The Way of the Empty Hand was a really good little Short Trips audio! I really enjoyed this adventure and the twenty-seven minutes really did seem to absolutely fly by which is always a good time as you know you’re enjoying yourself. I thought it was fun to have Jamie run out of the TARDIS without checking if it was safe for them to breathe purely on the visuals on the scanner, and before the Doctor and Zoe could join him he had already managed to get himself teleported away! I thought that was a really fun start. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a huge amount for Zoe to do in this one and I think it would have worked just fine without her, but it’s always nice to have her featured and her deduction of the linked computer controlling everything was more than welcomed. Combatia made for a superb setting and I really think it has the potential for a feature-length adventure to be set there. Of course, given the way this adventure ended it would have to be set in the planet’s past but having the Doctor unable to influence things could definitely have potential. Anyway, to the story at hand and I thought having the Second Doctor in particular was good for this kind of story as you just wouldn’t expect him to have any kind of success in an arena of combat. He’s a clumsy and flimsy incarnation so that presented a good dynamic. Complementing that with Jamie in a world of combat was excellent because he fully embraced it! Hearing him deliver his famous battle cry was wonderful and his reaction when he learned that nobody had ever stood up to the Overlord was terrific. It didn’t take long for him to get involved in a rebellion and along with Funakoshi, he’d actually spearheaded it which was a lot of fun! I enjoyed the relationship Jamie had with the Japanese combatant and they really complimented each other well. The Doctor having to do combat with the likes of Bloodbane and the King of Carnage was good and the names were great fun to imagine having the Second Doctor fighting against. It didn’t seem like he would have any chance! His use of the recorder to calm the beasts he was up against was really good and typical of what I’d expect of this incarnation, and him causing his famed opponent to yield because of who he trained under with Venusian aikido was a surprise conclusion but one that I couldn’t help smiling at. It was so calm and fun and a somewhat relaxing way to end a story set on a planet of combat! Combatia would no longer be a world of combat and I suggest that they now get a name change. Regardless, a fitting fate for what was a really good and enjoyable little listen!
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