Set in the heart of the Time War, the final story of the Classic Doctors New Monsters’ first boxset stars the 8^th Doctor. Landing on the war-ravaged planet Drakkis, his close encounter with an infamous NuWho foe leads him straight into the belly of a Sontaran tale of revenge.  

An instant of the Time War brings centuries of conflict to the planet Drakkis, and the Eighth Doctor is there to witness the terrible results.

A Sontaran fleet, desperate to join the epic conflict, follows in its wake to take advantage of the fallout. But when Commander Jask is beamed down to the ravaged surface, there is more to his arrival than first appears.

Soon, an unlikely champion joins forces with the Time Lord to fight for the future of her world, and together they must face the Sontaran Ordeal…

Big Finish Synopsis

Closing out the CDNM concept, The Sontaran Ordeal would’ve, at one point in time, been a story that I was kinder to. Originally released in 2016, it came out at a time when extended universe explorations of the Time War were still relatively fresh. After all, this story came out less than a year after Big Finish started their War Doctor campaign. However, in the intervening years, Time War angst and the sheen of exploring a massive, untouched era of the Whoniverse has worn thin. With several boxsets filled with adventures dedicated to the subject releasing annually, it’s becoming harder and harder not to assign bias for some of the subject’s more generic entries. As a result, this Time War fatigue hits The Sontaran Ordeal hard.

What hits harder, however, is that this story belongs specifically to one of the earliest generic formulas to come out of the Time War series. This formula sees The Doctor visit a world ruined by the effects of the Time War, lament his own helplessness, and eventually do something small to partially save the day. Although there are numerous potentially interesting avenues for exploration on these themes, this story never strays far enough to gain any type of momentum. Despite giving The Doctor a one-time companion who is a warrior affected by the Time War, for example, the two are never given enough time to explore the interesting interactions they could theoretically have.

On the more positive side, there are some fun moments to be had within the Sontaran Jask’s revenge subplot. Made to be a guinea pig for new Sontaran technology as part of his Ordeal sentence, he uses his time alongside The Doctor and Sarana to plan a victory filled with honour that would simultaneously gather evidence on those who wronged him. From the outset of these scenes, it is evident that Smith innately understands the makeup of the Sontaran species, as his revenge is woven with themes of honour and battle. However, even this subplot has its issues, the biggest being that the Sontarans aren’t technically a NuWho-only foe. In fact, it’s fair to say that using the Sontarans completely misses the point of the CDNM concept, as they are more famous for appearing in the classic series.