The Time Warrior

[Dave]

One of my favourite Dr Who stories. It's a lot of fun in it's pseduo-historical way. (My son's quest to watch all my old videos, and every UK Gold screening, has been re-introducing me to these.)

I think that this is the Jon Pertwee Doctor at his best, plus I always prefered Sarah Jane Smith to Jo Grant. Especially in this story when she first joins the Doctor as an inquisitive journalist, and feminist (she refuses to make the coffee): a stowaway on board the TARDIS. To top it all, I think the Sontaran's are probably my favourite Dr Who aliens, and it also has a plot concerning "superior technology is seen as Magic", which is always good.

Plus David Daker is great as Irongron with great dialogue, and you can laugh at June Brown (Dot Cotton in Eastenders) as Lady Wessex.

Scientists and their equipment are being kidnapped from a research station, and the Doctor suspects they are being pulled backwards into the past. The sighting of a Sontaran Warrior, called Lynx, confirms his fears and he travels back into the Middle Ages to investigate. This was the first appearance of the Sontarans. I've just read on a website that they were a "militaristic amphibian clone race" which I never knew. The Doctor's home planet is named for the first time as Gallifrey.

One small problem is how Lynx made all those ancient rifles that can't shoot straight. I'm certain that the Sontaran Empire doesn't have a supply.