Subterranea

"What utility does love have?"

Writer: Joanthan Morris

Format: Audio

Released: June 2017

Series: Fourth Doctor Adventures 6.06

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Romana II

Synopsis

The TARDIS is going underground. When the Doctor and Romana find themselves buried beneath the surface of an alien world, they're soon swallowed up by a giant burrowing machine. This is where the inhabitants of this planet live – in huge, constantly moving, Drill-towns, chewing up the fuel and resources of the planet in order to survive. 

But something else lurks in the earth. Something that feeds on the Drill-towns. Something that is relentless and will not stop. 

The Silex are hunting.

Verdict

Subterranea was a decent little story to continue my sporadic and not entirely chronological journey through the sixth series of Fourth Doctor Adventures! Thankfully, this range mostly works well in listening to stories in isolation but I believe now that I only have this series finale left to complete the single release era of this range. That’s exciting for me and it’s a superb continuation of so many eras for the Fourth Doctor. I do think K9 was sorely missing from this story as the robotic dog really does complement the amazing pairing of the Fourth Doctor and Romana II. They have legendary status and the humour and chemistry is still clear to hear even forty odd years later. It’s magnificent. The reaction to the TARDIS seemingly being eaten was amusing as the Doctor seemed genuinely fearful of where they might end up, but with the TARDIS essentially being indestructible surely they could have just dematerialised even from within a creature or giant ship? The setting of an alien world is not new, but going beneath the surface is definitely more unique and I like the atmosphere that presents. This has a dingy feel and it felt grainy and dark. That was really good and I think even the dark colours of the cover artwork help towards that. It sets the tone right from the off. I liked the concept of the Silex very much even if it did feel like this episode may as well have just featured the Cybermen. The similarities really were obvious and I think it almost bordered on being too similar. No talk of emotion did help to differentiate things though. I thought the cliffhanger was well done and I must admit that I didn’t see the turn of Lucretia coming. She was presented as being inferior to her husband Max from the start almost to the point where I just accepted her as a background character. So that shift was a nice surprise, even to her husband! The nature of the Cathonians and their policy of no waste was good stuff and certainly admirable. It’s certainly an efficient way to live, but it could also mean brutal decisions. The suggestion of Romana’s presence itself being a drain on resources was more than enough to show that they took the policy very seriously! I thought the description of the Silex was good and the image on the cover is almost something of a metallic Pyrovile. It looked impressive and certainly imposing. I liked the way the Doctor and Romana were separated which allowed some strong solo time for the latter before the former was on hand for the rescue. I appreciated the conclusion with Max using the machine to take out the Silex but also sacrificing himself in the process. I kind of figured that would be the route taken but it was still a pretty impactful moment regardless. It was a neat way to tidy everything up but it’s a little surprising that even the Doctor and Romana now seem desensitised to this kind of death. I thought the threat of the TARDIS being thrown out was good and I loved that its lack of being flammable rendered it useless. What utilities could come of that? Overall, a good little story even if it did perhaps go slightly too long. 

Rating: 7/10