Shakedown- Return of the Sontarans

Written by Terrance Dicks
Another product of the ‘Wilderness Years’ (1989 – 2005), Shakedown is an ambitious production of Reeltime using two alien races created by Terrance Dicks and Robert Holmes, the Sontarans and Rutans. Holmes’ initial script that introduced the Sontarans, Time Warrior, was a great hit with the production crew and fans, leading to several sequels, but to be fair they never really topped their first appearance. Even the BBC Wales Doctor Who have failed to provide an interesting Sontaran stories. A race that thrives on war and conflict, the Sontarans are a militaristic race without any individual identity. They live only for victory.

A Sontaran from the Time Warrior (1973)

I quite like the Sontarans, but as I noted, they became watered down in each appearance until Two Doctors where they had become parodies of their former selves. In Shakedown, they are true to form and sport a redesigned armor and face mask. It’s impressive given the limitations of BBV/Reeltime and far better and creepier (in my opinion) than the BBC Wales Sontarans.

BBC Wales Sontaran (2008)

The Rutans were invented as a monster of necessity, owing to a last minute revision to the series’ run and very little budget to create a new creature. Inspired by script editor Holmes, Dicks met the challenge by creating the shape-changing malevolent monsters, the Rutans. Represented mainly by a green light or a balloon with fly paper attached, the Rutan was more of a conniving predator in contrast to the straight-forward military mind of the Sontarans.

 

Despite numerous allusions to a generations-long war between the two races, Shakedown- Return of the Sontarans is to date the only time that the Sontarans and Rutans are shown together on screen.

Shakedown

Terrance Dicks has the longest relationship of any writer with Doctor Who, as script editor and writer. His hard work firmed up numerous scripts and crafted a universe of stories that made up the universe of Doctor Who. This is evident on Shakedown, a film that one may expect to cut corners or ignore continuity due to it being an independent production, however it fits perfectly into the mythology of the program.

The pleasure Yacht Tiger Moth is on a standard journey with a limited crew and four high society passengers who are looking for a unique experience in piloting the yacht via VR controls in a cosmic race. Suddenly they are boarded by a War-Wheel Sontaran spacecraft and involved in a long-running war with the Rutans.

The Sontarans recruit the humans in their war, figuring that they can have a strategic value in drawing out the Rutan hiding in the workings of the yacht. In the end, the Sontarns again misjudge the humans for being hampered by a lack of honor and tactical ingenuity.

The cast is made up of faces familiar to fans of both Blake’s 7 and Doctor Who. Brian Croucher who played Travis in Blake’s 7 is a superb tough guy, while Sophie Aldred makes a fine pretty but timid heiress. Jan Chappell, Cally from Blake’s 7 makes a stellar performance as the tough-as-nails Captain Lisa Deranne. Carol Anne Ford has gotten a lot of stick from her portrayal of the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan from 1963-64, but in Shakedown she is very charismatic and sparkles as the snobby socialite Zorelle. I quite like the cast of characters being upper class lay-abouts with more interest in catty behavior than self-preservation. Michael Wisher, the first actor to play Dalek creator Davros, is given the colorful role of engineer Robar.

It’s also lovely to see a Sontaran have a ‘face-palm’ moment as he realizes that his underlings are useless.

I had heard of Shakedown- Return of the Sontarans from ads in the back of fanzines during the 1990’s, but due to compatibility problems in the video standards, was unable to view it. That of course changed in the Internet age when anyone can upload a program to a streaming site. Upon finally viewing Shakedown, I’m very impressed. Granted, one has to be in the right frame of mind to really get into it (as you can tell, I have been in a Doctor Who mood of late), but it is very entertaining and well written. Filmed entirely on the HMS Belfast, Shakedown makes great use of the sets and surroundings. The entire affair feels like an inspired traditional Doctor Who production from ‘back in the day.’

For its time, Shakedown has amazing production values and even uses familiar musical cues from Doctor Who for anyone interested in such things. The legal limitations of Reeltime prevented the programs from using the Doctor as a character, even naming the Time Lord was taboo. The production crew found a work-around by referring to ‘someone who called himself phycisian, or the dentist or something’ as a source on how to kill a Sontaran.

Making of Shakedown

Shakedown was also released as a New Adventures novel in which the Doctor and his companions were included and Terrance Dicks elaborated on the film into a full story.

Shakedown (Doctor Who: The New Adventures)