Day 7 and we’re pleased to say that we have successfully filled an entire week with Doctor Who, to mark the occasion we chose to watch the episode that saw the debut of Sarah Jane and the Sontarons. ‘The Time Warrior’ which aired in 1973 formed part of the Doctor’s eleventh season of television, it was set in a medieval world at the crash site of a Sontaron war ship.
At the beginning of this episode Jon Pertwee’s Doctor is
summoned to a top secret scientific research centre by the Brigadier as his
assistance is required to identify why key scientific personnel are
disappearing. In order to get to the bottom of this mystery the Brigadier confines everyone to the
research centre, providing them all with bunks to sleep in so as he can keep an
eye on them.
The Doctor discovers that a Sontaron named Linx who has
crash landed on medieval earth is using a projector to send himself forward 8
hundred years so that he can collect scientists with the capabilities to help
him fix his ship. The Doctor uses his Tardis to track Linx and finds himself
near the lair of Irongron, a particularly nasty bandit who has hijacked a
castle and has been terrorising his new neighbour Lord Edward of Wessex ever
since. Irongron is allowing Linx a place to stay and all the help he requires
to rebuild his ship in exchange for modern weaponry or ‘wizardry’ as he sees
it. Irongron plans to use Linx’s wizardry to ambush and capture more castles
including that of Lord Edward with the intention or eventually making himself
King.
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The Doctor arrives in the middle ages and immediately sets
off to investigate the source of the mysterious man in armour he saw at the
research centre; however he doesn’t realise that someone has stowed away aboard
the Tardis.
Sarah Jane Smith has a real spark to her. She’s an investigative
journalist who has smuggled herself into the research centre using her aunts
name so as she can dig for clues on the disappearances. Sarah sneaks into the
Tardis while the Doctor is distracted and soon finds herself miles and
centuries away from the research centre captured by Irongron and his men. She
manages to escape Irongron’s clutches with the help of Hal a friendly bowman
who was caught during an attempt on Irongron’s life.
Sarah Jane shows spirit initiative and ferocity as she helps
an ambush of Irongron’s castle to retrieve the Doctor who she believes is responsible
for Lord Edward’s plight because she believes that he is the one helping
Irongron and abducting scientists.
With Hal’s help Sarah Jane manages to free the Doctor, it is
only then that she realises he isn't the villain of this piece and is forced to
accept the existence of aliens. Together the Doctor, Sarah Jane and Hal break
back into Irongron’s castle by spiking the baron’s food with an infusion made
by the doctor which causes all of the robber men to fall asleep.
Once back in the castle they discover that Linx has very
nearly finished the work on his ship and is ready to depart. The Doctor explains
that when the ship takes of the castle and all of its occupants will be blown
to smithereens. After some wrestling some thinking and a clever and accurate
shot from Hal which hits Linx in his probic vent (the Sontarons one weak point)
and Linx is killed just before his ship takes off. The Doctor and Sarah Jane
make it away in the Tardis just in time as the castle explodes in their wake.
The Sontarons are a peculiar race of aliens who pretty much
look like a potato squashed onto the body of a short muscular man. They
originate from the planet Sontar which has a very strong gravitational field.
The strong gravity of their planet explains why they are compact and stocky and
the doctor mentions that they are far stronger than humans and would weigh
several tons on their own planet. Sontarons are real warriors who feel no fear
and hope that one day they will meet their destiny and die honourably on a
battle field. The motto of the Sontarons is ‘live to kill’ and if that isn't
scary enough they possess great numbers, superior weapons and machines which
can be used to for hypnosis and mind control. Thankfully Linx was alone when he
landed in Medieval England!
Jon Pertwee’s doctor is a real action hero, he swings from a
chandelier, wrestles a Sontaron and sword fights two men from the Middle Ages
without even breaking a sweat. He also proves to be a master chemist as he concocts
sleeping draughts and stink bombs from ingredients in a typical medieval
kitchen. Not just an action man though, the Doctor is ever thinking, ever
intelligent and ever cunning as he tricks Irongron’s men first using stink
bombs and dummies to prevent an assault on Lord Edward’s castle and then by
using his wits to disguise himself as a robotic knight.
The character of Hal is loyal and exciting and takes very
good care of Sarah Jane, trying to be chivalrous and gentlemanly at every
available opportunity. Shortly after the filming of ‘The Time Warrior’ there
was talk of bringing Hal aboard the Tardis as a permanent companion alongside
Sarah Jane however filming took a long break and by the time it came back the
ideas for the forthcoming season had moved on a stage. Seeing Hal return would
have been very interesting as what little we saw of the character worked very
well with Sarah Jane’s personality and (as a man of action himself) would have
complimented Jon Pertwee’s doctor very well.
We really enjoyed this episode which was engaging and is the first episode we’ve watched that is really set in a long by-gone era. It was really exciting to see a multi-location episode set in the Middle Ages brought to life in this way by the BBC and the episodes story writing was very ahead of its time. In all this was a great episode and a great introduction for Sarah Jane. 4/5
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