#the sontaran stratagem

[neat-crows]

So I've been re-watching dr who for the first time ever rn, with a friend who's never seen it before, so I'm seeing all these episodes for the first time since I was 13 and picking up on a LOT that I never noticed before, and holy shit the tenth doctor is SO WEIRD to Martha Jones, and nothing exemplifies that more than the sontaran stratagem/the poison sky.... like..... he is SO weird the whole way down.

When they first see each other again their introduction directly mirrors Jack and The Doctor's in Utopia

"Doctor" "martha Jones" laugh and hug

"doctor" "captain Jack" laugh and hug

And then! they have a normal interaction!!! WIN he asks how her family is and how she is, and they're smiling and genuinely seem like friends very happy to see each other!

And then.... donna drops the fiance bomb.

He turns with a look of.... almost anger? disbelief? and asks WHAT MAN?? Then martha explains who he is and the doctor....

he looks? upset? and then like, resigned? AND THEN martha admits that her fiance is kind of similar to the doctor, and then donna asks "Is he skinny?" and his reactions

is to make a face like "yeahh" AND START NODDING????? like he's taken Martha's admission to mean she's with a man that's just like him, and honestly seems a bit smug over it, and then when Martha says no-

he looks so taken off guard and betrayed ??????????? BRO we are less than 5 minutes in..............

He then proceeds to be tetchy with her, and to be fair this is mostly because of her involvement with unit, and his discomfort with how militaristic she's gotten - which I think comes both from anger at himself for how he's changed her, and also discomfort that she's no longer "his" Martha, she's changed, and he doesn't know her as well anymore.

he tells her off, he's snide and judgmental, he won't even look at her until she tells him to, and he's honestly bitchy - Until she explains herself, and tells him off for being so judgmental, i also think his line "oh so it's my fault" is very telling because..... it literally is? like yes, you put her in situations where she had to become harder and more used to violence......... and he KNOWS it. He's doing what he did all through series 3, which is feel guilty or bad and then take it out on Martha (that's for another post though) until she stands up for herself (get his ass!!) and then when she's finished she looks at him

determined, but eyes darting back and forth waiting for his reaction, on some small level hoping for his approval

and only THEN does he start to smile, and he tells her "that sounds more like Martha Jones." she's back to feeling like she's still his (to him, Martha is acting incredibly normal and platonic). The doctor has always had a weird possessiveness with Martha, going all the way back to their first episode where he hand picked her, and in this second of her looking for his approval, he feels that again, and he IMMEDIATELY started flirting again - please go watch the scene it boggles my mind how fast he switches.

I also want to be clear, Martha isn't flirting back, she's acting extremely normally. She's clearly taken the time away from him to get over, not only romantic feelings, but any anger as well. She seems to have come to terms with how she feels with everything that happened, and she loves and cares about him, but she's not naive to his faults - I also don't think she even picks up on him being weird to her in this scene. She's no longer in tune with his every mood swing, she's not here to fix him, or cater to his needs, and so she no longer notices these small moments from him.

AND THEN.... the clone.

He never flirts with the clone. The ONLY time, is the very first time they interact, before he's realized something is wrong.

he calls her over to come with him, and his face is honestly way too close to hers. bro is a menace. but then, maybe 2 minutes later, he immediately clocks that this is not Martha.

he realizes there has to be a spy and only has to consider for half a second before he turns and asks about her family, he's already realized she's acting a little off, and the second she answers he's 100% certain.

and he gets MAD. he tells her Donna went home because she's not like her, she's not "a soldier" clearly a shot at the sontarans, but also another subtle test, the real Martha wouldn't let that slide, and he wouldn't say that to the real Martha. He continues saying Avanti, instead of Allonse-y, which is interesting, because he already knows. He's not doing this to confirm his suspicions, he's doing this as retaliation. To confirm to himself he knows Martha better than this fake, he's toying with her. BUT. He doesn't go to save Martha.

The next episode, the doctor's daughter, he refuses to accept the label of soldier, but Jenny rightfully points out that he strategizes like one And this is one such moment. He knows Martha is a clone, he's mad and upset, he could go save her right away, but he doesn't. He doesn't because it serves him best to allow her to keep shutting down the nuclear launch.

It reminds me a lot of when Cassandra possessed Rose in New Earth, he played a long for a little bit, but that was just to figure out what was happening. He IMMEDIATELY tried to fix it, I just wonder if it was any other companion if he would have done this. If it was Donna would he have left her for so long? even if it was strategic? it's this weird conflict the doctor has now that he's very very protective and a bit possessive, but he also treats her like an equal on the battlefield, and it's a weird... trust? he has in her to take care of herself.

I kind of don't want to call it trust because that sounds too positive, but I don't know another way to phrase it, but it's a forced independence and self sufficiency.

but then, he finally goes to save her

He goes and cradles her face gently, and NOTABLY says "good, still alive" MEANING HE DIDN'T KNOW??? and still left her for that long...

but he holds her gently, and fully ignores the clone. He has his back to her, and then proceeds to taunt her. He tells her he clocked her right away because of the pupil size, thin hair, and he says she smells. but we know this isn't true.

Sure maybe those physical traits are true, but that's not how he figured it out, we saw how he did it, he clocked on because he knows Martha so well, but he can't admit that. He can't admit that he knows her just as much as she knows him, just like he couldn't tell Rose he loved her.

He is so deeply angry at this clone, he makes fun of her, he yells at her, he looks at her likes she's nothing

This is his face when he kills her. He doesn't talk to her, or even TRY to save her. And we know she is alive, she has memories, and her own thoughts and feelings, and the doctor kills her while gloating because of his immense anger for hurting Martha. An anger that is also guilt.

he does not speak to her like a person (which directly leads into his treatment of Jenny in the next ep).

Parallel that to how Martha treats her, they talk about their family and she even calls the clone Martha. She really is a doctor in a way ten tried and often failed at.

And then at the end, Donna asks Martha to come with them, and she says no, and that she's happy at home, but she's better for having traveled and come back.

And the doctor looks at her

With an obvious sadness, but also acceptance. He clearly wants her here, with him, but I think he's finally come to accept that that'll never happen, and he needs to let her go.

Edit: I Like their dynamic(mostly) This is not an anti tenmartha post Him being a freak is compelling

#dr who #doctor who #david tennat #tenth doctor #Martha Jones #10th doctor #the sontaran stratagem #the poison sky #the doctor's daughter #sontarans #unit #donna noble #tenmartha #kind of #long post #it kind of got out of control #didn't realize I had so much to say #sorry #I may have lost my point also but like #I want to make it so clear that martha is acting completely normal here

[transjudas]

The Doctor knows how to steel himself for most goodbyes. The calm and peaceful ones, at least. He's been saying goodbye all of his life, it's the nature of who he is and what he does. Whether it's a companion leaving to live their life on earth or an old friend having passed in the time he's been gone. Sometimes, he gets to have a little more time.

(also he's a great big outer space dunce)

#also he's a dumbo #doctor who #dwedit #doctorwhoedit #dwgifs #timelordgifs #tenth doctor #fourteenth doctor #10th doctor #14th doctor #donna noble #the star beast #the sontaran stratagem #usereena #userlauren #alivedean #doctor who parallels #like. they're both funny scenes but also #like most of the doctor if you think about it too long ow #dw spoilers

[too-funky]

The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky: behind the scenes

#david tennant #tenth doctor #catherine tate #donna noble #freema agyeman #martha jones #doctor who #doctor who confidential #the sontaran stratagem #the poison sky #dwedit #rtdedit #my gifs #flashing cw

[quasi-normalcy]

Anyone else remember that one episode of Doctor Who where there's a teenage Silicon Valley start-up 'genius' who forms an enclave of fellow geniuses with the intention of helping the Sontarans exterminate the rest of the population of Earth so that they can build a eugenic utopia on another planet; and then it turns out that his fellow geniuses are absolutely horrified at the callousness of his plan and abandon him immediately and the Sontarans were actually just planning to use them for target practice anyways?

I think about that a lot.

#doctor who #the sontaran stratagem #the poison sky #tenth doctor

[notyoujamie]

A veteran of Doctor Who has joined the stars. Bernard Cribbins, 1928 - 2022

#dwedit #doctorwhoedit #doctor who #modern who #*my gif #** #*dw #wilfred mott #daleks invasion earth 2150 ad #voyage of the damned #partners in crime #the sontaran stratagem #turn left #journey's end #the end of time

[casasupernovas]

the doctor to donna when martha called him in the beginning of 'the sontaran strategem'

#doctor who #martha jones #tenth doctor #10th doctor #tenmartha #donna noble #the sontaran stratagem

[nkp1981]

Doctor Who Series 4 Episode 4: "The Sontaran Stratagem", 2008

#10th doctor #david tennant #donna noble #cathrine tate #wilfred mott #bernard cribbins #the sontaran stratagem #doctor who

[cactiaintracist]

he can never catch a break can he?

The Sontaren Strategem (2008)

The Day of the Doctor (2013)

The Giggle (2023)

#doctor who #60th anniversary #the doctor #the sontaran stratagem #the day of the doctor #the giggle #10th doctor #11th doctor #14th doctor #15th doctor #The fact that two of these include Donna insulting #And 2 are literally the doctor dissing himself

[nortism]

doctor who liveblog pt 20

s4 ep3 planet of the ood

- yayay ood episode, my fav aliens

- GET HIS ASS OOD

- the doctor spends so much time fiddling with the tardis and yet he can do nothing to make the journey more comfortable

- i’m obsessed with her coat

- does he just carry a stethoscope around with him?

- omg the poor oods

- lets go ood revolution

- “doctor. donna. friends :)”

- omg the mega ood brain

- the brain ate him

- YOOO THE OOD WAS POISONING HIM

- HOLY FUCK

- HES AN OOD

- well at least they’ll take care of him?

- very ominous from the ood at the end

s4 ep4 the sontaran stratagem

- saw martha in the promo, i hope her and donna are best friends

- AWW SHE GOT ENGAGED TO THE NICE DOCTOR MAN

- aww they’re talking shit together <3

- she’s a doctor!!!

- oh she’s perf to me

- oh no there’s a man in the soup

- why’s the robot sexist?

- aww donna no

- ok i’m also a great big outer space dumbo

- nooo martha

- MARTHA GET AWAY FROM THE SOUP

- he’s such a nerd i love him

- fucking grammar police over here

- “intruder window” made me laugh

- omg they’re cooking a martha in the soup

- oh protective granddad i love him

- NO GRANDDAD

s4 ep5 the poison sky

- yes then donna’s mum

- “that’s my girl!”

- i need them to calm down with the sexism

- omg they nicked the tardis

- nooo ross

- yes then donna noble !!

- ayyy empty child reference

- the marthas are unionising

- yayay ya donna!!!!!!

- bro is fuming about those guns

- oh fuck the kid died

- nooo the tardis is stealing martha

s4 ep6 the doctor’s daughter

- i’m glad we’re getting some answers because the doctor saying he’s a father has been bothering me i won’t lie

- donna and martha my sillies

- ok they did not answer my initial question, this is a new daughter

- also very bizarre to watch when you know that’s his wife irl

- he’s a dilf and a milf?? what can’t he do??

- the one day year old is fucking brutal

- also crazy how she was born with eyeliner on

- yes then dr martha jones!!!

- is she a baby timelord??

- aww a baby timelord

- martha and her hath friend

- ayo she’s got way more rizz than her dad

- NOOOOO NOT THE HATH

- what happened to his other kids???? wait the war stupid question 😭😭

- does that mean he’s had sex?? how do timelords reproduce??

- yoooo the war has been going seven days???

- ooo pretty garden

- OH FUCK JENNY

- can she not regenerate??

- can’t believe the invisible bullet wound killed her

- donna u are not gonna travel with him forever

- DOCTOR JONES

- HOLY FUCK

#nortism liveblogs doctor who #doctor who #doctor who liveblog #doctor who s4 #doctor who series 4 #tenth doctor #donna noble #martha jones #the ood #jenny doctor who #planet of the ood #the sontaran stratagem #the poison sky #the doctor’s daughter

[loki-ofasgard]

Donna Noble and Martha Jones bonding by dissing the Doctor together while he stands there and watches sadly.

#that's it #that's the post #donna noble #martha jones #the tenth doctor #the sontaran stratagem

[ive-given-up-the-bug-diet]

Rewatching some old Doctor Who episodes and I NEED somebody to write a Dr Who/Ultrakill crossover fic, hopefully with the Sontarans, because I cannot. Both I'm not skilled enough and also I've got no time

Like the race that loves war meeting and/or fighting a robot built to end The Final War?

#ultrakill #dr who #doctor who #specifically got the idea cuz i was watching #s04e04 #and #s04e05 #of dr who #or well #new who #the sontaran stratagem #the poison sky #sontarans #v1 #v1 ultrakill

[justahumblememefarmer]

Ultimate Doctor Who Poll Round 2 - Matchup 1

Episode Summaries under the cut

11: Demons of the Punjab - Season 11, Episode 6: Yaz asks the Doctor to take her back in time to learn more about her grandmother's life. They arrive shortly before the Partition that separated India and Pakistin, and just in time for her Nani's wedding, to a man who is not her grandfather. The political divide of Partition causes tensions in the grooms family, including his brother, who has sold them out and is responsible for the murder of several people. The groom decides to hold his brother off and tells Yaz's Nani and her family to escape, while he stays behind and is killed. The Doctor and her family take off in the TARDIS, as interfering would wipe Yaz from existence.

139: The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky - Season 4, Episodes 4 & 5: Martha calls the Doctor to return to Earth where she is working with UNIT to investigate alien involvement in the development of GPS units that have caused several deaths. The Sontarans have used the GPS's to convert cars around the globe into emitters that will alter Earth's atmosphere to adapt it into a Sontaran clone bay. The Doctor destroys the gas to save the Earth and the Sontaran ship is destroyed.

(Beat #118: Love and Monsters in Round 1)

#doctor who #ultimate doctor who poll #my post #polls #13th doctor #yasmin khan #ryan sinclair #graham o'brien #10th doctor #donna noble #martha jones #jodie whittaker #mandip gill #tosin cole #bradley walsh #david tennant #catherine tate #freema agyeman #demons of the punjab #the sontaran stratagem #the poison sky

[too-funky]

Tenth Doctor | The Sontaran Stratagem

#david tennant #tenth doctor #freema agyeman #martha jones #catherine tate #donna noble #ryan sampson #luke rattigan #bernard cribbins #wilfred mott #doctor who #the sontaran stratagem #dwedit #rtdedit #my gifs

[ragpicker-and-poet]

#doctor who #donna noble #catherine tate #4x4 #the sontaran stratagem

[fallenrocket]

I love Donna Noble's "supertemp" moment in "The Sontaran Stratagem" so damn much. It'd be easy for her to feel intimidated and outclassed in an environment like that, with UNIT running around being all officious and protocol-driven. We know that Donna can struggle with her sense of self-worth, and it would be understandable if she looked around and thought, "What do I have to offer here?" But she remains uncowed--"I'll have a salute," she says smartly.

So while the Doctor and Martha bring their scientific and medical knowhow to the table in investigating the Atmos factory, Donna focuses on what she knows, and she knows how an office works. That leads her to personnel, the empty sick-day folder, and the realization that the factory workers "don't get ill."

What I really love about this, though, is that even though she says the workers don't get sick, the examples she rattles off actually tell an even deeper story. She says, "Not one hangover, man flu, sneaky little shopping trip, nothing. Not ever."

Unwittingly, she's pressed up to the edge of the real truth, that the Sontarans have hypnotized these workers to work nonstop at Atmos. What Donna's really pointing out is that they don't act human. No one's having too much fun on a work night, no one's milking a minor illness for all it's worth, no one's lying to their boss and playing hooky. This goes further than a physical phenomenon of the workers not getting sick, and I just love that those are the examples Donna turns to. Supertemp indeed!

#fallenrocket #doctor who #donna noble #the sontaran stratagem #donna noble my beloved

[casasupernovas]

martha's reappearance in the sontaran two parter is annoying because she a clone fir most of it. but it's not terrible, because we get a really interesting look at the whole "he's not seeing me," sentiment that martha has regarding the doctor the previous season, because we see in these episodes that the doctor DID see and DOES see martha. as annoying as his disapproval of her being a soldier was, he feels a way because that isn't the martha he knew. he clocks almost immediately that the martha clone is a clone. he asks her opinion on things, makes jabs about her being a soldier, asks about her concern for her family. and gives a 'look' at the more obvious part with the clone visibly not choking on the gas. he knows it's not the real her.

but ironically, the more they delve into how much the doctor does get martha, the worse he comes off in series 3. because he wasn't 'not seeing her', because he did. we see this in 'smith and jones', it's why he goes after her in the first place.

the doctor hangs his head in shame at the and of series 3 because he was well aware of not only her feelings at this point, but because he always saw martha. he just chose to ignore her. he didn't want to see her. so naturally, when martha forces him to, the doctor cannot help but admire her for it, as seen in gridlock when martha stands (or sits) her ground (in a way dt points out is done in a way rose wouldn't have) which is also seen in the sontaran strategem, when martha tells the doctor sternly to look at her.

martha is very obstinate but so is the doctor in many ways.

#doctor who #martha jones #tenth doctor #10th doctor #poison sky #the sontaran stratagem #i don't hate these episodes i think they're quite underrated actually #tenmartha