduced to dan's parents, but unlike previous companions since 2005 we will not get to know them very well. This will prove to be their sole appearance. Both actors are Brookside veterans - Paul Broughton playing Neville, and Sue Jenkins playing Eileen. Broughton also featured in the BBC4 live version of The Quatermass Experiment.
The Sontarans are the same as last week - Jonathan Watson and Dan Starkey, and Craig Els is back as Karvanista.
New character "Passenger" is Jonny Mathers. 7' 2" tall, he is actually a tenancy sustainment officer in his day job.
Overall, one of the highlights of the series - mainly because of its "stand-alone" quality and a respectful treatment of the Sontarans. The aliens were badly handled by Steven Moffat, being treated as figures of ridicule only, and there purely for comic relief. Writers like Robert Holmes could get across how ludicrous they could be, but balancing this with their ruthlessness and danger.
The horse joke is great.
Things you might like to know:
- Mary Seacole was born on 23rd November 1805 in Kingston, Jamaica. Her mother ran a boarding house and had herbalist skills, which may have led Mary into the nursing field. The "British Hotel", established when she travelled to the Crimea to help wounded troops, was intended as accommodation, but the officers explained that the men would prefer their own barracks. She therefore turned it into an eating establishment, which proved highly successful. She died in 1881, and in 2004 was voted the greatest ever black Briton.
- Seacole had already met the Twelfth Doctor, but on audio.
- The Mouri are all played by female actors, though it is hard to notice on first watch due to the costume / make-up.
- Their derives from "mauri", which means a lifeforce, vital essence, or symbol of a life presence (or an object or person which embodies this). This from the Māori culture.
- "Atropos" is Greek for inflexible or unalterable - so the opposite to flux.
- The Doctor uses Venusian Aikido to overpower her guard - the martial art introduced in the Third Doctor's era.
- Some of the dialogue mirrors the Tennyson poem The Charge of the Light Brigade - inspired by an event once described by the Second Doctor as "magnificent folly".
- An alien race called Ravagers were to have featured in the temple scenes, but were cut from the final draft.
- A spin-off graphic novel featuring Captain Jack was planned for this episode, back when the Flux storyline was set to include him. This was scrapped when Barrowman got cancelled.
- The Priest Triangles are voiced by Nigel Lambert. He played the scientist Hardin in The Leisure Hive.
- The mask worn by Mathers as Passenger had previously featured in a pornographic Star Wars parody. And no, I've never seen it. Honest.
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