THE ROCKET MEN

The second adventure in the sixth series of Big Finish‘s range of Doctor Who Companion Chronicles is performed by William Russell.  The Rocket Men is very much a “first era” adventure, from a time before the series knew what was to come with Time Lords, Gallifrey, and all the other trappings.  The lack of any of the later developments plants the listener firmly back to the very beginnings of the TV series.

The TARDIS lands on a floating city in the sky of the planet Jobis.  Ian, Barbara, Vicki, and the Doctor take the opportunity to take a break from their adventuring to have a little holiday.

After a while, the Doctor is invited to a scientific establishment and Ian and Vicki go on a tourist cruise whilst Barbara suffers a mild illness back at the hotel.

It’s not long before the cruise ship is attacked by pirates with rocket jet packs, and the leader of the Rocket Men is looking for the three companions of a man known as “the Doctor”.

William Russell tells the story in first person as Ian Chesterton.  The story is told in flashbacks, with present scenes hand-shaking with past scenes.  To begin with, this novelty of story-telling works but, after a while it gets quite tiring.  The way the scenes hand over to each other often makes it difficult to know which story thread you’re following.  You spend too much time switching your mind to the right thread, such that you lose track of what Ian Chesterton is telling you.

Fortunately, the story is quite straightforward.  The behind-the-scenes interview with the writer, John Dorney, makes it clear that he was going for a 50s “feel” of science fiction – hence the rather impractical “Rocket Men” which might have been cool back in the 50s but really don’t make sense in the 21st Century.  I’m not convinced that 60s Doctor Who was quite this naive with its view of popular science fiction but it does keep you firmly transfixed in the past.  It had me thinking of the movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

The story’s climax features some fantastic scenes that would have been fantastic in the visual medium.  Lots of rocket pack action with Ian’s death-defying leap, saving Barbara, and battling the leader of the Rocket Men.  With Ian being at the forefront, we don’t actually miss the Doctor not being right in the heart of the story, despite the denouement being entirely of the Doctor’s making.

The Rocket Men is a typical one-hour “Companion Chronicles” adventure split into two episodes with a cliff-hanger, and followed by an interview with the writer.  Sadly there is no interview with William Russell.  A good adventure let down a little by the constant swapping of scenes from present to past and back again – which relies on certain undisclosed “cheats” so that the drama is maintained for as long as possible.

There is a sequel to The Rocket Men, and is what I plan to listen to next.