A Fix with Sontarans (home video)

A Fix with Sontarans
Doctor:	Sixth Doctor
Companion(s):	Tegan, Gareth
Main enemy:	Group Marshal Nathan
Main setting:	The Doctor's TARDIS
Key crew
Writer:	Eric Saward
Director:	Marcus Mortimer
Release details
Premiere broadcast:	20 June 2022
Format:	1x8-minute episode
Toby Hadoke's Who's Round:	THWR 107, 234
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You may be looking for the original 1985 edition.

For the release of the Doctor Who: The Collection — Season 22 blu-ray boxset, a re-edited version of A Fix with Sontarans was included as a bonus feature, differing from the original in several ways; the two minutes of footage of Jimmy Savile from the original were removed as an ethical choice following the controversy surrounding him, and the fourth wall breaking ending that featured Savile was replaced with an all-new CG scene decpiting a fleet of Sontaran ships. Unlike the original, which is an invalid source for writing articles on this Wiki due to the ending, as this edition omits it, the 2022 edition of A Fix with Sontarans is a valid source.

Plot

The Sixth Doctor is operating the controls on the TARDIS console, accidentally transporting his former companion Tegan Jovanka on board after he pressed the matter transporter by mistake. Despite her annoyance at being transported from Earth, she reluctantly agrees to help when the Doctor reveals that two Sontarans are on board. The Doctor gets Tegan to help shut off all the sources of power, in the knowledge that the Sontarans have a powerful vitrox bomb with them that requires lots of power to detonate. If he cuts off the supply to the power cable they intend to tap into, he hopes that this will lure them into the TARDIS control room; Tegan points out, however, that they don't have anything to defend themselves with once they arrive, which the Doctor hadn't considered. The Doctor tells her that he'll improvise.

The Doctor then tells her to press the blue button, but, given the vague instruction, she presses the wrong blue button. He scolds her, telling Tegan that she has reactivated the matter transporter. The matter transporter, that seems to be influenced by what the Doctor is thinking, begins to work, transporting someone, not unlike the Doctor, would come and help him and Tegan. He guides Tegan's hand to the correct button and turns down the power, isolating it to control room. The matter transporter finishes, materialising a young human boy. The Doctor and Tegan hide, coming out after a few seconds, though the boy makes them jump by shouting "boo!" The Doctor asks the boy who he is while hiding behind Tegan, and the boy introduces himself as Gareth Jenkins. While Tegan wants to send Gareth back to Earth given the danger, the Doctor tells her it isn't possible due to the Sontarans and their bomb. Gareth offers to help them against the Sontarans, but while the Doctor doubts him, he reluctantly agrees given that the Sontarans will be arriving any minute. He tells Tegan to fetch a box, which she does, despite her indignant protesting.

The Sontarans recognise Gareth's name.

After Tegan places the box on the floor, the Doctor and Gareth begin to activate a series of controls on the TARDIS control console, and after a short while, the energiser in the console is fully primed, meaning that a trap has been laid for the Sontarans. Just then, the open-skinned Sontarans burst through the doors in a shower of smoke and sparks, and the Doctor, furious, shouts at them for destroying his "beautiful" doors, especially since they weren't even locked. The subordinate demands that the Doctor treats Group Marshal Nathan with respect, which he feigns to agree to. The Doctor, in turn, introduces himself, Tegan, and Gareth; Nathan immediately recognises the identity of Gareth despite his young age, pleased at capturing a bigger prize than he originally anticipated. Nathan instructs his subordinate to kill Gareth, as they know that a Gareth Jenkins led the Earth Defence Force against the Sontarans in their invasion of Earth in 2001, in Gareth's future. Having no way to disaude the two Sontarans from killing Gareth, even when he points out the name could be a coincidence, the Doctor tells Gareth to activate the trap that they set up, gas kills the Sontarans horribly, causing green blood to spew from their mouths, with steam rising from their convulsing bodies, and for their bodies to shrivel up. Tegan and the Doctor congratulate Gareth on killing the two Sontarans, and the Doctor asks how Gareth knew where all the TARDIS controls were. Gareth responds: "Well, I've seen you fly the TARDIS on telly."

Tegan worriedly tells them to look at the TARDIS scanner turns on, revealing an entire fleet of Sontaran ships outside. The Doctor exclaims, "this was just the beginning."

Cast

• The Doctor - Colin Baker
• Tegan Jovanka - Janet Fielding
• Gareth Jenkins - himself
• Group Marshal Nathan - Clinton Greyn
• Sontaran - Tim Raynham

Crew

• Videotape editor - Chris Booth
• Vision mixer - Sue Collins
• Camera supervisor - Stuart Lindley
• Technical co-ordinator - Bob Warman
• Make-up designer - Monica Ludkin
• Production team - Mark Jones, Romaine Lancaster, Sara Wookey
• Researchers - Jeremy Geelan, Gill Elliott
• Lighting director - Peter Wesson
• Visual effects - Jim Francis
• Sound supervisor - Richard Chamberlain
• Special sound - Dick Mills, BBC Radiophonic Workshop
• Writer - Eric Saward
• Designer - Gwen Evans
• Production manager - Helen Fielding
• Producers - John Nathan-Turner, Roger Ordish
• Director - Marcus Mortimer

References

• The Doctor hurriedly activates the lateral balance plane elevation cones and disconnects the relay and the bypass drones, but accidentally activates the matter transporter instead. Before seeing Tegan arrive, he is concerned he has brought a "foul evil" onboard the TARDIS.
• The Doctor tells Tegan he regenerated. though she doesn't think it's much of an improvement.
• Tegan was about to have lunch before she was transported.
• Tegan considers herself to be "all charm, all heart", while the Doctor thinks she's "all mouth".
• The Doctor considers the Sontarans to be the third most evil force in the galaxy, after the Daleks and the Cybermen.
• The Doctor instructs Tegan to disconnect the hydraulic rams and to operate the vengol solenoid.
• Tegan asks if Sontarans are afraid of the dark when told cutting the power will shut off the lights.
• The Doctor suspects that the Sontarans might try to tap into the main power cable.
• The Doctor believes he has great courage, vast intellect, and incredible perspicacity.
• Tegan initially thinks that Gareth is a sort of "mini-clone".
• The Doctor tells Gareth to set the coaxial stabilisers, to charge astral inducers, to prime the mandrel condensers, and to co-ordinate the vespian transmogrifier ratchet override flange simulator. Tegan doesn't believe that such controls exists, believing he made the names up, but the Doctor disproves her claim when Gareth uses the controls.
• Turner wields a baton and the subordinate Sontaran carries a bladed weapon.
• Group Marshal Nathan is from the Tenth Sontaran Battle Brigade.
• The Doctor is aware that the Sontarans invaded Earth in 2001.

Story notes

• When Tegan arrives, the Doctor explains he has regenerated; since Tegan witnessed this before, she is not surprised. She is also shown to be somewhat familiar with the TARDIS controls, in keeping with her earlier appearances.
• However, Tegan is unfamiliar with Sontarans, which is contradicted by AUDIO: Heroes of Sontar and PROSE: Sontar's Little Helpers, which depict Tegan prior to the events of this story encountering Sontarans.
• While no exact date is given, the story is implicitly set in the 1980s; Fixing a Hole places the events of this story on 23 February 1985, the same date in which the original version of A Fix with Sontarans was broadcast.
• This 2022 re-release was also accompanied by a new audio commentary, featuring Gareth Jenkins, Colin Baker, Janet Fielding, and Toby Hadoke.

Production errors

• Because it was recorded decades after the initial filming, the Doctor's voice is noticeably more hearse during the line line.

Continuity

• Tegan is familiar with regeneration, having been present when the Fourth Doctor regenerated at the Pharos Project. (TV: Logopolis)
• Doctor Who is a television series in the Doctor's universe. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks, In the Forest of the Night)
• Tegan later recalls this adventure in conversation with the Sixth Doctor. (PROSE: Fixing a Hole)

Home media releases

Doctor Who: The Collection — Season 22

In the wake of widespread allegations of paedophilia against Jimmy Savile, the original cut of A Fix with Sontarans was pulled from any post-2014 DVD release of The Two Doctors; the 2022 two edition is currently entirely exclusive to the release of Doctor Who: The Collection — Season 22.