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Special Features
- Bult for War: a 39-minute documentary on the genesis and development of the Sontaran race through the history of the series
- Subtitled production notes option
- Photo gallery
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
One of the more suspenseful stories of the Tom Baker-era Doctor Who, 1975's The Sontaran Experiment pits the Time Lord and his companions against a ruthless alien carrying out experiments on the survivors of a decimated Earth. The first Doctor Who serial to be shot entirely on location (in Dartmoor) and solely with video cameras, The Sontaran Experiment picks up where the previous serial, The Ark in Space, left off, with Baker's Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) and Harry Sullivan (Ian Marter, who also wrote the serial's novelization) visiting a future Earth abandoned by its inhabitants save for a small band of space colonists who are being hunted by an unseen force and its robot servant. The alien – a Sontaran warrior (the race was previously encountered in the Jon Pertwee serial The Time Warrior) – is capturing the colonists and subjecting them to horrifying medical and psychological experiments, and the Doctor and friends soon find themselves among its new test subjects. A short (only two episodes) but gripping and effective story, The Sontaran Experiment has received its share of positive and negative reviews from the fan community, but remains an entertaining entry from the Baker years. The single-disc DVD of The Sontaran Experiment offers surprisingly fewer extras than other recent Doctor Who releases; commentary is provided by Sladen, producer Philip Hinchcliffe, and co-writer Bob Baker, while a featurette, "Built for War," traces the history of the Sontarans via interviews with Sladen, Baker, sixth Doctor Colin Baker, writer Terrance Dicks, and others. A brief photo gallery and the by-now standard production notes subtitle option round out the extras. -- Paul Gaita
Product Description
The Doctor (Tom Baker), Sarah Jane, and Harry return from the space station Nerva to Earth 10,000 years in the future. The desolate landscape that once was the site of Piccadilly Circus has become the testing ground for the human race.
DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Audio Commentary by actress Elisabeth Sladen, co-writer Bob Baker and producer Philip Hinchcliffe.
Featurette:Built for War A 39-minute history of the Sontaran race
Other:Classic Doctor Who DVDs are restored and loaded with exclusive extras
Photo gallery:Photo gallery (4 mins)
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 25 people found the following review helpful
"The Sontaran Experiment" is a breezy delight, which whips along at breakneck speed and contains some of the most delightfully absurd dialogue the series had seen, I think only "Pyramids of Mars" betters it. Field Marshall Styre wins the dialogue plaudits with his inspired "I will destroy you all later....But first I have more important tasks to perform". How can you not love a villain who refers to the Doctor as a "worm". Dialogue aside the 2 episode format really fits this story, which doesn't suffer from Doctor Who's perennial problem of over padding and repetition. Perhaps most important about this story though is the wonderfully cruel sadistic streak that runs through it. Some of Styre's experiments truly are abominable and I shan't spoil them here for those who haven't seen this story. This dark, horrific side of Doctor Who developed strongly under the production of Phillip Hinchcliffe and showed that Doctor Who was willing to push the boundaries of its time slot. However it must be remembered that "The Sontaran Experiment" does form part of a short story arc exploring the future of the human race that began with "Ark in Space", an awareness of this story will enhance the enjoyment of "The Sontaran Experiment"
The DVD itself may sound like a bit of a rip off, the main feature after all does only run for 50 minutes. But we are compensated by a very good 40 minute documentary entitled "Built for War" and a commentary track, which overall makes it a worthwhile purchase. This is not the deepest and thematically exciting Doctor Who story, but it very entertaining and good fun.
The DVD itself may sound like a bit of a rip off, the main feature after all does only run for 50 minutes. But we are compensated by a very good 40 minute documentary entitled "Built for War" and a commentary track, which overall makes it a worthwhile purchase. This is not the deepest and thematically exciting Doctor Who story, but it very entertaining and good fun.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
"I just love clocks: atomic clocks, quartz clocks, grandfather clocks...Cuckoo clocks."
March 17, 2007
By Crazy Fox
Amazon Verified Purchase
I can't help but get the impression that with "The Sontaran Experiment" the writers and producers are experimenting with the viewers just a bit. By that I don't mean the unusually short length of the storyline (two episodes instead of the standard four or the epic six) or the exclusively outdoors setting (which works well except for making the poor robot stick out like a sore thumb). Their experiment is this, I think: can we make the other factors of the show so very good that viewers will overlook the implausibility of the plot?
The answer in my case is in the affirmative, I'm afraid. I was enthralled by the brisk, tightly-scripted adventure with all of its tension. I was laughing uncontrollably at the Doctor's classic quirkiness masterfully rendered by Tom Baker--"Never throw anything away, Harry" he tells one of his traveling companions as he tosses an object aside. I was impressed with the acting by the cast, who are able to convey a range of extreme emotions without going over the top. I was appalled by the military experiments being performed by the eponymous Sontaran, Field-Major Styre--these are truly chilling, all the more so for being convincingly authentic, as anyone familiar with Nazi war crimes or the terrible stuff the Japanese Imperial Army's Unit 731 did in Northeast China can attest. Styre himself makes for a great villain, his dismissive arrogance almost as enjoyable as the Doctor's quirkiness; by the end of basically a half hour, you love to hate him so much that watching him get his just desserts is thoroughly satisfying. In short, the show's whole crew really had me going the whole time. It was only after the story was over that cool reflection set in and it struck me: why are the Sontarans trying to "invade" an abandoned planet?! The whole premise of the plot is bogus, but I was taken in by the hocus-pocus, so hats off to the folks responsible for this little gem.
The answer in my case is in the affirmative, I'm afraid. I was enthralled by the brisk, tightly-scripted adventure with all of its tension. I was laughing uncontrollably at the Doctor's classic quirkiness masterfully rendered by Tom Baker--"Never throw anything away, Harry" he tells one of his traveling companions as he tosses an object aside. I was impressed with the acting by the cast, who are able to convey a range of extreme emotions without going over the top. I was appalled by the military experiments being performed by the eponymous Sontaran, Field-Major Styre--these are truly chilling, all the more so for being convincingly authentic, as anyone familiar with Nazi war crimes or the terrible stuff the Japanese Imperial Army's Unit 731 did in Northeast China can attest. Styre himself makes for a great villain, his dismissive arrogance almost as enjoyable as the Doctor's quirkiness; by the end of basically a half hour, you love to hate him so much that watching him get his just desserts is thoroughly satisfying. In short, the show's whole crew really had me going the whole time. It was only after the story was over that cool reflection set in and it struck me: why are the Sontarans trying to "invade" an abandoned planet?! The whole premise of the plot is bogus, but I was taken in by the hocus-pocus, so hats off to the folks responsible for this little gem.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By P. Whitlock
Amazon Verified Purchase
Sarah Jane's neon yellow jacket, the Doctor's broken collarbone and some great scenery make this memorable. The Extra history of the Sontarans in Doctor Who is interesting although having a Sontaran watching and commenting on the history was distracting. Still, the scenery is fantastic and the entire episode is shot out of doors. Good commentary track from the actors. Good episode.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
gift
and I don't think I should have to fill out more words it is ridiculous to require a certain number of words just to get rid of this box
Published 2 months ago by Lillian Moberg
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Doctor Who: SONTARAN EXPERIMENT
The 5-Star rating is for the quality and value of the DVD. Superb job as is typical of the Doctor Who Restoration Team in their production of Classic Era Doctor Who DVD's. Read more
Published 4 months ago by G. L. Nelson
4.0 out of 5 stars
History of the Doctors
It was good to see the older Dr. Who series. They move at a much slower pace than current dr. Who's but it is interesting to see the history of the show.
Published 5 months ago by Gary T. Payne
5.0 out of 5 stars
Doctor Who
I love the Doctor Who series and I'm so glad to be able to purchase dvd's .Tom Baker is my all time favorite.
Published 5 months ago by Janice Klein
2.0 out of 5 stars
Honestly, this adventure is kind of awful
Okay, I've got to say that I rather enjoy the older Doctor Who episodes and even some that take place primarily in quarries, but this took running around in quarries to a new low. Read more
Published 5 months ago by K. Johnson
3.0 out of 5 stars
entertaining
this episode is not one of my favorites but very watchable for any doctor who fan,tom baker is still great.
Published 6 months ago by TRAVELER
5.0 out of 5 stars
A short but entertaining episode.
This was another great Doctor Who DVD. I am glad that even though this was a short episode (just 2 parts) it was very entertaining. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Edward Lindo
4.0 out of 5 stars
Baker was still new to the role!!
Tom Baker was still getting his feet under him as the Doctor. He even fell and broke a collar bone filming it. The story is short but I enjoyed it. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Pulpman
3.0 out of 5 stars
Doctor Who economizes by bringing back the Sontarans...I mean,...
The real "experiment" in this story was to see whether one could tape a two-parter entirely on location coupled with a four-part story taped entirely in the studio, in this case... Read more
Published 21 months ago by buckbooks
4.0 out of 5 stars
Short, but excellent.
This story is dark. The Doctor, Harry and Sarah Jane beam down from the Ark in Space to Earth to see if it's habitable again centuries after a nuclear holocaust and to fix the... Read more
Published on November 6, 2010 by P A Colloraffi
