“The Sontaran Experiment” is an adventure of the twelfth season of “Doctor Who” classic series aired in 1975. It follows “The Ark in Space” and it’s a two parts adventure written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin and directed by Rodney Bennett.

The story

At the end of the adventure “The Ark in Space” the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker), Sarah Jane (Elisabeth Sladen) and Harry teleport to Earth. Millennia have passed since the terrible solar eruptions that forced humans to leave the planet, which should be abandoned, instead someone keeps an eye on the newcomers.

What are men in spacesuits doing on Earth? Why do they think that some members of their group were killed by the Doctor and his companions?

Extras

This DVD contains little extras. There are typical contents such as production subtitles and a gallery of pictures from this adventure.

There are comments in the adventure alternative audio track by the protagonist Elisabeth Sladen, producer Philip Hinchcliffe and author Bob Baker.

Built for War. A documentary on the genesis and development of the Sontaran race in the series.

Originally the twelfth season was supposed to include two six parts adventures. Eventually due to production problems only one of them was actually produced: “Genesis of the Daleks”, a masterpiece of the classic series that was aired after “The Sontaran Experiment”.

After dumping the other project, producer Philip Hinchcliffe took the decision to replace it with two adventures that were linked but had their own autonomy, also in filming them: “The Ark in Space” and “The Sontaran Experiment”. Because of logistical and budget constraints which often affected the production of the classic “Doctor Who” series the second adventure was filmed exclusively on location.

A Sontaran had already appeared in “The Time Warrior”, the first adventure of the eleventh season aired between December 1973 and January 1974 that marked the debut of Sarah Jane Smith as the Doctor’s companion, at the time the Third.

Actor Kevin Lindsay had played the Sontaran in that adventure and he did it again in “The Sontaran Experiment”. Unfortunately due to his heart problems his role was limited. From a medical point of view this adventure had bad luck because during its filming Tom Baker broke his collarbone and in some moments his famous scarf was used to hold his arm still. In some action scenes both actors were replaced by doubles.

“The Sontaran Experiment” has the misfortune to be a short adventure between two classics but its quality is pretty good. It’s pretty much as long as an episode of the new series but the plot is quite complex, alternating some of the funny moments typical of the Fourth Doctor to dramatic ones that seem to be a prelude to the “gothic” stories that would mark the following years.

Although there was room on the DVD, among the few extras the only clip is the documentary on the Sontarans, which however is about forty minutes long, almost as long as “The Sontaran Experiment”. For fans it’s always interesting to hear stories from the protagonists about the adventure production and in this case the issue is broader since it covers the various adventures with the Sontarans. They also talk about “Horror of Fang Rock”, where there’s the appearance of a Rutan, who belongs to the species fighting an endless war with the Sontarans.

Overall the contents of the DVD are limited. Lately, boxsets containing two adventures have become common, and “The Sontaran Experiment” would’ve been good with “The Ark in Space” but they were published on DVD when boxsets were still an experiment. After some time however “The Sontaran Experiment” DVD was included in the Region 2 “Bred For War” boxset, which contains the adventures of the original series where Sontarans appear. Buying “The Sontaran Experiment” DVD makes sense if you want to have a complete collection of “Doctor Who” DVDs or if it’s a special offer. It’s available on Amazon USA, UK, and Canada. It’s also included in the Blu-ray box set with the whole Season 12, also available on Amazon USA, UK, and Canada.