Since I've seen every Sontaran appearance in Doctor Who except for their first, I watched it a few days ago. From 1973, "The Time Warrior" has a lot of good stuff to offer: the Third Doctor, the first appearance of the Sontarans, the debut of Sarah Jane Smith as the Doctor's companion, and the first time the Doctor's home planet is identified as Gallifrey. All that and more in a well-written teleplay by Robert Holmes, who went on to serve as the show's story editor during some of its best years (1974-77). In fact, I'd say the 1970s as a whole were the best years of Classic Who.

I also decided to re-watch the final appearance of the Sontarans in Classic Who, 1985's "The Two Doctors", also written by Holmes. I have a particular fondness for serials/episodes where different regenerations of the Doctor team up. In this one, it's the Second Doctor and the Sixth Doctor, who I like to call Doctor Moe and Doctor Bozo. The best fun here is watching Two and Six interact, but there's not enough of it. The serial's over two hour total running time spread over three episodes is excessive and the story could easily be reduced to two parts. Jacqueline Pearce as the villainous Chessene is a nice bonus. It's also nice to see Jamie again.