What's your opinion on Doctor Who - The Poison Sky?

For me "The Poison Sky" was a great conclusion to a 2 part story which was easily the best of this series so far, and I hope it will go some way to redeeming writer Helen Raynor in the eyes of many of those fans who hated her previous effort "Daleks in Manhatten / Evolution of the Daleks" (I never thought it was that bad anyway to be honest).

I thought "The Poison Sky" was really classic Doctor Who material, and reminded me a lot of some of the better story lines from the old series. The battle between the Sontarans and UNIT was very well done, despite the Sontarans appearing to be armed with toy guns, and the Sontarans obvious love of battle gave a real sense of why they take the actions they do. Even the traditionally poor second string Sontaran, Commander Skorr, seemed a bit better once he got involved in the fighting. You could almost say that the Sontarans are DW's answer to Star Trek's Klingons.

It was also a great moment when the Valiant got involved and kick-started UNIT's fight back as well. I also loved the way that the Doctor used the Sontarans clone of Martha against them. A tactic worthy of Tom Baker's 4th Doctor.

There was some significant character growth in this episode. In addition to the on-going growth of Donna and Martha as characters, the most important was Luke Rattigan's transformation from being a spoilt, childish brat to being a self-sacrificing hero who ended up saving the world. I think that highlights one of the great themes that has always ran through Doctor Who. The Doctor can inspire ordinary, or even unlikeable, people to do great things. Also great to see Donna's Mum taking an active part in the story by resolving the cliff-hanger with an axe :-))

Then of course, there was the Rose moment. Another fleeting appearance prior to her return at the end of the series, which now makes it obvious that she is trying to contact the Doctor.

The best bits of this story for me, however, were all the little continuity references, in-jokes and character name-check's from both the classic series and the new series. Apart from the return of the Valiant, we had the Doctor saying "are you my Mummy" after putting his gas mask on (LOL), mention of the Sontaran's war with the Rutans, mention of Captain Jack and best of all, a name check for Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart, or "Sir Alistair" as Colonel Mace called him. This makes me think that perhaps Russel. T Davies considers the Big Finish audio plays to be canon, since he is known as "Sir Alistair" in those.

Overall, I thought "The Poison Sky" was a bit like "The Sound of Drums" in that respect. All the continuity references made it a great one for fans of the old and new series alike, but perhaps not so good for new viewers or those who have just started watching recently.

So although it had it's faults, in my view the Doctor's latest confrontation with his old enemies the Sontarans was great fun, an excellent story, and one that will be re-watched and talked about by fans for years to come.

The Poison Sky was a strong idea with a lot of padding. It gave us a few unforgettable moments - in the whole history of the series prior to this, we've never really seen the Sontarans doing what they do best - waging war en masse, making use of their clone-natures to overpower an enemy. So that was an exciting moment - seeing them on the march. We'll forgive them, for now, some of the worst and least co-ordinated marching ever seen since the show returned. The plot developed at least into a credible threat - the idea of the gas being clone-food was a clever one, and the idea of turning Earth into a clone-world, so as to reinvigorate the race and overcome a temporary setback in the war with the Rutans was also quite neat. Some elements stubbornly refused to make sense - the need to protect Martha so as to keep the clone alive seemed there only to give the Sontarans an excuse to go rampaging as a distraction, the continual non-drama of the abortive nuclear launch was a very convoluted way to go about things that seemed contrived simply to give "Clone-Martha" something to do.

The Sontaran Haka was rather an endearing insight into the male clannishness of these diminutive warriors, and although it would have been rather more fun if some of the Rattigan Academy students had actually gone with Luke and been gunned down as a reward, the fatal redemption of the psycho-genius boy was inevitable from the moment he discovered the Sontarans had betrayed him. The Sontaran ship was a thing of unparalleled creative beauty, especially tying in the traditional spheroid Sontaran craft like studs on a big leader glove, and all in all the Sontaran Stratagem and The Poison Sky were effective episodes that worked together to re-introduce an old enemy with relatively strong sympathies for their history. I'd put them on a par with the Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel episodes that re-imagined the Cybermen for a new era. I'd also say they've gone some way towards redeeming Helen Raynor after the central atrocious idea of Daleks In Manhattan/ Evolution of the Daleks (that of Daleks with Survivor Envy!). More watchable than anything else so far in Season 4 - no, I wouldn't say so. Fires of Pompeii and Planet of the Ood had more to hold the casual viewer. But a solid stab at Sontarans in the new era of Who, certainly.

One thing though. The Sontarans were created as the ultimate satire on stupid, warmongering attitudes. With some Western governments involved in a protracted war based on complex stupidity, was there not a better fundamental story to tell with the Sontarans in the early 21st century than the wishy-washy eco-maybeism that we ended up with?

6/10

You're right about the episode being better than the Sontaran Stratagem in the plot was more tightly controlled, however I'm finding that the quality of the screenplay this series has fallen far short of previous ones: where's the dramatic power of "Family of Blood" or the bizzarely twisted and gripping complexity of "Blink"?

Had the screenplay been slickly pruned and kept tighter, this could have been a very good single episode, but I saw no reason to sprawl it over two. The plot of Donna being alone in the Tardis should have developed but fizzled out; the denouement was sudden and unsubtle and Rattigan was an underdeveloped character. Perhaps the BBC should get Steven Moffat to write them all if he can consistently come up with the quality of my all time favourite "The Girl in the Fireplace".

I think it was great - the whole new perspective on Luke Rattigan was brilliantly unexpected, yet I want to know why Rose Tyler's face came up on that screen in the Tardis for about 1/2 a second. That confused me BIG time.

If I was making Doctor Who, I would've scrapped the Sontaran Stratagem and just inputted the cloning of Martha into The Poison Sky and made it one episode.

Another flaw for me was the scenario where the Doctor was either going to die with the Sontarans or the Sontarans were going to flee Earth. I kept coming back to reality and thinking "heck, there's like nine episodes left - the Doctor can't die now."

Still, good show, good episodes, good storyline (except next week's is confusing 0- his daughter???) and I'll be watching it religiously.

I would agree with you in saying that it was worth 9.5/10.

As a whole this episode was far better than The Sontaran Stratagem, but both parts were the best episodes so far in this series and hoping the rest of the series will be the same.

As someone who's new to doctor who and by new I mean I've never seen the classics. This was my first "proper" introduction to UNIT. I have to say, it has nothing on Torchwood.

On a whole, I give it 6/10. It was too long and I don't feel I was told enough about the Sontarans. Why did they pick Earth? Why is the Doctor their enemy? Their are some episodes of Doctor who, that you can watch over and over again. Personally, I wouldn't watch either of these again.

Although a couple of the one liners were brilliant. Like "intruder window" I chuckled at that for ages.

In true bad wolf form, there's been little teasers of Rose. I find myself constantly watching for her. All I know is, Saturday seems like forever to come round, when the doctor who season is on!

i certainly can no longer understand why maximum of people are announcing the day purely before this's episode of DW became right into a letdown! You did no longer rather think of the wellness care expert could have a blood daughter in it did you?! i think of it became into very, very sparkling that the call became into deceptive. one in all Russell T's little jokes! of path the wellness care expert's daughter isn't what you think of! The wellness care expert IS on my own. that is between the main important strategies of the coach! The wellness care expert travels because of the fact he's on my own. He strategies up companions because of the fact he's on my own! of path they could no longer purely all immediately write a blood daughter in for him! he's the final OF HIS SPECIES! The final of the Time Lords! i think of ways she became into presented [the belief of the regenerated tissue pattern] became into o.k. performed yet there have been 2 issues i'm choosy a pair of] why wasn't Martha and Donna grabbed by using the human beings and filled interior the gadget to make clones of them i do no longer comprehend and b] how Jenny got here out the gadget in 2 seconds flat as a youthful female who knew a thank you to convey jointly a weapon right now away! nonetheless pickness aside i think of the sequence so a ways has been very sturdy. I consider each thing Spacephantom says approximately evaluating the two sequence, even with the undeniable fact that for me the excellent episode of sequence 3 became into "Gridlock." I do think of the return of Rose this sequence will turn each thing all of us comprehend on that is head. i think of the day purely before this's episode carried the excellent message of all the sequence so a ways - "I never could."

It just keep getting better as the series goes on. I thought tonight's episode was really great. Did you seen Rose face on The screen when the Doctor's talking to Donna?

I like the part when The Doctor takes the gun from Luck and says if i see one more gun and i laugh when The Doctor put on the gas mask and said are you my mummy

I preferred the Series 1 episode "The Empty Child" and those people with gas masks as faces. It was awesome.

just to say...I hear that the reason rose Tylers face poped up for a sec is because she is returning to the show on a full time basis