Doctor Who: The Acheron Pulse

The second part of a trilogy in which consecutive Doctors visit an interstellar empire at different points in its history. In this instalment, the Doctor arrives about thirty years after his initial visit, and gets to see the unintended consequences of his actions in that adventure.

The action is divided between a medieval world used as a mining resource by the Empire, and the space station placed in orbit around it. The Drashani Empire, it turns out, is now at war with a mysterious space fleet led by an individual who bears more than a passing resemblance to Darth Vader.

The explanation as to how we got here from the events of the first story does strain credulity a bit, but it's more the one-dimensional nature of the main villain that weakens things. Six himself is also at his most arrogant here, rather than the more nuanced character generally portrayed in the audios (though not, of course, in the TV series). There's a good chance you'll spot the surprise revelation coming way ahead of time, too, and, to be honest, it's not terribly interesting when it does come.

This is offset by a plot that at least has a reasonable amount going on, and where not everything is wholly black-and-white. Many of the supporting characters aren't bad - and there's quite a few of them - although they don't come across as well as those in the first episode, which at least had a decent “disaster movie” feel to it.

So it's far from a complete loss, but really doesn't have anything much special to it, either. Its strength is probably the links to the first part, and seeing how the best of intentions aren't always enough, but that doesn't raise it above the merely average.