Vengeance of the Stones

Destiny of the Doctor #3

Released: 1 March 2013

Listened: 5/24/21

This, unfortunately, is another story without Liz present. Instead, it’s read by Richard Franklin, and features Mike Yates, who’s an RAF lieutenant at the start of the story. This marks his first appearance, and includes his first encounter with UNIT, causing him to join up (he doesn’t appear in Season 7; he’s just present at the start of next season). It’s part of the “Destiny of the Doctor” series, so the remit for Andrew Smith is to tell a very typical Third Doctor story, which this mostly is. A number of stone circles in Scotland are acting strangely, and of course it’s aliens who’ve been hibernating on Earth for thousands of years, trying to phone home. The Doctor investigates, and ends up trying to broker peace between the soldiers and the aliens, but as usual, it doesn’t quite come off. The aliens aren’t entirely blameless here, as they view the humans as hopelessly primitive, and seem not to recognize the 4000 years of advancement. The aliens are played by Trevor Littledale, one of my favorite Big Finish actors, so I’m inclined to trust them, but sadly it doesn’t play out that way. As far as that part of the plot goes, it’s pretty standard. Mike Yates gets a lot of the focus, though, showing intelligence, bravery, and local knowledge. Best of all, he keeps his cool in the face of danger, and he trusts the Doctor almost from the beginning. All of which makes him a pretty good recruit. As usual with these Destiny stories, there’s a message from the Eleventh Doctor, and although it’s chatty as that Doctor tends to be, it’s not particularly insulting, and it’s rather straightforward, which is probably what the Third Doctor needs to take it seriously. As a side note, the Doctor uses Venusian Aikido, and says he hasn’t used it in some time, placing this before “Inferno.” On the whole, a mostly standard story, not particularly good or bad.