Celebrating 50 years since their first on screen appearance, Big Finish’s epic four-part audio drama series Sontarans vs Rutans begins, with Doctor Who: The Battle of Giant’s Causeway!
Not only is this story a celebration of the Sontarans, but also a previous TARDIS team. Reuniting for the first time since 2007, are the Eighth Doctor, Charley and C’rizz. Last seen together in Doctor Who: Absolution, this TARDIS team feels like they’ve never been away!
At long last we delve into the Sontaran and Rutan war, after being teased both on and off screen for years! Whilst you might expect this to be a full out war story between the two, in fact we get something quite different! After the TARDIS crash lands in 55BC Ireland, the Doctor, Charley and C’rizz encouter Sontarans but not the ones we would come to expect! This particular platoon believe they are, for all intensive purposes, a roman legion!
Getting to hear the sontarans be portrayed in a slightly different way, really works well. While they still have a lot of similarities to their usual selves, the different edge really works a treat. This allows for humourous bickering between the Doctor and the Sontarans, whilst furthering the plot.
Lizzie Hopley utilises C’rizz’s abilities perfectly in this story. Splitting him up from the Doctor and Charley, allowing the Rutans to bring him onto their side by manipulating his empathy towards them due to their shared abilities. I must admit whilst this may not be on of my personal favourite TARDIS teams, they shine in this story, which is a real testament to the writing.
This is very much the opener to a much larger storyline, leaving quite a few breadcrumbs to follow. Including one towards the end which is rather harrowing. As a standalone story, this works very well, but I imagine that if paired with the rest of the Sontarans vs Rutans series, it will work spectacularly. If the following stories in this range are of this quality, I fully expect it to go down as one of the best Big Finish series in years.
Doctor Who: The Battle of Giant’s Causeway
The war between the Sontarans and the Rutans has been going on for millennia. And is likely to continue for millennia more.
A terrible conflict with no care for consequences or collateral damage. Billions have died with no end in sight. Its reach can encompass ancient Ireland and a forest world in the far future.
A temporal tidal wave leads the Doctor, Charley and C’rizz to the Giant’s Causeway, Ireland 55BC, where the TARDIS drains of power and they encounter Sontarans who believe they’re Roman Legionnaires. What has caused this and what is the strange secret in the rocks?
Doctor Who: The Battle of Giant’s Causeway is now available to own as a collector’s edition single-disc CD (+ download for just £10.99) or as a digital download only (for just £8.99), exclusively here. Big Finish listeners can also save money by pre-ordering The Battle of Giant’s Causeway as part of the Sontarans vs Rutans collection, exclusively here.
“This particular platoon believe they are, for all intensive purposes, a roman legion!”
It’s “all intents and purposes.” Also “Roman” should be capitalized.