10 MORE Important Doctor Who Details That Are Almost Never Mentioned

The Sontarans are one of Doctor Who’s most iconic returning monsters. A war-obsessed race of potato-headed clones whose entire existence is dedicated to fighting battles and winning wars? What’s not to love!

But for all of the Sontarans' many appearances across the past 50 years, there’s one major aspect of their existence that has barely been touched upon: their war with the Rutans.

You know, the Rutans? The Sontarans' sworn enemies, who they've been waging war with for an eternity? We know this war exists, we know who’s fighting it, and we know it's absolutely huge... which makes it all the more bizarre that we've never actually seen it.

Doctor Who has delved into the backstories of the Daleks, the Cybermen, and the Master – pretty much every major recurring villain. But the Sontaran-Rutan War feels strangely off-limits, only ever mentioned in passing, and happening distantly in the background of the show’s universe. Even the Rutans themselves have only shown up once, and that was in a story without any Sontarans!

While you could argue it’s more interesting having it kept as something almost mythological happening off-screen, it would also be perfect fodder for a Sontaran story, and it's really quite surprising it hasn’t shown up before now.