The Poison Sky: Doctor Who Series Four Episode Five

We were left in suspense at the end of The Sontaran Stratagem - the Atmos cars had started leaking an odd gas over the whole planet, poor old Wilf was left gasping for breath in a locked car, the Sontarans looked as if they were on their way to being the rulers of the earth and the Doctor was left standing helplessly in a London street as the world around him went in to melt down. The Sky was being poisoned and it seemed impossible that he could do anything to save the day - and the planet! Cue theme tune!

Of course, we knew the Doctor was going to resolve the situation but there is absolutely no harm in a cracking, old fashioned cliff-hanger. Sure enough, “The Poison Sky” saw a resolution - of sorts - as well as a higher than normal body count! Rule of Science Fiction series number 562 - where there are lets of soldiers, let the bullets (and laser weapons) fly!

To put it briefly, the Doctor realized that the Sontarans were going to use the Earth as a clone planet - where they could breed billions of their kind to go and fight in their interminable was with the Rutans. In order to do this, the Atmos systems in the cars would deliver the base elements necessary to achieve this change. The human race and all living matter on the planet would be a casualty of this process, something which the Doctor must stop at all costs.

Evil Martha - her cloned counterpart - was “discovered” by the Doctor on first contact. However, he did not do anything about this as he realized that the clone had taken over the UN missiles and was stopping them being launched at the Sontaran ship. As he knew that these weapons would be ineffective and would precipitate a huge Sontaran response, he let that lie and kept a close eye on her instead. When dealing with the Sontarans themselves the Doctor was his usual flippant, self-assured and almost gratingly cocky Time Lord self. I was surprised that Colonel Mace did not have him popped in to a straight jacket.

It was amusing to see that when the Doctor became bored of his negotiations with the Sontarans that he replaced them on screen with an episode of Tommy Zoom. This is a BBC childrens’ show about an environmentally friendly space hero - and considering the main thrust of the plot of the episode, quite funny and appropriate! He wasn’t the only surprise appearance on a screen either - Rose appeared for a second or two before disappearing. No one seemed to see her- or at least if they did she wasn’t mentioned. How soon they forget!

Donna found herself teleported on board the Tardis on to the Sontaran ship. She managed to get back down to earth by dint of the Tardis mallet and the Doctor’s mobile phone - a device I find almost as irritating as the sonic screw driver! Surely, isn’t one “Get out of Jail Free” card enough? Or rather three - I forgot briefly about the psychic paper!

With the threat of atmospheric destruction averted thanks to a device “invented” by Rattigan. The Doctor then had to stop the Sontarans from decimating the planet. He teleported aboard their ship to give them his ultimatum - and a choice to leave. Little surprise what they decided!

A final twist and another cliffhanger - the Doctor, Donna and Martha are all aboard the Tardis when it is taken over by a mysterious force and dematerializes from the planet. Another week to wait to find out what happens!

But what of this episode? The Luke Rattigan character did, as I predicted, suffer a nasty fate in this episode, but what I didn’t see coming was the fact it would be a noble (no pun!) demise and one that went some way to forgive his actions and alliance with the Sontarans. Ryan Simpson, although succumbing to the temptation to overact on occasion, gave a good performance as the child genius with a malicious streak so large it would happily run to genocide.

However, his teleport exchange to save the Doctor’s life was a genuine surprise for me - it was possibly the one unselfish act of Rattigan’s life. Even better was to see the way that he could die with some humour. His final words - “Sontar! Ha!” were the acme of teenage petulance. Wonderful!

The Noble family (unfortunately for the actors I am sure!) had little to do but barricade themselves in their house and serve as a continual reminder that the whole planet was under threat. Donna’s mother turned out to be surprisingly at ease when wielding an axe and Bernard Cribbins, I must say is outstanding as Wilf Mott. As an actor who is almost in his eighties he still has the ability to express a range of emotions with a few facial expressions. It just goes to show that actors who are primarily associated with comedy can turn their hand to drama if they so wish.

Christian Cooke was wasted as Ross Jenkins, the young soldier assigned to look after the Doctor - both literally and as an actor. I thought that his character would have some pivotal part to play, but he found himself gunned down (wasted!) by the Sontaran hordes within a few minutes of the opening of the episode. This was a great shame - I would have thought that the powers that be at the show would have realized that he would be a perfect replacement for some of the dead Torchwood folk!

It was good to see the character of Colonel Mace (played by Rupert Holliday-Evans) a little more rounded than in the previous episode. He managed to counter attack the Sontarans with some good old fashioned military nouse - not to mention some out of this world assistance from The Valiant. He even managed to get a snog from his subordinate officer when the stratagem was stymied. He didn’t get the Doctor’s joke though, as when he donned a gas mask he asked the Colonel “Are you my mummy?” Fans of the show would have had a fine old five seconds writhing with pleasure on the settee. Only five seconds of course - not because it wasn’t that funny, but because if you took your attention away from this episode for any longer than that, you may well have lost the plot!

The Sontarans certainly improved in this episode. I had been a little uncertain with The Sontaran Stratagem, both with their size and their costumes. However, in the concluding episode of the story they came in to their own when they launched an attack on the factory unit. Their simple and straightforward attitude to war and death was well done - they were fighting for Sontar and that was all that was important to them - their own deaths were an irrelevance. More sinister even was their attitude towards the soldiers they had hypnotized - when they were of no further use they were simply mown down. Although we were spared their deaths on screen (why?) it was a deft touch in building up the Sontaran’s “rep” with the audience.

Once again, the special effects were excellent. The sight of the part of the atmosphere containing the burning Sontaran gases was stunning - worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster even - and somewhat reminiscent of at least one! The destruction of the Sontaran ship was also spectacular, though it was a shame that no peaceful or cleverer resolution could have been found. I guess that with the Sontarans as the enemy this was always unlikely, but I think we have seen so many ships being blown up over earth during the run of the new series that a little more imagination could have been used here! I think if asked I would call this a “lazy” episode - as much because we have been there done that so many times and it would not - of this I am sure - have been that difficult come up with something that was original. It was, in effect, Doctor Who by numbers.

If there was anything truly sloppy about the writing it was the way in which the “evil” Martha clone suddenly had second thoughts about being evil as she died and waxed lyrical about how much life her counterpart had in her. I just found it was unnecessary - the evil clone should have died spitting in the real Martha’s face. Where Donna’s weepy moments in “Fires” and “Ood” were full of pathos, this one was just schmaltzy knee-jerk TV. Too much!

This said, the episode was on the whole hugely enjoyable. It didn’t quite have the epic feel I thought a Sontaran two parter would have, but nevertheless it was an exciting, well told and executed story. Although there were no surprises in it for me, apart from the unexpected nature of Rattigan’s death, it was a solid and entertaining addition to the Doctor Who pantheon. The teaser for next week’s “The Doctor’s Daughter” left me wishing I had a Tardis myself and could shoot through seven days to next Saturday evening!