That's not really the point of the thread.

Of course Sontarans can be written in a ruthless as ever, the point is, has the current writing for Sontarans and the sole use of Dan Starkey and his performance turned them into a bit of a joke?

Dan slipped back into menancing Sontaran with great ease in 'The Name of The Doctor' when The Great Intelligence jumped into The Doctor's time line and was re-writing his history.

Yes he did but for me, it was still like he was playing for laughs.

The sontarans become friends in any way since this one owed him a debt - and, then, owed Vastra and Jenny a debt.

Just cos he's a sontaran, doesn't mean he's evil. He's vicious, and warlike, but there was a time in the Doctor's life where he had cause to save him. He's an individual as well as a sontaran - he fears death, he's a clone but he's still himself.

Doctor Who should be doing more things like this. For all they talk of the wonders of the universe and personal heroism, there sure are a lot of species who are suggested to have no redeeming features whatsoever. If I were in charge, I'd be moving away from monsters and closer to aliens. In fairness, Moffat's already halfway there - Moffat's aliens are a mix of good and bad, and his antagonists are generally technology gone wrong, only barely sentient, or morally ambiguous. He even had the Doctor working alongside the Silents in the last ep - it's not black and white, any more. Much better.

Sontarans are people, too. They're predisposed to war, and therefore often at odds with the Doctor, but let's not forget Sontar used to be a cultural capital of its galaxy, before war broke out. They used to value creativity and free expression. That potential's still there.

I think Doctor Who has also been moving away from Ice Warriors being just an enemy, it started in the Curse of Peladon and then Cold War, however, they managed it without the constant comedy. Not saying it should be devoid of humour, just not all the time as with Strax.

I've been on record that I don't like the comical way in which the new series Sontarans seem to have been presented but I don't have a problem with Strax as comic relief because a) it's been made clear that Strax is a bit of a one-off atypical Sontaran and b) I think he's really funny!

Like I said earlier in the thread, Dan has voiced several different Sontarans in the Big Finish audios including three at once in the last audio I heard, Starlight Robbery, which, for me, has really redeemed the Sontarans as a credible adversary.

So I think Dan is perfectly capable of making Sontarans credible again, just don't look for that credibility to come from Strax!

You're absolutely right, Cold War's another example, emphasis in the SM era. Ice Warriors are capable of mercy, cos they're people too. In Skaldak's case, a slightly boring person, but a person nonetheless. He's got a past, a backstory, he used to sing songs or something or other. I'm liking this. It feels more like the essentially kind and wondrous universe the Doctor promises his companions.

The Sontarans, I think, have always been a form of satire on the indistinguishable facelessness of the soldier at war, and the jingoistic single-mindedness of the indoctrinated warrior. They deserve to have some fun poked at them, surely?

I've never rated the Sontarans from what I've seen of them in Classic Who and didn't much like the Sontaran two-parter in Series 4 of New Who either, but I'm loving Strax, the not very bright Sontaran nurse and Paternoster Gang regular, for his comedic value.

Very good point

I loved his performance in The Sontaran story in Season 3. The one he played there is what a Sontaran should really be like. Death and Glory. Killing for Sport and Honour in Death etc etc.

However, amusing as Strax is, it sort of detracts for me the threat the Sontarans pose. It would have been better if the Sontarans had returned in a full blown adventure of there own to emphasise how different he is to them and to remind people what the main race were originally all about.