The Sontaran Experiment: Part One (22 Feb. 1975)

The Doctor, Sarah and Harry teleports to Earth to ensure the planet is safe for the survivors on-board Nerva Beacon to return to Earth and re-inhabit their world. Only to find a Sontaran ... See full summary »

Director:

Rodney Bennett

Writers:

Bob Baker, Dave Martin

Stars:

Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Ian Marter

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Tom Baker	...	Doctor Who
Elisabeth Sladen	...	Sarah Jane Smith
Ian Marter	...	Harry Sullivan
Donald Douglas	...	Vural
Glyn Jones	...	Krans
Peter Walshe	...	Erak
Kevin Lindsay	...	Styre
Peter Rutherford	...	Roth
Terry Walsh	...	Zake

Storyline

The Doctor, Sarah and Harry teleports to Earth to ensure the planet is safe for the survivors on-board Nerva Beacon to return to Earth and re-inhabit their world. Only to find a Sontaran named Styre has captured a group of humans and conducting experiments on them to discover the human body's weaknesses, as part of the Sontaran's goal for domination of the galaxy.

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 February 1975 (UK)

Filming Locations:

Hound Tor, Manaton, Devon, England, UK

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

24 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This episode was watched by 11 million viewers on its original transmission.

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Goofs

The Sontaran's hands show a glove with 5 fingers - Sontarans only have three fingers.

User Reviews

Classic Doctor Who? Not quite but still good fun, as usual.

Doctor Who: The Sontaran Experiment: Part 1 starts tens of thousands of years in the future as the Doctor (Tom Baker) uses a transmat to transport himself & his two assistant's Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) & Harry Sullivan (Ian Marter) to an uninhabited planet Earth to make sure it's safe for the survivors of the Nerva-Beacon (see previous story The Ark in Space which this follows) to re-inhabit themselves. There they run into trouble in the shape of a military expedition lead by Vural (Donald Douglas) who are stranded there themselves after their ship was vaporised upon lading by some unknown alien who has since been abducting & torturing them one-by-one...

This 2 part Doctor Who adventure comprised episodes 9 & 10 from season 12 & first aired in early 1975 & was Tom Bakers third story. Directed by Rodney Bennett this first episode is alright, the script by Bob Baker & Dave Martin spends most of it's 30 odd minute duration setting the situation up & there's no too much action here. The unveiling of the Sontaran alien is saved for the cliff-hanger ending & we don't get to see it before so there's a distinct lack of monster action which may disappoint some, me included. Some of the technical dialogue the Doctor comes out with is really funny & almost plausible sounding thanks to the fabulous Tom Baker & despite not being the most exciting Doctor Who ever it's still top entertainment & good fun to watch.

This being a very low budget BBC production it looks cheap throughout but that's all part of it's charm & always will be. It seems to be shot entirely on a very cold & windy looking moor somewhere in the English countryside. There aren't many special effects in this episode, the Sontaran's flying machine thing looks like it's been make out of cardboard, you can see it shake & it seemed to me that a gust of wind would have blown it to pieces & the laser guns the military guys have look like they're made from toilet roll tubes... Apparently Tom Baker broke his collar bone filming this story & it was the first Doctor Who adventure to be filmed entirely on location. I must also mention Sarah Jane's amazing costume, she's wearing a hilarious bright yellow plastic jacket & trousers, a blue hat & horrible bright orange shoes...

The Sontaran Experiment isn't the best Doctor Who I've seen but it still provides bags of camp, cheesy sci-fi entrainment & Tom Baker is an absolute delight to watch as ever. Definitely worth a watch.