At the moment, the Sontarans are in a real rut. Like the Judoon and Silurians, since their first appearance in New Who theyve mainly been reduced to cameos other than recurring character Strax. Though the introduction of Strax hasnt helped because, as brilliant a character he is, his main purpose is as comic relief which lowers the potential of the Sontarans since hes the only one we have seen onscreen since 2010. The next Sontaran story should be more along the lines of The Time Warrior or The Sontaran Experiment. The former was a cracking adventure story with a good villain in the form of Sontaran Commander Linx, and the latter was chilling in places; focussing on Field Marshall Styre's monstrous experiments on human colonists. There are few more effective Sontaran moments than when Styre examines the human he is making slowly die of thirst to determine how long humans can survive without water Linx was a cunning and efficient warrior and Styre was basically Josef Mengele in space. Thats the kind of characterisation and tone that are needed to properly revitalise the Sontarans and make them a potent threat again. Ruthless pragmatism and sound military tactics rather than being comedic foils and chanting Sontar-Ha every chance they get. And while theyre at it, the BBC should change the costumes as well. Baby blue armour doesnt exactly strike fear into the hearts of men. The black Lurex outfits back in the 70s werent much better but still more effective than what they were replaced by. Even spray-painting the costumes black would be an improvement
JG Moore is a writer and filmmaker from the south of England. He also works as an editor and VFX artist, and has a BA in Media Production from the University Of Winchester.
