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Doctor Who Target Books (Numerical Order) #56
Doctor Who and the Sontaran Experiment
Landing on Earth, now a barren, desolate planet, Sarah, Harry and the Doctor are unaware of the large, watching robot. The robot is the work of Styre, a Sontaran warrior, who uses all humans landing here for his experimental programmes.
What has happened to the other space explorers who have come here? Why is the Sontaran scout so interested in Earth and in brutally torturing humans, including Sarah Jane? Will the Doctor be able to prevent an invasion and certain disaster, and save both Earth and his companions?
What has happened to the other space explorers who have come here? Why is the Sontaran scout so interested in Earth and in brutally torturing humans, including Sarah Jane? Will the Doctor be able to prevent an invasion and certain disaster, and save both Earth and his companions?
128 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1978
4 people are currently reading
288 people want to read
About the author
Ian Marter
26 books20 followersIan Don Marter was born at Alcock Hospital in Keresley, near Coventry, on the 28th of October 1944. His father, Donald Herbert, was an RAF sergeant and electrician by trade, and his mother was Helen, nee Donaldson.
He was, among other things, a teacher and a milkman.
He became an actor after graduating from Oxford University, and appeared in Repertory and West End productions and on television. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic. He was best known for playing Harry Sullivan in the BBC Television series Doctor Who from 1974 to 1975, alongside Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen. He had already appeared in the show as Lieutenant John Andrews in the Jon Pertwee serial Carnival of Monsters. He had numerous TV roles including appearances in Crown Court and Bergerac (Return of the Ice Maiden, 1985, opposite Louise Jameson).
Marter got into writing the novelisations following a dinner conversation. He went on to adapt 9 scripts over ten years. He started with The Ark in Space, the TV version of which he'd actually appeared in as companion Harry Sullivan. In the end he adapted more serials than he appeared in (7 appearances, 9 novelisations), and wrote one of the Companions series, telling of the post-Doctor adventures of Harry in Harry Sullivan's War. Shortly before his death he was discussing, with series editor Nigel Robinson, the possibility of adapting his unused movie script Doctor Who Meets Scratchman (co-written with Tom Baker) into a novel.
He was, among other things, a teacher and a milkman.
He became an actor after graduating from Oxford University, and appeared in Repertory and West End productions and on television. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic. He was best known for playing Harry Sullivan in the BBC Television series Doctor Who from 1974 to 1975, alongside Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen. He had already appeared in the show as Lieutenant John Andrews in the Jon Pertwee serial Carnival of Monsters. He had numerous TV roles including appearances in Crown Court and Bergerac (Return of the Ice Maiden, 1985, opposite Louise Jameson).
Marter got into writing the novelisations following a dinner conversation. He went on to adapt 9 scripts over ten years. He started with The Ark in Space, the TV version of which he'd actually appeared in as companion Harry Sullivan. In the end he adapted more serials than he appeared in (7 appearances, 9 novelisations), and wrote one of the Companions series, telling of the post-Doctor adventures of Harry in Harry Sullivan's War. Shortly before his death he was discussing, with series editor Nigel Robinson, the possibility of adapting his unused movie script Doctor Who Meets Scratchman (co-written with Tom Baker) into a novel.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
March 19, 2021
The best Target novelisations are the ones that expand on the limitations of a TV budget, with this short serial that bridges the two big stories of Tom Baker's first season - which Marter (who played companion Harry in the show) easily achieved.
In fact the torture inflicted by Sontaran Styre is way to horrific for a Saturday tea time show, young readers must have been traumatized.
Culshaw is the perfect narrator. Obviously known for his Baker impression, he has great fun with the other voices too - most notably the clone warrior.
Having also read both The Ark in Space and Genesis of the Daleks for this range, along with the elevated prose this feels more like a fitting part of the arc rather than two filler episodes.
In fact the torture inflicted by Sontaran Styre is way to horrific for a Saturday tea time show, young readers must have been traumatized.
Culshaw is the perfect narrator. Obviously known for his Baker impression, he has great fun with the other voices too - most notably the clone warrior.
Having also read both The Ark in Space and Genesis of the Daleks for this range, along with the elevated prose this feels more like a fitting part of the arc rather than two filler episodes.
November 4, 2021
This is a novelization of the third adventure of the twelfth season of Doctor Who, which was broadcast in February and March of 1975. The fourth Doctor is the star, along with his companions Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan. The adaptation of the teleplay by Dave Martin and Bob Baker was written by Ian Marter, who was also the actor who played Harry. It's a direct continuation of The Ark in Space (which was also starred in and adapted by Marter), and the story sees The Doctor and his friends 10,000 years in the future, visiting the surface of the Earth after their adventures on the Nerva space station, only to find the planet not as abandoned as was believed, not to mention the presence of a mad Sontaran performing vile experiments on the hapless humans to help pave the way for an invasion. The episode was only a two-parter, so Marter expanded and added liberally, notably on the scenes in which the Sontaran has Sarah in his clutches. He also changed their arrival from Transmat to TARDIS for some reason. Marter was an excellent, under-appreciated writer, and it's quite interesting to compare his vivid descriptions with the sparse and straight-ahead style of Terrance Dicks.
April 4, 2023
3.5/5
David Whittaker, Terrance Dicks, Malcolm Hulke. They've penned the three Doctor Who novelisations I've read thus far, and they've all been seasoned by the typewriter for their various Who scripts. Along comes a trendbreaker, then, in Ian Marter, known best as the actor for companion and co-star of this very book Harry Sullivan. He saw The Sontaran Experiment, which put off his fellow Target contributors with its scant two-episode length, and thought - I'll have a crack at that. A near-newcomer adapting a scant story in a range with little consistency could have been a recipe for disaster, but the man pulled it off!
His focus, curious but successful, was to embelish rather than add. On one end, this meant making the villains far more threatening. Some of these work - the newly named scavenger robots are given a sleek new desgn and a much more threatening arsenal of wires, used to plump out the pages with some brief scenes of tense action. Others are jarring if you've seen the original story. I refer, of course, to his description of Sontarans. They are here giants who spew bile and have monstrous talons, a far cry from what we've seen on screen over the years. Not to bash that of course, it's fun to see a radical interpretation of how that could have been executed! The most impressive of these changes is in the torture sequence. It's dragged out quite a bit, with slightly harrowing descriptions that make the televised depiction look positively tame. All of these add up to one thing: The Sontarans are a far scarier force in Marter's prose.
As I mentioned, Marter is quite new to the game. It's no surprise that he'd make some technical misjudgements (as most of these novelisations bar Hulke's have to be fair), most of all his overreliance on describing dialogue. 'Murmured' is a particular favourite of his, but we get a whole plethora of others too. It gets a mite tiresome. Fortunately it's made up for by some brief flashes of the ability that netted him this job. He's great at scene-setting and his imagination - as described in the prior paragraph - is not to be sniffed at. There's a tendency to rank actors lowly when it comes to writing, but Ian Marter had a genuine penchant, and his name deserves to be alongside Whittaker, Dicks, and Hulke.
David Whittaker, Terrance Dicks, Malcolm Hulke. They've penned the three Doctor Who novelisations I've read thus far, and they've all been seasoned by the typewriter for their various Who scripts. Along comes a trendbreaker, then, in Ian Marter, known best as the actor for companion and co-star of this very book Harry Sullivan. He saw The Sontaran Experiment, which put off his fellow Target contributors with its scant two-episode length, and thought - I'll have a crack at that. A near-newcomer adapting a scant story in a range with little consistency could have been a recipe for disaster, but the man pulled it off!
His focus, curious but successful, was to embelish rather than add. On one end, this meant making the villains far more threatening. Some of these work - the newly named scavenger robots are given a sleek new desgn and a much more threatening arsenal of wires, used to plump out the pages with some brief scenes of tense action. Others are jarring if you've seen the original story. I refer, of course, to his description of Sontarans. They are here giants who spew bile and have monstrous talons, a far cry from what we've seen on screen over the years. Not to bash that of course, it's fun to see a radical interpretation of how that could have been executed! The most impressive of these changes is in the torture sequence. It's dragged out quite a bit, with slightly harrowing descriptions that make the televised depiction look positively tame. All of these add up to one thing: The Sontarans are a far scarier force in Marter's prose.
As I mentioned, Marter is quite new to the game. It's no surprise that he'd make some technical misjudgements (as most of these novelisations bar Hulke's have to be fair), most of all his overreliance on describing dialogue. 'Murmured' is a particular favourite of his, but we get a whole plethora of others too. It gets a mite tiresome. Fortunately it's made up for by some brief flashes of the ability that netted him this job. He's great at scene-setting and his imagination - as described in the prior paragraph - is not to be sniffed at. There's a tendency to rank actors lowly when it comes to writing, but Ian Marter had a genuine penchant, and his name deserves to be alongside Whittaker, Dicks, and Hulke.
February 9, 2019
After the strength of The Ark in Space, The Sontaran Experiment by Ian Marter is a let down. It is not due to his writing style, but continuity errors with a classic monster from the series.
The story picks up from The Ark in Space, where the Doctor, Sarah, and Harry land on Earth to help prepare the way for Earth to be repopulated. Of course something bad is going on. One flaw with the build up to what is happening is the title of the story. So no surprise when the alien turns out to be a Sontaran and he is experimenting on other humans.
As with the previous story, Marter does a great job of telling the story. He enhances the experiments with details to show how deadly they are. He also changes the Scavenger to make it more believable then how it appeared on screen. Even the Sontaran ship comes off better than it did on TV.
So where does the continuity error come into play? His descriptions of the Sontaran. He adds details to them that change them from their appearances on screen. We get talons on them, reptile looking, and deadly breath. This took away from the enjoyment of the story because they just did not add up to how they appear on screen.
From these last two books by Marter, it is a shame he did not write more Target books before his death. He only wrote 9, I have 2 left to read by him. His writing really does help these stories. Another great Doctor Who book to read, even if the slight continuity error with the Sontaran.
The story picks up from The Ark in Space, where the Doctor, Sarah, and Harry land on Earth to help prepare the way for Earth to be repopulated. Of course something bad is going on. One flaw with the build up to what is happening is the title of the story. So no surprise when the alien turns out to be a Sontaran and he is experimenting on other humans.
As with the previous story, Marter does a great job of telling the story. He enhances the experiments with details to show how deadly they are. He also changes the Scavenger to make it more believable then how it appeared on screen. Even the Sontaran ship comes off better than it did on TV.
So where does the continuity error come into play? His descriptions of the Sontaran. He adds details to them that change them from their appearances on screen. We get talons on them, reptile looking, and deadly breath. This took away from the enjoyment of the story because they just did not add up to how they appear on screen.
From these last two books by Marter, it is a shame he did not write more Target books before his death. He only wrote 9, I have 2 left to read by him. His writing really does help these stories. Another great Doctor Who book to read, even if the slight continuity error with the Sontaran.
Read
October 21, 2007http://nhw.livejournal.com/763482.html[return][return]Marter may well have been tempted to write this from the viewpoint of Harry Sullivan; if so, I think he was wise to restrain himself.[return][return]He both adds and subtracts from the TV show here. He adds some simply superb descriptive passages which one really regrets were not realised on-screen. Harry gets almost an entire chapter to himself exploring the Sontaran spaceship, a passage completely absent from the TV story; and the nightmares inflicted on both Sarah and Harry by the Sontaran experimenter are graphically described as is the fight between the Sontaran and the Doctor.[return][return]Basically, if your attention is suddenly held by the prose in one of Marter's novelisations, it's a fair bet that it's something he added to the original story. Doctor Who and the Sontaran Experiment makes a below-average DW story into a well-above-average DW novel.
June 7, 2012
Ian Marter takes a fairly standard Doctor Who story and turns it into a rollicking boys-own-adventure tale. His flair for description is unparalleled in Who novelizations, although Malcolm Hulke sometimes comes close in fleshing out a story beyond the boundaries of the small screen. The Sontarans are one of the more interesting Who villains, and their relentless militarism becomes as much of an Achille's heel as their probic vents.
August 23, 2022
The Sontaran Experiment is the odd one out for Season 12, only written because Robert Holmes and Philip Hinchcliffe decided to only use one six-episode serial per season so a two episode gap was created and filled by Bob Baker and Dave Martin writing a story meant to be made cheap and on vacation. The story is a simple runaround on Earth with a Sontaran called Styre performing experiments on humans to continue their war with the Rutans and enter the Milky Way, made less interesting by Kevin Lindsay’s ill health and Tom Baker injuring himself so the battle at the climax is underwhelming. It was also a choice for novelization that apparently nobody would take except for Ian Marter who of course starred in the story as Harry Sullivan, which should tell you all you need to know about The Sontaran Experiment. Because of this you would expect Doctor Who and the Sontaran Experiment to not work as a novel, but interestingly it's a lot better in prose form than it ever was on television. Ian Marter certainly understands that a lot of the ideas for Sontaran technology has potential and that potential is grown, the robot scout is an actual threat and not just a really flimsy prop that trundles on wheels, but hovers above the ground to stalk its prey which creates this great tension. The pit that Harry falls in is actually a pit, though there is some humor added as the Doctor berates him for falling into something that’s essentially out in the open. Styre, renamed Styr, himself is upgraded to an almost cyborg-esque creature where Marter uses the prose to make him sound more terrifying than any Sontaran has ever been, which in turn makes the danger actually feel real. Sarah Jane’s torture in particular goes to some dark places as her psyche is explored and deconstructed so her fears can create a genuinely chilling chapter. This is still done in the Target novelization format, and Marter also doesn’t let the story overstay its welcome as this isn’t like other two-part story novelizations which somehow find ways to stretch the format to its limits, the prose is only about 120 pages and the audiobook is 3 hours and 6 minutes.
Overall, Doctor Who and the Sontaran Experiment is a great example of the Target novelization format being used to take a story that on television is incredibly bland and make it into something genuinely engaging. Sure it’s not going to be one of the absolute best Fourth Doctor stories, but it makes the story worth engaging with and experiencing in this way at least once. 7/10.
Overall, Doctor Who and the Sontaran Experiment is a great example of the Target novelization format being used to take a story that on television is incredibly bland and make it into something genuinely engaging. Sure it’s not going to be one of the absolute best Fourth Doctor stories, but it makes the story worth engaging with and experiencing in this way at least once. 7/10.
September 10, 2025
The orginal tv story is a small scale but fun story with some horrific ideas. However the story does get let down by its small scale budget and the vision not being able to transfer on screen as well it could of done. Sometimes this can ruin a story but with the target books it can show you just how great these story are or could be. While I like the orginal story, Ian Marter takes this short story and expands the horror and concept far beyond what we could ever see on TV. While I'm a purist it's really interesting to see something new be done with the story.
While we don't get much expansion on the overall backstory of why the earth had to be abandoned after the solar flares etc we do get so much expansion on the location of the planet and the experiments. Here the planets sun is burning the sky's blue colour, its orangey red on the surface with some mist that glows around the overgrown locations and rocky cliffs. Nature taking back over. We get many chapters through Harrys eyes as he explores these overgrown locations or deep hidden caverns. It make the atmosphere a part of the story and like a character itself.
The sontarans and robots here are all different too. The dogy, (but loveable) robot is now a hooving spider like robot that blinds the land with its green light trying to find the survivors. Its quite exciting to read how people are dragged along the over grown landscapes with its claws. The sontaran here is also quite different to the orginal. While most of its features are the same its much more bigger and exaggerated. The smell and steam from the nose, the drullng from the mouth, the talon like figures and much bigger stature allow the sontaran to be alittle more like a threat. Especially towards the end with the fight between the dr and as the sontaran grows to a huge size before melting completely.
The experiments are also much more terrifying here, with both Sarah and Harry being made to face their fears through hallucinations and latet the two space crew members being made to lift the weight above there flow crew member.
It could be said that the story is a little padded but I think it helps the story's location really well but there are some moments that do go on alittle too long. Such as Harry escape the hole he fell down. There's also no character dept to the spacecraft crew as there just background peices. But overall its an enjoyable book and was entertaining to see the new material.
While we don't get much expansion on the overall backstory of why the earth had to be abandoned after the solar flares etc we do get so much expansion on the location of the planet and the experiments. Here the planets sun is burning the sky's blue colour, its orangey red on the surface with some mist that glows around the overgrown locations and rocky cliffs. Nature taking back over. We get many chapters through Harrys eyes as he explores these overgrown locations or deep hidden caverns. It make the atmosphere a part of the story and like a character itself.
The sontarans and robots here are all different too. The dogy, (but loveable) robot is now a hooving spider like robot that blinds the land with its green light trying to find the survivors. Its quite exciting to read how people are dragged along the over grown landscapes with its claws. The sontaran here is also quite different to the orginal. While most of its features are the same its much more bigger and exaggerated. The smell and steam from the nose, the drullng from the mouth, the talon like figures and much bigger stature allow the sontaran to be alittle more like a threat. Especially towards the end with the fight between the dr and as the sontaran grows to a huge size before melting completely.
The experiments are also much more terrifying here, with both Sarah and Harry being made to face their fears through hallucinations and latet the two space crew members being made to lift the weight above there flow crew member.
It could be said that the story is a little padded but I think it helps the story's location really well but there are some moments that do go on alittle too long. Such as Harry escape the hole he fell down. There's also no character dept to the spacecraft crew as there just background peices. But overall its an enjoyable book and was entertaining to see the new material.
July 23, 2025
I’m not sure what to make of this book. In many ways it’s excellent, but in others very disappointing.
He starts the book exactly how he finished the Ark in Space. Everyone is in the TARDIS which materialises in the transmat circle and then vanishes for no adequately explained reason. It’s hinted that the transmat isn’t working right, but because they arrived via TARDIS the transmat hasn’t been activated. I think this aspect makes a lot more sense in the TV version where they transmat down to Earth and leave the TARDIS on the station. The ending matches the TV series where they a transmatting back to the station and will get hijacked by the Timelords and sent to Skaro.
This is one of the few 2 part stories, which means it’s short and uncomplicated. But Targets were expected to be of a similar length. This requires expansion. I won’t say padding as most of it is good. The extra bits of Harry getting out of the hole he fell down I thought were good. But then having Harry go through the nightmare sequence Styr inflicted on Sarah did feel like repetative padding.
And then there was Harry’s adventures inside the Sontaran ship. Again most of that was good, but WTF was going on with the other 2 Sontaran’s plugged in on recharge? How long does it take them to recharge. Did none of the Galsec humans ever notice more than 1 Sontaran? Were they on recharge the whole time? That just didn’t make any sense. A Sontaran sent out on his lonesome to do research as in the TV version makes more sense.
The final fight scene also annoyed me. On the whole it’s great, but farcical quips creep into it. Things like dropping the gravity bar on the Styr’s foot. And Styr being able to twirl the gravity bar like a baton when set to 300kg weight, but then struggling to hold the Doctor above his head. It’s these sorts of sad attempts at humour that wreck an otherwise great scene.
Overall I think it’s a good adaptation, given it’s a short story. It just has a lot of small irritating flaws.
He starts the book exactly how he finished the Ark in Space. Everyone is in the TARDIS which materialises in the transmat circle and then vanishes for no adequately explained reason. It’s hinted that the transmat isn’t working right, but because they arrived via TARDIS the transmat hasn’t been activated. I think this aspect makes a lot more sense in the TV version where they transmat down to Earth and leave the TARDIS on the station. The ending matches the TV series where they a transmatting back to the station and will get hijacked by the Timelords and sent to Skaro.
This is one of the few 2 part stories, which means it’s short and uncomplicated. But Targets were expected to be of a similar length. This requires expansion. I won’t say padding as most of it is good. The extra bits of Harry getting out of the hole he fell down I thought were good. But then having Harry go through the nightmare sequence Styr inflicted on Sarah did feel like repetative padding.
And then there was Harry’s adventures inside the Sontaran ship. Again most of that was good, but WTF was going on with the other 2 Sontaran’s plugged in on recharge? How long does it take them to recharge. Did none of the Galsec humans ever notice more than 1 Sontaran? Were they on recharge the whole time? That just didn’t make any sense. A Sontaran sent out on his lonesome to do research as in the TV version makes more sense.
The final fight scene also annoyed me. On the whole it’s great, but farcical quips creep into it. Things like dropping the gravity bar on the Styr’s foot. And Styr being able to twirl the gravity bar like a baton when set to 300kg weight, but then struggling to hold the Doctor above his head. It’s these sorts of sad attempts at humour that wreck an otherwise great scene.
Overall I think it’s a good adaptation, given it’s a short story. It just has a lot of small irritating flaws.
April 11, 2021
Another solid entry here, and similar to the Rescue, is nicely fleshed out, given TV story was only a 2 parter. (Is now that I realised the Rescue was also by Ian Marter, which I didn't realise when reviewing Ark in Space). Really would have been good if all Target stories could have been 60 pages per episode in length, though harder to appeal to their target audience at the time if that was the case I imagine.
The story itself is an interesting one, and if almost immediately contradicts some of the more confusing lore from the Ark in Space, it is a good contradiction in as much as I didn't really agree with some of what was said in Ark in Space, which also seemed contradicted within that story, and mentioned in this story as well so made clear what is going on.
An interesting return of the Sontarans as such, and certainly many trials and tribulations for the Doctor and crew here, though felt like Sarah didn't get as much chance to be proactive as in previous stories.
The one off cast support the story well, though aren't that fleshed out themselves, but don't really need to be for this story.
All round, another good read.
The story itself is an interesting one, and if almost immediately contradicts some of the more confusing lore from the Ark in Space, it is a good contradiction in as much as I didn't really agree with some of what was said in Ark in Space, which also seemed contradicted within that story, and mentioned in this story as well so made clear what is going on.
An interesting return of the Sontarans as such, and certainly many trials and tribulations for the Doctor and crew here, though felt like Sarah didn't get as much chance to be proactive as in previous stories.
The one off cast support the story well, though aren't that fleshed out themselves, but don't really need to be for this story.
All round, another good read.
January 17, 2021
あらすじ
イギリスに戻ったつもりが遥か未来のもう人が住めなくなってしまった地球に降り立ってしまったドクターとサラとハリー。ターディスが消えてしまい、ドクターはそもそもターディスが引き寄せられる原因となった九つの球体で構成されるトランスマット修理してターディスを取り戻そうと作業にとりかかる。しかし、その間に周辺を探索にでたサラとハリーがトラブルに巻き込まれ、ドクターも宇宙服を着た三人の男たちに捕らえられてしまう。
感想
ソンターランのスタイアーが宇宙征服計画の一端として実験を住む人がいなくなった地球で人間を極限に追い詰めた時に引き出される反応を調べ操る実験を行っていたところにドクターとサラとハリーがまんまと飛び込んできて、巻き込まれてしまうのだけれど、これがもう本当に3人ともそれぞれ過酷な状況に追い込まれてしまって、援軍も望めない中でどうやって切り抜けるのか最後までハラハラ。限界まで追い詰められながら、サラとハリーの前では飄々としてみせるドクターがもう本当にかっこよすぎ。サラとハリーも怖くてたまらないのにお互いがお互いを、そしてドクターを気遣い守ろうとふんばるのもぐっとくるかんじで良かったです。にしても、クラッシック・シリーズ見るまでソンターランがこんなに強敵だとは全然知りませんでした。
Doctor: The Sonic Screwdriver... I seem to have mislaid it... I feel quite lost without it...
Sarah: The Doctor was so kind and so gentle...and he never wanted to harm anyone or anything.
Erak: Unfortunately, Sarah Jane, we live in a universe where that is not possible...
Sarah: The Doctor lived in a universe all of his own.
イギリスに戻ったつもりが遥か未来のもう人が住めなくなってしまった地球に降り立ってしまったドクターとサラとハリー。ターディスが消えてしまい、ドクターはそもそもターディスが引き寄せられる原因となった九つの球体で構成されるトランスマット修理してターディスを取り戻そうと作業にとりかかる。しかし、その間に周辺を探索にでたサラとハリーがトラブルに巻き込まれ、ドクターも宇宙服を着た三人の男たちに捕らえられてしまう。
感想
ソンターランのスタイアーが宇宙征服計画の一端として実験を住む人がいなくなった地球で人間を極限に追い詰めた時に引き出される反応を調べ操る実験を行っていたところにドクターとサラとハリーがまんまと飛び込んできて、巻き込まれてしまうのだけれど、これがもう本当に3人ともそれぞれ過酷な状況に追い込まれてしまって、援軍も望めない中でどうやって切り抜けるのか最後までハラハラ。限界まで追い詰められながら、サラとハリーの前では飄々としてみせるドクターがもう本当にかっこよすぎ。サラとハリーも怖くてたまらないのにお互いがお互いを、そしてドクターを気遣い守ろうとふんばるのもぐっとくるかんじで良かったです。にしても、クラッシック・シリーズ見るまでソンターランがこんなに強敵だとは全然知りませんでした。
Doctor: The Sonic Screwdriver... I seem to have mislaid it... I feel quite lost without it...
Sarah: The Doctor was so kind and so gentle...and he never wanted to harm anyone or anything.
Erak: Unfortunately, Sarah Jane, we live in a universe where that is not possible...
Sarah: The Doctor lived in a universe all of his own.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 24, 2023
Doctor Who and the Sontaran Experiment (1978) by Ian Marter is the third serial of the twelfth series of Doctor Who and the seventy seventh serial overall. Ian Marter played Harry in the serial and wrote the book.
The Doctor, Sarah and Harry go down to earth to fix the transmat beam for the space station they were on in The Ark in Space. Once there they encounter humans from another colony who were in a probe ship that has been destroyed. There is also a Sontaran and his robot on the planet, with the Sontaran Styre performing cruel experiments on the humans to test their abilities.
It’s an OK serial, sandwiched between the better Ark in Space and Genesis of the Daleks. The events in all the episodes flow on from each other.
The Doctor, Sarah and Harry go down to earth to fix the transmat beam for the space station they were on in The Ark in Space. Once there they encounter humans from another colony who were in a probe ship that has been destroyed. There is also a Sontaran and his robot on the planet, with the Sontaran Styre performing cruel experiments on the humans to test their abilities.
It’s an OK serial, sandwiched between the better Ark in Space and Genesis of the Daleks. The events in all the episodes flow on from each other.
October 12, 2018
" Doctor Who And The Sontaran Experiment " is a good book that tends to drag somewhat in the middle . The three main characters of The Doctor , Sarah Jane , and Harry are constantly separated , only to find each other , only to be separated yet again . This does not cause the book to become boring however , as the heroes do all have their own adventures within the book . The ending is suspenseful , and enjoyable as well !! This is the first " Doctor Who " novel that I have read , and I do plan on getting and reading more !!
February 1, 2021
When I was a kid both this one and the previous Ark in Space serial was among my favorites. I’m not totally sure why but they are both good stories. I’ve always enjoyed the 4th Doctor, Sarah Jane, Harry trio and I liked how they were stranded without the Tardis so they were truly in dire straits. Overall a good book.
December 16, 2021
The Sontaran Experiment isn`t my favourite Doctor Who story but i was curious about Ian Marter`s version, who played Harry in the original TV show. There are no big differences but Harry got almost an entire chapter when he discovers the inside of the Sontaran ship and his and Sarah`s nightmares are more detailed in the novel. Not the best by far but still an enjoyable Target book.
July 20, 2024
Ian Marter’s novelisation of this two-part story is possibly the most “adjusted” book in the entire range. But it expands terrifically, utilising the limitless budget of the imagination and exploring ideas that the script could only suggest at. But that does slow the pace a little, giving us a rather sluggish story as a result.
March 15, 2018
This was the first of Ian Marter's attempts to take a small, two-episode story from classic "Doctor Who" and expand it in prose into something deeper, creepier, and more satisfying than it was on-screen. Suffice to say, he succeeded.
September 21, 2025
A frequently atmospheric and creepy novelisation of a story that ultimately...I still don't really like, personally. I appreciate the effort expended on what's there - I definitely got more out of this than the TV version - but what's there isn't something I find all that compelling.
September 23, 2019
This and other Ian Marter books reviewed here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com...
August 12, 2020
A great Ian Marter book from one of my favourite seasons where else can you read of the Doctors dreams about giant rats trying to eat into the TARDIS and a cat saving the day bonkers.
September 16, 2021
Ian Marter always did a good job with his novelisations, which expands beautifully on the televised story.
January 23, 2024
"linx! But you're dead!"
September 2, 2024
Three stars, more for the fact that the story is flimsy and poorly thought out (a problem borne from the original televised version) rather than Marter's prose, which is solid as always.
December 31, 2012
Sarah, Harry, and the 4th Doctor investigate a far-future Earth. A good deal of fun (though there's a dark section in which Sarah is tortured in a non-detailed way), but it does contain a particularly terrible technobabble explanation for one of the Doctor's miraculous escapes from certain death:
May 25, 2008
Ian Marter ( who played Harry Sulivan) had a second career as a writer and wrote about a half dozen of these novelizations of TV episodes.
This is one of his best, as he takes what was a fun, but very short Doctor Who story and manages to expanded it to book length without any obvious/boring padding.
and he made that incredibly cheesy robot actually seem menacing.
This is one of his best, as he takes what was a fun, but very short Doctor Who story and manages to expanded it to book length without any obvious/boring padding.
and he made that incredibly cheesy robot actually seem menacing.
Read
August 23, 2008isbn,original
April 12, 2014
Expands a short TV story, but fails to overcome the problems of the original.
February 3, 2016
A fine Doctor Who book, clearly a follow-on from the "Ark in Space", worth reading after the aforementioned book. As usual though some foreknowledge of the Doctor Who characters is a requirement.
December 30, 2020
[I'm reading these as I rewatch the series.] Marter does his best to pad the story (it's only a 2-episode story). I like the Sontarans, but there really isn't much to work with here.
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