| Original Transmission
2: The Poison Sky
Standby Carpenter Will Pope
Post Production Supervisors Samantha Hall
Chris Blatchford
ATMOS is marketing a satellite navigation system developed by child prodigy Luke Rattigan (Ryan Sampson). The system also reduces carbon dioxide emissions to zero; UNIT requested the Doctor's help because the technology is not contemporary and potentially alien. UNIT are also concerned about fifty-two deaths occurring spontaneously and contemporaneously several days before the narrative. The Doctor travels to Rattigan's private school to investigate the system, and discovers that the episode's events are being influenced by the Sontarans.
The Sontarans depicted in the episode are part of a battlegroup led by General Staal, "the undefeated" (Christopher Ryan). Instead of an instant invasion, they are tactically approaching an invasion with a combination of human clones, mind control, and ATMOS; Martha is captured by two of the controlled humans and cloned to provide a tactical advantage against UNIT. A subplot depicts Donna returning to her home to warn her mother Sylvia (Jacqueline King) and grandfather Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins) about the Doctor. Concerned about the implications of telling the truth, Donna reneges from warning her mother. At the end of the episode, the Doctor investigates the ATMOS device attached to Donna's car and discovers a secondary function: the device can emit a poisonous gas. Wilfred attempts to take the car off the road, but is trapped when Staal activates all 400 million installed in cars worldwide. The episode's cliffhanger depicts Donna shouting for help while the Doctor stares helplessly at a street full of cars emitting the gas.
Following from the previous episode, Sylvia Noble (Jacqueline King) manages to free Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins) from the car by smashing the window with an axe. The Doctor (David Tennant) sends Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) back to the TARDIS while he sets off to figure out what the Sontarans are up to. After studying the gas, UNIT determines that it will need to reach 80% density to become lethal. Elsewhere, Martha Jones's clone (Freema Agyeman) helps the Sontarans to seize the TARDIS. Realising that he is trapped, the Doctor attempts to goad General Staal (Christopher Ryan) into revealing their plan: Staal is smart enough not to fall prey to this ploy, but the Doctor does trick him into moving the TARDIS out of the main war room, placing Donna in a position to help. Against the Doctor's advice, UNIT decides to use nuclear weapons against the Sontarans; however, Martha's clone has covertly copied the launch codes, and stops every attempt they make to fire the weapons. This in itself shows a hidden agenda, since a nuclear strike would not have harmed them in the first place. This, combined with the unidentifiable elements in the gas, suggest that the Sontarans have an interest in keeping anything from disrupting the atmospheric conversion. At the same time, the Sontarans mobilize a contingent of troops to protect the factory. With the Sontarans' ability to jam most conventional firearms by expanding the copper-lined bullets, the UNIT troops are quickly slaughtered and the factory is secured.
Luke Rattigan (Ryan Sampson) leaves the Sontaran mothership to gather his students, explaining that he plans to have the Sontarans take them to another planet and begin the human race anew. The students merely laugh him off, even when he brandishes a gun. When he returns to report his failure, the Sontarans likewise ridicule his efforts, admitting that they never intended to take him or his students anywhere. Rattigan teleports back to his mansion before they can kill him, and the Sontarans lock the teleport pods behind him. Meanwhile, the Doctor instructs Donna on how to reopen the teleport pods. As she makes her way through the ship, UNIT begins a counterattack, loading their weapons with non-copper bullets and using the aircraft carrier Valiant to clear the gas. The counterattack is a success, and the UNIT troops are able to put the Sontarans on the defensive. The distraction allows the Doctor to make his way to the cloning room where Martha is being held. Having figured out long before that the clone wasn't the genuine article, he severs its connection to Martha, leaving it to die. Martha convinces the clone to betray the Sontarans in its last moments, and the clone reveals that the poison gas is actually "food" for Sontaran clones: they are converting the planet into a giant breeding world. With Donna's help, the Doctor is able to reactivate the teleport pods, allowing him to rescue Donna, steal back the TARDIS, and teleport into Rattigan's mansion.
With the equipment Rattigan's students built, the Doctor builds his own atmospheric converter, igniting the atmosphere to clear out the poison gas as shown in the picture. However, he knows the Sontarans won't accept defeat so easily, and teleports to their ship with the converter, planning to give them the choice between retreat or death. Staal chooses the latter, content with the knowledge that the Doctor will die with them. At the last moment, Rattigan teleports himself to the Sontaran ship and brings the Doctor back to Earth, sacrificing himself to destroy the Sontarans. With the day saved, Martha says goodbye to Donna and the Doctor in the TARDIS and prepares to head home. However, before she can leave, the TARDIS suddenly springs to life, locking the doors and piloting itself to an unknown destination as the jar containing the Doctor's severed hand bubbles.
Analysis by Cuisle I remember the Sontarans the first time around, when Linx battled the third Doctor and Sarah Jane, and later Styre was sorted out by the Fourth Doctor, Harry and Sarah Jane. There were two other stories after that to feature them, making them a popular recurring enemy somewhere below Daleks, Cybermen and The Master, but above Autons. I spare them a thought every time I peel a particularly muddy potato.
Bringing them back was a good idea. I’m not entirely sold on the new look. I think the silvery-metallic suits looked more menacing, and seriously, they’re TOO small. I know that the idea is that their planet has a higher gravity density but I don’t think they have to be this small. It took away from their menace. Especially for kids who already think they’re a rip off of the Judoon. That aside, there were some interesting issues in this story. The Doctor and how he feels about UNIT was the primary one. Way back when he was their scientific advisor in the guise of Jon Pertwee, he was always at odds with them about their shoot first tactics and always reminded them that he was a civilian attached to them. The Third Doctor tended to use unarmed combat when he had to fight. The Tenth prefers not to fight at all if he has to and disdains those who do.
And yes, that does make him a bit of a hypocrite, because clearly Earth has to be defended and not always by clever words and trickery. But it has to be remembered that The Tenth Doctor has seen it all from the front line in the Time War. He is battle weary and wants to take the peaceful option if he can. The Sontarans own battle plans are strange, too. The Doctor reminds them of that several times. Their use of gas and double agents is at odds with their policy of always facing their enemy. Of course, The Doctor realises early on there’s something going on.
On first view, I didn’t realise just how early on he had twigged there was something wrong with Martha. Only when both halves of the story go together is it obvious he was using the Martha clone all along to keep a lid on the Sontarans. The cliffhanger at the end of episode one had everyone yelling ‘chuck a brick, get a sledgehammer, shoot the window’ or something of that sort. The blogs all week before the second episode all asked ‘why not break the window’. I predicted that somebody would do that within seconds of the episode. And they did. I didn’t guess it would be Sylvia, though. Amidst the Sontatan plot to turn Earth into a breeding planet for the Sontaran military academy, there were some interesting emotional points. One was when Sylvia finally stopped nagging and turned to her father for comfort and he, of course, was there for him. Doubtless she’ll be nagging again when we see her again, but that’s human nature.
Another was Martha and the Martha clone. Martha’s sympathy for the dying clone was actually a wonderful scene that almost got missed in the necessary ‘action’ scenes. The death of Luke Rattigan also got slightly lost. Luke was an irritating person from the start, and I think most viewers wanted him to die. I wanted The Doctor to drop him off at a young offenders institute on some frozen moon light years from Earth. That he would finally realise the error of his ways and sacrifice himself to save The Doctor was a bombshell, but even The Doctor didn’t have time to reflect on it.
The death of Ross Jenkins, the soldier who had driven The Doctor to the Rattigan Academy and survived the Land Rover being driven into the river with him was also understated, but it was given a nice bit of pathos by The Doctor insisting that he was not ‘Greyhound 40’ but ‘Ross’ reminding Mace of the Human cost of war.
The most spectacular scene in the whole two parts was when The Doctor set fire to the upper atmosphere and drew off the poison gas to reveal clean blue skies. Now, I’m not entirely sure how that works. I’d really like The Doctor to explain what he did scientifically, and then tell me what that might have done to the ozone layer, Van Allen Belt etc. But until he does, I’ll take it at face value as one hell of a gamble with the lives of the people of Earth that paid off because The Doctor is much more of a genius than even Luke Rattigan guessed.
Two episodes adding up to a feature film length of a story, paid off, too. Strangely, the ratings are well down, though maybe that’s the whole summer season thing when people aren’t watching TV on a Saturday. It is still beating whatever it is on the other side. And both old and new Doctor Who fans seem to be enjoying it still. So that’s ok. Incidentally, UNIT have changed their name to Unified Intelligence
Taskforce. Apparently the United Nations requested this as they didn’t
want ‘brand confusion’. This strikes me as a bit snotty
on the part of the UN, and a backhanded compliment to Doctor Who.
HOW MANY TV PROGRAMMES ACTUALLY WORRY THE UNITED NATIONS?
Oh, yes, and I did notice the image of Rose Tyler on the TARDIS communicator screen. One of RTD's plot seeds. But I have better things to do than speculate. Just as I'm ignoring all the gossip about The Doctor's Daughter for now!
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