Imagine thinking Planet of the Dead or The Sontaran Strategem are god-tier Doctor Who.
Planet of the Dead is shit, but there's a whole lot to love in the Sontaran episodes, I think. Raynor had this weird knack for getting the details of antagonists and drama right in an episode, making for the works of a great episode, then draping it in absolute shit to drag the whole thing down. Like the human sub-plots in Evolution of the Daleks, and the fucking awful school for geniuses plot in Sontaran Strategem...
The way the Sontarans are, the way they were re-characterized as this angry race with an ugly imposter complex, the hakas, the fact they've begun to resort to cowardice outside of their ideals of 'pure warfare' etc - it's really,
really good. (A shame, since the combination of Strax and the only other Sontarans shown since being entirely incompetent undermines that characterization somewhat.) Also, the stuff with Martha is great - her in UNIT, the Doctor approving but not approving of her being with a military organization, the way Donna steps out of the TARDIS and there's zero animosity - they just
get it and get on... Donna's return to family is truncated, but no less effective than the ones with Martha and Rose. Like, there's a lot to unpack in those episodes, and I think they're good. Just, yeah, there's that awful shit with the school and stuff that's a nightmare.
Same for Evolution of the Daleks. Like, thematically I think it's the most interesting Dalek story in the modern show. That could've been Asylum, but it was squandered when "insane Daleks" was taken to mean Daleks that er, are a bit broken physically. But here you've got this contradiction of Daleks encouraged to think outside the box and where that leads. I think the design and the performance of the 'human Dalek' is great, but what I like more is how the pure Daleks slowly turn against him. Eyestalks side-eyeing each other as they begin to doubt his leadership. The Dalek controllers do a great job in these episodes, because they have
body language. You can tell they're nervous about what's happening, then angry. Then there's them down in the sewers, literally scooting close to each other in a corner to conspire. I
love that stuff. But then, y'know, there's Tallulah and Pig Men and all that shit and
fucking hell.
Anyway, I'd take both of those two parters over the generally inoffensive but rather boring Sontaran one from Series 5, etc. I really do think Series 4 and 5 are about even, in quality terms.
