The Return of the Rocket Men by: Matt Fitton directed by: Lisa Bowerman: When Do You Know It Is Time To Die

Return of the Rocket Men is performed by Peter Purves as Steven Taylor with Tim Trelor as Van Cleef.  It was written by Matt Fitton, directed by Lisa Bowerman, and was released in November 2012 by Big Finish Productions.

 

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.