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. 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. Plot Tiger Moth, a space cruiser recently converted to a solar yacht, is on its way to space station Beta for its first race. The yacht is owned and crewed by a syndicate of four business people – Kurt, who is rumored to have a shady criminal background; Nikos, the son of Earth colony planet Valeria's leading industrialist; Mari, the daughter of Valeria's president and Nikos's fiancée; and Zorelle, an attention-seeking fashion mogul. Engineer Robar informs captain Lisa Deranne, an experienced solar yacht racer hired by the syndicate, of irregular fluctuations in the ship's power system. Lisa uses this as an excuse to put her amateur crew through their first solar sail drill, whilst Robar shuts down the power drive to investigate the fault. The crew assembles on the sail deck, where they don virtual reality gloves and glasses to operate the solar sails in the same context as a traditional sea-going yacht. After the drill is successfully carried out, Tiger Moth is attacked by a huge War Wheel mothership, which dispatches a boarding party of Sontaran troopers led by Commander Steg. Lisa and her crewmates are stunned by the Sontarans as they enter the solar yacht, and once