The final 75 minutes of The Third Doctor Adventures, volume 1 consists of behind-the-scenes interviews for both stories.  The most interesting of the two is listening to discussons of how it came to be that Tim Treloar was chosen to play the third Doctor, and how Treloar prepares his voice.

THE THIRD DOCTOR ADVENTURES, VOL. 1

The rest of the behind-the-scenes isn’t all that illuminating.  Much of it what is said, particularly by Katy Manning about her character of Jo Grant, in the behind-the-scenes of Prisoners of the Lake is repeated in the behind-the-scenes of The Havoc of Empires – mostly about Jo not really being an unintelligent airheaded mini-skirt wearer back in the 70s.  The trouble is, she tells us that Jo was really quite intelligent and brave (things that anyone who paid attention to the Pertwee era already knows) yet she plays the character as though she is that unintelligent mini-skirt wearing airhead even when the character is thrown into a position of authority and responsibility.

And this only really serves to highlight the chief problem with the two adventures of this set.  That being that Jo is written into a position that the character cannot and does not fit.  Having everyone telling her what a great job she’s doing, and having other female characters belittling the male characters, and having characters react unrealistically to sustain Jo in that position doesn’t make for a strong and intelligent Jo Grant.  The efforts made to force the square peg in the round hole just pulls down the rest of what is a great story with interesting characters.  The less said about the way Jo is illogically elevated out of character the better it would be for the adventures because without that elephant in the room, the adventures do go some considerable way towards recapturing the spirit of the 70s with Tim Treloar’s third Doctor being the real jewel in the crown.

Much is made of The Havoc of Empires channelling The Curse of Peladon, but it would be wrong to keep trying to link the two as it draws too many negative comparisons.  Jo Grant, in particular, wasn’t this squeaky-voiced airhead of a character in that story (or, indeed, any other) that she is here.  In The Curse of Peladon, Jo worked hard to justify her position and Manning did so convincingly.  The Curse of Peladon is much the better story because it treats both Jo and the Doctor with respect and gives them both something of substance to do.  The Havoc of Empires doesn’t.  It gives the Doctor’s role to Jo, and sidelines the Doctor into that of a supporting character.  That’s not what the 70s era did.

I only hope that further volumes of The Third Doctor Adventures have writers that keep their eye on the ball and not try to make the 70s era into something that it wasn’t.