Subterranea

Fourth Doctor Adventures #6.6

Released: 14 June 2017

Listened: 7/8/22

This story isn’t an unfortunate sequel to “Underworld,” thank heavens. Instead, it takes place on a planet covered in porous rock, easily burrowed through. The inhabitants are evolved mole-people, dressed for some reason in 19th-century outfits. (Good thing they weren’t trying this on TV.) They live on large steampunk vessels that burrow continuously through the ground, because the surface is no longer habitable, after a war long ago. Unfortunately, they’re being stalked by a mysterious force of cyborgs…which aren’t terribly original, as they go in for capture and conversion, like some other famous cyborgs we know. However, they’re also not terribly bright, so resolving the story doesn’t seem like much of a challenge. Jane Slavin makes an appearance as a plucky young rebel, and seems to be having a ton of fun with it. There’s one plot twist that may catch you off guard, but other than that, the setting is more original than the plot.