War of the Sontarans (TV story)

War of the Sontarans, prefixed in the title sequence with Chapter Two and in other sources with Flux, was the second episode of series 13 of Doctor Who. It formed the second chapter of the six-part serial Doctor Who: Flux.

Synopsis
In the Crimean War, the Doctor discovers the British army fighting a brutal alien army of Sontarans, as Yaz and Dan are thrown deeper into a battle for survival. What is the Temple of Atropos? Who are the Mouri?

Plot
The Thirteenth Doctor wakes, alone, on a barren wasteland, looking up at a giant, dilapidated house. She is then shook back to reality; a field of marsh, surrounded by dead soldiers and spent artillery. Yaz and Dan then reappear, having also blacked out when the Flux cloud hit the TARDIS. The Doctor deduces they're on Earth, when a woman approaches them from the fog, calling them thieves. She confirms herself as Mary Seacole, and the Doctor deduces they're near Sevastopol in 1855, in the middle of the Crimean War. Seacole hears enemy soldiers returning, and the four of them hide. When the Doctor asks how many Russians the British are fighting, Seacole disclaims her, as a Sontaran commander, riding a horse, emerges with his troop.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Jodie Whittaker
 * Yasmin Khan - Mandip Gill
 * Dan Lewis - John Bishop
 * Skaak/Sontaran Commander Riskaw - Jonathan Watson
 * Mary Seacole - Sara Powell
 * Vinder - Jacob Anderson
 * Eileen - Sue Jenkins
 * Neville - Paul Broughton
 * Joseph Williamson - Steve Oram
 * General Logan - Gerald Kyd
 * Svild - Dan Starkey
 * Swarm - Sam Spruell
 * Azure - Rochenda Sandall
 * Karvanista - Craig Els
 * Passenger - Jonny Mathers
 * Priest Triangle - Nigel Lambert

Uncredited cast

 * Mouri - TBA

History

 * The Crimean War originally saw the British Empire fighting the Russians. Time has been altered so that the Empire has been fighting the Sontarans instead.
 * The Doctor mentions that the Ottoman Empire is weakening.

Locations

 * In her own mind, the Doctor finds herself in a forest having found a floating house.
 * Team TARDIS have landed in Sebastopol, Crimea, 1855.
 * Vinder remembers crashing in his escape pod towards a planet, then wakes up in a hallway.
 * Mary Seacole invites Team TARDIS inside her British Hotel.
 * Dan is thrown back to his now-lost house in Anfield, Liverpool, 2 November, 2021 via a time window.
 * A few locations appear on the map:
 * Asia, Baltic Sea, Barbary, Bay of Biscay, Black Sea, The British Isles, Europe, France, Germany, Hindustan, Iceland, Italy, North Sea, Persia, Sontar and Spain are labeled on the eastern hemisphere of the map.
 * Cape Verd Isles, Cuba, Gulf of Mexico, Jamaica, Mexico or New Spain, South America, United States, Venezuela and the Western or Atlantic Ocean are labeled on the western hemisphere of the map.
 * Russia and China are gone from the map.
 * Dan and his dad makes fun of Birkenhead.
 * When caught, Dan feigns ignorance and says he's "looking for the Pier Head".

Individuals

 * The Doctor mumbles about the Flux being "the end of the universe".
 * Team TARDIS meets Mary Seacole.
 * Mary mistakes the Doctor, Yaz and Dan for "Vultures".
 * Mary says that "Doctor" is a man's term, and calls herself "Doctress".
 * Mary says that all of the Sentry patrol are dead.
 * Mary mentions a "Mrs Nightingale".
 * Dan thinks Mary Seacole is an army nurse.
 * Dan and Yaz are thrown into time windows caused by the Flux and Vortex energy having collided.
 * Dan attempts to talk to his neighbor Jim, then to his front door neighbor.
 * Dan tries to call Diane.
 * Dan, Neville and Eileen use a wok to defend themselves.
 * Dan mistakes it for a frying pan at first.
 * Joseph Williamson appears at the temple and believes it to be "the year of our Lord, 1820".
 * Her Majesty's Army is led by Lieutenant General Logan of the Light Division.
 * Logan says he has all the help he needs from "Queen and Country".
 * Svild was hit by a cannonball in the back.
 * The Doctor mentions having been President of Gallifrey.
 * All strategic base construction troops were ordered to report to Commander Strevs and security patrol was ordered to execute intruders.
 * Commander Skaak executes Svild for bringing shame to Sontar.
 * Dan and Karvanista escape from the Sontaran ship through a waste tube.
 * A "fella in Birkenhead" figured out to hit Sontarans on the probic vent.
 * Dan sarcastically calls Karvanista "Scooby Doo".

Species

 * The Sontarans have invaded Earth during the Crimean War and 21st century.
 * Priest Triangles are guarding a temple, inhabited by a group of women called the Mouri.
 * Svild invokes section Cyan K-Z Nine Slothback of the Shadow Proclamation, his right to silence.

Food and beverages

 * General Logan has taken the rum for himself.
 * Mary Seacole says that rice pudding and hard liquor build morale. And pay for medicines.

TARDIS

 * The Cloister Bell is still ringing.

Technology

 * Yaz says she needs a "universal GPS".
 * The event where the Lupari ships shielded the Earth is referred to as the Three Minute Eclipse.
 * The Sontarans use a basic camouflage shield to hide their base camp.
 * The Sontarans are building Imperial Sontaran Time Carriers along the Mersey.

Story notes

 * For the endboard, the old BBC Studios logo was used instead of the new one which was used in the previous episode The Halloween Apocalypse.
 * The opening sequence of the episode (inside the Doctor's mind) is in black and white. The last episode to have a black/white sequence was the "Previously" sequence of Twice Upon a Time with William Hartnell as the First Doctor.
 * As Sontar-ha is established by the Sontarans as a war chant or when something is positive, this episode introduces a negative in the form of "Sontar-ho", as when Skaak executed Svild for dishonour to the name of their species.

Ratings

 * Overnights: 3.96 million
 * Consolidated: to be added

Filming locations
to be added

Myths
to be added

Production errors

 * The subtitles provided by BBC One and BBC America erroneously spell Linx's name as "Lynx".
 * The end credits, as well as the 52 minute mark of the subtitles, and the officially listed iPlayer website credits, misspell Ritskaw's name as "Riskaw".

Continuity

 * Skaak mentions Commander Linx's claim on Earth for the Sontaran Empire, (TV: The Time Warrior) even though the Rutans had prior claim. (AUDIO: Castle of Fear)
 * Much like the Tenth Doctor with Harriet Jones regarding the Sycorax, the Thirteenth Doctor shows moral outrage when the retreating Sontarans are massacred by Logan. (TV: The Christmas Invasion)
 * The Second Doctor had once stated that he had been to the Crimean War. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks) Soldiers from the war were also kidnapped by the War Lords. (TV: The War Games)
 * The Seventh Doctor landed during the siege of Sevastopol where the TARDIS was also damaged, this time by a British Cannonball which separated the interior from the exterior. On this occasion the Doctor and Ace became prisoners of the Russian Empire, whilst Hex met his childhood hero of Florence Nightingale. (AUDIO: The Angel of Scutari)
 * The Twelfth Doctor had previously helped Mary Seacole deal with an alien infection. (AUDIO: The Charge of the Night Brigade)
 * Svild invokes the Shadow Proclamation. (TV: Rose, The Stolen Earth)
 * The Doctor mentions being President of Gallifrey (TV: The Invasion of Time, The Five Doctors, Hell Bent)

Home video releases
to be added