 This story sees the return of the Sontarans since their introduction in the 1973/74 Third Doctor story "The Time Warrior" and is the first of two times that the Fourth Doctor would confront them.
The original working title of the story was "The Destructors" and was changed to the current title under protest by the writers, who felt it gave the cliff-hanger away.
Although this story was the third to feature the Fourth Doctor, it was actually the second recorded, hence the out-of-sequence production code.
No part of the TARDIS appears in any portion of this story – the first time this occurs in the show - as The Doctor and his companions travel entirely by transmat beam. This was also the first story to be recorded with no interior scenes.
This was only the second story in the history of the show to be shot entirely on location. In this case seven days in the Dartmoor National Park in Devon. The major location was Hound Tor near Manaton.
However, unlike the 1970 Third Doctor story "Spearhead From Space" (the first story recorded entirely on location) the production was mounted entirely on videotape using an Outside Broadcast unit, rather than on film as was more usual for the time.
This is the only two-part Doctor Who story of the 1970's which makes it the shortest story of the 1970’s. It was the first two-part story to be broadcast since the 1965 First Doctor story "The Rescue" and the last until the 1982 Fifth Doctor story "Black Orchid".
These two episodes were initially part of a six-episode arc, but Producer Philip Hinchcliffe made the decision to split the arc into the four-part "The Ark in Space" and this two-part story. But they shared the same director and budget. To save money, Philip Hinchcliffe decided that "The Ark in Space" would be entirely filmed in the studio and "The Sontaran Experiment" would be entirely filmed on location. He also settled on the Sontarans because they could re-use the Sontaran costume from "The Time Warrior" and therefore save the expense of designing a new alien.
Kevin Lindsay originally played the Sontaran role of Linx in "The Time Warrior". He returned to play both Field Major Styre and the Sontaran Marshal. However, he found the heavy Sontaran costume difficult to manage and so could not perform the fight scene. Stand-in, Stuart Fell, was used instead. This would be Kevin Lindsay’s last major role before he died in 1975.
Terry Walsh not only played a minor role as an astronaut but doubled for the Fourth Doctor, during action sequences shot from several face-concealing angles, after Tom Baker broke his collar bone during the making of this story. Luckily because part of the Fourth Doctor’s costume was a large scarf, he could conceal the neck brace he had to wear following the injury.
Most of the actors playing the GalSec astronauts were South African. This was specified in the casting.
The GalSec astronaut Krans is played by Glyn Jones, the writer of the 1965 First Doctor story "The Space Museum".
The Sontarans are firmly established in this story as a clone race, evidenced by Sarah Jane Smith thinking that Field Major Styre is Linx from "The Time Warrior". Even though she is heard to say that they are identical they are not (Styre's face is paler, squatter and lacks bristles). Styre also 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.
The main Sontaran military leadership group is known as the Grand Strategic Council. Styre uses a 'pistol' rather than the typical Sontaran wand. A terrulian diode bypass transformer is a vital part of the 'recharging' equipment used by Sontarans, allowing them to 'feed on pure energy'. Sabotage of this component proves fatal for Styre. The Sontaran robot is also powered by terrulian.
The Doctor’s sonic screwdriver is seen being used to repair the transmat spheres and to disable the robot.
The scene of the two colonists trying to lift the Sontaran gravity bar off another colonist is what drew the attention of Mary Whitehouse to the programme, she would go on to criticise the violent and horrific elements in the programme, most notably in the next story "Genesis of the Daleks" and "The Deadly Assassin".
This story forms part of a continuous series of adventures for the TARDIS crew, beginning from "Robot" and continuing through to "Terror of the Zygons".
This story was repeated on BBC One as a 48 minute omnibus in July 1976.
In October 2006 this story was released on BBC DVD as the first of their "standard edition" DVD range. This release was one of the few occasions in which a two-episode story has been released by itself.
A novelisation of this story, written by Ian Marter, was published by Target Books in November 1978. Ian Marter played Harry Sullivan in this story, making him the only Doctor Who author to have ever written adaptations of stories in which he personally appeared. The novelisation differs from the television version by having the travellers arrive in the TARDIS. The Sontaran plan also does not involve war with the Rutans but a planned conquest in alliance with another clone species.
Sarah is heard to reference the events of this story during her next encounter with the Sontarans in The Sarah Jane Adventures story "The Last Sontaran".
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The Firsts:
The first time in a story that no part of the TARDIS appears.
The first story to have no interior scenes.
The first and only story in which the Sontarans do not possess the usual three digits upon their hands.
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(Position = 70 out of 159)
(Position = 103 out of 200)
