New look Sontarans - what do you think?

I thought the updated Sontarans were well realised, and had all the recognisable elements that we're familiar with from the classic series. The dome shaped heads, stilted militaristic dialogue, the probic vent, wand shaped guns, three fingers (unlike the early pictures of the new Sontarans released last year), their signature spherical space ships (although this was the first time we've seen the mother ship), and a hypnotised workforce (as in "The Time Warrior"). Also nice to see them using their knowledge of cloning practically - previously only referred to in dialogue.

The one thing that annoyed me a bit about them was that the actor playing Commander Skorr didn't sound like a Sontaran at all and didn't play the part particularly convincingly. I thought Christopher Ryan was perfect as General Staal though. Since they're a cloned species, I don't see any reason why they couldn't have had him playing all the Sontaran speaking parts. With today's technology I would have thought that would have been relatively easy to do.

I think the fact that the Sontarans are considerably shorter than in the classic series make sense. In the old series they were referred to quite a few times as being "short and stalky" due to their natural high gravity environment, but they never really were.

I suppose Kevin Lindsey (in "The Time Warrior and "The Sontaran Experiment") was a bit shorter than Jon Pertwee and considerably shorter than Tom Baker, but I seem to remember that all the others were quite tall. I reckon that is actually a discontinuity in the old series, and is a point that has been corrected in this latest story. Also interesting that the scale of height difference between Tennant and Ryan is roughly the same as that between the much taller Tom Baker and Kevin Lindsey.

So yes, I like the updated Sontarans. It's just a pity about the actor playing Skorr. I suppose at a push we could make the excuse that it's a deliberate nod towards the Doctor Who tradition of actors giving rubbish performances as second string Sontarans - LOL.

Next series - a bit too early to speculate about storylines for 2010 I think

I have only very briefly glimpsed the old Sontarans but I must say, I love the new Sontaran look. They certainly look like aliens ready for war and I love the design of the helmet especially. There appears to be a face on it which makes the Sontaran's real face even more of a shock when you first see it and despite being short they have a powerful demeanour to them.

The thing I love about them most though is their voices. They are not what I expected. They are a bit more human.

As for appearing next series, I would like to see "The Poison Sky" before I speculate.

lol the Spacephantom and I have been debating this.

For me, the thrill of the Sontarans' return was completely killed by those early publicity shots. In action, I thought Christopher Ryan as Staal was much better than the publicity shot (which of course was of Skorr) suggested he would be. The Sontarans generally looked excellent when they were amongst themselves, but for me, when you stuck them up against a strapping couple of UNIT squaddies, they really did look small and silly.

Now...I know...the whole thing about the Sontarans was they were supposed to be from a high-gravity planet so they were always supposed to be short and squat, and as the Spacephantom says, this was essentially a continuity error on behalf of the old show, which has now been corrected. It just looks...odd, when you remember shots of Kevin Lindsey as Lynx looming into shot, or Group Marshall Stike on a high Spanish step. So I still am not able to take them entirely seriously as these little Devil's Diddymen, when shown against other human-sized figures.

Meanwhile, what was WITH Skorr's accent? Do the Sontarans have boarding-schools?? Very unSontaranlike... he reminded me of the Cockney Sontarans from the Invasion of Time, but that was SO weird this time round, because the production team went to so much trouble to find actors of the same SIZE, but then no-one gave a thought to having one gruff-voiced actor and another who seemed like he'd be quite willing to have tea on the lawn...

If they're a hit, there's no reason why this cloned race shouldn't appear in future seasons. I still would love to see a real slapdown fight between the Sontarans and the Rutans, personally ;o)

I preferred the old ones i think, the potato style was all part of the appeal! I swear the heads are no longer exavtly the same as the helmet as well...alternatively it's just never as good as the first time seeing it, i was actually in hysterics (i'd like to point out my intro to the sontarans was only a couple of months ago since i wasn't around for the original series). The voice of the second commander was a bit iffy too.

Never mind though, brilliant aliens and well brought back! Huzzah!

I thought The Sontarans look good I hope they will be back in the future series. I agree with Ross on Doctor The Sontarans do look like baked potato

I like the short Sontarans - and it may be a nod to the old 'Napoleon complex' thing. You know, short people with a need to beat the snot out of the bigger races.

I agree with mdfalco71 - short bullies versus the blobs!!

Looked creepy, they sounded a bit like john cleese when they spoke, they looked like a potato cant wait to see what happens next saturday, xx

As already said, better than the 70's versions, but also in line with the new 'comedy' angle to doctor who, that isn't really working (just makes the programme look silly now).

I think they made such a good job of past series's that it then becomes hard to keep the momentum; sorry to say that this may be the beginning of the end again!

Scrap Dr Who, bring back Blake's seven!!

Shut up Jester!

LONG LIVE DOCTOR WHO!

Great villians.

I think they look really bullish and tough and their manners are shown by their looks.

To me they see very ruthless in war and if the finale includes them then it's sure shaping up to be very good!

Scarey looking!!!! Can't wait to see what happens with the evil Martha and whether its game over for the real Martha Jones....surely not!