Doctor Who: Requiem for the Rocket Men

The Doctor and Leela are captured by the titular Rocket Men and brought to their secret base. That part is over very quickly, and what the story is really about is their attempt to escape and to scupper the villains' plans in the process. The Rocket Men have appeared twice before, although only in BF's Chronicle format, rather than a full play as this is. Knowledge of the previous two stories is entirely unnecessary for this, and, really, they'll work in any order.

Whereas those two had some significant character moments for the companions who appeared in them, and there's some attempt to something similar with Leela here, it's less effective, and, for all the broader canvas allowed by the larger cast, the story as a whole doesn't work as well as its predecessors. It's mainly a run-around, with more action than characterisation, but it has a number of good points that scrape it to three-and-a-half stars, rounded up.

For one, the Fourth Doctor's depiction is good, with a number of one-liners, and K9 is particularly well-used, both in terms of his abilities, and some the lines he's given. The basic idea that the last thing you want to do is capture the Doctor, because then you're really in trouble is particularly played up. For a story that takes place almost entirely in one location, there are a few twists along the way, one of them relying on a flashback scene that comes out of nowhere and feels a bit odd at first until you realise the point of it.

It's also a while before we really see the Rocket Men flying about with their jetpacks, although, once they do, it's quite dramatic. The story ends on a cliffhanger that leads directly into the next release, but would otherwise be self-contained.