An Autist Reviews: War Of The Sontarans (NuWho Series 13: Flux - Chapter Two)

*All Reviews Are Spoiler-Free Aside From Any Spoiler Sections*

*This is a bare-bones/lite review made after only a single viewing. (Hence there not being any replay rating)*

Finding herself in the middle of the Crimean War, which is being fought against Sontarans, the Doctor unites forces with Mary Seacole to save the human race. Meanwhile, finding himself a few days after he was kidnapped, Dan reunites with his family and discovers that the Sontarans have invaded. Elsewhere, on a planet called Time, in the temple of Atropos, the Mauri are failing, and it’s up to an out-of-her-depth Yaz and Vinder to repair them.

So, apparently, I’m actually going against the grain to say that this is quite a worse episode than last week’s, but honestly, that’s how I feel. I really just couldn’t get connected with the episode, and honestly, I think it was the writing that did it for me, which is strange considering I rarely feel THIS disconnected from an episode of Doctor Who, even in the supposedly bad Chibnal era. This story is riddled with writing problems, small and large, from the Sontarans somehow missing Dan with a dozen laser shots at close range like they’re storm-troopers, to 7.5 minutes supposedly being enough time to move a large amount of supplies a pretty damn large distance, to the Doctor’s exposition at the very beginning of the episode, which, somehow, doesn’t get her executed on the spot or locked up and deemed insane. There are just so many writing problems with this episode, but the issue is that they don’t overlap. Normally this many writing problems would tank a story’s rating easily, but because there is no overlap in problems, no problems that, for instance, would harm both the story and the dialogue, or the pacing and the exposition, all the different aspects are knocked down a decent amount, but not as much as they probably should be, since each aspect is flawed in a very self-contained way. Now, that’s not to say that this episode isn’t good, because it really is. It has some great jokes and some terrifying moments, and the ending is just great, but I hate how many issues the script has. A 6/10 has begun to mean “I was just disconnected” in my reviews, and it’s no different here, with me enjoying some of this episode, but just not connected well enough to consider my enjoyment to be deserving of a high rating. The resolution to the cliffhanger of last episode is really very good, even if the cinematography and the dialogue could have been better; I also wish that there was a better explanation of what happened, but I suspect we will get an explanation later. Same with Passenger’s random appearance. I have a feeling the viewers are missing some pieces that will come into play in a later episode (probably one of the last two.) but I still would like something of an explanation NOW to make it seem less random and weird. The ending of the episode was just fantastic, with some great scenery-chewing from the villains and with the only bad part of it being at the very beginning really, with the Doctor and Dan’s conversation. One final note, I liked the last episode’s many plot threads being shown at once with little progress made in any approach, but Yaz and Vinder just felt wasted during this episode, without a doubt. They basically did nothing while the Doctor and Dan each saved the planet in their own storylines. It just irks me.

The acting in this episode really isn’t great, but I honestly can’t help but feel that it’s because of the editing mostly. That said, I still can’t forgive how like a quarter of the lines in this episode sound like they were shouted for no reason, I just can’t forgive that. Is it probably the director’s fault? Yes. But it still affected the acting. The main characters are the worst for the sole fact that they are one big unit (including Vinder), whereas the side characters and the bad guys include multiple groups of people and individuals, so there is more leniency there. All of the main characters are pretty iffy acting-wise in this episode, but as you can tell from how I’ve rated them, they do still get in a LOT of great lines. The side characters are mostly iffy, but Karvanista and the triangles help redeem them a lot. Sadly, Mary Seacole almost always sounds just… wrong somehow. I think she sounds like she’s always shouting and never actually responding to anything being said, just saying things into the air; that’s the best way I can put it. The soldier guy is better, but he still has some really iffy moments, and Dan’s parents are pretty good for the time we see them, but they have a similar issue going on as Mary does except they don’t sound as loud. As I type this, I actually think I realize what happened with the acting and the editing, so let me quickly put this thought out there: I think that the reason we get so many weird shots of character’s talking this episode is because they wanted to have as few actors near each other for as little time as possible constantly since this was filmed mid-pandemic. If I had to guess, I’d say most close-up face shots are the actor alone, acting as best they can. That actually is probably what happened. Still, it did have a negative effect on my viewing experience, which sucks. Finally, we get to the bad guys, who were just incredible and chewing the scenery the entire time, dripping with menace and enjoyment. The actors were definitely having a good time, and it shows a lot!

Last, but most CERTAINLY not least, we come to the effects. Now, I’ve already discussed why I think there are a lot of weird close-up face shots in this episode, so I won’t go further into that, but there are also some other weird things going on with the cinematography here, specifically, the camera often feels like it cuts too late or too early. The music is certainly a redeeming factor though, being perfect in every way, always fitting the mood, and never letting you down. It’s subtle, but it’s not as subtle as a lot of other music this era, and that’s the great thing about it. It’s a happy middle. The voice effects are perfect aside from one: The triangles are a little too hard to understand in my humble opinion. There is at least one line that I didn’t understand at all from them, and that’s quite frankly unforgivable. The computer effects are also incredible, although I will say that there are two weird screen effects in this, one at the beginning and another at the end, and also in one scene where Dan hits a Sontaran with a frying pan, the sparks that appear just look really lazy. Other assorted bad visual effects are as follows: Dan and Karvanista falling, Karvanista firing one less shot than he should in order to take down the amount of Sontarans he does, the Sontaran army not really seeming as covered by fog/smoke as they should, Yaz’s appearing out of nowhere just looking a little weird considering how she came to be in the temple, and Dan’s phone camera having the weird lines and recording dot and stuff that professional video cameras have. I say all of this, but honestly, the computer effects ARE absolutely beautiful this episode, I just have a LOT of nitpicks. The Sontaran ships are definitely the standout effect of this episode, as they always look utterly fantastic! The practical effects are just incredible, mostly taking the form of smoke and explosions, and always enhancing a scene! The sets are next, and they are stunning! From the run-down British Hotel to the insides of the Sontaran ships, to the Temple of Atropos, every single set looked 10/10 flawless, and the set design was always absolutely fantastic! The costumes and makeup were all incredible, gorgeous, and rugged as needed. The only reason this rating isn’t a 10/10 is because I just CAN’T excuse the laziness of using a literal, unchanged in any way, airsoft mask as Passenger’s mask. It’s lazy as can be and I think Doctor Who Instagram for showing me that because DAMN is that bad. I just can’t forgive it, and I won’t be able to forgive it in the future. Aside from that, all the makeup and costumes were just perfect. The action I mentioned briefly in the plot section of this review, but it serves repetition that Sontarans missing Dan from point-blank range is just unbelievable. Even Stormtroopers would have trouble missing at that range! Beyond that though, the action in this episode is stunning, especially the massive battle between the British Army and the Sontarans. If it weren’t for Dan avoiding being shot TWICE at POINT BLANK RANGE then this would easily be a 10/10, but while I can forgive and even flat-out ignore the lack of being shot in the Umbrella Academy bowling alley scene, I just can’t forgive this. The sounds are last and as expected, I have nothing to say about them. They’re perfect, you’d never realize that all the sounds weren’t recorded on set unless you already knew beforehand that nothing but the actors get recorded on set. Literally, everything about the sound effects is perfect. There really is so little to say when everything is perfect, huh?

All in all, this was a strange experience. I didn’t have a bad time, but I didn’t have a good time either really. I think this experience is somewhat similar to my listening to the Side of the Angels audio, of course, I did rate my enjoyment of it 9/10, but I recall not really getting too into it despite how good every part of it was. Still, for all the many flaws in the writing and acting, the effects are utterly fantastic, and I still enjoyed many moments of this episode and can’t wait to see where the cliffhanger takes us!

Total - 8

Plot - 8

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Story - 7

Pacing - 8

Dialogue - 7

Narration - NR

Exposition - 8

Enjoyment - 6

Twist/s - NR

Resolution/s - 8

Ending/s - 9

Acting - 8

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MC/s - 8

SC/s - 8

BG/s - 10

Narrator/s - NR

Effects - 9

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Music - 10

Voice Effects - 9

Computer Effects - 8

Practical Effects - 10

Costumes/Makeup - 9

Sets - 10

Action - 8

Cinematography - 8

Sounds - 9

Replay - NR

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Re-Enjoyment - NR

New Details - NR

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