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Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans

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Director
  
Kevin Davies

Duration
  

Running time
  
55 minutes

Screenplay
  
Terrance Dicks

6.8/10
IMDb

Genre
  
Sci-Fi

Initial release
  
December 1, 1994

Music director
  
Mark Ayres

Writer
  
Terrance Dicks

Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans movie poster

Cast
  
Jan Chappell
(Captain Lisa Deranne),
Brian Croucher
(Kurt),
Carol Ann Ford
(Zorelle)

Similar movies
  
Downtime (1995), Daemos Rising (2004), The Airzone Solution (1993), Alice in Wonderland (1985), The Innocent Sleep (1996)

The omega files 124 shakedown return of the sontarans


Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans is a film spin-off of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was released direct-to-video in 1995 and was produced by the independent production company Dreamwatch Media, a division of Dreamwatch magazine. Initially available only through mail order and specialty shops, it was subsequently released to retail by Reeltime Pictures in 1997. It features two races of aliens, the Sontarans (first introduced in the Third Doctor serial The Time Warrior, and appearing in several subsequent stories) and the Rutans (who were first mentioned in The Time Warrior, and appeared in the Fourth Doctor serial Horror of Fang Rock). The Sontarans and Rutans were licensed from the estate of their creator Robert Holmes, although the appearance of the Sontarans had to be modified to avoid legal complications with the BBC, which owned the design of the creatures.

Contents

Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaen661Sha

Due to licensing restrictions, the character of the Doctor does not actually appear, nor do any other characters from the series. However several actors from the Doctor Who series do appear in different roles, including Carole Ann Ford, Sophie Aldred and Michael Wisher. Also starring in this production are Blake's 7 alumni Jan Chappell and Brian Croucher.

Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans Reeltime Pictures Shakedown Return of the Sontarans Merchandise

Synopsis

Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans Shakedown Return Of The Sontarans FULL YouTube

When a state-of-the-art racing yacht is attacked by a group of aliens during its shakedown cruise, it is up to the captain of the yacht and her crew to prevent an alien invasion.

Cast

Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans THE OMEGA FILES 124 SHAKEDOWN Return of The Sontarans YouTube

  • Jan Chappell as Tiger Moth Captain Lisa Deranne. The heroine of the story, Lisa is hired by a group of wealthy individuals to help them pilot the solar vessel and win competitive races. Whilst she has an antagonistic relationship with most of the group, she later forms a close bond with Kurt and, along with him, is one of only two survivors at the end. Jan Chappell had previously played Cally in Blake's 7 alongside Kurt actor Brian Croucher. The role of Lisa Deranne was originally offered to Elisabeth Sladen, but she declined citing family commitments.

    • Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans shakedown return of the sontarans review YouTube

  • Brian Croucher as Kurt. A mysterious self-made industrialist, Kurt recognizes the Sontarans based on information he has obtained from an individual implied to be Doctor Who. Along with Captain Lisa Deranne, he survives at the end of the story and becomes the sole owner of the Tiger Moth. Brian Croucher had played Travis 2 in Blake's 7 alongside co-star Jan Chappell.
  • Carole Ann Ford as Zorelle, a vain and wealthy fashion designer (although it is suggested by Mari that it is actually her sister that is the brains of the company) who also drinks too much; she is killed by the Rutan shapeshifter which later assumes her form at the conclusion of the story. Ford was best known as playing Susan Foreman, the granddaughter of Doctor Who in the original series.
  • Sophie Aldred as Mari, the fiancée of Nikos; the spoilt and pampered daughter of a planetary president, she is stunned by the Sontarans and later killed by the Rutan when it invades her quarters- the Rutan form of Mari then kills Zorelle. Aldred had previously played Ace, companion to the seventh doctor in Doctor Who. Keith Barnfather suggested to Aldred that she take on the role of Lisa Deranne after Elisabeth Sladen dropped out, but she wanted to play a more feminine character instead after three years of playing Ace in Doctor Who.
  • Rory O'Donnell as Nikos, Mari's fiancé and the son of a wealthy industrialist. In love with Mari, he is first stunned by the Sontarans and later killed by them when he attempts to overpower them with their stun ray. The Rutan later takes on his form before killing Mari. Shakedown was O'Donnell's first acting job, he later appeared in the fan production Auton 3 before becoming a casting director.
  • Michael Wisher as Robar, the ship's engineer. Robar is the first to be killed by the Rutan whilst in the engine room. Wisher had appeared in a few Doctor Who stories in the classic series, but was best known in fandom for being the first actor to play Davros, the creator of the Daleks. Wisher also had appeared in a number of fan-made productions in the 1980s and 1990s, including Wartime and The Airzone Solution. Shakedown would be Wisher's last work as an actor as he died the following year. Terrance Dicks was reportedly not happy with Wisher's decision to play Robar with an American accent. The role of Robar was originally mooted for Brian Millar, the husband of Elisabeth Sladen, although her withdrawal from the project meant he did not eventually get involved.
  • Toby Aspin as Commander Steg, the leader of the Sontaran force chasing the Rutan. Although initially antagonistic to Lisa Deranne and her crew, he sacrifices himself to destroy the Rutan and save the ship at the story's conclusion. Aspin would later appear as another Sontaran in "Mindgame".
  • Tom Finnis as Lieutenant Vorn, Steg's second-in-command. Slightly dimwitted, he is killed by the Rutans. Finnis would later appear in the fan production The Few Doctors.

    • Production

    The film was shot almost entirely on location aboard the Second World War-era Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Belfast, permanently moored at Symon's Wharf on the River Thames since 1971. Some scenes were also shot at Pinewood Studios. Filming aboard the vessel was frequently plagued with sound problems which caused the film crew to rapidly fall behind schedule. The unlicensed nature of the Dreamwatch production meant that they could not even refer to the character of the Doctor by name, hence Kurt's remembrance of a man who "Called himself the Physician, or the Dentist, or something..." Although the longstanding war between the Sontarans and the Rutan Host was frequently mentioned in Doctor Who, this video marks the only occasion in which the two opposing species appear on screen together. The initial idea for Shakedown came from producers Kevin Davies and Mark Ayres. Director of Photography David Hicks. They would produce, on behalf of Dreamwatch Media, a low-budget film for direct-to-video sale featuring some alien monsters from the BBCtv series Doctor Who and a cast drawn from Who and its stablemate Blake's 7.

    Soundtrack

    Mark Ayres's music was released on Silva Screen Records in January 1996

    Track listing

    1. Shakedown: Main Title (2:05)
    2. The War Wheel (0:55)
    3. Working Dress (0:48)
    4. Sail Drill (Virtual Rigging) (2:22)
    5. The Storming of the "Tiger Moth" (4:41)
    6. A Bit of This, A Bit of That (3:58)
    7. Engine Room (2:18)
    8. Return of the Sontarans (5:30)
    9. Survival at all Costs (1:02)
    10. Robar Remembered (1:46)
    11. A Glorious Death (2:27)
    12. Monster Hunt (1:23)
    13. Worthy Enemies (5:19)
    14. Epilogue and End Title (3:32)
    15. Theme from Shakedown (5:53)

    Novelisation

    In December 1995 a novelisation of this film, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Virgin Publishing as part of their New Adventures line; the title was shortened to Shakedown. It expands greatly on the original story and features many differences in plot, most notably the inclusion of the Seventh Doctor and his companions since, unlike Reeltime, Virgin had the rights to use the character. However, rather than drastically altering the events of the video, Dicks novelised the Doctor-less events of the script in the middle section of the book, with the new plot of the novel taking place around it. It also forms a sequel to the Virgin Missing Adventures novel Lords of the Storm by David A. McIntee.

    This was the final Doctor Who-related novelisation by the prolific Terrance Dicks, who had been writing the books since 1973, until the BBC-published novelisation of The Sarah Jane Adventures story "Invasion of the Bane" was published over a decade later in late 2007. Dicks has, however, continued to produce various original Doctor Who novels not based on scripted material.

    The book was re-printed in a new edition in March 2014.

    References

    Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA

    Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans IMDb Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans themoviedb.org