Return of the Rocket Men

"Pirates. Raiders. The scourge of the sky."

Writer: Matt Fitton

Format: Audio

Released: November 2012

Series: Companion Chronicles 7.05

Featuring: First Doctor, Steven, Dodo

Synopsis 

Once before the Doctor battled the sadistic Rocket Men and once before he won. But when the dreaded pirates of the skies raided a remote frontier planet, he's not the only member of the TARDIS crew for whom they are old enemies.

Steven Taylor knows them well. Back in his days as a pilot, on his twenty first birthday, Steven's ship was brought down by the malevolent Van Cleef. He barely escaped with his life. And now he's going to have to go through that again.

But this time round, he knows what happens. And he knows there's no way out. Steven Taylor has to make a choice. A choice where either way... he loses.

Verdict 

Return of the Rocket Men was a brilliant Companion Chronicle! It was a terrific audio adventure and served as a superb sequel to The Rocket Men. That story got a good little reference as you might expect and there were numerous more references in the story as things went on. They seemed to come in blocks and that was absolutely fine. This was one of Big Finish's few stories to feature Dodo as a companion and I liked doing a story featuring her, as my blog has scare adventures featuring her. I'm yet to read a novel featuring her and although I have done every television story she's appeared in, a good chunk of those were missing so it is difficult to take from it exactly what was intended from just recons and stills. Peter Purves gave a terrific performance reviving his role as Steven. He really was an excellent narrator and I also enjoyed his impression of William Hartnell's First Doctor. He painted him in a joyous and comedic light which was delightful to listen to as in stories set earlier in the First Doctor's life he is seen as grumpy, and rightfully so, but to hear him declare how proud he was of Steven really was terrific. I must admit that after listening to the Rocket Men's debut story which is named after them, I was surprised that they returned here. I mean, I purchased both stories at the same time so I always knew they returned but after listening to the first story I was more surprised by the decision. That's despite the first Companion Chronicle being very good. This story wasn't too dissimilar to their first with the space setting and flying around but Steven being in the lead role in place of Ian certainly shook things up a bit. Van Cleef was a good enemy and I loved his shock at seeing what he thought was Ramires (I believe that's the correct spelling) still alive. The different factions amongst the Rocket Men was intriguing and I loved that we got to hear Steven's first encounter with them, and then this very story turned out to be that encounter! That was quite a revelation and it put a smile on my face when it came. The future Steven, who was currently travelling in the TARDIS with the Doctor, saving his past self before we met him in The Chase, another story that was nicely mentioned, was brilliant. It answered a lot of questions but it was just great! We had fantastic references to The Ark, The Gunfighters, The Celestial Toymaker and Mother Russia and I also loved how Steven reflected on the amount of loss that he had seen during his travels with the Doctor, particularly that of which occurred in The Daleks' Master Plan. The Doctor's reaction to knowing that the Rocket Men had returned was very good and I loved the description of them that came from Steven at the start of the audio. It summed up the Rocket Men perfectly and can be seen above as my opening quote. I liked how the pirate nature of the Rocket Men was on display once again but their rather violent characteristics were also clearly on display, and at times was a little uncomfortable. The Rocket Men were aggressive though and that was good. Steven taking on the form of a Rocket Men, much as Ian did in the first story, was very good and I liked how he came to Dodo's rescue. Steven being honoured in the way he was at the end of the audio was a really nice touch and I liked how moved the Doctor was with Steven's honour. Overall, a fantastic audio adventure!

Rating: 9/10