Daniel Mansfield reviews the finale to the Sontarans VS Rutans series
It’s been fifty years since the Sontarans made their first appearance in Doctor Who and, to celebrate, Big Finish are releasing a four-part series chronicling the war between the potato-headed invaders and their shapeshifting enemies, the Rutans!
It’s up to Big Finish stalwart John Dorney to deliver the finale to this series, and what a finale he delivers. While the previous three stories in the series have been relatively standalone, In Name Only definitely is not – without having heard the rest of Sontarans VS Rutans you’ll definitely be lost listening to this one. With this script, Dorney effortlessly ties up the dangling story threads, sometimes in some quite unexpected ways, while also providing a solid story in its own right.
Jonathon Carley‘s War Doctor is joined here by Dan Starkey‘s Skole from Born to Die (review here) and the two make as interesting a partnership as Colin Baker and Starkey did there. While Skole isn’t out and out good, per se, he has a great sense of loyalty and honour, which makes for some perfect interactions with this particular Doctor, who is similarly more morally ambiguous.
Debbie Korley also stars here as ruthless Time Lord Blaxill who, after a Rutan attack on a Gallifreyan station, plans to wipe the entirety of the blobby green shapeshifting race from history. It’s an interesting dilemma on which to pivot the story, with Dorney’s exploration of the paradoxes resulting from Blaxill’s actions forming the backbone of not just this episode, but the entire Sontarans VS Rutans series.
While this isn’t the strongest of the Sontarans VS Rutans quartet, focussing more on big ideas than some of the more characterful earlier instalments, it’s certainly a well-done finale, complex but completely coherent. Dorney’s script, the performances of the cast, and Joe Kraemer‘s excellent music all come together to form the perfect capstone to what has proven to be a very good series indeed: a brilliant celebration of the Sontarans.
In Name Only is available on CD or as a download from http://www.bigfinish.com
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