The next series I’m catching up on Big Finish-wise is the “Rutans vs. Sontarans” run of four stories, given how much I liked “Sontarans vs. Rutans” previously I was looking forward to diving in, and Part 1 has certainly justified that decision! “Betrayal at the House of Sontar” is a Fugitive Doctor story that actually puts her pre-Hartnell, working for a Gallifrey black ops background to good use and gives us an actual answer to “how did the war between the Rutans and Sontarans actually begin?”, which admittedly isn’t a question I ever felt needed answering, but at least the answer we got was an entertaining one! Let’s take a look…
The story kicks off with The Doctor (Jo Martin) contacting the Kaveetch (future Sontarans, a nice connection to Lost Story “The First Sontarans”!) and offering her knowledge of Time Travel in exchange for safety from The Division. They agree and a soldier called Vrag (The War Doctor himself Jonathon Carley, oddly!) escorts her to their top scientist, Meredit Roath (Anthony Howell) who we know from the previously mentioned Lost Story will go on to create the clone Sontaran army in the future, but here is working on Time Travel. While the two work on things the Kaveetch Empress Annaz Zechar (Abi Harris) and her top general Stahl (Nigel Fairs) discuss selling The Doctor back to the Division for the reward after she’s helped them.
It’s all for naught though as soon Meredit is sent away and The Doctor begins sabotaging his Time Travel machine with the help of her Rutan partner, who is disguised as Vrag, both of them being agents of The Division still, with their mission being to stop the Kaveetch from gaining Time Travel knowledge. Everything seems to work… until it doesn’t. The sabotaging equipment instead severs “Vrag” from the Rutan hivemind and stops its ability to shapeshift, just as General Stahl is due to arrive…
It’s a really great story, and the big twist is yet to come! It’s the kind of shady thing that makes the “Fugitive Doctor” more interesting, rather than a Doctor with a police box TARDIS acting all Doctor-y somehow being around before the First Doctor…
The Continuity:
Great cover, though I always thought the Kaveetch looked a lot less Sontaran this early on, but I digress. Really must get around to creating that Fugitive Doctor page for the tabs at the top of the page…
This heavily connects to the Sixth Doctor Lost Story “The First Sontarans”, which is nice. It also acts as the starting point for all stories that feature or mention the Sontaran / Rutan war, but I’m not going to sit here and list all of those! It also connects to the rest of the “Rutans vs. Sontarans” line of stories to come…
Overall Thoughts:
“Betrayal at the House of Sontar” is a fantastic use of both The Fugitive Doctor and the mysterious “Division” and gives us a satisfying start point to the often talked about and occasionally featured Sontaran / Rutan war. Highly recommended if you’re interested in either!
The Division recalls The Doctor and she complains to her superior Drammal (also Jonthon Carley!) that her partner is still stranded down there, but he replies that it’s all part of the plan. Stahl gives Empress Zechar a protective bracelet and tells her that they’ve been informed the Rutans have declared war on them, providing the real Vrag as evidence. Shortly after the Rutan Division member stumbles into the Empress’s throne room and she activates her protective field only to be electrocuted to death instead. General Stahl arrives, sees a Rutan out of disguise standing next to the Empress who had been electrocuted to death and naturally thinks the Rutan killed her with their electrical tentacles. The Rutan tries to deny it but a bomb soon levels the palace.
The Doctor asks what she just saw and Drammal explains that even with sabotage the Kaveetch would have discovered Time Travel eventually, the only way to stop them was to direct their science elsewhere. He shows her the surviving General Stahl forcing Meredit to pour all his scientific knowledge into weaponry (and soon cloning!) so they can take out the Rutans as revenge, Drammal says he believed the sides are even enough that it will lead to a war so long that they needn’t worry about the Kaveetch ever gaining Time Travel knowledge. The Doctor is displeased her partner was used like that, but she’s told to think of the bigger picture. Great stuff!