Requiem for the Rocket Men

"Betrayal's only a question of when, not if."

Writer: John Dorney
Format: Audio
Released: March 2015
Series: FDA 4.03

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Leela, K9

Synopsis

The Asteroid - notorious hideaway of the piratical Rocket Men. Hewn out of rock, surrounded by force-fields and hidden in the depths of the Fairhead Cluster, their base is undetectable, inescapable and impregnable.

In need of allies, the Master has arranged to meet with Shandar, King of the Rocket Men. But the mercenaries have captured themselves a very special prisoner - his oldest enemy, the Doctor.

What cunning scheme is the Doctor planning? How does it connect with Shandar's new robotic pet? And just what has happened to Leela? The Master will have to work the answers out if he wants to leave the asteroid... alive...

Verdict

Requiem for the Rocket Men was an outstanding audio adventure and might just be my favourite Fourth Doctor Adventure yet! I've still not covered as much of the range as I'd have liked but I have listened to a considerable amount and I must say that I was mightily impressed by this one. It had a unique feeling and was just brilliant from the word go. I liked how it was a kind of loose sequel to Return of the Rocket Men and the idea of the Rocket Men placing a bounty on the Doctor's head following their past failings at his hands was very good. The way in which that bounty seemed to be redeemed was good but then there was definitely the subtle feeling that the story jumped ahead a little. Most of that would be resolved in part two and I thought the opening to that where it was laid in concrete that Leela was the one who brought the Doctor to the Rocket Men to redeem the bounty. I liked the position that placed the story and the arrival of the Master was just magnificent. This emaciated incarnation of the great villain is so chilling and Geoffrey Beavers really does do a stellar job as the evil Time Lord. I liked the continuation from The Evil One with Leela referring to him as just that and I also loved how stupid the Master made Shandar look. The Rocket Men were puny to him and his reaction to the Doctor being in a cell onboard the ship was fantastic. K9 even being a part of the Doctor's plan of deception came as a bit of a surprise but it was certainly a welcomed one! I liked the mentions of the Rani and the Rutan and really liked the cliffhanger to part one where it was revealed that the Doctor had been disguised as Oskin the whole time. I thought it was rather incredible that the Master finally killed the Doctor and his reaction to doing so was perfect. Instead of joy and ecstasy, he just felt a loss and a not knowing of what he would now. I really liked that. Of course, the Doctor didn't actually die and it turned out to be a hologram the whole time but I really liked how the Doctor had planned everything out to the precise detail. This was a plan to finally rid the universe of the Rocket Men now that he finally had a means of tracking them down. Myrren was a good character and I liked how she wasn't stupid when it came to Marshall's relationship with Leela. Her death though came very suddenly and the full effect was certainly felt. I thought the pace of the story was excellent but that usually is the case for this length of story. The one-hour audios really are terrific for that. The Doctor and K9 being out in space and disabling the Rocket Men's impenetrable force-field was great and I liked how Shandar realised just too late on to stop anything from happening. The Master's hopes to leave were thwarted by K9 and I really liked how he was even piloting the Master's TARDIS. Leela's reaction to its interior was good but I thought the ending of this audio was superb. Leela realised that not all the Rocket Men had been destroyed on the cruisliner's demise and wanted to stay and help Marshall to rid the universe of them for good. The Doctor said his goodbyes in rather emotional fashion and the janos thorn line actually put a sad smile on my face. Leela had left the TARDIS, only to be captured by the Master in wonderful fashion. His TARDIS was camouflaged magnificently and just after leaving one TARDIS, Leela found herself in another. Marshall was left wondering where she had gone and things were set up very nicely for the next adventure. Overall, a superb audio!

Rating: 10/10