The Children of the Future

"A gift from the Doctor. It's from the future!"

Writer: Tim Foley

Format: Audio

Released: February 2024

Series: Sontarans vs Rutans 1.02

Featuring: Third Doctor, Sarah Jane, Brigadier

Synopsis

The war between the Sontarans and the Rutans has been going on for millennia. And is likely to continue for millennia more. A terrible conflict with no care for consequences or collateral damage. Billions have died with no end in sight.

The Brigadier is used to the Doctor acting strangely, but this time there's something decidedly different about the whole affair. As he looks into the Time Lord's odd activities outside of UNIT, there's a mystery that'll take Lethbrdige-Stewart to a site very familiar to Sarah Jane Smith. 

Can the Brigadier trust his old friend? Who are his mysterious new allies? And is the future of humanity really at stake? A Sontaran threat could spell the end of their long-standing friendship... and the entire planet!

Verdict

The Children of the Future was a great episode to continue my way through the Sontarans vs Rutans celebratory series! This is a tremendous idea to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Sontarans debuting in The Time Warrior, and despite them not actually featuring in this episode I really enjoyed the links to that debut serial. I think it's wonderful that we get another Sarah Jane story linked to the Sontarans and Lindsay Castle. It's obviously an important time for her to remember as it was her first trip in the TARDIS, and I liked the little line linking back to The House That Hoxx Built in claiming she and the Doctor had just come back from the end of the world. That was really nicely done and placed things continuity wise. I'm always a fan when that happens. I also thought it was powerful for the Third Doctor her to realise that he was getting towards the end of his incarnation. He linked things back to the emotional events of Doctor Who and the Silurians when he was fresh in his current body, but with Planet of the Spiders looming it's fascinating to know that he knew his time was almost up. The pairing of the Brigadier and Sarah Jane was magnificent and I liked how they took things into their own hands when it came to investigating the mysterious actions of the Doctor over the last month or so. He was obviously up to something but it would be so much easier if they could just trust him! I do think much of the episode was predictable but that didn't make it any less fun. The Doctor claiming to be helping the Earth Defence Force of 1994 was interesting because it just didn't sound right. The remnants of people coming back through time to escape a Sontaran invasion of Earth. His plan to have them procreate with the people of the past in a bid to prevent the future was incredible, but Sarah knew that those weren't the normal actions of the Time Lord. The EDF were of course actually Rutans which was good and I like how that rounds things out for Sarah regarding this endless war in meeting both sides alongside the Third Doctor. I thought Tim Treloar was terrific once again as the third incarnation and I am so used to him in that role now. He's a delight, as are Sadie Miller and Jon Culshaw in bringing Sarah Jane and the Brigadier to life anew on audio. It's a real treat. Stanley as the little shop owner was a lovely little character and it was clear right from the off that he was a Rutan, but he was different. He just wanted peace and to live a life. He didn't react much to overhearing Sarah and the Brigadier work out what had happened and why the faces at the Cascade Project all look familiar. They had been replicated from the Herald newspaper! That was the obvious giveaway of the Rutan presence, and the Doctor trying to limit their presence on Earth with the staggered use of the time tunnel was good. Of course, the blundering in of the Brigadier and Sarah set things back a bit, but I did really enjoy the moment where the Rutans took on the form of the Doctor as well. The Brigadier was posed with the issue of having to pick between them, and the way the real Doctor revealed himself by harking back to the line where he used his full name when mad at the Brigadier was a really good touch. That brought things full circle for the episode in a very neat way! I like the ambiguous ending with the Doctor and company not knowing full well what the Rutan aim was, but I get the sense that we'll get an answer in the finale of this little series. I like that things will all tie back, or at least it feels that way, but as a whole this was a really good episode to continue the series! 

Rating: 8/10