For thousands of years, the Sontarans and Rutans have waged war across the stars. A deadly war, one that leaves countless casualties in its wake. A war that spans the entire Doctor Who universe. But what does that war look like? How does a clone army battle a race of shapeshifting alien jellyfish? Welcome to Big Finish Productions’ Doctor Who: Sontarans vs Rutans. Sontarans vs Rutans delivers a thrilling collection of stories, ranging from murder mysteries to epic battles and even political thrillers. It’s a perfect example of how varied the Doctor Who expanded universe can be and shows Big Finish Productions at their very best. If you’ve ever wanted to give Big Finish’s audios a listen, then look no further than Sontarans vs Rutans.
The Battle of Giant’s Causeway by Lizzie Hopley
When the TARDIS gets caught in a temporal wave, the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann), Charley Pollard (India Fisher), and C’rizz (Conrad Westmaas) find themselves in the middle of an ancient Irish battlefield. But, to the TARDIS team’s surprise, a squadron of Sontarans arrive, wholly convinced they’re members of the Roman army rather than military generals from outer space. With the TARDIS out of commission, can the Doctor and his friends uncover the mysteries of this deadly battle before history irrevocably changes? Or is the Battle of Giant’s Causeway destined to become another casualty of the Sontarans’ endless war with the Rutans? Lizzie Hopley’s The Battle of Giant’s Causeway offers a rip-roaringly fun start to Big Finish Productions’ Sontarans vs Rutans miniseries.
By far the most intriguing part of the story is the idea of the Sontarans having no clue who they are. There’s just something funny about a group of Sontarans being wholly convinced they’re members of the Roman Empire. You get a similar vibe in Doctor Who: Flux when the Sontarans fight in the Crimean War. But here, Hopley cranks that humor to an eleven. Hopley perfectly captures that fish-out-of-water element, marrying it with the very real dangers of an intergalactic war while still holding onto the inherent humor. McGann is top-notch too, perfectly balancing the Doctor’s hopefulness and utter disbelief. The one downside of the story is how little C’rizz and the Rutans feature Their subplot makes up most of the story’s intrigue, but the script never fully dives into it.
Still, The Battle of Giant’s Causeway makes for a gripping opening story. Packed with humor and mystery, it offers a great glimpse at the complexities of this galactic war while making for a devilishly enjoyable Doctor Who adventure in its own right. (8.5/10)
The Children of the Future by Tim Foley
When the Third Doctor (Tim Treloar) starts acting strangely, Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart (Jon Culshaw) and Sarah Jane Smith (Sadie Miller) follow him to the abandoned ruins of a castle. A castle that, long ago, the Doctor destroyed. But what is he doing in these ruins and why has he been acting so suspiciously? Have the Sontarans come back to Earth to finish what they started? Or is there something more sinister at play? Tim Foley’s The Children of the Future acts as a quasi-sequel to 1973’s The Time Warrior. But whatever you might be expecting, think again. All at once a time-bending adventure mixed with a very James Bond-style political thriller, The Children of the Future offers a welcome return to the Third Doctor’s era of tense, earthbound stories.
Foley’s script immediately evokes the vibes of the Third Doctor’s era – a dash of political intrigue, a serving of paranoia, and a smattering of spy movie action. If the previous story was all about the Sontarans, then this one leans heavier into the dangers of the Rutans. It’s all a little bit Invasion of the Body Snatchers. You’re never sure who, exactly, you can trust at any given moment. With the Doctor acting suspiciously, and the people he’s ostensibly helping acting suspiciously, how can the Brigadier and Sarah Jane unravel this web? To go into any real detail risks spoiling the surprise. So, expect a whole lot of tension, great performances from Treloar and Culshaw, and a whole lot of 1970s Doctor Who fun.
Tim Foley’s The Children of the Future delivers a quintessential Third Doctor story wrapped with all of the modern Doctor Who trappings you’ve come to expect. Tense, dripping with paranoia, and deeply enjoyable, it’s about as perfect as a modern Third Doctor adventure can be. (9/10)
Born To Die by Tiegan Byrne
When the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) and Charley (India Fisher) land on Taxodon and discover a dead Sontaran, they are accused of his murder. But as they try to prove their innocence, more and more Sontarans begin dropping dead. Can the Doctor and Charley unravel the truth behind these mysterious deaths? Or are they destined to die at the hands of a Sontaran execution squad? Tiegan Byrne’s Born to Die plays out like a Doctor Who version of a murder mystery. The Sixth Doctor acts as the plucky detective teamed up with a reluctant partner in the form of the Sontaran, Skole (Dan Starkey). And, like any good murder mystery, Born to Die is crammed with enough twists and turns to make even Sherlock Holmes jealous.
For the first half, Byrne’s script takes its time with its story. It luxuriates in all of the trappings of a good murder mystery, laying out all of the players, the stakes, and the pieces that need connecting. But somewhere around the halfway mark, the story kind of loses steam as it segues into more traditional Doctor Who fare. That’s not to say that Born to Die is ever anything less than entertaining; far from it. Baker is on top form here, as braggadocious as ever while always seeming wholly in control. Fisher gets a lot more to do than she did in the series’ first story, giving the story most of its emotional center. And Starkey steals the show as the Doctor’s reluctant investigative partner. It’s just that as the story expands, and the mysteries start getting solved, it kind of fizzles out.
Ultimately, Born to Die delivers an immensely fun Doctor Who take on a murder mystery, but it doesn’t quite stick the landing. (8/10)
In Name Only by John Dorney
When the Rutans launch an attack on Gallifrey, the Time Lords vow to destroy their home planet. But the War Doctor (Jonathan Carley) disagrees with the Council’s decision. Haunted by nightmares of mass destruction, the War Doctor tries to stop the Time Lords from wiping the Rutans from history. But can he stop them before it’s too late? Or are the timelines destined to be uprooted by the very people dedicated to protecting it? And are the Rutans even the ones behind this attack in the first place? John Dorney’s In Name Only expertly brings the entire Sontarans vs Rutans saga to a conclusion while delivering an action-packed and intriguing story in its own right. All at once epic and intimate, it delivers exactly the kind of ending you’d want in a series like this.
What makes In Name Only particularly successful is the way it starts as a big war epic before segueing into the kind of intimate political thriller that only the War Doctor can pull off. Every time you think you know where the story’s going, it swerves down an entirely unexpected path. But somehow, Dorney pulls it off. In Name Only takes all of these disparate ideas left dangling from the series’ previous stories and ties them into a cohesive and satisfying whole. At its heart, this is a very timey-wimey story of desperation. A true war story, in every sense of the phrase. Led by breathtaking performances from Carley, Dan Starkey, and John Banks, it’s hard to imagine a better ending than this.
In Name Only delivers a pitch-perfect, wholly satisfying conclusion to the Sontarans vs Rutans series. All at once surprising, action-packed, and filled with intrigue, it’s as perfect a finale as you could expect. (10/10)
Final Thoughts
Considering how underexplored the Sontarans and the Rutans are in Doctor Who‘s televised stories, dedicating an entire miniseries of audio dramas to their war seems all at once an excellent idea and a baffling one. Yet somehow, Big Finish Production nails it. Doctor Who: Sontarans vs Rutans offers a perfect example of the kinds of stories Doctor Who‘s expanded universe can tell. Stories that would otherwise be impossible to pull off on TV, whether for budgetary reasons or other content restrictions. The series delivers a collection of action-packed, thrilling, and surprisingly intimate stories that run the gamut of the Whoniverse. A must-listen in every sense of the phrase, even if you’re not familiar with Big Finish’s ongoing Doctor Who audios.
Doctor Who: Sontarans vs Rutans is available now from Big Finish Productions.
"Doctor Who: Sontarans vs Rutans" delivers a series of thrilling, action-packed stories running the gamut from murder mysteries to epic war stories and everything in between. A true space opera in every sense of the word, "Sontarans vs Rutans" is Big Finish at their very best and a must-listen for Doctor Who fans old and new alike.
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GVN Rating 9
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