Saturday, October 8, 2016

The First Sontarans by: Andrew Smith directed by: Ken Bentley: The Original Inhabitants of Sontar

The First Sontarans stars Colin Baker as the Doctor and Nicola Bryant as Peri with Anthony Howell as Jacob and Dan Starkey as Jaka.  It was written and adapted by Andrew Smith, directed by Ken Bentley and was released in July 2012 by Big Finish Productions.

 

Big Finish just seems to have an obsession with giving the Doctor Who villains an origin story.  They started with the Silurians by exploring their society in Bloodtide, did the Cybermen in Marc Platt’s excellent Spare Parts, and would of course explore the Ice Warriors in Lords of the Red Planet.  So it was a matter of time when for the Lost Stories to revisit Andrew Smith’s second script for Doctor Who, The First Sontarans.  The extras of the CD however reveal that this story was cut in half with elements involving the Mary Celeste cut down to make it a simpler story and as not to conflict with The Chase.  This simplification of the story helps the story work well on audio as there is only one plotline to follow.  The Sontarans and Rutans have brought their never ending war to Earth in 1872 and are after a weapon that could do the impossible.  It would end the war, but it was stolen by the Kaveetch.  The Kaveetch are refugees trying to escape the Sontarans, but it is revealed that they are actually the original inhabitants of Sontar and are responsible for the creation of the Sontarans.  That’s really all the story is about.  These Kaveetch are trying to fix the mistake they made by creating the clones while trying to live out normal lives as they are in love.  It’s a simple plot but much like Smith’s debut, Full Circle, it’s full of simple, yet brilliant ideas.  The story touts a message of anti-war and being against drastic measures to end war.  It’s a theme that has been done before, but Smith is able to add some variations to make it resemble something new.

 

The story is enhanced by Jamie Robertson’s essentially 1980s sounding score that pops up in just the right moments to keep the tensions story.  You can really see a lot of the horrors of war bleed into the story and add to some grotesque imagery of the script.  Smith’s script has the grotesque horror of The Sontaran Experiment and Horror of Fang Rock.  Smith writes for both the Sontarans and Rutans very well.  The Rutans while put in the background for most of the audio except for the reveal of their entrance which is a great twist near the end of Part Two.  They’re still portrayed in a dark manner like their introduction story as they are of course the ruthless killers that they are known to be.  However, the Sontarans are treated much better than they were in almost every story except their introductions as here they are ruthless killers.  Dan Starkey provides the voices for the Sontarans he contributes to the ruthlessness of their killings.  These aren’t the New Series Sontarans who are the butts of jokes about potatoes, but warriors who are obsessed with violence and defeating their enemies.  The imagery provoked by Smith helps in this by showing us the cloning hatcheries for the Sontarans which would never have been seen on television.

 

No audio would be complete without the Doctor and his companion.  Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor, a Doctor who most likely would make Sontaran jokes, actually gives a moving performance where he gets a lot of messages through his head.  Baker knows just what beats to hit to be able to get the emotional reactions out of the audience.  He sympathizes with the Kaveetch, but their plan to kill the Sontarans is one that he cannot agree with in any way because all life is precious.  This is why he is totally against the Sontaran and Rutan war as it has no clear victor which is a good message for today’s world where we seem to be in a world where war is perpetual in quite a lot of ways.  Peri as played by Nicola Bryant also has what may just be her best performance yet.  Peri is very active in this story as she works towards finding a solution and trying to solve the mystery early on in the story which really shows just how good of a companion she had the potential to be in her run as companion on the television show.  While this review has been nothing but praise for The First Sontarans, but let’s be honest the cutting down into a four part story makes the pace feel odd in places.  It isn’t dragged out, but crushed together which can be a problem as some scenes don’t have an ending, but the just stop which is noticeable.

 

To summarize, The First Sontarans is a real highlight of what we missed when Colin Baker’s tenure was cut extremely short.  Andrew Smith gives a script full of extreme drama and tension as there is a war going on and the music and direction both contribute to an overall great atmosphere.  The acting was a great way to get the Sontarans and Rutans together in a story which really works for a lot of ways and sheds some great light on how the Sontarans came to be.  Its only flaw is some odd choices in pacing in places where it feels rushed.  95/100

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