Daniel Mansfield reviews the third instalment in the Sontarans VS Rutans series
Tiegan Byrne makes her Big Finish writing debut with the third part of the Sontarans VS Rutans series: Born to Die. Her script takes us to the jungle planet Taxodon, where the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) and Charley (India Fisher) are charged with the murder of a Sontaran and given mere hours to prove their innocence. This is a really fun premise, with the Doctor being assigned Sontaran Cadet Skole (Dan Starkey) to assist in his investigations. Skole definitely isn’t a comic relief character like Strax, but he’s no typical bloodthirsty Sontaran either, forming a respectful, if begrudging, rapport with the Doctor. It’s good to hear the more honourable side of the Sontarans here, which often gets forgotten in favour of their appetite for war.
Joining Starkey as the Sontarans are Christopher Ryan and John Culshaw. I thought it was an odd choice to give Culshaw the role of chief Sontaran Skein, when Ryan has historically performed such roles, but he does a good job, even if his voice isn’t quite as recognisably Sontaran as the others playing the role. The Sontarans themselves are given a really interesting twist here, though those who have heard the other Sontarans VS Rutans stories might cotton on before the characters do. Nevertheless, this is a really strong showing for the potato-headed foes.
One of the most exciting things about this story is that it reunites the Sixth Doctor and Charley for the first time since 2019’s The Avenues of Possibility. While I’ve always preferred Charley with the Eighth Doctor, there’s no denying her travels with Old Sixie have a bit of a frisson to them, because, of course, she’s hiding the fact that she’s already travelled with him in his future. We know from the first Sontarans VS Rutans release (review here) that Charley has met the Sontarans before, so it’s interesting to hear her try (and sometimes fail) to hide this from the Doctor here, even if we also know there’s no danger of her spilling the beans about who she is just yet.
Joe Kraemer handles the music here, and gives us one of his best scores yet. The music here feels fresh in ways Kraemer’s score often fails to, all tropical marimbas and bubbling synths, though the highlight has to be the chorus of ‘Sontar-ha!’ that plays early in the story. It’s rare to hear vocals like this in a Big Finish score, so their use here immediately makes the listener sit up and pay attention.
Overall, this is a solid debut for Tiegan Byrne and another strong instalment in the Sontarans VS Rutans quartet. Three parts in, we still have a whole lot more questions than answers, so let’s hope next month’s In Name Only can resolve the plot threads dangled here and elsewhere, while still being an entertaining story in its own right.
Born to Die is available on CD or as a download from http://www.bigfinish.com
Sontarans VS Rutans continues next month with In Name Only
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