The Sontaran Stratagem

[meddow]

Good solid episode which I think was let down by the cliff-hanger and the monsters. I’m really amazed, series one to three had their fantastic episodes and their clunkers mixed in – but series four has managed consistency of at least very good episodes so far. I think they’ve team have finally got the hang of it.

I wish they would stop killing off journalists. Every time they do that I get all upset because that might one day happen to Sarah Jane.

Martha! Being awesome and professional and in control. Man, top class clearance – she did not start UNIT at entry level. And Evil!Martha. I got the evil doppelganger that I’ve been wanting for months!

The Martha and Donna interaction was great. Though there wasn’t nearly enough of it. They were both pretty much basking in the glow of each other's awesomeness. That is how Companions meeting Companions should be – no fighting that make you choose which one you like, but adding the love for both of them together to make something even greater than the individuals.

I’m loving just how together the Doctor seems to be. This time last series he was suicidal. My love for Ten this season is immense. Though there wasn’t nearly enough grovelling at Martha’s feet. Next week maybe? And I think his jokes are getting worse.

Loved loved loved Donna the supertemp. My last summer job involved a lot of secretarial work and I managed to amuse myself during long hours over the binding machine by thinking that secretaries would make the best Companions. After all, they have to put up with a figures who like to think of themselves as right all the time and smarter than you, translate insane instructions and figure out how to us complex pieces of technology. Plus, I have a personal theory which I plan to one day work into fanfic that flying the TARDIS is much more like using a photocopier than driving a car. I mean, do you know what photocopiers can do these days? The can staple and scan and email. I wouldn’t be surprised if they can travel in time.

Though a folder with nothing in it doesn’t mean that nobody is taking sick days - it means that nobody’s following the proper paperwork procedures and they don’t have a Donna or a Meddow running around after them making sure that they do.

I can’t say how much I love Donna. The salute? Letting the Doctor ramble on about how brilliant she is when she was just popping out? Piloting the TARDIS? She leapt over Sarah and Barbara to become my favourite companion of the entire series in Fires of Pompeii, I really don’t know where else there is for her to go. Though the flashbacks of Donna magnificence – although welcome – seemed unnecessary in the forth episode of the series.

Wilf! He remembered the Doctor from Voyage! It was rather amusing how everyone in Donna’s family already knew the Doctor.

I’m not sure where they are going with the super genius kid, but damn he is annoying. I know stealing plots from SJA has been a common criticism of Series Four, and I haven’t minded – but isn’t that the very same old house where the evil kid genius in The Lost Boy was? Making him American does not make him materially different from the Slitheen kid.

UNIT! So far they’re removed from the Torchwood. The guns and misuse of military power message has the subtlety of an anvil, but I can deal. Like the military leader guy. Please don’t let him die. Love the young soldier Ross. He’s so cute. If we can’t get Midshipman Frame as a Companion for series five, I’ll very happily take Ross.

UNIT dating controversy jokes never get old.

And Sontarans were alright. I’ve seen The Time Warrior and The Sontaran Experiment and I still can’t seem to work up even a bit of nostalgia for them. Though it may have been worth bringing them back and giving them two episodes purely for the greatest war that they weren’t invited too line.

The cliff-hanger, I though, lacked a bit of drama. I mean, they’re never going to kill off Wilf, Donna would never get over it, and the gas seemed about as threatening as a smoke bomb.

And in series buzzwords, we have: The Medusa Cascade.

Anyone else think the bees disappearing might have nothing to do with the season plot and everything to do with some production team joke about the word ‘buzzword’?

Comments

[naushika.livejournal.com]

Oh God, I'm right there with you. It's like CAN WE PLEASE HAVE SOME ALIEN PLANETS. EVER. The Ood episode made me happy because it was something different for a change!

[meddow.livejournal.com]

YES! They say we can't have alien planets because they never look like alien planet, but viewers have imagination. If we can deal with some of the science they have on the show, we can totally deal with alien planets that look like quarries.