The Companion Chronicles
have been excellent at fleshing out the sometimes simplistic backstories of
companions from the early years of Doctor Who.
Return of the Rocket Men is a
story that gives us a paradox created to make a loop in the life of Steven Taylor. The premise is simple, the Doctor, Steven and
Dodo arrive on a colony near the edge of the galaxy where many ships have been
crashing. The colonists are terrified of
a small group of Rocket Men led by Van Cleef have been pirating from the
colonists. It turns out however that
Steven knows this particular group of Rocket Men from his past. Van Cleef is the one who shot him down and he
was rescued by a rogue Rocket Man. They
left him injured and taken to a hospital where he decided to enter the intergalactic
army which is how he was shot down on Mechanus and would meet the Doctor in The Chase. The first half plays out like a little story
for the First Doctor, Steven, and Dodo, but it is the second half that really
gives us the story for Steven as like in The
Rocket Men, he takes on Van Cleef one on one. Matt Fitton really makes the story work with
a lot of effort put into making everything work well. Steven actually is the Rocket Man to save his
younger self.
The only complaint that I
can have with the story is that really this could take place any time in Season
3. It might actually have worked just a
little better if it took place after The
First Wave as there are several references to Oliver Harper’s death, but
Dodo’s just there. Dodo really doesn’t
have much to do in the story which is at least made up by the fact that Jackie
Lane hasn’t returned to record any audio dramas with Big Finish. Peter Purves is excellent as Steven Taylor as
in Return of the Rocket Men you
really get to feel the emotions that are felt after the loss of Oliver Harper
in The First Wave. Steven actually feels the sympathetic
character to the colonists and is ready to give his own life as a way to help
these people. Tim Trelor as Van Cleef is
much better as a villain when compared to Ashman. He’s more of a traditional pirate, greedy,
but content to stay small so the intergalactic police don’t catch on to their
scheme. This helps the amount of despair
as there really is no help coming. Van
Cleef is also ruthless when compared to Ashman as he kills people who goes
against his orders. One of these murders
is played out in front of everyone with Steven looking on to the rather
despairing situation.
To summarize, Return of the Rocket Men is an excellent
story for Steven, but it really doesn’t too much differently than The Rocket Men. It’s still an excellent story on the whole,
but lacks quite a lot when it comes to characters that Fitton decides to
introduce. The focus is very different
than The Rocket Men, dealing a lot
with what it means to travel with the Doctor and deals with the possibility of
everyone’s time to die. Puves is
excellent and Tim Trelor plays a memorable villain who will stay in your mind
long after the story ends. 90/100.
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