Series 4 Episode 4: The Sontaran Stratagem

Summary:
Martha phones the Doctor and calls him back to Earth. Something strange has happened and 52 people have died at the same time all over the planet. The thing they all had in common was the Atmos device in their cars. When Martha and Donna meet for the first time, the Doctor thinks that they won't get along very well but they seem to be the best mates from the start. The Doctor investigates the Atmos device but can't find anything unusual at first but he has this feeling that there has to be something more. So while he goes to the Rattigan Academy  Martha stays with UNIT at the Atmos factory and tries to find out more about the workers who seem to work for 24 h a day. Donna visits her family and can share her adventures with the Doctor with her grandfather. The Doctor finds a teleport device when he visits the Rattigan Academy and now he knows that the Sontarans are behind the strange happenings but what do they want to achieve. With a clone of Martha and all of the Atmos devices activated, the plan of the Sontarans seems to work.

I think it's great to have Martha back who's now working as a doctor for UNIT. The fact that you don't know who's behind of the Atmos device and everything else is very clever and gives you some time to ponder which alien it could be. The Sontarans have appeared before in Doctor Who but I think this is the first time they are back in the episodes since 2005. They really look a bit like potatoes when they take their helmets off but they are interesting although they live for the war. In this first part of the two parter you still don't really know what their plan is, only that they've activated all the Atmos devices and a gas comes out of the cars. They call it a weapon but nobody knows what it'll do on Earth. Even the Doctor is a bit clueless and doesn't know what to do to help the people but we know he'll find a way.

Quotes from "The Sontaran Stratagem"

Wednesday is quote day as usual and so I have quotes from the episode "The Sontaran Stratagem" for you.

General Staal: Remember your status, boy. We do not take orders from humans.
Luke Rattigan: I said "recommend."
General Staal: Then your advice shows military wisdom. She will be terminated.
Luke Rattigan: Cool.

The Doctor: Getting a bit too close to the 1980s.
Donna: What am I gonna do, put a dent in it?
The Doctor: Well, someone did...

General Staal: (observing the UNIT soldiers) Observe their troops. Thin fabrics. Exposed skin. Feeble weapons. These are toy soldiers. The playthings of children.

Martha: That's why I thought we needed an expert.
The Doctor: Really? Who did you get?
(everyone looks at him)
The Doctor: Oh right me, yes.

Private Harris: Someone's growing a body. A human body.
General Staal: Excellent skills of deduction. I would rate you above average, soldier. Well done. (to Private Gray) Whereas you… you smell of sweat and fear.
Private Harris: Yeah? Well, we're not the ones who got out of school early, sonny. Now stop playing Humpty Dumpty and tell us who you are.
General Staal: Is that a reference to my height?
Private Harris: Short answer: yes.
General Staal: A pity. Words are the weapons of womenfolk. I must judge you unfit.
Private Harris: What you gonna do? Bite our ankles?
(Staal shoots Harris in the ankle, crippling him)
Private Gray: I'm warning you!
General Staal: A proper soldier gives no warning. Fire. I order you. Fire! (Gray pulls the trigger but the gun doesn't work) The room is contained within a cordolane signal, exciting the copper surface of the bullet and causing expansion within the barrel, rendering your guns useless and your radio signals have been blocked.
(Staal cripples Gray)
Private Gray: My legs. I can't feel my legs.
General Staal: I apologise for disabling you. Death has more honour, but you are needed for the stratagem.

Martha: Do they know where you are, your family? I mean, that you're travelling with the Doctor?
Donna: Not really. Although, my granddad sort of waved us off, but I didn't have time to explain.
Martha: You just left him behind.
Donna: Yeah.
Martha: I didn't tell my family. Kept it all so secret, and it almost destroyed them.
Donna: In what way?
Martha: They ended up imprisoned, they were tortured. My mum, my dad, my sister. It wasn't the Doctor's fault but you need to be careful. 'Cause you know the Doctor is wonderful, he's brilliant, but he's like fire. Stand too close and people get burnt.

Colonel Mace: According to the records, you travel by TARDIS.
The Doctor: Yeah, but if there is a danger of hostile aliens, I think it's better to keep a super-duper time machine away from the front lines.
Colonel Mace: I see, so you do have weapons but you choose to keep them hidden.

The Doctor: And your name?
General Staal: General Staal, of the tenth Sontaran fleet. Staal the Undefeated!
The Doctor: Oh, that's not a very good nickname. What if you do get defeated, "Staal: The Not-So-Undefeated Anymore But Never Mind"?
Ross Jenkins: It’s like a potato, baked potato, talking baked potato.
The Doctor: Now, Ross, don't be rude, you look like a pink weasel to him.

Luke Rattigan: How… do you tell each other apart?
General Staal: We say the same of humans.

Commander Skorr: Tell me, boy, how many ATMOS devices have been installed?
Luke Rattigan: They've gone worldwide but only about half.
General Staal: Which means four hundred million cars converted. A fine arsenal.
Commander Skorr: Is it sufficient to trigger the conversion?
Luke Rattigan: More than enough, yeah, and that test signal proves that it works. Fifty-two deaths in the same second, man, that was just so cool!
General Staal: Is the temperature significant?
Luke Rattigan: No… it's just a phrase.

General Staal: There is an enemy of the Sontarans known as the Doctor. A face-changer.
Luke Rattigan: Do you mean he's an alien too?
General Staal: Legend says he led the battle in the Last Great Time War. The finest war in history and we weren't allowed to be part of it. Oh, but this is excellent! The last of the Time Lords will die at the hands of the Sontaran Empire in the ruins of his precious Earth!