Requiem for the Rocket Men

Fourth Doctor Adventures #4.3

Released: 13 March 2015

Listened: 4/4/22

The Rocket Men have appeared in a few stories, and usually end up losing badly to the Doctor, which is starting to hurt their reputations. However, the Doctor still treats them as a serious threat. This story is by John Dorney, creator of the Rocket Men, and it has some nods toward his original story, like an extended bluff in Part 1 that’s explained by a flashback in Part 2. Unfortunately the misdirect isn’t as strong as in the original, but I don’t think it was trying to be. The misdirects lie in other places: any time you use the Master as a secondary character, something fishy is going on. The only real hitch is that it requires substantial planning on the Doctor’s part, which isn’t something the Fourth Doctor normally goes in for. That’s more of a Seventh Doctor thing, but maybe he felt that the Rocket Men merited that level of attention. The last couple of scenes, though, are entirely unexpected, and create a strong desire to listen to the next story.