Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/The Sontaran Experiment

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This page is for discussing the ways in which The Sontaran Experiment doesn't fit well with other DWU narratives. You can also talk about the plot holes that render its own, internal narrative confusing.

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• If the Earth is uninhabited, why do the Sontarans need intelligence to invade it?

They might think the Humans on the Nerva Beacon are ready to fight back at any moment.

Also, they are invading the galaxy and there are more humans in it. The intelligence is regarding humans in general, who have a vast empire by this point throughout the galaxy.

To add to that point, the humans were only on Earth because the Sontaran lured them there.

Again, the point is that the Sontarans are invading the *galaxy*, which has ots of humans in it. Therefore, they want to experimen on humans and find their weaknesses.

• Why isn't Styre's communications link to the General inside his ship? Why leave it outside in a rock crevis, exposed to the elements and for the humans to find?

His ship is quite small. Since he was going to be there for awhile, why not leave it outside? The humans aren't really a threat to him and presumably Sontaran technology isn't so fragile that it will be damaged by rain.

• Why only send one Sontaran? Numbers are surely not unavailable in a cloned race?

The earth is uninhabited so they don't need to send an army and since Styre can easily handle the number of humans he needs for his experiments with his robot, there is really no point. Also the more they send the easier it is to notice them.

Also, they are a cloned race, but they are a cloned race fighting a fearsome and long war with the Rutans. Their numbers may be needed elsewhere.

• In episode 2, Harry uses the word Sontaran despite not having heard it.

He overheard Sarah call Styre a Sontaran (from his hiding place).

• Harry is also looking for Sarah when he meets the torture victim, despite seeing her captured by the Sontaran at the beginning of the episode.

Perhaps he was looking for where the Sontaran placed her or perhaps he though she had escaped.

• Why did Sarah Jane think that Styre was Linx? Even though they were played by the same actor, they looked completely different.

She might not have remembered Lynx that much and she was scared at the time; they look around about the same so Sarah was just confused.

The Sontarans are supposed to look identical, and these two do look reasonably close.

• Styre has five digits on each hand rather than Linx's three; this is the only story in which the Sontarans do not possess the usual three digits upon their hands.

Styre has been specially engineered for research purposes and as such, has been given additional digits to make his hands more dexterous for manipulating delicate equipment. In PROSE: The Infinity Doctors the issue of the varying number of digits on a Sontaran hand is explored.

Regardless, there's no reason to assume that the Sontarans wouldn't have made some changes in their clones in the thousands of years between the settings of the two stories.

• When Harry is trapped down the crevice and someone starts throwing rocks down at him, who exactly is doing it? It's never revealed.

Anyone or thing walking by could have caused the rocks to fall, or general instability in the rock wall could have done so.