The Havoc of Empires

"War is business."

Writer: Andy Lane
Format: Audio
Released: September 2015
Series: Third Doctor Adventures 1.02

Featuring: Third Doctor, Jo, Mike Yates

Synopsis

The Doctor and Jo take Mike Yates on his first trip in the TARDIS, but instead of the historical cricket match they were aiming for they end up on a futuristic space station in the middle of a diplomatic crisis that might escalate into galactic war.

The alien leader of the Chalnoth Hegemony is marrying the human Director of the Teklarn Incorporation, but there are forces that will stop at nothing to disrupt the ceremony. The Doctor is accused of murder while explosions occur across the station, and only Jo Grant, pretending to be a security consultant, can save the day.

But then, there's the Eels to consider...

Verdict

The Havoc of Empires was another pretty decent story in the first volume of the Third Doctor Adventures, but despite its qualities I was kind of hoping for a little better from this boxset as a whole with it bring back full cast adventures for the Third Doctor. I have to say that I was really impressed with Tim Treloar's take on the Third Doctor here and it was without doubt the best of the few performances I have heard from him so far. It really did feel like Jon Pertwee in parts which is the highest compliment I can probably give. It was good to establish that things were set shortly after The Three Doctors and it was nice for Jo and Mike Yates to have been planning on going on a date together. Their destination for that date with the use of the TARDIS differed in big ways though with Jo hoping to catch the Beatles and Yates hoping to pop back in time to a Victorian cricket match! That was quite amusing and I thought their relationship was just really nice throughout. Of course, the Doctor didn't quite deliver on either destination and instead went two millennia into the future and arrived on Harmony Station. The highlight of the audio for me was definitely Yates reacting to space for the first time. That was quite delightful. The opposing sides of the Chalnoth and Teklarn was a somewhat interesting premise for much of the story, with the focus on the wedding taking place between parties of each side, but I didn't think that there was enough detail garnered to warrant me to care too much. I thought the station's AI was a fun character though and I liked all of the interactions the lead trio had with it. It threatening with seconds until destruction was decent and Filton hoping to arrest them before Yates knocking him out with a cricket ball was good and humorous. Their being stuck with decontamination was also good, if not a little slow. The cliffhangers in this one could have been better in my eyes as I didn't think the first part's really explained what it actually was with the explosion of Janos's ship. The second part improved with the Doctor being accused as the saboteur after Jo scanned him and it revealed traces of explosives, but the one for part three was really average with the eels escaping. I wasn't really sure what purpose they offered to this adventure and in my opinion I don't really think they were necessary. They were just a bit silly which was a shame. The cliffhanger definitely should have been the moment where Yates was face to face with the bomb and then the AI announcing the explosion. That was outstanding stuff. When the Doctor was accused of carrying out the explosions, I liked the battle between the two sides to see which legsl system he would be tried with. The concept of him being put on trial and slow execution simultaneously was certainly unique! Jo had a really solid story and I loved her role as the fake security counsel in charge. She embraced that and Katy Manning was terrific as always. The two sides of the empiric wars having respective differences with Draconians and Alpha Centurians, and Sontarans and Rutans was fun and showed what kind of stature they were on, but it then seemed a little anti-climactic when the Dolphons seemed to be the culprits. Of course, that wasn't the case with Filton and Janos revealed as the perpetrators hoping to stop the wedding strategically without causing death and injury with the bombs. I was surprised that the Doctor was prepared to use the gun against the eels after they got loose, but it was nice for him to orchestrate the wedding at the end that seemed likely to not take place. Overall, a pretty good story that sneaks its rating largely thanks to the performances of the lead actors.

Rating: 7/10